Another super long chapter...
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Satyakirth had held Raimoti's hand in the firmness of his own, their fingers entwined, as they together stepped inside the hall of the royal palace. Raimoti's eyes were widened, looking around the stone curved gargoyles on the massive grey pillars, stretching upto the dome shaped ceiling, huge crystal chandeliers hanging from them, and Satyakirth felt the tremble in her fingers, her palm cold, and she repeatedly gulped in nervousness.

The mighty Raimoti Mukherjee was nervous?
Satyakirth felt amused.

"The gargoyles won't eat you Miss Mukherjee, don't be scared."
Satya pressed his lips and winked at her teasingly, and her grip on his arm tightened further.

"I... I'm not scared!"
She muttered, her face visible pale in fear, and next her eyes were brought down to the ground, shifting uncomfortably. Satya smiled as he freed his hand from hers, gently wrapping his arm around her waist instead.

"It's alright... This is home." He hushed in her ears, and Raimoti took a deep breath to calm her senses.
"DhaiMaa is very nice, you're going to love her."

Raimoti closed her eyes and blew a little air of palpitation from her slightly rounded lips, trying to smile, and when she opened her eyes back, her eyes fell on her, Satya's DhaiMaa, standing infront of her with a tender smiling face, radiating a calm soothing aura around.

"DhaiMaa.." Raimoti murmured, and Satya let go her waist slowly, and this brief vacancy was promptly filled up by a pair of motherly arms, holding Raimoti's hands with utmost love.

"RaniMaa... We've known about your existence in his life for sometime now, but we had no idea about this recent occurences," the old lady paused as a girl in indigo saree offered them a glass of cold water. Raimoti gulped it's entire content at once, and her eyes widened at the old woman wanting her to continue the conversation.

"How? I mean how do you know about me?"
Raimoti asked softly, and the old lady casted a motherly glance at Satyakirth.

"Raja Saheb is too precious to our Kingdom to be left alone. Hence, whatever he does, he's always in our watch."

"There are some friends here, whom I had told you about, remember?" Satya intervened, and Raimoti nodded her head slowly.

Satya was smiling and his eyes met with that of the old lady again.
"Tell me Raja Saheb... Her full name... You know the customs."
She took the glasses back from their hands and kept them on a tray aside, and Satya frowned once, before replying promptly.

"Why? It's Raimoti Mukherjee."
His brows had an amusing frown and the old woman rolled her eyes at him, her hand smacking his arm in a playful affection.

"Mukherjee? No... !!" She now turned towards the confused beauty standing with a blank expression on her face, as her tender hands cupped her chin, making her eyes look up.
"It's Rani Raimoti Rudra Narayan Sen..." She pronounced the words very slowly, as if to made her internalise with it forever.
"And, RaniMaa, from today onwards...Raipur is yours, as much as you are Raipur's... Always remember."
She smiled.

Raimoti looked visibly flushed, her mouth opened in awe, dumbfounded, and this sudden change in her demeanor amused Satya beyond extent.

"She'll remember... She had a verrry strong memory..."
Satya chuckled, but Raimoti didn't look up, instead his teasing words had made her lower her head once again.

Interesting!! She isn't arguing even!
Satya mused.

The initial bout of wonderment had taken Raimoti by surprise, but after two glasses of cold water, she slowly started to regain her normal self, and the first thing she thought was about the name.

"Who... Who is Raja Rudra Narayan Sen again?" She had creases on her forehead, and Satyakirth exchanged a glance with DhaiMaa.

"Umm... That RaniMaa, you'll get to know soon." The old woman jested, and Raimoti turned towards Satya and hushed in a low voice.

"They are calling me somebody's wife... And I'm not even sure who the man is! Great!" She shrugged, and her words were almost like an inaudible monologue to herself. Satya chuckled, and in response, she just felt his hand on her shoulder, rubbing her arms slowly.

"Have patience." He hushed back, as his eyes turned towards the old lady sitting a little afar, fanning them with a large cane weaved hand fan. 

"DhaiMaa, where is he? Won't he come to greet his RaniMaa?" He asked, and before the woman could reply, a gruff grave voice replied back, startling Raimoti to the core.

"Ofcourse, Raja Saheb... Your Highness... How could you even think I'll miss out on this first greetings!"

