Batakrishna Roy Chowdhury blinked twice, and upon opening his eyes the second time, it hit hers, an impact so strong that it threw him off-balance, completely. It was like a bright morning sun after years of lifeless nights, it was like feeling the rhythm of heartbeat for the first time, it was as if nothing existed... nothing... except those large dreamy eyes looking back at him.
The world suddenly seemed warmer, brighter and more welcoming.
The eyelashes were fluttering in a poetry...
The curled locks of her dark traces had fallen on her face, entrapping his soul in it's dark bewitching spiral, her sharp nose had a silver septum ring, dangling on her philtrum, the cupid's bow of her upper lip quivering in a rhyme, matching the rhythmic sway of the septum ring, in a perfect poetry... Her mouth was slightly parted, showing a little of her perfectly shaped white teeth, and her plum lower lip moved a little, as if inviting him to fill her soul with the endless ministrations of his own lips, more than his mind had envisioned within that miniscule moment of time.

Batuk gulped at the sight.
It wasn't normal, it wasn't natural to feel this way, but he couldn't help the thoughts... The earnest urge of touching her made his muscles stiffen in a longing ache.

The angel was smiling at him, not a smile, but an eager happiness that had made her eyes glisten with emotion, it was as if she was expecting this moment, she was expecting him... his welcome, his embrace... his warmth!
It didn't matter what she wore, he didn't pay any attention to it as well, but the miniscule detailing of her face had his heart, and...
Gosh! She was beautiful!
Not the kind of alluring, bewitching beauty that Raimoti possessed, not the phlegmatic all encompassing beauty that Bondita was adorned with... But, the beauty of this young woman was different, it was primitive, it was unpretentious, it was earthy! It was the kind of beauty that demands compassion, calmness, the kind of beauty that calls for home!

The thoughts made him gulp again, and the moment felt real... She was indeed inching closer, her every step felt like a sensuous hammer in his chest... she was nearing him with every passing second, bridging the gap between them with every step taken, and he too wanted her in his arms, her face on his chest, so that he could make her hear the music of his newfound heartbeat!

Batuk smiled back too, but before he could inch forward and make her his, he felt a slight discord.
Not just slight, but the discord was massive, it's tremors were like a devastating earthquake, quaking the entire poetic universe that he had built around him.
The lady did approach forward, but not towards him, but to the one standing behind him, and before he could fathom the occurance of the situation, he saw her stooping down to touch his sister-in-law's feet.

"Didi! I..."
Her voice felt like a honey dripped delicacy to his starved soul, still wondering who she might be.

"I... I need to see him."

Batuk saw with widened eyes as Bondita pulled her up, drawing her close in an embrace, and Batuk's gaze narrowed upon seeing the frowning girl standing behind his 'angel of destruction'.

"You are that man... aren't you?"
The girl was frowning sharply at him, making him feel a little uneasy, given the surge of unrealistic rush of adrenaline that he had just experienced.

"I'm a man, yes..." He tried to smile, "you have to be more precise than that."

"The rude man from the telephone, Barrister Dada's brother."
The girl rolled her eyes at him, making him widened his eyes in disbelief.

"You are....?"

"Bhargavi, yes." The girl folded her hands to her chest and looked at him proudly.
"I told you I'd find you."

It felt like a shattered mirror, an abrupt awakening from a beautiful dream, a broken string of a tanpura...
And, Batuk felt even worse, as if life had slapped him hard with the cruelest of all jokes.
He breathed out and turned towards the woman held in Bondita's arms.

"Boudi?" He asked, and Bondita looked up to meet his questioning eyes.

"Batuk... This is Mira... From Dehradun."

It felt like a blow, and the name was enough for Batuk's consciousness to swim back across the ocean of love. In a moment, the intangible tranquility that he had felt was transformed into a strong discomfort, mixed with a sense of uncomfortable resentment.

It was the same woman whose presence he had tried to avert some days back, the same woman whom his uncle had warned him about, the woman who had tried to disharmonize the perfect harmony of his brother's marital life.
He hadn't known much about her, but the little information he had was enough for him to feel a natural resentment towards her at once.

"What is she doing here?" He asked curtly, earning an eye roll from his sister-in-law.

Mira had freed Bondita from her embrace, and was standing with her face down, gaze lowered on the floor, her large eyelashes were a little drenched from the drops of tears that had latched onto them. She was pressing her lips together, probably to stop the flow of emotions that her heart was experiencing at that moment.

