"But... But why me Kaka? You didn't even ask me once!"
Batuk was seated at the dining table with his head cupped in his hands, a sharp frown of displeasure evident in his voice, and Trilochan adjusted his gold rimmed glasses and cleared his throat.

"You, because Tulsipur is your responsibility too... and, and there wasn't an opportunity... This is the first time we got to speak properly since that night Batuk!"

Batuk groaned at this answer.

"So now you plan to pawn me for a post office and a hospital?"

"And a water tank, and an electricity pole!" Trilochan added and Batuk looked at him through the crack in his fingers.

"So basically you Are pawning me?"
Batuk let out a deep sigh and pulled infront the plate of hot luchi.

"It's not called pawning... This called marriage! The oldest pawn game in history... Plus you are getting a beautiful wife to live with!" Trilochan was chuckling softly, and Batuk pursed his lips.

"You should have had more children Kaka... Then probably we'd have, what's left... Umm... A police station, a fire brigade... And... And Oh... a theatre hall in Tulsipur as well."

Trilochan chuckled soft exhaling another sigh.
"Joke as much as you like Batuk... But Abinash Lahiri's daughter is a fine match... I've seen her picture, and she's beautiful."

"Hm I see." Batuk finished his food and got up from the table.

"I've invited them here... To visit Tulsipur for a few days." He paused, taking out a small rectangular Polaroid from a blue ledger book that he'd keep with him.
"Would you like to see her picture?"

"Is her father that rich?" Batuk asked, looked down, a veil of sadness had started to sheath his face.

"Just not that, he's influential... And, he's indebted to me for many things."

Batuk sighed, and nodded.

"What's her name?" He picked up a glass and drank some water.

"Maha... Kumari Mahamaya Lahiri."
Trilochan smiled, raising the photograph up towards him, and Batuk pressed his lips and nodded sideways.

"No Kaka... Keep it with you... And I don't think it matters if I see her or not."
He hushed the words and prepared to leave, politely, and Trilochan called out again.

"It matters Batuk... I want you to be happy."

"And, me... You." Batuk smiled at his uncle, a forlorn smile, and Trilochan felt a long forgotten twitch in his heart... A twitch that he had felt the night he thought his love was marrying someone else. He closed his eyes and tried to picturise a face from his memory... Her heart shaped face, the arched eyebrows, the sharp nose... And those emerald green eyes!

"Sunaina...!"
Trilochan let out a soft sigh... Why did you leave me alone to fight this battle... Why?" He murmured, his lips quivering, his throat forming a hard lump to swallow, as a single drop of tear fell from the corner of his eye.
Trilochan breathed aloud, and then opened the glasses, rubbing his face with his palm... and hence, rubbing off the momentary nostalgia that had taken over his hard reality for a moment... Just for a moment.

Batuk had walked back to the study, and upon entering he saw Bhargavi sitting on the floor, at a corner, her face hovered over a book, her hands busy pushing the frame of her new glasses over the bridge of her nose, struggling to manage that black rimmed fat spectacles that he had got her that morning.

"They don't have alternatives in the town hospital, I'll get you something that fits you from Calcutta." Batuk remarked, and Bhargavi looked up at once, smiling brightly at him.

"Atleast I can you see now..." She said innocently, her face glowing with this newfound power of vision.
"Everything looks so clear... So bright!" She turned her head around and eyed the books on the high shelves in awe, a heartfelt happiness painted on her face.

"I'll glad you're happy."
Batuk stretched his lips in a smile, and sighed softly.

"But... But you don't look happy... What is it?" Bhargavi asked politely, and Batuk sat down on the chair, as he turned around to look at her with narrowed gaze.

"Those aren't mind reading glasses, are they?" He frowned, and Bhargavi giggled at his words.

"Tell me choto Zamindar Babu, why are you sad?"

On normal circumstances, Batuk would never even dream to share his heart's content with anyone so easily, particularly not with a young girl whom he had only known for a week, and that day, sitting with her in the study and looking at her concerned face, Batuk somewhere felt vulnerable.

