Chapter 9

The past few days had been much easier and untroubled for me as I kept away from Benjamin to the fullest. He had ordered me to sleep on the bed and since I wanted no more arguments with the devil husband of mine, I had to obey his words. Hence, I have been sharing the bed with him even though I loathed the very idea of it. In order to avoid any unnecessary eye contact with him, I would wake up only after he left for work. Each day, from dawn to dusk, I’d try keeping myself occupied by reading a few books lent to me by Sheila from her old collection of books, for which I was very grateful to her. I would eat early dinners and would retire to bed before his arrival. 
I felt like, he himself was trying to steer clear of me for some unknown reason. He seemed surprisingly serene and tranquil. Coming back from work, he would silently enter his, arghh.. our room, take a quick shower and sneak into the bed like a cat, as quiet as possible, cloaking under the covers. Surely we both were getting used to each other subtly.
On the following Tuesday, I had an appointment with Dr.Monica for my first ultrasound scan. The appointment was at eleven in the morning and Benjamin had taken off from work. By ten o'clock, he was ready in his black tailored suit and sat on the living area couch with a magazine in one hand and a cup of coffee on the other. I walked down the stairs in a simple black and yellow floral skirt paired with a plain black, full sleeved top. 
“Ah, here you are. Eat this before you leave to the hospital.” Sheila placed a plateful of sliced apples on my hands. 
I thanked her with a polite smile and sat down on the nearby chair to eat it. I knew Benjamin was impatiently waiting for me, from the frequent glances he was throwing at me. I asked Ms. Sheila to pack them for later as I felt full after having few slices and walked near Benjamin.
“I am ready to go.” He lifted his eyes from the magazine as I spoke. He got up and made his way to the door in a steady pace. With a curt waving gesture of his fingers, two guards came running towards the car, one getting into the driver seat and the other into the passenger seat while we both took the seats at the back. The one who was driving the car had a small pistol tucked at the back of his pants. I wondered why he had so many guards surrounding him all the time. I knew that Benny belonged to a filthy rich family, which was the main reason why Jon hung back from dating her, back in school. We could never find out what kind of business her family was into. When I tried to ask her about it a couple of times, she would avoid or change the topic slyly. After being with her brother for more than three months now, I figured out that he was some kind of leader to a mafia group since the guards around him, called him with the endearment ‘Boss'. The enormous amount of guns, ammunitions and explosives in his secret closet confirmed all my doubts. 
Both the guards left inside the hospital building first, ensuring to dispel the crowd of people in the VIP corridor. After waiting for about twenty minutes in our car, we walked straight inside the VIP Elevator which opened into a huge secluded hallway which was heavily guarded. The hospital looked elegant and stylishly luxurious. The corridor was empty which made me feel bad for all the people who were chased away due to our arrival. Soon, a nurse rushed in our way to lead us into a door, which had Dr.Monica's name board hung on it. Upon entering her office, we were greeted by her radiate smile. She asked me to lay down on a bed. She promptly helped me to lift the top while Benjamin stood on the other side of the bed. I nervously fidgeted my fingers when unexpectedly Benjamin gave my hands a slight squeeze, along with a comforting nod, distracting me momentarily.
“Do you still experience pain apart from the morning sickness?” she asked me with her eyes fixed on the screen and holding the ultrasound transducer in her hand. 
“uhh.. No but I still throw up at times.” I replied and wiggled slightly, when the cold gel came in contact with my flat tummy. She glided the probe smoothly across my belly and pointed something on the screen. Soon, we heard the sounds of racing heartbeats as the monitor started showing two lines.
“There is your...” She paused for a second glancing on the screen with furrowed eyebrows.
“What's wrong?” I asked worriedly.
She immediately straightened her face and said, “nothing's wrong. Can you see your babies there?” 
My brain took a few seconds to process her words, “Babies?” Benjamin spoke for the first time, clearly looking as confused as me.
“What?” I was still zoned out and tried to speak. “I can't believe this?” 
“Yes, you have twins growing inside you.” The doctor beamed a smile at us. “and they look absolutely healthy and fine. Do you want to find out their gender?” I looked up at Benjamin for an answer but he looked stunned, just staring at the screen speechless.
“Well, we would want to know.” I informed her shyly, followed by which Benjamin just nodded his head.
