My Destination, My Bondita

40 - English Lessons Up Close

They had school holidays for the next two weeks, so Anirudh had decided that it was time for Bondita and Batuk to begin learning how to read and write in English. He had made them aware of certain terms, but they had yet to get a good grasp on the language. 

After the holidays, even the school would begin their English lessons, so Anirudh had decided that it was best to give both of them a head start. 

When Bondita and Batuk entered the study together with their notebooks in hand, Anirudh noticed how Bondita had gotten taller. Before, her and Batuk used to be of similar heights, but now Bondita was almost a head taller than Batuk. 

He had arranged small desks for them in the study. He indicated for them to sit. 

Both Bondita and Batuk took their seats. Their desks were close enough together that they could whisper to each other.  

Anirudh went to the blackboard and started to write the alphabets. 

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G..." he started, and finished reciting and writing the alphabets all the way to Z. 

He took two sheets of paper that had all the alphabets in both upper and lower case, and placed them on each of their desks. 

"Write upper case A and lower case a hundred times each," he told the two of them. "Then do the same for the rest."

Batuk groaned, finding this a bore. 

Bondita just whispered, "Shhh Pati Babu is teaching!" 

Anirudh smiled and said, "Come on, both of you. Get started!" 

Batuk began to irritably start doing the task, and Bondita began to concentrate. 

After what felt like forever, Bondita was on G. 

"Which one are you on Batuk?" she asked smugly, feeling like she was doing a great job. 

Anirudh was busy doing his own work at his desk.  

"F," Batuk answered. 

"I'm on G," Bondita responded with a proud smile. "I'm ahead of you." 

"Boudi haven't you heard that overconfidence isn't good? Dada himself says," Batuk snapped back. 

"I'll finish it all before you," Bondita said, feeling competitive now. 

Batuk frowned and said, "I will!" 

Then he started to furiously continue writing the alphabets. Bondita also started to write faster. 

A little while later, Anirudh got up and went to their desks to check up on their work. He took Batuk's completed papers and assessed them. 

"Perfect Batuk," he told his brother with a smile. "You did A to F perfectly. And G is going well too. Keep it up!" 

Batuk smiled proudly at his Dada.

Anirudh went to check Bondita's alphabets and saw that while she did A to F correctly, she was doing G wrong. Her entire upper case G was flipped the opposite direction. 

"Bondita!" Anirudh said with a start, causing Bondita to look up, while she was in the midst of writing the next letter. "Where's your focus? Why are you rushing? The G is supposed to be the other way." 

Bondita gulped, embarrassed, and Batuk looked at her with a smirk. 

"Write it properly," Anirudh told her, and Bondita started to write the letter G again. 

She mistakenly wrote the G the opposite way once again, because her hand was so used to the motion now. 

"Bondita," Anirudh said, and went behind the desk, taking her hand gently so he could fix the way she was writing the G. "Like this." 

When her Pati Babu came close to her like this, leaning down from behind her with his face right next to hers, Bondita felt her cheeks burn. She felt her heart beat erratically, and her breaths get faster. Goosebumps erupted all over her body, and suddenly she felt very shy.  

She glanced at her Pati Babu as he moved her hand the correct way in order to write the letter G. 

It was almost like she was longing for him in a way that she didn't even understand. She didn't know why her body was responding in ways to his proximity that she had no idea of. She had felt her heart flutter around her Pati Babu for a long time, but as time passed, it felt like things were getting more and more intense inside of her.  

Anirudh was so busy moving her hand in the shape of the letter G, that he hadn't noticed the way she was looking at him. 

Batuk saw this though, and he frowned. 

Why wasn't his Boudi paying attention to what his Dada was showing her? And why were her cheeks so red? 

"Boudi! Pay attention!" Batuk said. 

Anirudh turned his face to look at Bondita, and saw that she was looking at him with a certain look in her eyes. He hadn't even realized how close he was to her until this moment. 

Bondita immediately turned to face the sheet of paper again. 

Anirudh let go of her hand and cleared his throat, his own face feeling warm. 

"Bondita, do it yourself now," he said, and he moved away fast, sitting down behind the desk, his own heart beating faster. 

What was that look he saw in Bondita's eyes? Could it be...? Did she have a longing or thirst for him?

"N - no, no of course not," Anirudh mumbled to himself, and picked up a book, covering his face behind it, so he didn't need to see her. "Definitely not... no way." 

He kept muttering, "N... no..." almost like he was in a state of shock. 

"Boudi," Batuk whispered from beside her. "Why are your cheeks red? And why were you staring at my Dada? Are you supposed to study English, or study my Dada?" 

Bondita glanced at Batuk, her cheeks feeling very, very hot. 

"My cheeks are red?" she asked, feeling very shy to even discuss this with him now -- and she discussed almost everything with him! 

"Yes Boudi, very red," Batuk whispered back. 

"I think I'm gonna faint..." Bondita mumbled. 

Her heart was beating so fast, so hard, that she didn't understand if she was sick or not. However, even if she was sick, this was a nice feeling. It felt like a good kind of sick. 

"Boudi are you okay?" Batuk asked, sounding concerned now. 

"I don't know," she mumbled, and stood up, stumbling towards the door. 

Anirudh dropped his book on the desk and asked, "Where are you going?"

"B - bathroom," she mumbled shyly, not looking at him.

Then she walked out of the study, almost like she was in a trance.  

Anirudh watched her go from behind his desk and leaned back in his chair.

What had just happened earlier between them? 

Batuk turned to look at his Dada, and noticed that he was also looking out of it. 

What was going on? Batuk wanted to know, but as usual, it seemed like he was the only one who had no idea what was happening around here! 

--

Don't forget to leave your comments and rate the chapter. ❤️ The love you give me is super motivating. ❤️❤️❤️