XOMANTORAL

Chapter 24

Her eyes moved from Rohan towards the voice. Arohan moved a stepped forward. When she saw him, she kept staring at him. She didn't say anything. She just kept staring at him. A drop of tear fell on her cheeks and flew to her neck. Arohan reached near the bed. Suddenly, she grabbed Rohan's hands and held it tightly. Her words got stuck in her throat. She tried to sit up. Rohan arranged the pillows behind her and helped her. She somehow stuttered,

"Babu..."

She couldn't say anything more. Her heart was ripped out of her chest. She held her chest and breathed heavily. Rohan got scared and rubbed her back. He gave her glass of water lying on her bed table. She refused to drink it. Arohan took a step back, seeing her condition. He turned back to turn.

"Babu!"

A shaky voice stopped his steps. His body froze. He couldn't understand if he should cry or smile. He didn't even turned back. She again called, this time her weeps were revealing in her voice.

"Babu, maror usorot... naho neki o?"

In a moment, he turned back and ran to her. He sat on the floor and wrapped himself around her. 

"Ma..."

He broke down. Her tears wet his hair. Both were trembling in their cries. He said, crying,

"Maa, kio norokhala mok? Kio nokola mok thaki jabole?"

She held his face with her hands, and brushed his hair with the other hand. She said,

"Toi thaki ja Babu! Bohut dukt dilu tok, bohut. Parile mok khyoma kori dibi o! Eii protarona loi morio xanti napam."

He looked into her eyes.

"Tumak eko hobo nidiu."

She kissed in his forehead and both the cheeks and said,

"Bhalke thakibi Babu. Tohot dutak loi e jiyaao o moi. Mok khyoma kori dibi o. Khyoma kori dibi."

She wept hard. Her hands were folded before him. He put his hands over her and said,

"Eneke nokoba ma."

Rohan wiped tears from his eyes. He took out his phone. There were almost 15 text messages from Aditi. The last message read,

"Please koba mok. Sob thike ase ne nai."

He wrote back,

"Hm, sob thikei ase. Thank you."

He put his phone again on the pocket. After several minutes of sitting on the floor with his mother, Arohan looked up at her. He said,

"Moi olop haat mukh dhui lou maa."

She took her arms from him. He stood up and smiled at her.

As he was heading outside, his childhood picture caught his attention. He stopped there and stared at it for some moments. His mother said from behind, struggling to bring out words,

"Monot asene eikhon photo?"

He nodded, but didn't look back. He straight headed to his room. He unlocked the door of his room and slowly opened it. He wondered how it was now. No, nothing changed there. The table was on the same position, the bed was exactly how he left. His football was lying there on the floor. But, the room was clean, as if someone stayed there last night. He slowly walked towards the closet. He knew, he didn't take many clothes with him when he left. He opened it. 

There was no sign of his old clothes. There were some t-shirts and track pants. He delicately touched the clothes. Suddenly, someone said,

"Ma e toi ahar axat proti bosor notun kapuror set iyat bhorai thoi."