"WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?"

"I cannot even have a peaceful moment for myself now! They are blowing my phone up! Let me just set my phone on do not disturb. Thank god this option exists!" I thought to myself. As I put my phone on my red purse, the door of my therapist’s room opened.

“See you, Sita! Enjoy your stay at the spa resort!” my therapist said as she let the woman I see every Friday come out of the room. I finally could put a name on her. I remained immersed in my thoughts when a velvet voice called out to me.

“Hello, Draupadi! Nice to see you.” I looked up at Parvati, slightly startled.

“Hi! Nice to see you again too. It’s finally my me-time.” I followed Parvati to her peaceful room; the pleasing scent of lavender was already comforting me. I sat on the chaise lounge, waiting patiently for Parvati as she took my notebook in one of her drawers.

“So, how was your week, Draupadi?” She sat on her pine-green armchair, my notebook already opened and waiting to be written on.

“Well, I kept asking myself the same question all week long. What have I gotten myself into? You know when I told you I was expecting two months ago?” Parvati nodded as I was talking.

“Well, I finally took the courage to contact the five guys who could potentially be the father last Friday right after our session. And let me tell you, it was a mess!” I finally exhaled; it seemed I had been holding my breath the whole time.

Parvati chuckled silently as she scribbled in her notebook. “So yeah, I set up a meeting with them at my apartment the day after. And oh my god.” I shook my head, remembering what happened. “First of all, I was embarrassed! Like who thought losing a bet to my best friend would lead me to this messy situation? And, who in her right mind accept to have a one-night stand for each working day?” I gawked at Parvati, expecting an answer to my rhetorical question.

“At least you had fun; I told you to loosen up! And you did, that’s progress! Good job!” Parvati beamed at me, waiting for me to continue.

“I did not see it like that, but I guess, yes… But anyway, after I told them I was pregnant and one of them is the father, they started to compete against each other! Like, what’s the point? I really don’t understand guys!” I looked at my therapist in disbelief, waiting for an answer.

“You’re not alone, don’t worry…” Parvati shook her head.

I smiled and resumed. “Oh! And I forget to say something really essential. I’m expecting twins, so I can’t do a paternity test. And my twins can have a different dad each!” I snickered at the chaotic situation I got myself into. “So, yup! My pregnancy is a sort of competition now. They are blowing up my phone, asking me what I want, if I already ate, if I drank enough water. If I also have heartburn because Bhima saw on Facebook that if yes, it means the babies will have a lot of hair and thus it might be his children; like what?”

“Oh? I recalled I had heartburn when I was pregnant with my eldest son, and he has a lot of hair.”

I stared at her, agape. “Not helping! So yeah, my week was punctuated by five dudes stupidly competing with each other. I feel like I’m in a TV reality show or something! Oh no, even better! I feel like I’m Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!” Parvati tried to suppress her laugh as I continued my monologue.