I've already posted a chapter today. Please read and vote on that one, as well as this one. 

I'm still waiting for all parts from chapter 241 (shower chapter) to get to 450+ stars. If you are looking forward to more chapters, then do not skip voting. 

I may post more today, if I see that you're eager. ❤️

--

Batuk's horrified face matched Bondita's, as he frantically looked around for something to cover himself with, because Bondita was frozen on the spot, her fingers still gripped around his blanket. 

He gripped the pillow he had just been sleeping on and brought it forward, covering his crotch with it, as Bondita just stared, her eyes wide, frozen on the spot. 

"BLOODY HELL, WHY ARE YOU STILL STARING?" Batuk yelled. 

Bondita's face turned pale and she quickly dropped the blanket, it falling to the bed beside him.

"I - I - I - I --" she stammered. 

She had been so shocked, so embarrassed, that her body couldn't even move nor react. 

If this wasn't such an embarrassing situation for Batuk to be in, he would have surely been smug about the fact that he made Bondita go speechless. A girl who never ran out of words, had no arguments, no defenses today. 

"BLOODY HELL, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS!" Batuk screamed. "WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT?"

"W - why are you s - screaming!" Bondita just snapped, and she took a deep breath, composing herself.

"BECAUSE I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A DREAM!" Batuk yelled, groaning because it had been such a hot dream, and he didn't even know where it would lead to! "AT LEAST YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME FINISH!" 

Bondita glared at Batuk now. 

He seemed more upset about the fact that he didn't get to finish his dream, than her lifting the blanket and seeing his boner! 

"IT'S TIME FOR DINNER!" Bondita just yelled back, her face still pale. "T - THAT'S WHY I CAME HERE, OKAY?"

Batuk, who was still holding the pillow against his crotch glared at her. 

"That doesn't mean that you pull the blanket off!" Batuk just yelled. 

Bondita retorted, "Okay, I got it! I'm sorry, okay?" 

Batuk took a deep breath and just said, "FINE! But I won't get my dream back because of your apology!" 

"Stop living in dreams Batuk! There's a real world out there!" Bondita yelled. 

Batuk wondered, could this happen in real?

No way! He hated Surabhi! 

"I need Gangajal for my brain," Batuk just groaned. "What am I thinking?"

"Yes you definitely do!" Bondita snapped. 

"Hey!" Batuk said, glaring at her and pouting. 

"Save some for my eyes too," she added on, "Because you've traumatized me!" 

"I've traumatized you?" Batuk argued. "You and Dada have already traumatized my ears!" 

"What? When?" Bondita demanded. 

"That day when Dada didn't check my spelling test because he was too busy teaching you how to spell barrister," Batuk informed, and suddenly Bondita's face went red. 

"Y - you heard that?" she gasped. 

"Of course!" Batuk huffed. "You took away all of my innocence!"

"Your innocence?" Bondita asked, and then she smiled, nearly laughing. "Yeah right." 

"I'm very innocent okay?" Batuk groaned. 

"And I'm the Queen of England," Bondita retorted, and then she said, "Hurry up and come down, decently... dinner's ready." 

Batuk rolled his eyes, and argued, "As if you stay so decent around Dada! I bet if you were a boy, you'd get caught with much worse than what you caught me with!"

Bondita's face turned more red. 

"I'm going Batuk!" she just said, flustered, and then turned around and left, her face completely red, because she knew what he said was true. 

Thank God she was a girl then! 

-- 

After dinner that night, Bondita was studying in the bedroom. 

Anirudh had taken Sashwati from Kaka, and was carrying her up to the bedroom, so that he could put her to sleep with Bondita and him. Sampoorna had pumped milk into a bottle and given it to them to feed Sashwati with. 

As he held the baby in his arms, Anirudh smiled, feeling the warmth of his baby sister. She was wrapped in a blanket and was resting her head against his chest.

When he entered the bedroom, Bondita looked up from her notes, a grin appearing on her lips.

"Oh, you're studying. I'll go downstairs with Sashwati," Anirudh just said, and was about to head out. 

"No Pati Babu, I'm almost done," she told him. "You can put her to sleep here." 

Anirudh nodded and went to the bed, where he laid Sashwati down, while Bondita continued to study. 

Sashwati looked up at Anirudh with her big eyes, as he unwrapped the blanket from her body. She was wearing a tiny yellow frock, and had a diaper made from cloth underneath it. 

