Barrister Babu

Chapter 43: Samosa!

"Boudi, I need to talk to you," Som let out as he stepped inside Anirudh's cabin at the court.

Bondita had her personal desk at one side — a surprise given to her by Anirudh when she agreed to be his assistant.

"Som, what brings you here? Are you okay? Is everything okay at the haveli?" Bondita inquired as Som pulled out a chair for himself to sit.

"Everything is okay, Boudi. Where is Dada?" he asked as he scanned the room.

"Oh, he went out for a bit. Do you want me to order something for you? The samosa here is really delicious," Bondita's mouth watered as she said that.

Som chuckled and shook his head in denial. "No. Besides, you should lessen eating fried food, Boudi. It's unhealthy."

Bondita rolled her eyes. "Stop sounding like your dada. Even he—" she stopped speaking as the door of the cabin opened.

Anirudh stood there with a charming smile. "What are you complaining about to my brother? What did I do?" He stepped inside, a small paper bag in his hand.

"Uh..." Bondita stumbled to find an excuse, but Som beat her to it.

"She asked me if I wanted to have the samosas as they were delicious here and I said no. So she started complaining about how I shouldn't sound like you when I told her to lessen eating fried food as those were unhealthy."

Bondita internally wished Batuk to be here. Unlike Som, Batuk would never throw Bondita under the bus. He would at least back up his boudi. Som was the one idolizing his Anirudh Dada the most.

"Really?" Anirudh asked, his voice lingering in amusement as he arched an eyebrow, looking at Bondita. "So you take my words as a lecture, don't you?" he teased.

She shook her head instantly. "No, Patibabu. I really listen to you."

"Accha?"

"Shotti!" she cutely pinched her throat, which made Anirudh chuckle.

"Fine, I believe you." Then he turned to Som. "What brings you here, Som?"

"Dada, I had something important to talk about with boudi," answered Som.

"Is everything okay at home?" Anirudh asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Yes. It's actually about Chandni," Som finally let out, making both Anirudh and Bondita exchange a look.

"Chandni?" The barrister couple mumbled in unison.

"Isn't it the same girl whose parents we talked with for letting her go to school?" Anirudh asked Bondita, who nodded.

"Som, you met Chandni? How is she? I didn't have the time to visit her. She must be in the twelfth standard right now." Bondita was really eager to know. She missed Chandni.

"Boudi, she is not okay," came Som's reply.

"Why? What's wrong?" asked a worried Anirudh.

Som sucked in a deep breath and narrated everything. He finally passed Chandni's message to Bondita.

"Sorry, boudi, I forgot to inform you before."

Bondita just gave him a subtle smile. "It's okay. At least, you informed me now. It's better late than never." Then she glanced at Anirudh, color draining from her face. "What do we do, Patibabu? We need to see her. She needs us!"

Anirudh pondered for a while before he placed his hand over her shoulder, trying to assure her. "Bondita, we will figure out something. But first, we need to understand what Chandni wants."

"Judging by Som's words, Chandni doesn't want to get married, right?" Bondita shifted her gaze to Som, who nodded.

"Yes. She wants to pursue higher studies, maybe get a degree in Music in Calcutta or something like that." Som was suddenly reminded of her soothing voice — Oh, what a beautiful singer she was!

"Still, Bondita, we need to go and meet Chandni. We have to talk to her before we figure out a way to help her," Anirudh suggested.

"Okay, Patibabu. We will go to her house tomorrow then." She looked at Som. "Thank you for passing the message to us, Som."

"Anytime, Boudi," he smiled. "And if you need any help, I am there. I promised Chandni that I will help her," he said dreamily, which didn't go unnoticed by the couple.

As Som was in a trance, Bondita cleared her throat, which made him come out of his imagination.

"So... Bondita, Chandni is a very sweet girl, isn't she?" Anirudh started, slightly looking at Som's reaction. "So sweet that my beloved brother might have developed a tiny crush on her."

Bondita giggled but Som instantly felt cheeks flush, feeling embarrassed. "Boudi, defend me," he managed to say.

"Did you defend me when I was complaining to you about Patibabu?" she said with a grin while Som pouted.

"It's okay to have a crush, Som," Anirudh said with an amusing smile on his lips.

"But I don't have a crush..." Som tried to lie.

Anirudh ruffled his younger brother's hair. "It's so evident that you have a crush on her. We can see you are clearly lying here."

"I am leaving." Som got up and instantly left before the barrister couple could stop him.

The moment he left, Anirudh and Bondita looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"It's fun to tease him. He gets flustered easily," spoke Anirudh, still smiling.

"Uffo, Patibabu, cut him some slack. It's just teenage stuff," she tried to defend her devar.

"Teenage stuff?" He arched an eyebrow, a sudden curiosity pricking him. "Did you go through something like this?"

"A teenage crush, you mean?" she inquired to be sure and he nodded. Bondita chuckled. "Aap meri sansaar ho. Meri din aapse shuru aur aapse hi khatam hota hai. Toh meri teenage crush koi aur kaise ho sakta hai?"

A wide grin appeared on Anirudh's face. He leaned toward Bondita and caressed her cheek lovingly. "Perfect response, otherwise I was thinking of throwing away this packet."

Bondita looked at the small paper bag, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "What is in this?"

"Khud dekh lo." He handed her the bag.

She started to open it excitedly. The moment her eyes fell inside the small bag, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Samosa!" Her happiness knew no bounds seeing those tasty samosas. "Thank you so much, Patibabu! Come, let's eat together!"

"No, I don't want to eat right now. You eat while I wrap up the work," with that, he went to his desk.

Even though he was trying to focus on work, his eyes just went to his Bondita, who was happily eating the samosas.

He remembered that for the past few days, Bondita wished to eat the samosas near the court as she heard it was really tasty. Initially, he was against that as it was an unhealthy item. But how long could he deny his Bondita's wish?

Anirudh could do anything just to see a smile on her face — even if it meant buying her samosas.

A/N: Next update when there is at least 25 comments. Thank you!