Satya had a broad smile on his lips immediately, and following his gaze, Raimoti saw the owner of the voice, a man, whom for a moment she thought to be the incarnation of none other than Mahishasura, the demon king!
He was a tad bit taller than Satya, immensely muscular, with a pitch dark skin, unblemished, and a head full of small curls. But unlike Satya's, his were much thicker, denser.

Raimoti gulped at the sight nervously, clutching Satya's arm again, and the Mahishasur approached them with giant step.

"Satya?" Raimoti breathed his name, and then her eyes widened as how the man bowed down infront of her, touching his forehead to the ground where their feet had touched.

"Arey Raja Saheb, get up... " Satya smiled brightly, letting out a playful chuckle, and the Mahishasur rose up to his knees, looking up at them with his towering gaze, his eyes had a hint of embarassment.

"Raja Saheb?" Raimoti frowned and Satya smirked at her.

"Alright... Enough of ambiguity... Tell your RaniMaa our secret, will you!" Satya commanded the man, as like an obedient child, he sat down on the stone floor beside Satya's feet, his eyes casted down and his lips curled into a grateful smile.

"I'm..." He looked at Raimoti and joined his hands, "I'm Raja Saheb's Shadow companion, RaniMaa."

"Shadow Companion?" Raimoti muttered.
"ChhayaShangi!"
She exclaimed, and Satya nodded, attempting to explain her properly.

"So, my mother gave birth to twins, as I've already told you, but my twin sister,Yogamaya, didn't make it to this world." He paused, and Raimoti lowered her gaze in empathy.
"Since childhood, there had been multiple threats on my life, as you can understand, being the only heir, if I could be removed from the path, then it becomes a lot easier for the British to take control of the land, and Thakur Didi didn't want to take any chances."
Satya exhaled, and Raimoti nodded her head in agreement.

"Raj Mata, that is Raja Saheb's Thakur Didi, the able ruler that she was, concocted a fullproof scheme, a scheme to keep him safe..." DhaiMaa interjected, and Raimoti's eyes widened further in inquisition.

"How?"

"By swapping him with his Shadow Companion..." She looked at the Mahishasur with pride and love in her eyes.. "The idea is that the Shadow Companion, vowed to the Royal crown for his unquestioned loyalty, would grow up as Rudha Narayan, would do everything as Rudha Narayan, but when in need, he'd give his everything to protect the real Rudra Narayan."

DhaiMaa paused, and her words made Raimoti gasp out loud.

"So, so you are Raja Rudra Narayan Sen?" She had now turned to Satya, her eyes reflecting sheer awe, and Satyakirth nodded gently.

"Then who is Satyakirth?"
She murmured, and Satya got up from his seat, and sat on the floor infront of her, bending his knees, his hands placed on Raimoti's joined hands that were kept on her thighs.

"Satyakirth is a ruse, Rai... it's to fool the world... There is no Satyakirth!" His eyes reflected a genuine sincerity, as they met Raimoti's astounded orbs, staring back at him with a thousand questions, and suddenly Satya missed the luxury of having more time in his hand, more time to look into those deep bewitching orbs, more time to get lost in their endless depth.

"But... You two look so different... How is it that no ever doubted, or questioned?" Raimoti asked, and DhaiMaa smiled at her with impressed eyes.

"Raj Mata had her ways... " She chuckled fondly, "the kingdom was already going through a lot of turmoil... first the disappearance of our dear Raja Saheb, then Choto RaniMaa's untimely demise, and the restlessness in the land was taking a toll on all of us. So, during Rudra's coronation, at the age of five, Raj Mata had widely announced that the new king is to observe a hard penance for thirty years, for the prosperity of this kingdom, that is he won't see the sun...!"

Raimoti gasped out loud at her words, and Satya squeezed her hand gently.

"Everyone gasped and gulped like this at the announcement RaniMaa... the entire kingdom... It is indeed a very hard way of leading life, but it's not uncommon. The ancestors of this land had done this before, confining themselves to the dark walls of this castle for years." DhaiMaa paused to breathe. "But Raj Mata used this concept as a stratagem to safeguard the real king's identify to the mass. And, hence, it's only at solar eclipse the people of our land gather at the royal premises to see their king, your husband, Raja Rudra Narayan Sen."

"Asuryasparsha!! Untouched by the sun." Raimoti remarked inaudible, and Satya tightened his grip on her hands, nodding slowly.

"Yes..." The old lady continued, " and while Raja Saheb was out in England, safe, getting training in the royal ways of life, his Shadow Companion was here, this boy, growing up as the prince himself, training in all princely pursuits, and today, he's prepared to face any threat that was to come on the real Prince."

