It Wasn't Supposed To Happen

129

The bedroom was filled with sighs. He could not help her much. She had to listen to all that. He saw how she reacted to the heera mandi thing. Maybe he should not have told her the truth of the place that night. And the comments following it. That how she was...

Aniruddh picked up the candle stand on the table and threw it on the floor. The clackeling sound was accompanied by a scream. A low muffled scream. He saw the brass candle stand lying on the floor near the door and a shadow moving beyond it. He knew who it was. Wasting no time he opened the door to find Bondita standing there. Hands clasped together. Head lowered. Hair open save for the tiny braids running around her forehead and joining at the back keeping it all together.

" What are you doin here ?" Aniruddh asked.

" N... nothing..."

His hands still on the door handles, he stepped to her. " You want to say something ?" He knew she did.

She knew she did. She wanted to say so much. And most of all she wanted to say thank you. For standing by her. For not letting her down. For not being the kind of man Chandrachur thought he would be. That he didn't leave her. Her eyes strained to his feet, she thought of everything that he had done for her. She could feel her brow frown when she remembered what Chandrachur said. That a girl like her didn't belong to a man like Pati Babu. That she belonged to... " Nothing." She repeated. Suddenly the thought of thanking him seemed laughable. It meant nothing. Nothing infront of what he did. Not only him but his whole family. And to think, not only Roy Chowdhury, but the Das family too. Her Kaki opened her mouth only when her own daughter got hurt. Before that, no one said anything to her. No one pointed fingers at her. And it was all because she was accepted back by her husband. " You can close the door Pati Babu. I should go."

Aniruddh didn't stop her. He had known now for a few days that she had trouble sleeping after that awful conversation about brothels. That she came to his door at night, sometimes more than once, and went back. He wished she would some day knock. She didn't yet.

They needed to talk. But he didn't know how. How was she to recover from this ? He could personally feel why women or their families hid such things. Didn't report such crimes. Watching Bondita walk away he could tell. It all came down crashing on the girl. She would be talked about like that for life. The girl who was touched inappropriately. When little girls would be taught about self protection, they would say, don't do this or you would end up like the Chhoti Bahu Rani. She would be a topic of gossip among women and among men...he didn't want to think.

Bondita heard the door shut with a thud. He was not following her. Good. It pained her but good. He too needed his space. He too needed to think. About himself. She would let him. She just wanted to thank him. And she will. However small that word was or however small it made her feel.

All night she kept repeating it to herself. She needed to talk to him. And the morning came faster than she had wanted. She didn't even take a bath. She just freshened up and like it had become a routine, stood in front of his doors. Only this time she knocked.

" Come in."

Bondita felt so much weight on her shoulder. Like she would get buried. She had to get it off her chest. She had to know how was it possible for him to do so much. How was it possible for him to accept her after she almost became...that.

Aniruddh had not thought before answering. He knew it was Bondita. She was going to be a little wary of men. He had noticed it. She left the room as soon as Baba or Kaka entered. She held her pallu in place tighter when Som was around. Batuk was as displeased at her that she had stopped sitting with him altogether. And around Aniruddh, well she had stopped saying anything that was not meaningful. Only said something when necessary and never met his eyes.