“Alright, let's see. That's baby number one, that's the head.. the arms.. the legs are crossed over here and it's a ‘he’.” She squealed and she pointed on the opposite end of the screen this time, “Baby number two is here, it is sucking it's thumb, that's so cute and this one is a girl. Congratulations Mr. And Mrs.Winchester. You have got a boy and a girl.” 
Benjamin had a small smile beaming on his face and helped me getting down the bed carefully.
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The days had gone by fast and I was already nine months into my pregnancy. Benjamin made certain to sincerely look after my needs. He had given up his idea of torturing me for the sake of our kids. 
When I felt them for the first time, Benjamin was working on his laptop, sitting beside me on the bed. He seemed distraught at first, when I informed him about the sudden cramps in my abdomen, followed by the bubble like movements. Despite being hesitant initially, he would often place his hands on my tummy to feel our kids moving around and he would murmur sweet things to them, making me wonder how this dangerously cruel man could be so gentle from time to time.
He would be furious sometimes, especially after visiting Benny but he would try to calm himself down in order to avoid making me upset as, Sheila had told him that the kids feel whatever the mother feels. Though I missed my family at times, I was content with my life than in days. I never gathered the courage to ask him about them.
One morning I lay awake beside Benjamin, from slight uneasiness in my lower abdomen. I placed my palms lovingly on my heavily pregnant tummy and both the babies started moving around, sensing my touch. I always loved the feel of their butterfly movements inside me. I was sure, that Benjamin would be a great dad to the kids. In the past few months, there was an enormous change in his behaviour towards me. Throughout my pregnancy, I had cravings for butterscotch ice creams and he would make sure to fill the refrigerator with buckets and buckets of butterscotch ice creams and milkshakes. He would read to our unborn children every night without fail and he never missed a chance to accompany me to the doctor visits, even though he had busy schedules.
I turned towards Benjamin, and a smile pulled at the corners of my lips. His raven hair was splayed over his forehead and a dark shadow covered his jaw bones, making them look more strong and rigid. He was sleeping on his stomach and his strong back muscles and toned arms were on full display. Taking in his sleeping form, I felt slightly attracted to his handsome features. I sighed deeply, thinking how life would have been, if we were like any other normal couple, deeply in love with each other. If only, he had been always as caring as he is now, we could be living as a happy couple. I didn't understand how it is possible to be attracted to my tormentor, but it was true. 
I decided to take a stroll in the mansion's huge lawn. It was still very early in the morning, the sun was just rising up in the sky and the grass was still wet with the dew drops. I loved sitting on the bench under the tree in the centre of the lawn and lately, it had become my favourite spot to spend time, knitting sweaters for my little ones. Benjamin allowed me to spend some time everyday in the lawn, after much persuasion from Sheila. I sat there basking under the early sunrays, enjoying the chirpings of birds when suddenly, I heard heavy footsteps. I turned back to see Benjamin approaching me, still wearing his pajama bottoms.
“You should be sleeping for it's still early in the morning.” He spoken gently.
“I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake you from all the tossing and turning. So I decided to come here.” I said rubbing my tummy.
“Are you feeling okay?” He splayed his fingers softly on my tummy and asked me with a slight crease on her forehead. I nodded my head affirmatively with a slight smile. 
I held my gaze with his dark brown eyes, getting lost in them. My hands itched to brushoff the hair falling across his forehead and I slowly lifted my hand to push them away. When I tried to withdraw my hand, he suddenly caught my wrist and brought them agonising slowly towards his lips, kissing them softly. I involuntarily pulled my lower lips in between my teeth and his eyes trailed down to them. My heart was pounding erratically against my chest. He too felt the heat of the moment and slowly lowered his head towards mine. I did not know what came over me, may it was all because of the damn harmones that I stretched myself to meet him midway. He pressed his lips softly on mine, a gentle kiss, like never before. The gentle kiss suddenly turned rough and more demanding. He slowly snaked his hands from my round belly to my lower back, pulling me closer to him. His tongue tugged at my lower lips, seeking entrance and I parted them before his tongue explored the corners of my mouth. I released a breathy moan as his lips slowly traced down butterfly kisses along my neck and shoulders. His hand tortuously roamed all over my body before moving back to my hips once again. I broken the kiss to get some air, panting heaving. I buried my hands in his soft silky hair and brought him back closer to my lips and he groaned loudly. I was amazed on how a simple kiss could affect me like that before a prickling pain radiated along my spine and I gasped loudly holding the sides of my tummy. A stream of hot liquid trickled down making my dress wet. I looked down with wide eyes, panting a few time.
“Ben, my water broke.”