Raimoti gasped again, in awe and wonder, and slowly looked at gigantic man, now seated at their feet like a tamed tiger, his gaze lowered and his hand folded in respect, and Raimoti slowly got up from her seat and placed her hand on the man's head.

"RaniMaa!" The man gulped and looked up at her with eyes filled with devotion, and Raimoti smiled brightly at him.

"What is your name?"

"Name?" The man turned towards the old woman once, before lowering his head slowly.

"He doesn't have a name RaniMaa... Shadows aren't meant to have names." She exhaled sharply.

The lavish royal bathroom was a celebration of white and grey, with the lavender in the tall vase, it was most welcoming to the senses. It was anything unlike Raimoti's imagination, but it was more! Handmade scented candles were lit all around, and there were two giant-sized ceremic bathtubs, both grey in colour, and in between lay a variety of  body musks; rose, lavender, sandalwood!
Raimoti breathed the fragnance, taking a lung full of it's aroma, letting it drench her senses, as she felt a soft touch on her hand.
Raimoti turned her face and looked to her side, a face of a young woman smiling cordially at her, wearing a indigo saree, same as she had seen before.

"You all will be here when I bathe?" Raimoti raised an eyebrow at her, eyeing the two other woman who were there, and the first one nodded her head gently, that same gentle smile plastered to her lips.
Raimoti felt amused. This was new to her, but her bold heart had always been prepared for any newness that came in path.
She without any reluctance, had let the girls slide down the soiled saree that she was wearing, and with absolute care, they undid the tangled mess in her hair. Raimoti sat on a stone stool with her eyes closed, her naked skin now being tenderly masked with a pink rose paste, and she inhaled it's fragnance once again.
It was calming, soothing... And, soon after, she was guided inside the lucid water into the beautiful bathtub.
Soaking in that heated water, feeling it hug every inch of skin so gently, breathing in the aroma of the bubble bath... Raimoti felt being in heaven... Her mini-vacation from the world of wearies... a place to breathe deeply and let her inner peace return... And, slowly her mind started to relax, drifting into a much calming thoughts of being tied in Satyakirth's arms, in the cosiness of her own bedroom, in Calcutta.

"Rani Maa..."
DhaiMaa's gentle voice made her open her eyes, the water level soaking her bare skin, covering upto the length of her bosoms, only her legs and arms glistening above it's level.

Raimoti turned her head and smiled, and the old lady sat down by the tub, a tray full of accessories kept beside her.
Raimoti saw with widened eyes as she picked up a pair of red and white bangles, wrapped in thin threads of silver, and she held them up to her.

"Shanka, pola... These belonged to your mother-in-law." The woman suddenly had tears in her eye.
"And now, these are yours."

Raimoti felt a pit of emotions rising up her stomach.
What was she doing? Deceiving these good people?

She sighed softly and held DhaiMaa's hand with her water soaked fingers.

"I'll wear them... Thank you." She tried to smile, and suddenly the old woman gripped her hand.

"RaniMaa... Would you atleast stay back with us... Please..."
Her voice had an earnest plea, but only for a moment, as she regained her composure almost immediately.

"Long we've been deprived of blessings from a royal mother...and now with you there's still hope that..."

Raimoti looked down.
"But, I can't leave him alone... I've to... I need to be with him..."

"I understand RaniMaa..." DhaiMaa interjected politely.
"You're exactly like her, your mother-in-law."

Raimoti sat upright, now reaching to hold the old woman's hand with both her hands, and the girls wrapped her with a dry cloth immediately, sheathing her feminity with utmost respect and affection.

"He is your son, isn't he." She suddenly asked, and the old woman raised her glance at her with a startled expression.

"He is..." She nodded.
"And, I know what you might be thinking..." The old woman sighed.
"Choto RaniMaa was to name him... But, before that, the night Raja Saheb was born, a terrible fire broke inside the castle, and it took everything... My husband, and our dear Raja Saheb."

Raimoti pressed her hand.
"I'm so sorry... But you said a little earlier that the king had disappeared."

"Yes, because we never found his body... Only the charred skeleton of my husband." She breathed, and her face had an iron strength which made Raimoti smile at her compassionately.

"This kingdom needs an heir RaniMaa... And the way of life Raja Saheb had chosen... It's... It's an impossible dream to even think that... " The old woman swallowed, and Raimoti looked away.
"But, now with you... "

"I understand." Rai murmured, but inside her mind she felt a thrash of a hundred lashes.