How can such an angelic face have such destructive undertones hidden behind!
Batuk sighed.

"Bondita Boudidimoni, we had called before, but this man said Barrister Dada isn't available to speak to us." Bhargavi's displeased gaze was now on Batuk, and he simply looked away.
"But, when Ms. Lenny received your invitation letter about Barrister Dada's birthday next month, we found your address, and just couldn't stay back." She paused, and looked at Bondita with narrowed hopeful eyes.
"Mira Didi wanted to meet Barrister Dada, she had been crying for days now... and we just got down from the train, and..." she paused suddenly, looking at Bondita's thoughtful face.
"I hope you remember me, Boudidimoni? I'm Bhargavi from Tehri Garhwal."

Bondita was thinking, but she nodded slowly and smiled at her words.
"Yes, I remember you Bhargavi... But, I'm wondering how did you..."

Bondita couldn't finish her sentence as they all heard a worked up engaging voice of a man calling out for Bhargavi.

"Arey Bhaggu, where are..."

Batuk turned around at once, and so did Bondita, and the moment her eyes met with that of the man's, he paused mid-sentence, an astonishment of the unexpected was clearly written all over his face.

"Bondita... Um... Mrs. Roy Chowdhury?"
His hands had automatically moved up, folded in a greeting towards them, and Bondita smiled back courteously.

"Rishit Babu... Namaskar!"
Now she had the answer to the first question that had popped in her mind.

"You brought them here?" She asked.

"Yes... Well, Miss Lenny requested and we weren't able to communicate over the phone, so..." Rishit paused and looked at Batuk, nodded at him in courtesy.
Batuk, however, didn't return the gesture. He had seen Rishit once before, on Bondita's graduation party, wearing a striking red coat, and that was the only thing he recalled about him.
His eyes were scrutinizing him, trying to note every detail if his changed expression the moment he met his boudi.

Rishit started to speak again.
"We, infact tried to call your telephone the first thing after getting down from the train this morning, but..."

Bondita was about to reply, but instead Batuk walked a little forward in response, standing as a guard before Bondita.
"You haven't read the morning newspaper, have you?" He asked him plainly.
"Our house is burnt down last night, and we don't have a place to entertain guests at this moment, so... "

"Batuk!" Bondita stopped him with a mild defiance.

............................................

"Daktar Da, exactly as you said, five British police was scouting around this house, you... You need to leave."
Young Mohim was panting in excitement and fear, as he almost sank down on the ground infront of Satyakirth.

"I knew they would, and I'm prepared." Satya's jaws had tightened at once.

Anirudh was seated on a chair beside him.
"They might have followed us last night "
He sighed, getting up from the chair with an immediate urgency.
"You leave Satya... I'll be here till tomorrow."

Satya turned towards him.
"No, Anirudh Da... We all would leave, but not together, I've a plan." He looked at the young man sitting on the floor and picked him up gently.
"Mohim, we don't have a lot of time. You go with Girish and others, by the river route, and transport the ammunition safely to Chattagram. I'll meet you there."

Mohim had set at once as Satya looked at Anirudh with pleading eyes.
"Anirudh Da... Would you please take care of Raimoti till tonight? I need to make some arrangements."

Anirudh nodded, as he held Satya's hand in assurance.
"I certainly would. But, do you think it'd wise for you to be out in the open? The British officers probably..."

Satya sighed, cutting in his words.
"But, we'd need money Anirudh Da... I've hid it's in a safe place, in a boat, and it's in the open."

"Is it necessary for you to go?"
Anirudh was already searching for the torn kurta that he had worn last night, and from it's pocket, he had pulled out a bunch of burnt, soiled paper currency.

Satya too was looking at the useless lump of papers, and Anirudh looked up at him helplessly.

"We can save a few from that lump and I'm afraid that won't be enough." Satya sighed. "I've to go out Dada, there isn't any other choice."

"There is."

The two men was pleasantly startled by a soft firm voice calling out from the doorway, and as they both turned together, their eyes met with that of Raimoti's.
She was standing with the support of the wooden frame of the door, the black shawl pulled over her head, covering her body entirely from view. Just her face was visible, and her eyes reflected a respectful determination.

"There is a way... You don't have to go out Satyakirth Babu." She staggered a little closer to the men as Satya immediately rushed to support her in his arms.

