His Lost Heartbeat

Prologue

"Pati Babu" Her soft melodious childlike voice enters in his ears like sweet honeydrop , causing a small smile on his lips as he sensed her excitement, which is common whenever she is in mood to play with him.

He looks around at the straps of white clothes, softly moving with air, creating obstacles for his vision.

"Pati Babu" Her voice reflecting her suppressed giggle again fall on his ears. He swiftly turns towards her direction, sliding the clothes to stop any hindrance.There his eyes catches her .
.
Bondita .

His eight years old bride , clad in red saree draped around her in Bengali style. Her hairline is filled with red vermilion. Her eyes expands wide on being caught, making her eyebrows to go up , bringing his attention towards her little red bindi .She hides her face behind her both hands which is beautifully decorated with alta .

Slight chuckle escape from his mouth looking at her cute attempt to hide herself . However the constant  pang in his heart increases at the sight.

Sindoor , Alta , Bindi.

How small she is for these things! So much fragile! So much innocent. A child but bride .Two words .They should have no relation to each other. But unfortunately it have.

She is his bride ,his child bride.

Again jingling of her anklet , brings him out of his thoughts. He again looks at his child bride, who is running away from her
.He too starts   chasing her with the serene smile on his face .He again gets her glimpse but somehow she is slightly taller than before. Not much but slight.

He again turns towards her direction to chase and again caught her glimpse. Again she is changed from before. Taller and with some changes in the body.

And just like that With every glimpse,her height is growing, her features are changing, the melody of her voice too changes ,even the ringing of her laughter changes.

He should have to  think about that .He should have to feel weird about the sudden growth of his wife. But for some reason he doesn't feel anything. It feels like this is the most normal things of the world.

Then again he caught the glimpse of his sixteen year old bride , standing afar from him,  holding the grace of a teenager, carrying the shine of the newly developed feminity in her eyes , but with the same  innocent smile. He walks towards her with satisfactory smile. Finally he is going to  hold her. It feels like it has been ages since he feels her soothing warmth in his embrace.

But how is this possible?

It is habit of Bondita to jump in his arms every now and then. He even tried to stop her , after he noticed the changes in her body .But She was too much adamant to stop and he too could not give her valid reason . It's not like he has any wrong intention toward her .Moreover neither she nor he is uncomfortable. So it was no harm.

The loud honking noise brings him out of his thoughts and he looks up at Bondita .She was standing near the shore , looking at him with sad eyes , fighting hard with tears .His whole concentration is on her, the  background of dockyard is fading behind her .

Why are they on ship?

Oh! Yes . She is going to London. She has to . Afterall she has to become barrister.

He looks at her sad eyes .How much he wants to stop her! How much does he want to engulf her in his arms ! But he can't. He can't hinder her path for his own selfish reason.

He saw as she raises her hand towards her ,as if urging her to hold it to never leave again.  He wants to .He badly wants to .

Oh!