It's a new book, so we have yet another fast milestone! In two parts and just a day, we crossed 2.5K reads (2.8K to be precise) and we are at almost 900 votes. I am so grateful for all of the appreciation from you. I love you all, and I hope you enjoy this part. 

Eagerly waiting for your comments!❤️

When Bondita had entered her bedroom, a wave of nostalgia hit her. It had only been a couple of months, but it seemed like an eternity had passed since she stepped foot in here. 

As much as she wanted to enjoy the feeling of being back in here, what she wanted more was for her Pati Babu to be safe, to smile, to realize that he didn't need such things like alcohol, so before she knew it, she had fallen to the floor in front of him and taken the bottle, about to drink it herself, which successfully snapped him out of his delusion that she wasn't here.  

After he had pushed the bottle of alcohol away from her hands, she had asked, with tears in her eyes, "What's wrong Birristira Babu? Only you can use this to drown in your pain? When will you understand that just saying my name is enough... just saying Bondita is all that's required. You don't need all of this. It doesn't suit you." 

Anirudh looked at her, absolutely shocked. 

She was really there. 

"B - Bondita..." he stammered, and fidgeted, pushing his hands against the ground, trying to look away from her. He moved back against the wall in his seated position, unable to stay still. 

"Exactly... just Bondita, that's it," she murmured, and reached to touch his hand gently. 

He shivered when he felt her cold skin on his hand. Even though her hand was cold from the night outside, there was nothing more comforting or warm to him. 

"T - this... w - what I was doing... it's..." he stammered. 

"Alcohol, I know," she said softly, "You told me about it, that night when we both got drunk..." 

Bondita smiled fondly at that memory of them being drunk, of her admiring her Pati Babu, wanting to get so close to him, being jealous of the barriers of clothing between them. She remembered hugging him in the rain, dancing with him, continuously kissing his jawline, those feelings of arousal bursting through her system. 

Oh, how far they had come. 

Anirudh looked at her, his eyes wet with tears. He was lucky that he got to see her once more. He had given up hope of even seeing her again. 

"You told me that it's bad, not to do it," Bondita whispered, her eyes wet too. "You said that Bondita, it's like poison. It's bad for your health. You should never drink! It depletes the oxygen to your brain and you can't make proper decisions... why would we want to take away our brain's oxygen? Just like us, our brain needs oxygen too..." 

Then she took a deep breath and she asked, "But you're doing it Pati Babu?" 

Anirudh shook his head, unable to look her in the eyes, and stammered, "N - No B - Bondita..." 

"Only because you're away from your Bondita, you're drinking?" she asked, tears sliding down her cheeks, "Did you forget that I live inside you too Pati Babu?" 

"F - forget? Never..." he said hoarsely, shaking his head vehemently. 

"If you hurt yourself... you're hurting me..." she told him softly, but Anirudh wasn't able to register her words anymore, because his eyes landed on her heavenly face once more. 

Oh, how beautiful she already was, but tonight, she was also looking irresistible. His eyes moved to the sindoor on her hairline. The sindoor that she still wore lovingly for him. 

He looked down to her face, from her accentuated eyes, to her pink cheeks, down to her red lips. Everything looked so alluring about her tonight. 

"Pati Babu?" she asked, and reached to his shoulder, shaking him a little bit, causing him to break free from his reverie. 

"Huhhh..." he just said, as he tried to focus. 

"Why are you still lost?" she asked him, sounding sad that he wasn't listening to her. 

He tried to hold it back, but he couldn't help it. A small smile formed on his lips and he just said, "I was thinking about how beautiful you look." 

A blush appeared on her cheeks when he said that, and she was trying hard not to smile. She still had things to discuss with him! She still had to show him that she was upset with him! But it was hard. It was extremely difficult to stay mad at her Pati Babu. 

"Pati Babu..." she told him softly, trying to stay focused on what needed to be said, "I know you agreed to Thakumaa's condition because of my leg infection..."

She was attempting very hard to stay unfazed, because the way that he was looking at her was making her feel giddy inside. 

"...But Pati Babu, aren't we already crippled without education? Isn't that the biggest handicap?" she asked softly, "Shouldn't continuing my education be more important than my leg?" 

Then she took a deep breath and added on, "Shouldn't being beside you be more important... because I can live without my leg Pati Babu, but my biggest disability would be being away from you." 

Anirudh looked at her, her arguments once again proving to be more than enough to silence him without a logical comeback. 

The only thing he could say was, "Bondita, you might be fine... but I won't..." His eyes filled with fresh tears all over again.

