I
"Jigisha looks nothing like her father" was Narmada Aunty's first comment on seeing her grand-niece. "Her eyes, nose, hair, cheeks...all like her mother. Surely she must look some bit like Bhavin if she is his daughter? I told you Hetal was not good for our Bhavin."
Hetal dashed into her room to cry, while Mrs. Patel and Bhavin tried to douse the flames that her bile had lit.
II
After Narmada Aunty left, Bhavin caught his daughter in profile as she passed along the corridor in front of his room. That same Roman nose, those lips, the chin: his eight year old recollected his wife in miniature.
At dinner time he kept looking into her eyes. He had a pair of eyes that were apparently the cynosure of his college, but there was no trace of them anywhere in his daughter. Jigisha felt a bit awkward at her father staring so.
While putting her to bed, he looked at her ears with the excuse of cleaning them. They had that Gandhi-like protuberance, a feature that belonged to his wife. Not his small ears at all.
After that he was not going to sleep. His mind was now convinced that he was now cuckolded.
III
"Well, Mr. Patel" the doctor began, then hesitated. Bhavin immediately guessed what the result was, but wanted the doctor to say it. "Well, we have the sequences. Your X-chromosome does not match either of your daughter's."
"I knew it. Bitch!"
"But there's something more, something puzzling. They both match your wife's."
IV
"I've never liked you. You're a good-for-nothing. I wasn't going to have your genes pollute my children. My beautiful children. I only married you because my parents forced me into it." screamed Hetal.
"Well, tell me who the real father is. If it is him that you love, I'll reunite you and your daughter with him."
"A man like you is enough to make me want to hate all me. I... I had her cloned."
"Jigisha looks nothing like her father" was Narmada Aunty's first comment on seeing her grand-niece. "Her eyes, nose, hair, cheeks...all like her mother. Surely she must look some bit like Bhavin if she is his daughter? I told you Hetal was not good for our Bhavin."
Hetal dashed into her room to cry, while Mrs. Patel and Bhavin tried to douse the flames that her bile had lit.
II
After Narmada Aunty left, Bhavin caught his daughter in profile as she passed along the corridor in front of his room. That same Roman nose, those lips, the chin: his eight year old recollected his wife in miniature.
At dinner time he kept looking into her eyes. He had a pair of eyes that were apparently the cynosure of his college, but there was no trace of them anywhere in his daughter. Jigisha felt a bit awkward at her father staring so.
While putting her to bed, he looked at her ears with the excuse of cleaning them. They had that Gandhi-like protuberance, a feature that belonged to his wife. Not his small ears at all.
After that he was not going to sleep. His mind was now convinced that he was now cuckolded.
III
"Well, Mr. Patel" the doctor began, then hesitated. Bhavin immediately guessed what the result was, but wanted the doctor to say it. "Well, we have the sequences. Your X-chromosome does not match either of your daughter's."
"I knew it. Bitch!"
"But there's something more, something puzzling. They both match your wife's."
IV
"I've never liked you. You're a good-for-nothing. I wasn't going to have your genes pollute my children. My beautiful children. I only married you because my parents forced me into it." screamed Hetal.
"Well, tell me who the real father is. If it is him that you love, I'll reunite you and your daughter with him."
"A man like you is enough to make me want to hate all me. I... I had her cloned."
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