"Raimoti... You..."
Satya couldn't finish his words as he felt her hands on his, and she had kept a white handkerchief on his palm, and on it was her necklace, and her earrings, the white expensive rocks sparkling their way out in the shady darkness of the house.

"These should do for now I believe, until we could arrange more."
Her voice had a happy ring in it, and Satya sighed deeply.
He wanted to lift her up in his arms, he wanted to kiss her deep, he wanted to touch her feet in gratitude, but, all he could do was utter a simple thank you, hiding desparately the moisture that had threatened to flow down his eyes.

"You don't have to thank me... Just buy me a pair of sarees." Raimoti grinned.
"And, don't go out, not without me."

Love has a strange equation with human behaviour, the more you try, the far it slithers, but the moment you stop trying, it runs back to where it belonged.
Anirudh witnessed the free-flowing expression of love in that moment, in the heart of the two souls standing infront of him, not trying to love, but yet, loving each other in the purest form possible... It was unannounced, it wasn't proclaimed, but their locked eyes conveyed the contents of their occupied hearts.

Anirudh smiled warmly and waited out for the duo to dwell in their moment, and in the meanwhile, he picked up the small pile of clothes and tiny belongings arranging them in Bondita's sling bag.

Mohim had left. Girish had come to bid him a temporary farewell and Satya made Raimoti sit down slowly on the old couch.

"Anirudh Da... You have to fetch Bondita and Batuk from the bakery, and I'll wait at the back gate with Rai. Once we all meet, we'll head straight for Rangpur, we'll wait out the danger, and then you'll leave for Tulsipur with the two women, and Batuk and I would leave for our next destination."

"I won't go anywhere without you." Raimoti protested mildly, and Satya smiled at her.

"You are needed in the final case hearing Miss Mukherjee... After that, you will be wherever I go."

"And you next destination?" Anirudh narrowed his eyes, as he saw Satya quickly rub some black tar on his face, neck and arms, changing his kurta into a pair of plain pleated shirt and trousers infront of them without any inhibitions.

Raimoti pressed her lips and looked down.

"That I'll tell you later." Satya hurried.
"For now, get them to the back gate."

Raimoti tried to get up, but her wounded body gave away, she held her head at once and sank back in the couch.

"Are you alright?" Anirudh asked her softly.

"Yes." She smiled, desparately hiding her affliction from her face.

A true character of a man is determined when faced with a danger, and in the face of that inevitable prime danger, both Anirudh and Satyakirth remained calm, working in sync, almost like an orchestrated performance, and Raimoti sat back on her seat observing them in their action... It was a delightful learning!

"Barrister Babu... Barrister..."
Bondita had rushed inside the house, but the first thing that stuck her eyes was the abrupt change in the ambience of the place. Anirudh and Satya had burnt the maps and papers and every other sign of their residence from the house. And, Bondita's eyes narrowed further as she saw Satya's disguise.

"What happened?" Her mouth fell open.

"We need to leave Bondita, right now." Satya had answered promptly as Bondita's eyes shifted from him to her husband.

"But...."

"But?" Anirudh asked her.

"But, Mira is here Barrister Babu, along with Bhargavi, and Rishit Sinha had brought them here... To meet you." Bondita brushed a glance at Satya and Raimoti.
"I've left them with Batuk at the bakery."

The announcement was followed by a few seconds of silence.
Anirudh heard her words, closed his eyes and finger brushed his hair backward, and then letting out a sigh, he turned towards Satya and spoke slowly.

"Satya, there is something I need to attend to. So, I suggest we hide in a prominent hotel tonight, a place where the British police won't dream of raiding,  I attend to this girl, and submit the evidence in the morning, and then we go on our way as planned." He paused to look at Rai.
"Meanwhile we arrange a vehicle for us. Suggest me if you have any better idea."

Satya was looking at Anirudh with a flabbergasted expression. Never in his life had anyone guided him with any suggestions, and now this man, this epitome of a man, was not only guiding him, but also was offering him his precious companionship.

"Whatever you say Anirudh Da." He smiled and turned towards Raimoti.

"Go with him Miss Mukherjee, and will come and met you all at night." He turned towards Anirudh.
"Which hotel Anirudh Da?"

"The Great Eastern India," Anirudh smirked.
"Kaka has a premium membership there."

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Let me know how it was.

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