"Bondita, have you ever changed her diapers?" Anirudh asked, looking up at her.

He didn't want to disturb Bondita, but he didn't know whether he was supposed to do this before Sashwati slept. 

"Hmm, yes, it's easy," Bondita informed, still looking at her notes. 

"How so?" he asked. 

"It's cloth, just like the pads you made me," she explained, "You just take it off, and clean her, then wrap another one for her. I'll come and do it."

"No no, you study. Just tell me how do you know if it's time to change it?" Anirudh asked. 

"You feel it," Bondita just said. 

"Feel it?" Anirudh asked, eyes wide.

Bondita laughed, still facing her notes. 

"Yes Pati Babu, you feel it and see if it requires a change. At least that's how I do it."

"Alright, fine," Anirudh said, and reached to check if Sashwati needed a diaper change. 

It seemed like her diaper was dry though. 

"Kaka must have changed it already," Anirudh murmured. 

"Oh yes, he knows how to too," Bondita said, and then an interesting thought popped up in her mind! "Pati Babu, did Kakasasurji change your diapers when you were a baby?"  

Anirudh looked up with shock and asked, "What?!"

"He seems so experienced with Sashwati," Bondita just said with a grin, "He must have given you diaper changes!" 

"Me?" Anirudh asked, eyes wide. "Bondita, Maa was in my life for most of my childhood. Even Somnath's, somewhat. Kaka must have had the most experience with Batuk as a baby." 

"Oh Batuk..." Bondita just said, her face turning red, as she remembered what happened earlier. 

"Maybe that's why he always connected to Sampoorna Maa easily. He always seemed to be a little attached with her," Anirudh added on softly, gently fixing Sashwati's frock as she swung her arms in the air. 

"And that's why he was always jealous of me too," Bondita added on, with a smile, finally turning her head to look at him. "He always wanted your attention Pati Babu. It was like he was craving to be loved." 

"I do love him," Anirudh just said, and then he sighed, "But with you... you were different." 

Bondita giggled and she said, "Don't worry Pati Babu, he gets it now." 

"I can see that," Anirudh said lightly, "That's why in the end, after running between me and Sampoorna Maa, it seems like he found you." 

"Me?" Bondita asked, surprised. 

"His mother," Anirudh just said softly, "The mother that he always wanted." 

Bondita felt an ache in her heart. Batuk was her best friend, but it was true, that there did seem to be some kind of motherly connection between her and him. 

"And Bondita..." Anirudh said, hesitating slightly. 

"Hmm Pati babu?" she asked. 

"And me too..." Anirudh admitted. 

"You too?" she asked softly, her heart hurting. 

Anirudh smiled, and he said, "You've filled every emptiness of my life. Your presence has filled even the void of losing a mother... and truthfully, the way you love me Bondita, it's no less than how Maa would have." 

Bondita got up from her seat and went over to him. 

Anirudh's face changed into a worried one, "Your studies..." 

"I'll continue in a bit," she said softly, and sat on the bed next to him, placing her hand on top of his. 

Sashwati was lying on the bed beside them, swinging her arms and legs in the air. 

"You've also loved me like a mother," she told him softly, "You've loved me in every way possible. This is why I say you're my everything, and this is what's most beautiful about our relationship. How there are no limitations. None at all."

Anirudh smiled and squeezed her hand. 

That was when Sashwati flung her hand down on the bed, her small hand smacking their joined hands in the process. 

Bondita giggled. 

"It seems like Sashwati wants our attention solely on her," Bondita said with a smile, and she reached down over to her niece, cupping her chubby cheeks and kissing her forehead lovingly. 

Sashwati cooed happily. 

Anirudh watched as Bondita kissed Sashwati, a sudden thought appearing in his mind, and a strange feeling in his heart. 

Was this the future right in front of him? Would this be how Bondita would love their child too, one day in the future? 

The idea was making his heart feel warm. 

His Bondita would be a great mother. She already was one to Sashwati, to Batuk and to him. When she had her own child, how great of a mother could she be then? 

He knew their priorities though, and Bondita had also stopped thinking about it, so he would never speak of this matter again. 

Having a child before her becoming a barrister was equivalent to their dreams being crushed for Anirudh. He couldn't ever let that happen. 

Still, the moments that Bondita spent with Sashwati, was really making his heart feel warm, and it was a feeling he was having a hard time shaking off. 