Heir? I'm not even his wife! An imposter... Yes, that what I am!

"What about your son? Can he not marry and continue.." Raimoti asked, and the woman nodded her head.

"No, RaniMaa... he is vowed to celibacy, that can only be revoked by a royalty... He's sworn to protect the king and his family."

Raimoti nodded and exhaled sharply, turning to look at the girl who was wiping her arms with absolute sincerity.

"What's your name? Could you please get a paste of caramelized sugar and honey." She asked, and the girl nodded, smiling, and her eyes looked at DhaiMaa with silent incomprehendible words in them.

"She doesn't have a name... And she won't answer RaniMaa."

"Why?" Raimoti frowned.

"Because, she has willingly gave away her power to speak... This is another way, to protect the king from any outsider that might invade to seek information... No tongue, and hence, no words!"

Raimoti shuddered at her words, and her eyes widened at the young girl again, smiling happily at her.

"Mouni... That's what you can call them... And, they are here to lay their lives to protect you and the king, just like my son."

"Mouni!! The silenced one!" Raimoti murmured, and a drop of tear rolled down the corner of her eye.

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There was a silence to his soul, his heart felt like the fall leaves under frost. He felt the chill in his blood, coldness bringing the synapses of his brain to a stand still. Part of it was a pain, yet one he could endure, one he could sleep through night after night without the anaesthesia of false hope. For, this was his winter; and he knew he would wait for spring and the chattering of the birds.
But, dealing with the immediate emptiness somehow became the greatest challenge.

With the growing night, the walls of the house were becoming increasingly suffocating for Batakrishna, as his early encounters, first with Mira, then his uncle, and later with Maha had left his mind thoughtful, needless to say, his heart in tatters. And, hence after battling with the all encompassing loneliness for hours, tossing restlessly in his bed, Batakrishna had finally decided to take a stroll under the open night sky. The household was silent, and Batuk crossed the guest room, his heart beating faster with every step ahead, but not once did he turn to look at the half closed door.
The corridor ended into a spiral staircase, and slowly Batuk started to climb up, trying to calm his heart with staggered deep breaths.

"Bhargavi?"

The unexpected silhouette of a seated figure had made Batuk frown in surprise as he reached the steps leading directly to the open terrace, her head rested against the designed wooden railing, and on her lap a book lay open, a pencil rolling between her lips.

"What are you doing here this late?" He asked her politely, and girl got up at once, her eyes turned away from him, as she prepared to leave at once.

"No wait." Batuk had caught hold of the small book held in her hand. It was the same book with numeric puzzles which had sparkled the flames of friendship between them for the first time, on their way to Tulsipur.

"Why should I wait, Choto Zamindar Babu? Did you wait? For her?"
Bhargavi had turned around, her eyes on him, and her prompt words made Batuk furrow his brows.

"What do you mean?" Batuk asked, sensing a discord, and Bhargavi let out a sigh, resisting the outburst of emotions from choking her words.

"You don't know? Aren't you getting married?"
She murmured, and Batuk exhaled softly at her words.

"Am I not suppose to?"

"Yes... But not with that new lady!!"
Bhargavi's words came out as a vehement objection and Batuk took the book from her hand and turned it's pages, focusing on the numbers written on them.
"And, you've hit her too!"

Her words made Batuk look up at once, as he left the book and held her wrist instead.

"I'd never hit her! I'd see my end before that!"
Batuk's words had a confident determination, and it made Bhargavi look down.
"But, I've seen those wounds, the red patches on her body."
She murmured.

"Did you ask her how those happened?" Batuk asked softly, and Bhargavi nodded her head.
"What did she say?"

"She didn't... She's crying since you left her." She murmured again, and Batuk let out another deep sigh.

"Would you sit with me Bhargavi? Please!"
His voice had a soft plea, a plea of helplessness, and it made the disapproved disappointment in Bhargavi's behaviour soften down.

Batuk had already sank down on the last step of the staircase, and Bhargavi joined him, seating to his right, her back leaned against the railing this time.

"I... I want to marry Mira... But, but she rejected me." Batuk's words were tainted with agony, and Bhargavi frowned at once.

"What do you mean by she rejected you? She loves you Choto Zamindar Babu!! And, I saw what you wrote on her back."

