Mimosa with Samosa, Manisha (Part-2)

“Hi mom”
“Wear your seat belt”
“I am sorry”
“Back pack in the trunk. Don’t ruin my car and dump things all over the place”
“Mom”
“Sit inside, I will make a call to my client and cancel the appointment”
“Ok, I will”
“So, what happened?”
“Vani aunty told you?”
“I want to hear it from you. Vani is a no one to me”
“Fourteen weeks along”
“That’s too long already. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I was scared”
“Were you thinking that you can hide it all nine months?”
“I thought something bad would happen and I don’t have to tell you”
“Like?”
“Kids my age miscarry..”
“Who gives you such information?”
“Nobody, I read in magazines and on the internet”
“What next?”
“I don’t know. I am scared mom.. I don’t want to be a mother”
“I know that. Neither do I want to take that responsibility and mother your child”
“What happens now mom?”
“Options are limited. Either you have the baby, take care of it and finish school, and forget all about marrying a good Indian boy and settling down in life, or you can get rid of it and move on with life”
“I don’t know..”
“Who is the boy?”
“Mike Yo”
“That Chinese guy in Kumon class??”
“He is a good friend”
“Not a boy friend?”
“No”
“Does he know about the baby?”
“No”
“Don’t tell him. Sometimes the guys and their parents will force you to have the baby, and limit their role only to visiting the baby once in a while, but you will be ruining your life running after the baby at this age”
“I won’t”
“Listen to what I say, and trust me that it will set your life right on the track again”
“Uhmm”
“We will go to India this Friday for two weeks. We will get rid of it and come back. No one has to know”
“Not even Nimisha and dad? Grandma?”
“No one has to”
“Uhm. What will you tell them?”
“I will tell them that my mother is sick and we have to go see her”
“Ok”
“Everything will be alright”
“Thanks mom. I thought you would be mad”
“Next time, remember, even if your family gets mad at you, they care about your safety and future more than some random acquaintance of your mother”
“I was scared”
“I can understand”
“I don’t know how this happened”
“It’s Ok”
“I didn’t know that just with once this could happen, that too with Mike. It was the first time for him also”
“Where did you meet him?”
“Kumon”
“No, where did you do it?”
“In our house”
“What?”
“In my bedroom”
“And what was I doing?”
“You were out with a client for open house tour”
“Your father?”
“At work”
“Grandparents? Nimisha?”
“In the temple. I told them that I will stay home and study for the test”
“You planned it so well and forgot planning your own safety”
“Actually we did. Mike didn’t know how to use it”
“No one taught you before?”
“They did. But this was different”
“So, it came off?”
“This is getting embarrassing mom, can we not talk about it?”
“Sorry. I won’t ask those questions. So, you want to have some Boba tea?”
“I don’t want to have to do anything Chinese. Gives me creeps”
“That’s rude. You love your papaya shakes with boba”
“Cantaloupe with boba. Nimisha drinks papaya, without boba”
“Sorry, both of you are the same for me”
“But we are not”
“Thanks for the reminder. I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise”
“Sorry”
“Let’s book our tickets before we go home. Or else your grandfather will start calling his contacts and asking hundred questions. Also, let me call my friend in India who is an Ob-gyn and set things up. I don’t want to leave anything for the last minute”
“Mom, will it hurt?”
“Having a baby will hurt you more. Trust your mother on this one”
“I am scared”
“Mommy is here. Don’t be. We will be OK”