"What used to make you the saddest in Dehradun?" He had asked her instead, and the girl had replied promptly.

"Whenever someone would come to see me for marriage!"

Batuk leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes.
"Same... It's the same old story here too Bhargavi... Same old story..."

"So you don't want to marry either?"
Came another prompt question, and Batuk exhaled, without opening his eyes.

"Right now... Probably not."

"Same... Even I don't want to marry... Never ever."

Bhargavi blurted out and it was Batuk's turn to frown and turn towards her.

"Why?"

"Would my husband teach me Calculus the way you do?" She asked innocently and Batuk pressed his lips together in a smile.

"That's tough expectation... But seriously why not?"

"Because marriage means shackles... I don't want to be shackled... I want to study more, know more... Be someone!"
The spark in her eyes were hard to miss, even from behind the fat round glasses.
"I don't want to be someone's wife, and cook at someone else's kitchen and raise someone else's babies!" She added, and the last words made Batuk smile.

"Why someone else's babies?" He asked curiously, turning around towards her completely, and Bhargavi widened her eyes at him.

"It's always the same Choto Zamindar Babu, all the old men who asks for marriage, they already have a couple of children at home... Readymade children!"
She pursed her lips, and Batuk let out a loud laughter.

"Oh my god Bhargavi... You are hilarious!" He roared, and Bhargavi too smiled at his laughter.
"I wouldn't mind a few readymade children for myself though..." He added playfully, the fits of laughter making tears burst from his eyes.

"Choto Zamindar Babu... " Bhargavi called out suddenly.
"Why don't you marry Mira Didi then!"

Her words were a hush, an inhibited fearful hush, cautiously measured if they had just crossed the line, and Batakrishna choked on his laughed, promptly composing himself, as he looked at the girl with narrowed eyes.

"Why suddenly?" He frowned, and Bhargavi looked down.
"And why would she marry me even if I do?"

"I don't know... " Bhargavi shrugged a little, as she gulped and spoke slowly.
"I always felt she likes you."

"She what?" Batuk almost jumped up on his chair, and Bhargavi nodded her head softly, a little apprehensive about the discussion.
"She said she does?" He asked again, and Bhargavi nodded in negation.

"No... But she mentioned that she likes your nose."

"My what?" Batuk blurted out, and Bhargavi gulped at the inappropriateness of the context.

"I... I should go..." She got up at once, but before she could leave, Batuk caught hold of her wrist and pulled her closer to him.

"Did she tell you this?" He asked her, his gaze fixed in hers, intensified, and Bhargavi swallowed hard and nodded slightly.

"That night...in the hotel, after you fell asleep, she told me she likes your nose."

Batuk smiled subtly, as involuntarily his fingers touched the bridge of his nose on the pretext of brushing off some unseen pride from it.

"She was there in my room that night?" He asked, and she nodded again.

"She's the one who made you change, and I came later, and when I tried to open your shoes, you kicked me."

The words brought back glimpse of a faded memory, and Batuk, very faintly recalled the soft floral fragnance that had made him fall asleep that night.

"You were so mad that day... Maa goo!" Bhargavi added and Batuk pouted his lips at the girl at once.

"I'm so sorry my dear Bhargavi... I shouldn't have done that." He cupped her face tenderly and smiled, and the dark cloud of Bhargavi's face started to drift off at once.

"What else did she tell you about me?" He asked again, and she looked at him thoughtfully for a while.

"That you are arrogant, and ill-tempered, and you don't have any compassion, and..."

"Alright... Stop... Enough.." Batuk cleared his throat and raised his hand to put a seize to her descriptions.

"See now... How it's a terrible... terrible idea for your Mira Didi to marry me." He remarked plainly, and pulled out the drawer taking a book out from it to read.

"But, she also said you can be sweet if you want to... "

Batuk looked up, as his eyes lingered on Bhargavi's flushed face momentarily.
"Unpredictable, isn't she!"

He let out a sigh and Bhargavi smiled at him, a clear unblemished smile, dipped in the nectar of pure innocence, and Batuk stared at her face blankly for a while.

