Redemption and Scars (A tale of Anidita)

Chapter Twenty Six

Sumati Arrived

Bondita got the outhouse ready for sumati to at least take a bit of a rest, before her arrival.

Sumati didn't believe in staying at her daughter's home overnight for it would not be good for Bondita's well-being. And Trilochon was supportive of that idea.

After all, making plans to better your nephew's marital relations was easier than accepting his widow mother-in-law into your home.

Bondita stood at the door waiting anxiously for her. In these moments of waiting, her anger and anguish at her mother disappeared.

The little Bondita in her relished in her mother's hug.

Anirudh had come to stand beside her and smiled a little after seeing the smile on her face. He could see the happiness radiating from her. But, he also hated his Kaka for imposing these rituals on Sumati.

His Kaka was happy to see Sumati in his home in the daytime but hated his in-law staying under the same roof at night.

Sumati was only happy to support his superstitions.

Bondita only smiled a little at him before remembering the past and their latest confrontation.

She did not know, what to do?

How to face him every day, until she could go from him far far away?

Anirudh looked at her and understood her apprehensions but he was helpless in this case. His conversation with his brother had helped him make peace with himself and his past.

The past sins couldn't be washed away. But they could be prevented from happening again. He could only hope that his constant support, love, and care for her would make her see his repentance and his Redemption. Many things had went wrong in their past.

His actions had started the cycle of her self-hatred.

Her actions had made him walk towards polygamy.

Both had done each other wrong, both had trusted outsiders over their minds. Their emotional hearts had made them vulnerable to every single attraction of the outside world.

He hated the tattoo, she had gotten of his name in a desperate attempt to make him accept her as his wife. The vermillion that was promised to be magical only made him repulsive back then.

Her constant preaching of wifely duties towards each other as husband and wife made him run away from her.

He took shelter in someone else in his desperation. He had faltered in his job of never letting her walk on the path of self-destruction, it was his mistake.

To run away far from her, he had let people, who he knew were only going to push her towards darkness take care of her. As he had indulged in great deeds.

He only had himself to blame for the way the truth of their marriage had came in front of her.

The way, he had reacted that day was influenced by outside forces, he was influenced by his heart's simple desire for something that he felt, he was being deprived of.

He knew the way everyone had tried to cover that event and never speak of it was wrong in every way possible. The man in him hated himself for making a mother and the daughter separate. He had noticed Bondita distancing herself from her mother.

She never became as close to her mother as she was then. She used to hug her mother and smile with her fully as if nothing shackled her to this earth but nowadays conversations with her mother were quite formal.

She didn't let her mother visit her as much as before citing the reason of her in-laws making her stay in the outhouse.

The musings of the past were put on hold as the screeching of the car became audible.