Growing up, conquering all- A RudhiTa Short Story

Part 1

"Mien Dalhousie janay ke liye tayyar hun, pati babu."

That sweet voice and that most-wanted announcement by his wife should have made him jump in exuberance. After all, he had done so much to make her agree to this. He had even brought another girl in their perfect picture of two, just to make her agitated enough to give up on their precious relationship.

And finally he had succeeded.

However, now that he had achieved what he had wanted, he was not feeling the thrill that he had expected.

There was no sign of happiness.

He was just standing like a statue in front of a very dejected and completely distraught girl.

Her eyes were cast downwards, but her hand was reaching out to him.

On an impulse...in an instinct, he wanted to grasp her hand and hold onto it tightly, but his eyes fell on the paper that she was handing out to him.

He could see that it was the admission form that she had abandoned a few weeks ago.

She had been furious, and she had even accused him of trying to send her away so that he could spend quality time with his other wife.

She had made his life a pure hell. Her antics to impress him, and her pranks to compete with Manorama were endless.

She had become a real nuisance, but he also never gave up.

He changed his tactic and started showing her how he cared for Manorama more.

Initially, he could see her blazing jealousy. He had hoped that it would eventually work as a charm and she would agree to leave for Dalhousie.

But his plan backfired as she started getting more desperate in her attempts to impress him and to prove to him that she is much better than Manorama.

Things were so out of hand and neither he, nor her were ready to back down.

Until that day...

Until the day when he finally managed to break her down completely.

He finally managed to push her down the cliff on the edge of which they both were standing.

He finally managed to push his own life with hers...

His Bondita. His love. His life.

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"Aniruddh, yeh sahi nahi hoga. Tumhien Bondita ke sath aise nahi kerna chahiye. Dekho, abh bass buht horha hai. Woh buht pareeshan ho chuki hai." Manorama warned him in a very serious tone.

She was not in favor of his plan from the beginning.

She had even asked him to tell Bondita about their fake marriage. But he was adamant and so sure of himself that his plan to bring Bondita on the right track would work.

Manorama needed the cover of this fake marriage, so she kept quiet. But she used to feel really bad for both Aniruddh and Bondita.

She even asked Aniruddh if he would be able to pretend to be so dusht to Bondita?

She could see how much hurting Bondita used to hurt him too.

He had literally put his own happiness, his present, future, reputation, and his own heart at the stake.

He was burning alive each and every moment...but he was ready to bear all the pain just to secure Bondita's future.

Manorama had witnessed his suffering very closely.

She felt pity for him, and she also felt a reluctant admiration for his strong resolve and self-sacrifice for the sake of someone he loved from the core of his being.

But she felt really bad for Bondita too.

She was under the mistaken belief that her pati babu now cares for someone else.

Manorama didn't even mind any of Bondita's pranks or antics. She knew they were as harmless as the sweet girl who used to play them.

In fact, Manorama had started feeling a strong admiration and genuine likeness for Bondita.

She was young, but she was fiery and so spirited.

Her intelligence level matched her dynamic pati babu's. In fact, Manorama found her to be a replica of Aniruddh, with some added spiciness, haughtiness, spunk, and charisma of her own.

She was the most compatible companion that Aniruddh could ever find.

A pang of guilt and remorse hit her as she recalled that Aniruddh was on the verge of breaking this most amazing bond that he has with his wife...

and that too...

Just for Bondita herself!

It was the most unfathomable and incomprehensible situation, but Manorama really did not know how to stop Aniruddh.

However, now his new plan was beyond everything else.

He had decided to show Bondita how much he "loved" Manorama.

He knew that it would shatter all her hopes and it would break her morale.

He knew that his reverse psychology trick would definitely work this time.

He was right.

It served as the final blow to an already bruised and battered Bondita, and this time, she was so shocked that she could not even retaliate.

She had become lifeless...

In that instance, Aniruddh finally pulled the plug off and left Bondita to die alone in the pit of the darkest hollows of despair.

He dug a much deeper, much darker, and much lonelier grave for himself too in the process.