Bondita slid a whole inch further back from her Pati Babu! She puffed out her cheeks and folded her arms in front of him, while he looked down with guilt. 

"I left you... you have full rights to be mad at me Bondita... you should be," he told her, the tears rolling down his cheeks, "B - But I can't see you without your leg... I can't take it Bondita... I can't take it if you can't run around, j - jump, play the way you used to. I can't take it if I have the choice to stop it, and I chose not to because I wanted to keep you with me. I j - just can't Bondita." 

She looked up at his crying face, and her own eyes filled with new tears. She moved closer to him once again, and rested her hand on his chest, the other hand sliding around and resting on the nape of his neck. 

Then she leaned towards him and gently rested her forehead against his. 

Was there anything that her Pati Babu couldn't do? She didn't believe it. She might be biased, but she saw divinity in him, an endless sea of possibilities in him which had already changed her life, and which could also change this world, one day, by her side. 

"I am mad at you Pati Babu! So, so mad..." she whispered, her fingers wrapping around the material of his shirt even more tightly. "How can you think for a moment that I can live without you?"

He was guilty. Very guilty. He felt like he didn't deserve the love that she was giving him despite her sweet madness. However, the truth was that in this night, he and Bondita were alone. She was in front of him. It was a moment that he never thought he could get again, and now in whatever form she came to him in, he was relieved, he felt comforted, and he almost felt like there was a light in the darkness. 

Almost. 

He looked at her with tear-filled eyes and whispered, "Bondita...your treatment, I can't stop it..."

No matter what happened, he couldn't oblige to her requests and demands. He couldn't stop the treatments. He had to make sure that her wound was healed. 

"Just say Bondita. You don't have to say anything more than that," she whispered. 

He was overthinking. He was adding too much noise past her name. All she wanted to hear from his sweet lips was her name. That was it. 

Bondita glanced down at those lips that were uttering a lot more than what was necessary. She could smell the alcohol strongly from him, and while she normally detested the smell, it didn't bother her this time. Nothing could bother her if her Pati Babu was there. 

Anirudh noticed her glancing at his lips, his heart beginning to hammer harder. The Goddess in front of him was craving for him, and he also needed her. 

"Tomorrow..." he started to murmur, knowing that Thakumaa was arranging for his wife to get married to someone else tomorrow, and it broke his heart all over again when he recalled it. 

Her body yearning for his love, she murmured, "Tomorrow is still far away, but tonight is yours and mine." 

Anirudh brought a shaking hand up to her cheek, touching her, caressing her saying, "Everyone is waiting for you there Bondita."

"But I was there waiting for you who was here Pati Babu," she said softly, shivering with his touch.

Tears slid down both of their cheeks, and he held the back of her head lovingly, while she held on to him with need.

"Look at your Bondita Pati Babu, as much as your eyes yearn..." she whispered. "Hold me, as much as you desire... tonight may be the only night we have... who knows what tomorrow holds." 

Anirudh brought his fingers to her face, touching the soft skin of her cheek. He gently brought his thumb to her lips, caressing it softly. He could feel how it trembled upon his touch. 

How he wished to feel every part of his Bondita, how he wished to touch her, love her as much as he desired, even if it was one final time. 

Tears escaped his eyes again, and one of his hands moved to the back of her neck, the other hand sliding down her back as he brought her body towards his, holding her in his arms again. 

Bondita sobbed uncontrollably, as she felt his loving arms around her body. He held her to him and cried his heart out. 

It was like the stream of their tears was endless tonight.

But so was their love. 

"Bondita... I - I can't lose you..." he sobbed, nuzzling his face into her hair, and she gripped the back of his shirt tightly, trying to feel his skin through it.

Her heavy sobs were escaping her lips, her breathing getting faster, as his fingers clutched the back of her blouse through her flowing hair, brushing the bare skin above it. 

"I can't lose you too Pati Babu," she cried, her hands running down his back. 

Anirudh lifted his face from her hair, some strands getting stuck to the tears that had dripped down his cheek. He pulled her hair off gently, and he leaned back, looking into her eyes with both love and pain. 

He could lose himself in the depth of those beautiful orbs for eternity. His hands caressed her hair, brushing over her ear. She leaned into his warm touch, more tears flowing down. 

As if they could hear the calling of their hearts, they leaned closer to each other at the same time, and their lips gently touched, the tears pouring down as they kissed after what felt like eternity. 

The tears poured down harder, but the love flowed even stronger that night. 

-- 

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I was tearing up writing it. These two have come such a long way. ❤️ 

What's going to happen now? Is their physical union on the cards this time? 

Do shower your comments and remember to vote. 

I love you my sweet and lovely readers! ❤️