Barrister Babu: One Shots- Until you Came.

Chapter 4: of Presence and Absence.

Note: This one-shot is a continuation of the official story.

Bondita's POV:-

Twenty years had passed.

It was a balmy summer afternoon with whiffs of cool ginger tea filling the air, as tender rays of sun made their way in careful, straight paths to the house plants.

I touched my cheeks only to feel the heat of summer affecting me, and my tongue felt try.
To quench my thirst, I got up from my bed to get water from the kitchen, and was stopped by a rather sweet voice calling out my name.

"Bondita."

I mean, this works too...his voice is a sweet enough nectar, isn't it?

I giggled and then turned around.

"Boliye, Barristra Babu. Aaj kya khwaahish hai aapki?"

"Vahi, jo har pal mujhe sataati hai."

"Tumhara saath, Bondita. Aajkal itna kaam mein uljhi rehti ho, mujhe time hi nahin deti..."

"Achchha, to aapko lagta hai ki aapki Bondita aapko jaan-boojhkar nazarandaaz karti hai?"

"Mmm...shak toh hai, āmāra sundor Bondita."

Rose-pink hued my cheeks to my ears at his words, and I was blushing like a little girl in conversation with her first crush.

"Aapko pata nahin, aapse door rehkar mere dil par kyaa guzarti hai. Ek pal mein sau janm beet jaate hain, aur ek aansu mein, hazaaron khushiyaan."

"Bondita, tum jaanti ho naa, ki main humesha tumhaare saath hoon? Koyi baat pareshaan kar rahi hai kya tumhein?"

"Voh...actually, aaj mere saamne ek alag sa case aaya. Pati aur patni. Ek khoon. Aur jitna case pecheeda hona chahiye tha, utna tha nahin. Ek saboot mein sab samajh toh aa gaya, par jo samajh aaya usmein kuchh kami thi. Kami aisi ki, jaise, kuchh ankahe shabd aur kuchh adhoori kahaaniyan. Aapko kya lagta hai, Barristra Babu?"

"Vahi jo tumhein lagta hai. Agar koyi kahaani adhoori ho toh poori kaise lagegi, Judge Babu?"

'Judge Babu. I remember the day when I was made the District Judge for the region. If only...'

"Toh phir aapki kahaani-"

"Bondita. Fizool ki baaton mein vaqt zaaya nahin karte, hmm?"

"Ji Barrister Babu."

With that, I puffed my cheeks, showing him the extent of my anger.

And then he used his fingers to deflate my bubbled up mouth, and went on to grin like the Cheshire cat he was.

Ah. That smile.

It's going to be the death of me someday.

I joined him in his contagious fits of adorable laughter when I heard slow footsteps.

"Maa?"

I stiffened at the voice.

"Aap kis se baat kar rahi hain?"

I heard my daughter speak, before the world around me turned black, shrouding me in nothingness.

Sai's POV:-

I saw my mother on the bed, fainted from mental exhaustion. The curtains were blowing furiously in tune with the raging wind, and two chairs were there beside.

I had heard my mother a number of times before, talking to...someone.

This wasn't the first time.

Yet I was scared, because it usually wasn't for this long. Not for a whole two hours.

This certain 'someone'....was my father, Anirudh Roy Choudhary.

But...

It's impossible.

Because...

He has been dead for the last twenty years.

He went on a trip to London for work, and unfortunately, the ship he was in, didn't make it back. No one knows what he really went to do there, whether it was an accident or something else. No one really knows 'ki unki kahaani kya thi'.

My mother was horrified. Yet she didn't lose hope. She raised all of us with sanity all of these years, never once shedding a tear after that fateful day...

Why now?

I keep pondering over my mother's condition when I hear the ruffling of bedsheets.
I look up to find Maa awake.

Bondita's POV:-

I know.

I know it all too well.

He isn't here.

The man I loved left me a score ago.

Still, I still feel his gentle touch on the fabric I wear, I hear his saccharine whispers in solitude, I smell his musky cologne in every corner of this cursed house.

It's cursed because he isn't here.

My love betrayed me, he was supposed to be with me for eternity, wasn't he? He was supposed to spoil our kids with candies and toys, and love them the same way he did me as a child.

'Anirudh...how could you! I love you, please...please come back...'

My thoughts screamed in the frenzy that lived in my head, while my eyes remained dry, the way they've been since that day.

'I'm waiting, Anirudh. Waiting for you.'

'Until we meet again.'