"I'll find someone who would teach you calculus Bhargavi... You deserve the best." He murmured, and Bhargavi stuck her tongue out at him mischievously once, and raised her right thumb up, and before Batuk could speak, she blurted out the words and ran out of the room.

"I don't want to marry Choto Zamindar Babu... And I don't want any other teacher..." Her voice faded away outside, rippling in the room, making her giggles echo through the corridor, and Batuk sat inside, the constant smile making his eyes glow, and his heart full.

"Huh... My math nerd!" He hushed.

***

It was after an hour that Batakrishna had finally decided to walk out of the lonely study room, after much contemplation, carrying a folded postcard in his hand.
The corridor had scanty light, deserted, quiet, barring the occasional rhythmic sound of soft snoring coming from his uncle's room, and Batuk tiptoed across, crossing his room. He walked towards the guest room, it was lit, the door half opened, and a slice of the dark corridor was bathed in the steady light coming from inside. Batuk inched near and peeped in, hoping to find the person he was looking for, but instead his eyes fell on Bhargavi's sleeping figure, her face turned to a side, the glasses still on, and an open book clutched to her chest.

Batuk sighed, and looked away, contemplating for a few minutes on the appropriateness of entering the room, as he finally decided to follow his instinct.

"Bhargavi" he inched near the bed and hushed her name.

Bhargavi groaned in sleep, her eyebrows furrowing in immediate displeasure.

"Where is your Mira Didi?" He asked, and saw Bhargavi turn around, her hands searching for a pillow to grab on. Her knees hurling up to fight the chill of the night.

Batuk pulled the comforter upto her waist and neared further, pulling a bolster for her, and in her sleep, she promptly clutched it to her chest, clutching Batuk's hand along with it.

Batuk stirred. He leaned on her more, and with his free hand removed the glasses from her face, and then ever so gently he pulled his hand out from her embrace, pulling with it the book she was reading.

The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle!

"Seriously?" Batuk gasped almost inaudibly, gaping at the young girl's choice of book, and as he turned around to leave, Bhargavi's soft sleepy voice called out his name.

"Choto Zamindar Babu..." Her voice sounded heavy and throaty, and Batuk turned towards her.
Bhargavi hadn't opened her eyes, and her lips were moving slowly, along with a gentle smile.

"She's with Rudhi... Next room", she murmured, and turned to her side.
"And, leave my book alone, will you." She yawned.

The distance between the threshold of the room where he stood and the room where Mira lay was only a few feet, but it took Batuk a considerable amount of time to cross that hurdle... Hurdle indeed, the rights and wrongs, the do's and don'ts... And, finally when he had reached at the door of the next room, his eyes first fell on Koeli's softly snoring figure lying on the floor, and on the bed, beside the smiling baby, was Mira! crutching on her elbow, she had turned to the baby, and was patting her gently to sleep. Her hair was open, long traces flowing down the bed, almost touching the floor, and her saree was loose, her bare shoulder was glistening in the scanty moonlight sieveing from the casement, and it was enough for Batuk to witness how mesmerizing she looked in that darkness!

Mira wasn't asleep, but suddenly it felt wrong to call her at that hour, it felt inappropriate. The initial enthusiasm that he had felt after his discovery of the postcard suddenly felt irrelevant, trivial, and as he was about to turn around and leave, he heard a soft jingle of bangles, and there she was, sitting upright on the bed, fixing her saree, her curious eyes fixated at him quizzically.

"What?" She mouthed the question, almost inaudible, and as she raised both her hands up to her head in attempts of tying a loose messy bun , Batuk gasped at her beauty silently. Mira's eyes were closed, busy in focusing on the task at hand, and in the moonlight, Batuk saw a clear glimpse of how her white upper breast glowed where the hem of her saree had slipped down, a wide visual of her unblemished hourglass waist adding to the sensuality of the imagery.

"Can you come out?" He gulped and whispered the words somehow, and Mira nodded immediately in response.

