My Destination, My Bondita

164 - Come to Me Darling, Tonight I'll Make You Mine

After Chandrachur's family left, Anirudh was in Roopa's attire, cleaning the living room while Thakumaa was sorting through some boxes. 

"Roopa, there aren't many people I can trust you know," Thakumaa said, sounding like she had a lot on her mind. 

Anirudh looked up at her. He was still displeased by her actions, but he had calmed down relatively a lot from this morning. 

"I've been deceived in my lifetime so badly, that it's difficult... after Arvind, Sumati was the only one I could put my faith in," Thakumaa was explaining, "And now you... Roopa, I don't know why, I feel like I can trust you unconditionally." 

Roopa looked down at the floor, as he picked up scraps of paper, suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt for playing with Thakumaa's heart like this. He was pretending to be a maid and winning Thakumaa's trust.  

She didn't know who he was. What if after the truth got revealed, Thakumaa's trust really shattered beyond repair? What if instead of healing her, they contributed to her wounds?

"Chandrachur is going to marry Tupur, but I don't know if I can even trust him. I'm so afraid to trust people Roopa. It's scary for me to think of my granddaughters and their unknown futures," she said, "Bondita and Anirudh, and now Tupur and Chandrachur. What's going to happen to my granddaughters?"

Roopa took a deep breath, putting aside his and Bondita's relationship for a second, and asked, "Thakumaa, why don't you trust Chandrachur?" 

"Roopa... it's not that I don't trust him. He was actually honest with me... and Bondita does outshine everyone. Even when she was a child, she was always so intelligent, and everyone always gave her so much attention... she always had a way with words," Thakumaa said. 

Anirudh felt proud of his Bondita, but he didn't understand where Thakumaa was heading with this. What connection did Bondita have with Chandrachur? 

"It's not his fault... and it's not Anirudh's fault if his mind strays too. It's just the nature of a man. Their mind can never stay fixed... it's a curse being a woman," Thakumaa said. 

Anirudh frowned. His mind was very fixed on Bondita, but how could he explain that to Thakumaa? He understood that her past experiences made her harsh, but she was very wrong in his and Bondita's case. And regarding Chandrachur, he didn't understand what Thakumaa was saying. He didn't know of the conversation she had with him earlier. 

"It's not a curse being a woman Thakumaa," Roopa said, "Women have so many blessings." 

"No Roopa... it was a curse for me, a big curse to be a woman. If I was a man, then I would be living a normal life right now," Thakumaa said, and Roopa watched as warm tears reached Thakumaa's eyes. "I am very emotional today Roopa. I never show this side to anyone. But I can trust you. I don't know why, but I can feel the purity in your heart." 

Anirudh once again, looked down with guilt. 

-- 

That night, when he got to their bedroom, the first thing he did was hug Bondita after locking the door. It had only been a day that they had been apart, but it felt like an eternity.

"Pati Babu," Bondita said, hugging him tightly, her face pressing against the hard breasts that she always complained about. Even those felt like home today. "Your body must hurt." 

He had worked so hard as Roopa today yet again. 

"Bondita, we have to figure something out. We are really deceiving Thakumaa with this Roopa act," Anirudh said, breaking the hug and looking her in the eyes. "If she is unable to trust again because of us... instead of helping her, we would have hurt her more."