YOURS TRULY

Part 16

Getting out of the office Ipshita started walking unmindfully not knowing where she was heading. Hundreds of thoughts clouding inside of her mind. Without knowing where to she was headed her legs kept stepping in a certain direction. It was not until she was howled by a homeless crazy person she didn't realise she was out on the road and the woman in a dirty old saree was beating her with a thin but strong tree brunch murmuring something undecodable. Although Ipshita could not understand what the accusation she was blaming with, the mention of some unladylike, unmouthable words coming out of the woman's mouth, dedicating towards her warmed up her ears making her realise that the situation was undeniably unfavorable for her.

As the situation dawned upon her, Ipshita started screaming holding her hand up, in front of her head, guarding it. At the sound of her voice some passer by gathered around and rescued from the sudden depredation. Getting rid of the madcap woman some of the rescuer took her to the nearest tea shop. As the tea shop owner heard about the incident quickly he passed her a jug of water. Somehow, with still having her breathing accelerated and quivering hands she grabbed the jug of water. The unnerving grip of her shaking hands around the jug made water spilling all over her face and some on her dress as she was trying to pour it in her mouth.

Gulping down the water somehow Ipshita's nerve calm down and after some times. She realised even in December sweat beads were rolling down on her face. While trying to wipe the sweats she heard the tea stall owner with a dry yet comforting smile telling her, "you know, some says getting beaten by any lunatic brings luck. It means something great is gonna happen to you." Returning him a half-hearted smile she got after sometimes when her wobbling knees regained their strength, she stood up.

***

Shuvro was sitting in the living room. After having lunch he was now enjoying a cup of tea with a repeat telecast of a TV serial. The habit of having a cup of tea after lunch was a habit he took up while working and even after retirement it stayed put, while the liking of taking it in along with some TV series had grew in him after retirement. With utter concentration he was engrossed in the daily soap, so when the doorbell rang, it inflicted a scowl on his face. Darting a glare at the door intending for whoever this uncalled for visitor was, he passed a irritated sound from his mouth and headed the door quickly to open.

In such a moment as he saw his only daughter standing at the doorway, for a moment his mind washing off every bit of pre-possessed irritation, went blank and then thousands of possibilities clouded his mind.

"Kire!!! Tui!!! What- what are you doing here at this time?" He yelped his eyes scanning Ipshita's body looking for any hint of hurt. "Haven't you gone to work?"

"Yah, Baba, no, I came back." Mumbling Ipshita replied walking inside. The tone did not calmed Shuvro's worry down instead if put fuel in it.

"Why? Are you hurt? Are you not fine?" Throwing questions he tailed behind his daughter as she walked into the living room and sat down on a couch. Upon sitting, for a moment she kept looking at nowhere, processing the whole day in her mind as she was about to tell him. For a moment she reconsidered upon telling her father again as she had done the whole way back to home. Telling her parents meant evoking and putting a stamp on the mayhem she was standing at the edge of. Time and again she thought of going back and tell Abhijit it was a mistake. She was just being stupid and just get married by the end of the week. But a part of her kept saying 'No.' to all of these thoughts of her in a firm determined voice.

While all of these thoughts were running in her head Shuvro's pressure kept on increasing as his trained eyes stayed on his daughter's face trying to understand what was going on. For it was the first ever time Ipshita RoyChoudhury had skipped a day at work or even in school with out a reason or pre-plan. Hence when she didn't reply anything, impatient Shuvro started shouting, "Kire! What is happening? Will you tell me what happened? Why aren't you at work? Are you ill or something? Did something happen? Why are you looking like this? What is -"