My Destination, My Bondita

49 - He's My Pati Babu!

As Bondita cried hugging Manika, Manika just hugged her back and said, "That's not true Bondita. Everyone loves you, and so does Anirudh." 

Bondita looked up at Manika with hopeful eyes. 

"Really?" she asked Manika, and broke the hug, her arm paining from the tattoo, but her insides filled with the warmth of hope now. 

"Of course Bondita. But from what I understand, Anirudh doesn't want to cage you," Manika explained to her softly. "He doesn't want to bind you down. He wants you to fly freely in the sky." 

Bondita looked at Manika like she just didn't understand. 

"But how will I be caged? If he accepts me as his wife, I will be happy! How will it cage me?" Bondita asked. 

"Even I don't understand how Bondita. But Anirudh seems to think so... and you know Bondita, he only wants the best things for you. Maybe this is why he's having a hard time accepting it," Manika explained. "Did you know on your birthday, he spent three hours looking for a cake for you? He doesn't want to give you anything less than perfection. Accepting himself as your husband is something that won't be easy for him." 

Tears flooded Bondita's eyes. 

Her Pati Babu spent three hours looking for that cake for her on her birthday? 

"Manika Didi, how can I convince him that he's perfect for me?" she asked desperately. "He says I'm too young to think about all this. Am I really too young?"

"If you ask me, you're mature Bondita and very smart. You know what your heart wants, and you're determined to go through any lengths to achieve your goals. I don't think you're young at all. But it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what Anirudh and you think," Manika told her, touching her cheek. "Just like you are stubborn, Anirudh is too. Neither of you will back down, but in the end, everything will be okay. I'm sure of it." 

"Stubborn?" Bondita gasped. "I'm not!" 

Manika laughed. 

Bondita smiled at Manika and asked, "If in the end everything will be okay, will he accept that I'm his wife?"

"I'm sure he will," Manika said, "But maybe you should give him time Bondita." 

"How much?" she asked, a pained expression again in her eyes. "How much time do I give him Manika Didi when I know what I want, and my heart knows too? How much time do I give him when I know that every moment he doesn't accept me, I will long for him more and more?" 

"I don't know how much time Bondita," Manika accepted. "I hope that he accepts you soon. But until then, try to understand his dilemma too." 

Bondita sighed heavily, and Manika just hugged her again. 

"You promise that he loves me?" Bondita asked in Manika's arms, feeling insecure. "Is he just saying I'm not a burden to him, and I'm special, just to make me happy? Just so I don't feel bad?"

"Nothing like that Bondita," Manika said with a laugh, and broke the hug, looking deeply into Bondita's eyes, "You're definitely special to him. All he does is talk about you. All he does is want the best for you. I haven't seen anyone doing that in this world for their wife. Anirudh is a special kind of person too. In fact, so are you. And anyone can tell you two belong together." 

Bondita grinned when she heard that they belonged together. 

"If only he understands that soon Manika Didi," Bondita said with a sigh, longing for her Pati Babu to just accept her. 

"How long can he run away from a truth that is so deep Bondita?" Manika asked her softly. "That truth is so powerful that it'll shatter his whole belief system. It'll shatter him completely, but in a beautiful way. It's so powerful, that he'll have no choice but to accept it."