“Darling…” Akshaj yawned, rubbing his eyes as he slowly woke up.

The first thing he noticed was his wife sleeping like a log, drooling unapologetically onto his pillow while clutching his right arm as if it were her favourite stuffed toy.

“Babe…” he tried again, nudging her gently.

She clicked her tongue in irritation and turned her face away.

He glared down at her. “Dude, enough! Get up. We need to go to the park. For the walk, remember?”

“We’ll go from tomorrow,” she mumbled sleepily.

“You said the exact same thing last Monday.”

“Five minutes,” she negotiated. “Please.”

He sighed, already exhausted. “Lavanya, the doctor aunty clearly told us you need to walk daily and do some light exercises. It’s for your own good. Obviously, good for the baby too. It will actually help you, no?”

“Your baby wants to sleep,” she replied lazily. Her hand searched for his face and landed there, effectively shutting him up while her eyes remained firmly closed. “Being a good father also means respecting your child’s wishes.”

“Okay, I am done begging,” he said, gently pushing her hand away. “If you don’t get up right now and come with me, I am going to tell Mummy that you’re being difficult and not taking care of yourself.”

Her eyes flew open instantly. “Akshaj! Stop blackmailing me first thing in the morning!” She pouted. “I don’t want to wake up already pissed at you.”

“You leave me no choice,” he shrugged, getting off the bed and walking toward the wardrobe to grab a fresh pair T-shirt and joggers. “I’ve been listening to your excuses for the past two weeks. Even your husband has some limits.”

“Stop whining, ugh!” Lavanya finally rolled to her side of the bed and sat up. “I don’t even understand what’s so great about morning walks. Waking up early is a torture to ourselves. And for your information, I have signed up for a subscription in that gym, the one near Gupta Mithaiwale. They have special maternity classes and all. It’s not like I’m being ignorant.”

He ignored her rant completely, dressed into his t-shirt and joggers and wore his watch. “Get ready. The park is just the next street. We’ll walk for an hour, come back, and then you can sleep as much as you want.”

She glared at him. Catching her reflection in the mirror, he noticed her lips moving, muttering something under her breath. He did not hear it, but he could read it easily.

Smiling slightly, he nodded. “Yes, I am an idiot whom you married just because you found my face sexy in the photograph. Now go.”

He picked up a set of her kurti and leggings from the wardrobe and placed it neatly on the vanity.

Her irritation peaked. She grabbed a pillow and hurled it at him.

He dodged it effortlessly. “Not done, love. Really not done.”

Huffing, she walked closer to him, removing her night suit on her way. His eyes didn't leave her face, he knew what game she was playing.

She picked up the dress and put it on, her fingers making sure to touch him while doing so.

But he just stood there watching her with an amused smile, silently marveling at how pregnancy had managed to turn his soft-spoken wife into a permanently irritated little angry bird combined with a pinch of sultriness.

---

“So,” Akshaj asked, looping his fingers through hers as they walked, “do you still hate it? Still too sleepy to step outside the bedroom at this beautiful hour?”

Lavanya yawned loudly. “Akshu, you have no idea how hard it is for me to wake up at six every day. I only do that to help Mummy in the kitchen.” She turned her head toward him, eyes half-lidded. “And now you want me up at five. You know that feels like punishment for carrying your child.”

“Our child,” he corrected gently, smiling.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. The baby is inside me, so obviously it’s mine. Mothers. Hello, biology.”

“You do know there’s something called surrogacy,” he said, enjoying her irritation far more than he should. “So not every woman who carries a baby is technically the mother.”

“Ugh, fine,” she conceded with a small smile. “But my body is carrying our child. I still can't believe...that we are creating something that's a part of us.”

“Yes,” he agreed quietly.

After a moment of silence, he asked, “Did you ever imagine yourself as a mother? I mean… you couldn’t really imagine being a dad—”

“Actually,” she interrupted, “I did imagine being a dad.”

He stopped mid-step and stared at her. “What?” and slowly continued walking.

Her eyes lit up, amused and nostalgic. “We were a group of girls in our society. No boys at all. So during Ghar-Ghar, we needed someone to play the role of father.”

“You didn’t include Ved?” he asked, referring to her younger brother.

She waved her hand dismissively. “That monkey was busy eating sand or getting beaten up by older boys.”

He laughed. Their childhoods sounded nothing alike. He and Parthiv had never really fought much. They weren’t overly close, but the care was always there, unspoken. Listening to Lavanya talk about her chaotic little world made him briefly wish how awesome it would've been if he'd had an elder sister. Just to experience that kind of messy closeness. Her stories carried silly cuteness that stayed with him.

“So I always played the dad,” she continued, grinning. “It was the easiest role. No dupatta tied like a saree, no act of cooking food, no sitting inside the house to take care of kids. Just leave, come back, and order the wife around.”

“You basically loved male privilege handed out by patriarchy,” he remarked dryly.

She laughed. “I was a kid, Akshaj. What did I know about big words like that? We enacted whatever we saw in our house.”

“Hm.”

“But look at me now,” she added lightly, squeezing his hand. “I’m now a wife of a loving husband, no? And honestly… it feels good to be one.”

Akshaj looked at her, her words settling slowly in his mind.

She said it so casually. As if being a wife, adapting, compromising, adjusting her body, her time, her sleep, was just a natural progression. Something she had stepped into without questioning. He wondered how many things she did because she wanted to, and how many because she had learned early on that this was what was expected of her.

His silence must have shown on his face because she shook their joined hands gently. “You okay?”

He blinked and nodded, forcing a small smile. “Yeah.”

But the thought stayed with him.

---

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