My Destination, My Bondita

22 - A Crush on Who?

Anirudh didn't know how to answer her question in a way that wouldn't cause her to ask further questions. 

"You cannot undress in front of anyone, not even me," he told her firmly instead. 

"Then why did you say other people?" she questioned. "Why did you use the word other?" 

Anirudh's ears were very red. He felt awkward and embarrassed to answer such a question. With all the stress he had been in lately, he was having a difficult time to pick the correct words to use in front of her too. 

"Bondita, I meant it differently," was what he answered with. 

"But Pati Babu..." she began. 

"Bondita, I said it already," he interrupted her very awkwardly and took a spoon to stir the contents of the pot. "H - How do you stir this?"

Bondita giggled, seeing her Pati Babu stir the pot. She took the spoon from him and shook her head. 

"Pati Babu, you can let it be. I'll do it," she told him with a smile. 

"No I'll..." he murmured. 

"Really Pati Babu!" Bondita said with a laugh, and he just nodded, glad that she forgot about her question. 

He didn't know what he had been thinking when he answered that way. Of course she couldn't undress in front of anyone, not even him. He closed his eyes for a moment as she cooked. He had felt so protective of her as he was explaining to her not to undress. Perhaps this was why he had said that. 

After what happened on her birthday, he had come to realize one thing. No matter what he felt for anyone in this world, even if it was Bondita, he would never be able to look at her in the wrong way. He would never be able to hurt her or take advantage of her. Even if she was very close to him, even if she was undressing, he would never lose control of himself. 

This, he knew for a fact now. 

After she finished cooking the food and they ate, Bondita kept her promise and studied. Anirudh also was reading a book as she did her homework. 

Bondita, in the middle of her study session, glanced at Anirudh who was lost in his book. She admired the way he was focused, and the way he looked so smart when he read his English books. 

She only knew broken English. She was still learning how to speak it properly, but she couldn't wait until the day that she learned it fully. Then her Pati Babu would be so proud of her! 

As she watched him, she felt her heart flutter more and more. She placed her hand on her chest and blinked a few times. 

Anirudh looked up from his book, seeing her touch her chest, and asked, "Bondita, what are you doing?" 

"S - studying Pati Babu!" she squeaked and turned her attention back to her books, trying to focus on her studies. 

As she tried to focus, she kept on seeing his face in front of her. She kept on remembering the feeling of his hand on hers, or the feeling of his fingers on her face, and it was making her heart flutter even more. She craved to hug him again. 

What did all of this mean? 

She began to doodle in her notebook, not realizing what she was doing. When she snapped out of it, she felt her cheeks grow warm, and Bondita quickly completed her homework. 

That night, Anirudh reluctantly laid down on the mattress, as Bondita sat on her hammock, glancing at the bed with a pout. There was space for her too, just like the night of their suhagraat, but she didn't know how to ask him if she could sleep there too. 

It wasn't the soft mattress that she wanted, but rather what she wanted was to sleep beside her Pati Babu again. 

Bondita rested on her hammock and kept on glancing at him. 

Anirudh felt uncomfortable sleeping on the mattress while Bondita slept on the hammock, but he had agreed to sleep on the bed already. On top of that, he would not even fit in the hammock if he gave Bondita the bed, so this was the only possible sleeping arrangement for him. 

It was already a big deal for him that he was sleeping inside the hut. If he had a choice, he would still be sleeping outside right now. 

"Good night Bondita," he said, closing his eyes.

"Good night Pati Babu," Bondita said sadly, pouting as she closed her eyes. 

The next day, when Bondita went to school, she was seated at her desk, thinking about her Pati Babu in class. She kept on imagining how he was going to cook for her when he could barely peel an onion, and the thought made her cheeks feel warm. She was smiling dreamily. 

"Boudi," Batuk whispered. "Do you know what the teacher said?" 

"No idea Batuk," Bondita whispered back. 

"But Boudi, you always pay attention," he whispered. 

"I am..." Bondita said, her cheeks still warm. 

"Bondita," Vikram mentioned from behind her, causing her to turn slightly. "Do you have ink?" 

She nodded and was going to look through her bag to get ink, when the teacher announced, "Bondita! Vikram! Batuk! Stand up!" 

The three of them looked at each other nervously and stood up. 

"Why are you chatting?" the teacher asked. 

Vikram answered, "I was asking Bondita for ink and she was getting it!" 

Bondita looked down, her face red and burning. It felt like her heartbeats had stopped. She couldn't even function when the teacher called her out. She hated the possibility of being in trouble by any of her teachers. 

"Sit down and focus!" the teacher said angrily. 

The three of them sat back down quietly. 

"Boudi your cheeks are so red," Batuk whispered. 

Bondita's eyes widened. 

Her cheeks were red and her heart felt like it stopped beating! These were the symptoms of that kind of love, that the village ladies had warned her about. She had tried to feel it for her Pati Babu, but it seemed those symptoms weren't coming out when she did that.

However, the symptoms came out here!

She turned around and glanced at Vikram. 

"Does that mean I love Vikram?" she gasped out loud. 

The teacher looked up with a start, but Bondita turned to face her textbook quickly before he could complain. 

How could she have that kind of love for Vikram? 

She had to tell her Pati Babu about this! 

--

If you guys want, I can post the next chapter today, but give this chapter a good response (stars/comments), so I'll know you guys are caught up and want the next one. ❤️

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and are excited to see Pati Babu's response when he finds out about this 'crush'. 😂