His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 79
“Sophia?” I think he only murmured, and barely so, but the silence around us was so loud that it was effortlessly carried to
me
I took a reflexive step behind. All these monils, I had waited for this day. And today, when it was here, when he was here, I
wanted to turn around and run back to my room, pretend I never saw him.
But I had. And he had seen me.
Gabriel shook his head, opened his mouth, and then immediately shut it again. “You... Hospital... Labour rooms... What?” He
sounded battled.
I sucked in a deep breath. I wanted to say something, anything, but nothing came out. I stood there, silent.
1 gulped when he took slow steps towards me.
“You’ve... you’ve gained weight. He murmured, “You’re on the OBGY floor, you’re coming from the labour rooms
Yes, genius, I wanted to say. I don’t.
“You....“ Gabriel pauses because his voice breaks. That’s when I notice how tired he looks. Not even the crisp black suit he was
wearing could hide his sunken, red eyes or his messy hair as if he’s been passing his hand through it. “You were pregnant?”
I don’t know how, but I find the courage to nod. “You knew that, told you.”
“No, you didn’t!” He accuses, eyes filling with a coldness, voice full of anger.
His steps pause, and the concern and disbelief gets replaced by w fury.
And then, the fury dissipates just as quickly. “You were pregnant.
I nod.
“M.. Mine?”
I wanted to cry. I couldn’t, so I settle on nodding.

He sucks in a deep breath.
I ask gently, “Do you want to meet them?”
“Them?” He asks, “It’s a them?”
I nod again, pursing my lips to stop the smile that may have made it’s way to my lips in reflex while thinking of my little ones. A
girl and a boy,”
“1. you.” Gabriel was still baffled, but couldn’t talk, so he settles on nodding.
“Come,” I turn and walk, without waiting for him, assuming, hoping he’d follow.
And he does, all the way to the NICU.
He flinches when he sees the sign outside and his expressions flash the confusion, but if he wanted to ask something, he
doesn’t.
Luna’s eyes widen in shock so big that I think they would fall off when she sees the man that enters the room behind me, but
quickly gets up from the chair and stumbles outside with the words, Tll give you some space.”
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I give her a little smile, not-telling her that being alone with my ex husband is the last thing I wanted. But he was the father of my
children, and if he wanted to be a part of their lives, I wasn’t going to deprive them of a dad.
I notice how keenly Gabriel was staring at our little girl in her little box, his eyes pale as if he’d seen a ghost. “Aurora,” I tell him, “I
named her Aurora.”
“Aurora,” he repeats, looking spellbound. “Can I... May I pick her up?”
I nod. Nobody except me had picked up the babies yet, something about minimising germ contact while they were in the
NICU.
1 help open the glass box, and then pick her up, gently placing her in his arms.

I didn’t miss the way his hands trembled, the way he looked scared, as if he was picking up an alien.
“She’s so beautiful, He mutters, not taking his eyes off her. “Just like...”
He doesn’t finish his sentence, and it weighs heavy on my heart. Just like what?
I move towards Alex, picking him up at the same time that Gabriel keeps little Aurora down, and that movement wakes her. She
stares at him with her big eyes before a frown breaks out on her lips.
“She doesn’t like me.” Gabriel sounded horrified and I wanted to smile. I don’t. He doesn’t get any smiles from me, he doesn’t get
anything from me.
“She’s a baby. I’m not sure she likes anyone yet.”
“Bet she doesn’t frown looking at you.”
“That’s because I feed her.”
Gabriel looked bitter, the frown on his lips mimicking his daughter’s.
I ignore it, moving towards him with Alex and placing him in his arms. I ignore the burning sensation that rises in my skin when
my hand brushes against his. “Alex,” I tell him.
“Like Alexander?”
“No.” I scrunch my nose. “Just Alex.”
“He’s... bigger.”
“I suffered from a complication,” I tell him softly. “He grew more than she could.”
“But she’ll...” His question faded.
“She’ll grow, I finish for him, “She’s okay.”
“He looks like me.
“A carbon copy.” I smile at my son, who was still fast asleep.

Aurora’s little cry breaks our moment, and I stumble behind quickly, as if standing with him would mean I’d burn myself.
He was the father of my children. We weren’t a family, I had to remind myself.
“I need to feed her, I tell him, clearing my throat.
His eyebrows knit and he stares at me blankly, before it dawns on him. “Oh.. OH. His eyes reflexively move from me to my
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chest, and I squirm under his gaze.
“Can you wait outside?” I ask.
If he was hurt by that, he doesn’t show. He just nods quickly. “Can I take him?”
I nod. “I have a room. You can wait there. I point at the door leading to my room, and he nods in quiet acknowledgment before
moving to the door.
I let my expressions fall the moment he was gone, the facade facing, I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t, because I had to pick my
daughter and coo her before feeding her.
She was hungry, and she falls asleep while feeding in the next ten minutes.
It still amazes me how much these tiny tots sleep. Well, that is during the day. During the night, they’re owls.
I place her back in her bed, calling Luna to sit with her, and then go to my room.
The view that greets me makes me teary eyed.
Gabriel was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, holding Alex in his hands, just staring at the little boy sleep.
I had to clear my throat to get his attention.
“They’re... I don’t know what to say” He sounded breathless.
cross my hands across my chest. “Why’re you here, Gabriel?”

“What do you mean, why am I here?”
“Why are you here now?” I retort, sitting on the single chair, right across him.
“You... He looked like he was trying so hard not to scoff. “I came for you. You disappeared.”
“You mean after you sent me divorce papers and slept with Lily? I’m sorry I didn’t wait around to see you two marry.
Gabriel just blinked. “What?”-
“You know, Lily... your ex.. I say in a duh voice.
“I know who Lily is.” Gabriel’s voice was cold, firm. “Why would I sleep with Lily?”
“You didn’t?”
“No!” He said it like he 1 had offended every cell in his body.
“Well, I’m sorry I assumed you slept with her when I called and she answered. And mentioned you were asleep next to her
“Sophia, what the f*ck are you talking about?”
I cringe. “Can you not curse when the babies are
around?
“They don’t understand anything yet?”
“You really want the F-word to be one of the first few words he listens to from his Dad?”
“I spoke to him plenty when you weren’t there. He mutters, but gets up any way. Tm going to keep him back there. Is that
safe