Without a hint of blush, Bhargavi blurted out the words, claiming his love for the woman she considered family, and Batuk ran his fingers through his hair, looking up, letting out a sigh of confusion.

"I know she does... But, I don't know why she did this... break my heart... she made me promise never to go near her even... How do you justify that Bhargavi?"
Batuk murmured, his face buried in his palms, and Bhargavi held his hand, tugging at him, as she made him touch her head almost immediately.

"Promise me you'll get me married to a man who would never love me... Promise me you'll make me suffer the rest of my life... promise me..."
Bhargavi's words came out like a frenzied blabber, and Batuk removed his hand from her head and widened his eyes at her, his mind suddenly unable to comprehend the unexpected occurrence of the moment.

"Are you out of your mind?"
He almost screamed, and Bhargavi looked at his eyes and smiled.

"Exactly choto Zamindar Babu... That's exactly what you should have told Mira Didi... It's not necessary that you'll have to promise to every unreasonable demand that is made to you." She paused, and Batuk's mouth fell in wonder.
"Suppose whatever I just said, if I force you to make a promise... Will you do it? No right? It's just the same."
Bhargavi shrugged slightly, and it brought a smile on his lips, a smile of amazement.
"If you love someone, it's on you to make her feel it... Make her feel that you'd always be there for her."

"Wow!"
He gasped at her words.
"You are really smart for you age Bhargavi... I should talk to Kaka and send you to a very good school in Calcutta."

Batuk smiled, and his words made Bhargavi smile too.

"Thank you..." She pressed her eyes in gratitude, but then her expression changed at once.
"But, I'm not happy about the wounds on her... I know you did those... And, I'm really sad!"

Batuk's chuckled in embarrassment.
"Arey... I told you those aren't wounds! Those are..." His words were defensive, trying desparately to explain his innocence to her, and suddenly there were no words that he could conjure.

"Those are what? I'm saddened with the thought that you too hit her like those men before." She looked away.

"Bhargavi..." Batuk's words were suddenly a hush, and it made her turn her head towards him.
"Those are... Those are wounds of love." His voice was low, and he almost whispered the words in her ear, making her stir a little.

"What do you mean? How can you hurt someone if you love her?" She gulped, and hushed the words back.

"Love Bhargavi... When you love someone with a... with a lot of madness, those marks happen."
Batuk spoke slowly, and his words were somehow making her nervous, stirring a strange kind of feeling in her stomach.

"But, there aren't any marks on you!"
She swallowed hard.

"May be because my experience of love was more maddening than hers... Hence, those marks..."

"But how?" Bhargavi pressed his arm, and Batuk turned to look at her face, their glances colliding with each other's, as both looked away at once.

"You... You'd know once you grow up... It's... It's what happens in love."
He breathed the words, and Bhargavi felt a similar fearful flutter inside her stomach.

"I'm hardly four to five years younger than you... And, I understand things... Tell me..." The pressure on his arm increased and Bhargavi looked at his face once again, feeling a strange kind of rush in her blood, unknown to her till then.

Batuk swallowed hard, and held her hand in attempts to calm her excited enquiry, but instead his touch made her heart palpitate further.

Tell me..." She urged once more.

"By kissing... Um... Actually sucking on the skin, it creates like a... like a suction, and blood clots under the skin." He murmured, without looking up, and Bhargavi gasped inaudibly.
"But... But it's not harmful... I mean... It's just love."

"So you did that to her?" She muttered inaudible, fearing him to hear the loud thudding of her heartbeat, and Batuk nodded his head.

"But... But it looks like someone had bruised her." She gulped nervously again.

"Fine... " Batuk sighed and turned around, and very carefully he held her hand and brought it to her own lips.
"You don't believe me right... Do this, try sucking on your arm... Um... Here...", he showed her a spot a little above on her veined wrist and Bhargavi' eyes widened, her heart threating to come out of her chest.
"Now, press your lips here, and suck, like you suck on a ripe mango..."
He instructed her, and Bhargavi swallowed hard, following his words in a trance.
He guided her, and she pressed her lips on her own skin, trying to suck away the palpitation that had now transcended to other parts of her body, her stomach, her legs, and she felt a tremor on her knees.

"Enough... That's enough now..." Batuk had pulled her hand away from her mouth, and startled at his action, she widened her eyes and looked at him.
But, his face had a frown.
The moistened spot on her hand had nothing but marks of her teeth.

"I told you to suck dumbo... Not bite." Batuk rolled his eyes at her, and Bhargavi felt a strange kind of heat rushing up to her ears.

