Shetukala had lived in darkness for too long, and this sudden blinding beam of sunrays in the form of Batakrishna made her squint her eyes, to maintain the inertia of life. She had fought against pain for so long, that this unexpected relief has made her restless, leaving her in fearful anticipation of something worse coming. She has been degraded since the time she remembered her existence ,that now seeing herself at this high pedestal in Batakrishna's eyes, has made her acrophobic .

Uptil now she was drowned in the sea of despair, but he has come in her life like a cyclone crashing her on the shore of happiness like a strong wave of emotion.
Now, it is upto her whether she wants to be swept again in the ocean like those sea shells, along with the receding waves of her past or anchor him with all her might. His ocean-deep eyes gave her a hope that she can now build her own sandcastle, and mould it as per her own wish.

She had survived the worst ploy of cruelty , that now she feared to read more in his eyes, than he actually shows.
A constant tussle between hope of a better future and lessons learnt from the past, twisted her heart in two opposite directions making her question her sanity.

***
"Barrister Babuuuuuu!!" A loud shriek came from Bondita's room, and everyone reached at the spot. Everyone was shocked to see the sight in front of their eyes.
Bondita was trying to exhaust the fire a large bouquet of red roses had caught with her bare hands, thus burning them. But she didn't pay heed as her only concern laid on the burning petals of the symbol of love her husband had given to her early in the morning as a reminder gift of their upcoming marriage anniversary. She had just gone to Thakur Dalaan for the morning pooja , but when she returned the fully blossomed red roses were lying in the centre of the room , burning in big flames turning black.

Anirudh dashed towards her, grabbing her from behind, by wounding his arms around her body and pulled her.
"Bondita!.....Shona ! Leave it ! Leave it!"

Bondita tried to wriggle out of his grasp, and screamed, " NO!!! I didn't even read the cards." She said with tears streaming down her eyes. That's when everyone noticed, the small pink and blue cards burning into ashes along with the roses.

" Bondita! Bondita! I'll write more for you." He picked her up in his arms forcibly and took her out of the room.
"Batuk! Come in the study with your medical kit."

"Ji dada!" Batakrishna eyed the burning bouquet which had now crumbled into ashes suspiciously, before moving out of the door.

As he came out of the room, his eyes landed on Shetukala in the corner , who was fidgeting her fingers vigorously , more than she usually does. Beads of sweat on her forehead, and the guilty expression on her face confirmed the culprit of his Boudi's pain.

Batakrishna's jaw ticked in fury, his eyes blazing like the burnt roses , behind him. He stepped towards her menacingly, about to confront her for doing such a filthy act.

"Batukkkk! Come fast!" Anirudh's voice came with an urgent need. Batakrishna gave a last glare to her making her cower and left.

***
" Bondita! Shona! What did you do? They were just flowers." Scolded Anirudh putting salve on her hands and blowing air slowly on her hands, while Batuk put the antibiotic soaked gauge on them meticulously.

Bondita hissed in pain and clenched his eyes, as tear droplets dripped from her eyes.
" I....I.... thought I would at least save the cards."

"You are saying as if they were my last cards--"

"Barrister Babu! What are you saying? " Bondita panicked , as fresh trail of tears streamed down her cheeks, and she brought her burnt fingers near his lips, slightly touching them and again winced in pain.

"Bondita ! You love tormenting me right?" Anirudh scolded and held her hands carefully and continued applying salve.

"You are crying, Barrister Babu?" Bondita asked as a pool of moisture collected at the corner of his eyes.

"Won't I, when you are in pain like this?" He said , his eyes getting brimful.

"Sorry , next time I won't do such thing."

"You better, or you don't know what I'll do." His voice became slightly playful.

" Acha! What will you do?"

"Whatever was written in those cards!" He winked.

"Now, I'm more curious." She widened her eyes and finally smiled.

Batakrishna was standing beside them watching them, his insides seething. He was unable to understand , what was more painful, whatever Shetukala did to her Boudi or the fact that he misunderstood her to be someone she was not.

He darted straight to her room, and thumped loudly on the door
The rough thumps were enough to alert Shetukala that it was him.

"SHETUKALA ! OPEN THE DOOR!....
Shetukala! Open the door I said, or I will break it.
You know I can do that."

Shetukala rushed to open the door. He had already broken two latches, and she didn't want to explain Barrister Babu why her door also broke. Subhalaxmi already had teased her saying that she wrestles with the latch.

As soon as she opened the door, Batakrishna darted inside banging the door open, and held her shoulders in painful grip, and pushed her to the wall.

"Why did you do it? Don't you even dare to lie? I know it was you." Said Batuk with a seething anger.

His black eyes smoldered like a burning coal and his congested sclera looked like undersurface of burnt coal, fiery red.

"I.....I..... Da-daktar....."

"What had I thought of you, and what you came out to be?" He spat disgustingly.

"No, no....you are taking me ...wr-wrong." Her words poured the ghee in the fire of his anger.

"Wrong? What wrong?" He gripped her jaw in one hand tightly.

"I....I.... they were roses ....they were .....not.... bo-boudi...." She started breathing heavily not able to form words under his towering figure and vice grip. She cowered and shook her head.

"So? Roses, yes. So what?"

Shetukala opened her mouth to say something but before that he lowered his face and inclined it to her level.

His lips almost touched hers as he whispered dangerously, " I don't know what your case is about , and I don't even care! But if you have any ill intentions against my Dada and Boudi, you will first have to face me,
Batakrishna Roy Chowdhury. I won't spare anyone who plots against my family. Did you get that? You better do or it won't take me time to nail it down in your brain."

