Just you and me, Bondita

Close Yet Far

Bondita soon started her university life and she loved it. She enjoyed the lectures and tutorials; she even made some mutual friends in her course, though some people distanced themselves away from her. It was also clear how some of the guys were trying to hit on Bondita but she never took it into account and always focused on her studies. Even in her girl's hostel, she was quite comfortable with her roommates who were also part of the law school but were doing a different course.

However, the experience was not totally pleasant because just like she expected, she would witness Justin and his group of friends waiting for her at the staircase or outside the gates. But Bondita, being herself, always managed to escape them by taking shortcuts or hiding away from them till they left.

Her whole first year went like this but despite all this, she managed to do well in her assignments and exams. Bondita was so proud of herself when she found out she got the second highest score, in her batch, for her final exams. She still kept in contact with her sakha babu occasionally and she even turned 19 amongst all this. Bondita was now waiting to start the second year of her course.

On the other hand, initially everyone was shocked at the new avatar of Anirudh. Even at the court, people were gossiping as to why Anirudh went through a sudden change but he ignored their remarks. Surprisingly, Kaka was happy with how Anirudh looked as he resembled Binoy a lot and he finally looked like he belonged to a zaminder family.

Over the course of these 10 months, Anirudh's eyesight worsened (probably a hereditary thing as both his Kaka and his father wore glasses) and so he ended up wearing glasses too. Soon, Anirudh received a message that Bondita passed her first year with a first class rank and he was delighted. He was about to celebrate this wonderful news with the others when he heard his Kaka call him.

"Anirudh! Can you come here- I need to speak to you!"

Anirudh made his way to the living room to see some British officials conversing with Trilochan.

"Ahh yes, this is Anirudh, Binoy's son. He will be taking over his position."
"Kaka, what is this all about?"
"I will tell you later," hissed Kaka as he walked the officials out the house.

"Anirudh, 3 years ago, Binoy appealed to have a business partnership with these British officials. They finally accepted the offer but we all know about Binoy's condition so I want you to take his position and to carry out this business offer."

"But Kaka, I'm not that confident with business matters and I have many cases on pending,"

"Anirudh, you are our only hope and plus you can make your assistants take cover for you in court during the 3 days you're in London,"

After hearing 'London', Anirudh got excited; this would be the perfect opportunity to meet up with Bondita and see how she is getting on there. Kaka noticed Anirudh smiling to himself and cleared his throat.

"But Anirudh..."
"Hmmm,"
"You have to promise me that when you're in London, you shouldn't, at any circumstance, meet Bondita,"

Anirudh's smile dropped- why was his Kaka like this? Before, he used to love Bondita like his own daughter but now he barely even regards her as a human.

"But Kaka-"

Before Anirudh realised what was happening, Trilochan snatched Shashwati from Sampoorna and grabbed Anirudh's hand and placed it over his sister's head.

"Anirudh! Promise on your sister that you won't meet that girl! PROMISE NOW!"

Anirudh was shivering under his Kaka's hand and glanced at Sampoorna who was crying. Over these years, Sampoorna has suffered a lot in this household and giving birth to a daughter did not help as well because Kaka disregarded a female heir. He barely showed any affection to his sister and Anirudh was worried as to what his Kaka would do behind his back if he fails to keep up his promise.