"I did..." She murmured, casting her eyes down, and Batuk's mouth fell at her words.
"You lied!"

"What?" Batuk had jumped up, " I lied? I? Why do you think I'd hurt anyone? Especially her? This is ridiculous Bhargavi!"
His voice was rising up, and Bhargavi sat quietly with her face lowered down, her eyes pressed, desparately trying to calm her irregularly hammering heartbeat.
She wasn't listening to him anymore... Not anymore!
To fight back the unruly raging butterflies inside her stomach, Bhargavi nodded her head sideways, and somehow it made Batuk do something that he himself never had anticipated.
He grabbed Bhargavi hand and brought it to his lips.

"Oh... So you don't believe me! Do you!" He blurted out, and in fury his lips had pressed on her skin, his eyes closed, and Bhargavi felt her skin sizzle under the inexplicable ministrations of his tongue and lips. There were not teeth that had touch her skin but his tongue was rolling skillfully, his lips creating a suction exactly the way he had explained.

Bhargavi suddenly wanted to scream, not in fear, but something else, something which she couldn't fathom herself, she felt as if she'd explode any minute now, her body drenched in sweat, and her heart beating on her throat."

"Ahh!"
A soft sound escalated from her core, and it made Batuk leave her hand at once, as he wiped his mouth with the back of his palm, his eyes proudly admiring his artwork on Bhargavi's arm.

"There..." He almost chuckled.
"You see this... I wasn't lying!"
He smacked lovingly on her head and it made Bhargavi open her eyes.
Her arm indeed was painted with a mark of love... And, suddenly she felt it to be beautiful.

"Now now do you believe me,
Miss I-know- it- all?"
Batuk winked at her playfully and Bhargavi lowered her head, in desparate attempts of hiding the fresh crimson blush on her flushed face.

"So, never you doubt me little girl... When I said I didn't hurt Mira... I meant it... And, why would I... I love her so much afterall... How could anyone hurt  someone they love... How could..."
Batuk went on, but Bhargavi wasn't listening anymore, as this first introduction of her to the world of forbidden emotions had left her exhausted, her entire body vibrating in an overwhelming sensation.

"...And, on her body... Especially when I know what she had been..."
Batuk continued, but only bits and pieces reached her ears, making her think about all the places on Mira's body where she had seen these marks. Just a while ago, she had literally forced Mira to change the Abeer strained saree, wrapping her into something softer, and it was when her eyes had travelled over over the exposed part of her upper body, the bruises infuriating her senses against Batuk. Bhargavi pressed her eyelids further, thinking about how the love marks were glowing on the crook of Mira's neck, down her collarbone, on the globe of her left breast, her midriff, her waist, below her navel... Bhargavi couldn't think anymore, as a tingling sensation ran down her spine making her feel a rush of buildup in her core, and despite her vehement nod of head in denial and dismissal, she felt it escaping her body a little, drenching the area in between her thighs.

"Oi... Bhargavi... Where are you!"
Batuk pulled the braid that hung loose on her shoulder, and Bhargavi trembled.
"Hey... What happened? Are you alright!"

Batuk's voice was laced with concern, as he narrowed his eyes at her, and with a caring tenderness he wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
"Why are you sweating?" He asked innocently, and Bhargavi looked away.

"I... I'm not feeling well." She finally murmured, and Batuk got up at once.

"Ohoo... It's way past bed time Bhargavi... Go... Go at once." He took the pencil still clutched in her hand and kept it on the stairs.
"Do you want to me walk you to the room?" He offered, and Bhargavi gulped nervously, nodding her head in dismissal.

"Oh alright... Goodnight Miss I-know-it-all... Sweet Calculus Dreams." He chuckled at his own words, and Bhargavi started the walk down the stairs slowly, like a demented soul, without looking back at him.

"Ohh... And err..." Batuk called back.
"Can I keep your book for the night..." He asked, a little embarassment tainting his voice. "I'm... I'm not able to sleep, and I thought of solving some of these... Well... Can I have it?"

Keep whatever you want Choto Zamindar Babu... I'll let you have everything that's mine... Everything!

Bhargavi gulped, but no words came out from her mouth.
She could'nt turn back to face him either, just a nod of head, and she heard Batuk thanking her gleefully.

Goodnight Batakrishna Babu... And, thank you for making me wake up.
Bhargavi mused.

The telephone started to ring, suddenly!

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