His harrowing allegations teared apart her heart, and she lost whatever bit of words were left in her mouth.
Her tears flowed in constant streams of pain.

The sight of her tears made him feel a pang in his heart, but he didn't want to fall again in the trap of hers.
The next words came out uninhibited to suppress the feeling of guilt her tears caused in him.

"I've never seen an ungrateful person like you." He pulled himself away and left the room .

Shetukala stood there dumbfounded as his words replayed in her mind like a broken casette.

Ill intentions......
Plotting......
Ungrateful.....

She felt as if someone clenched her heart in tight grip , and crushed it mercilessly.

The gash of swords may bleed a river,
But the slash of words bleeds an ocean.
The former ones might heel in some time,
But the latter ones infect the relation.

Shetukala did lose her family, dignity, identity and her memory. But one thing that remains intact in a rightful person is one's self respect. She still had that. Had the police not denied to give her police protection due to her ambiguous statement , she never would have come here.
But, now that she had been shown her place, she won't breathe a single molecule of air in the same space as him.

She was amazed that she could still be hurt by anything else.
Guess what, he had showed her exactly that.

***
Batakrishna sat at the floor , his back against the door, his head dug between his knees touching his chest and arms wound around his legs.
He should not have felt hurt by what he said to her. It was not his fault. It was all hers.
She had betrayed him, broke his trust. Then why was he feeling guilty for her tears. How he had behaved vulnerable in front of her, that night. While she didn't even show a single sign of confining her trust in him. What did he know about her? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

~Apart from the fact that she might have had a difficult past, based on her restlessness and nightmares?

He shut his inner voice and pushed it back into his subconscious mind. It was certainly not helping him reduce this burden rather over piling him.

She might have difficult past , but that doesn't give her right to hurt his Boudi. He won't let anything happen to them. His Dada and Boudi had pined a lot for each other, especially his Boudi who had craved for the smallest of smiles and praises from his Dada's lips.

No matter how much his heart berates him for hurting her, he would stick to his rational side .

If it hurts like hell, so be it.

If he has to make a distance from her , so be it.

If he has to give up searching for her face first thing in the morning, so be it.

If he has to give up looking out for her whether she slept soundly or not, so be it.

If he has to bear the brunt of his words on her face everyday , so be it.

If he has to stop himself from lo.............., SO. BE. IT!!!!!

***

"Subha, go and call Shetukala." Said Bondita.

It was dinner time, but Shetukala hasn't left her room since the morning incident.
Batakrishna had been too stubborn to acknowledge her absence. He pretended to not care , but the empty chair during lunch , and now during dinner irked him.
She should be the one feeling guilty.
She should the one apologising.
She should have reflected upon her actions, rather than creating a fuss by giving up food.
All show ! All drama !

~What if it's not a show, but she is really hurt by your words?

As if I care.

~You don't?

No! Not at all!

~ Then why are your eyes looking at her door every 10 seconds?
Today Boudi has made your favourite payesh, you didn't even touch it.

That's because.....

~ That's because it isn't made by 'her'?
It happens once you taste something extraordinary, you can't accept anything lesser than that.

It's nothing like that . She doesn't matter to me. I don't care whether she eats or not.

~ Then why are you playing with your food in the plate?
Come on, eat it.

You---

"Bondita! Bondita! Shetukala is not in her room." Subhalaxmi came running.

"Not in room? She must be in verandah. Or maybe at roof to take fresh air. I'll go and check." Said Bondita going towards terrace.

"Wait! Bondita ! Let me complete first. Her all stuff is gone. See what I found in her room." She showed a letter in her hand and a small red potli.

Before Bondita could open the letter, Batakrishna snatched it from Subhalaxmi's hand, and opened it.

"Dear, Dada and Boudi!

Firstly, I am sorry because I'm going without informing you in person. But after morning incident , I don't have in me to face you all. You both have done a lot for this orphan.

I would never be able to repay what you have done for me.

Dada, I don't remember if I ever had a brother but I'm sure he would have been just like you. Your sister will always pray for your safety and prosperity.

Boudi, thank you for being a sister and a mother figure for me both at the same time. May Dada and your bond remain as strong as Shiv and Parvati. Afterall ,you are his aadishakti.

Subha didi, thank you for your kind words and gestures. You are like a 'sakhi' for me, whom I had confined in my most embarasing moments and you have shared the most fun experiences I would ever hear in my life.

I will miss you all.

Just one request, please don't hate me for my actions.

I am sorry Boudi. I never intended to hurt you. Whatever I did , maybe Dada and Subha didi will be able to explain you why I did.

I am very grateful to you all.

With love,
Shetukala."

Batakrishna's heart sank as he read out each word of the letter aloud. As if hit by a ton of bricks, he sat on his chair thunderstruck .

She left.

She left.

She left him.

Not a word for him.

Not a damn single word!

"There is one more chit in this potli." Said Subhalaxmi.
Batakrishna snatched that too. Subhalaxmi couldn't help but smile even in this serious moment.

"Aapka haq kisi aur ko ni dungi, Daktar Babu. Wo hmesha apka hi rhega.

Shetu! "

" I won't give your right to anyone else, Daktar Babu. It will be yours forever.

Shetu! "

Then , he saw her nosering kept in the red potli. He took it in his hands , as a drop of tear fell on the golden flower of it, drenching it in the pain of separation.

The large circular nosering weighed heavy in his palm even more than the burden of remorse on his heart.

The chain which used to connect it to her hair, hung loosely in air, as if broken connection from him too.
After all, he had once locked himself in her black locks.

Do tell me how was the chapter?
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Waiting for your inline comments, as this chapter is more metaphorical than usual.

Thankyou 😘😘😘