The two souls had tiptoed across the corridor, near the stairs, walking beside each other in the dark, in silence, both afraid to steal a glance at each other.

"I found this." Batuk had finally spoken, his voice still a murmur, as they reached under the light of the study room.

"What is this?" Mira asked softly, the white saree was now pulled over her head, covering up her bare arms and shoulders.

"A letter from MeenaRani Chatterjee... Isn't that her name?" Batuk asked and Mira gasped loudly at his words.

"So when was the last letter you received?" He asked again, and Mira replied promptly.

"Six months ago."

"Well, it seems we are in luck." Batuk chuckled, waving the postcard at her.
"This one came a month and a half ago, addressed to my uncle... Hopefully from their new address..." He winked at her, drinking from the excitement that reeked from her face.
"Now first we've to match this address with the last letter you got, just to be sure they are different."
Batuk was smiling but Mira's face had suddenly turned dark, the smile fading from her lips slowly.
She drew a corner of her saree at once and opened a knot, taking out a torn ball of paper from it.

"You tore it!" Her lips quivered.

***

But, she also said you can be sweet if you want to...
The words had echoed in his mind, and Mira's teary eyes infront, aided by that same intoxicating fragnance of her hair...
And, the next half an hour, Batuk had sat on the floor of the study hall along with Mira, a lantern between them, as very carefully he arranged the puzzled pieces of the torn letter, sticking it to a thick art paper as a collaged whole.

"See... It's done.." he looked proudly at his new art and held the wet thick collage in his hand.
"Now, we'll have to wait for it to dry..." He smiled, and looked up at Mira, her eyes shining in the golden flame of the fire, her face reddened in the hue of gratitude that she felt towards him.
She folded her hands infront and lowered her head.

"Choto Zamindar Babu... " But no more words came out but a gush of untamed emotions in the form of tears.

"I'm sorry Mira..." Batuk had apologized instead, his voice soft and his heart wet in her tears.
"I'm not a bad person... But... It's just that the time... And the situation... I'm... I'm not giving excuses for my actions but..."

His hands had moved up automatically, holding Mira's hands, and together they looked at each other, their eyes colliding, their fingers entwined.

"Mira..." Batuk called and the gaze from Mira tear stricken reddened eyes intensified on his glowing orbs.

Batuk gulped.
"I'll take you to your son." He murmured, and just then, like a carefree gushing river, Mira threw her arms around Batuk's neck, tying him in her raw embrace, no inhibition, no pretention, and Batuk too clasped her back gently, feeling her pounding heartbeat against his chest.

"But promise me you won't cry again... Please..." His voice was yet tender and Mira nodded her head, still buried in his chest.

"Just take me to my son... Please!" She murmured.

Batuk had exhaled, taming his thudding heart, and with his right hand, he had gently held Mira's chin up, making their gaze meet once more... Her calm composed orbs against his fiery wild eyes!

"Do I have anything on my nose?"
He had hushed, a brewing fire in his voice, his breath almost hitching at the intensity of the moment, and Mira's gaze dropped down at once, as her fingers moved up slowly to his face, touching his nose, feeling the traces of dried glue on the tip.

"It's... It's glue. "She had murmured, gulping nervously, and Batuk grabbed her wrist, as if claiming her, making her gasp sharply, as their joined fingers touched the bridge of his nose, trailing gently to the tip, her fingers brushing on his lips now, as a soft whisper came out from his slightly parted lips, trembling at her touch...

"Fix it." He closed his eyes expectantly and swallowed.
...........................................................

Important!! 💌📢

I've so much to write, so many interesting stuffs, but then... For whom??

Anyway, I'm not updating any more till the time I'm convinced that you all are reading...

Like the show, I think it's time for my story to end abruptly due to lack of 'TRP'! Sad indeed.

Please vote for this one and the last two chapters as well.
And do follow if you haven't followed me yet, I mean how much does it take to just follow the writer who's work you like to read!! Come on guys!!

And atleast don't forget to tell me how this chapter was... I'd love to read your inline comments!!

Anyway... Thank you.
Happy weekend everyone.