That night, when they laid in bed, with Sashwati in the middle, Anirudh asked softly in the dark, slightly anxious, "What if I crush her?" 

"I don't think you will Pati Babu, you never crushed me," Bondita told him lightly. 

"Are you sure about that Bondita?" he asked, "I held you pretty tightly in the past." 

"You were always so careful with me Pati Babu," she answered quietly, "There's an instinct that you have... that instinct won't let you crush our..." she almost said baby. But instead she gulped and said, "Sashwati." 

His reaction the last time she brought up the topic of their children was already engraved in her mind. She wasn't about to open up the topic again when those fears were very real. She had given up on those dreams anyways. 

Her Pati Babu's wellbeing, his life, his happiness was above everything else for her. 

"Isn't it nice though Pati Babu," Bondita just whispered, "How the whole family raises the child. There isn't pressure on only one parent? See, Kakasasurji, Sasurji, you, me, Batuk, I'm sure even Somnath Dada would if he gets free, all of us are raising Sashwati along with Sampoorna Didi." 

Anirudh smiled and he said, "Yes, that's true."

Bondita was sure, that one day, probably in the distant future, when her and her Pati Babu had children, then this would be the case again. The load wouldn't entirely be on her. This was why she felt like even if they had children before she became a barrister, it would work out just fine. 

However, her Pati Babu's stance on this matter was too extreme, and she had given up on it too.

Bondita gently rubbed Sashwati's stomach, as she closed her eyes and fell asleep next to her niece. Anirudh's hand found Bondita's, on top of Sashwati's belly, and he too closed his eyes and fell asleep soon. 

-- 

After a long night, where Sashwati cried multiple times and woke them up, day finally arrived, and Bondita woke up, yawning, ready to go to school. 

Each time that Sashwati cried that night, Anirudh had woken up with her. He urged Bondita to stay asleep, since she had school in the morning. He had taken care of the baby, while Bondita rested. 

Now, when Bondita woke up, both her Pati Babu and Sashwati were fast asleep. A smile appeared on Bondita's lips, as she just admired their sleeping figures. 

Sashwati was sleeping on her back, and Anirudh's arm was around her, protectively. It was almost like how he held Bondita. 

"How beautiful," Bondita just murmured, a light feeling in her chest. 

Even though, she vowed not to dream about it, the thought still marked its presence. 

The thought that one day, her Pati Babu would cuddle with their own kids like this too. And her heart melted immediately at such a thought. 

She quickly shook it away from her mind though and went to get ready for school. 

-- 

At school, Batuk was avoiding Surabhi's gaze. That dream had done wild things to his mind and body, and he was not ready to interact with her after that. 

Bondita and Vikram noticed Batuk's strange behaviour towards Surabhi, especially since just a few days before, he was ready to flirt with her at every instance. 

"Why are you ignoring Surabhi?" Bondita whispered to Batuk, as the five of them sat in the cafeteria at school. 

"My choice," Batuk just huffed. "And you should stay away from her too." 

"Why?" Bondita questioned. 

Batuk felt a pang in his chest and he just whispered, "Nothing. I just don't like her."

Bondita didn't understand what happened to Batuk all of a sudden, but she assumed that it could be related to Tupur. Maybe he realized that forcing himself to feel for someone else was not going to work.  

Little did she know about the developments between Batuk and Surabhi. 

Batuk turned to face Surabhi, who was watching him quite curiously, and he just gulped, turning to look at Mallika instead. 

Mallika was busy talking to Vikram about the homework from last night. It seemed like she needed Vikram's help for some questions. 

"I'm going to the washroom," Batuk just said to the table in general, and got up to leave. 

As soon as he left the cafeteria, Surabhi also got up and left, following him. 

He didn't notice when she joined him in the hallway, until she gently touched his arm, causing Batuk to freeze on the spot. 

"Batuk, I don't know why you're ignoring me, but it's really too much now," Surabhi told him, a frown on her face. "We're in the same friend circle." 

"So what?" Batuk just asked, turning to look at her. "Just because we hang out with the same people, doesn't mean you and I need to get along. We will talk to everyone else, but not to each other." 

Surabhi sighed and she asked, "Why don't we just forget everything?" 

"No," Batuk answered simply, "I won't forget it, because I hate you!" 

And I'm scared to come close to you... Batuk finished in his head. 

Surabhi looked at Batuk, shaking her head slowly. 

"You're really not smart," she just huffed. 

Batuk's mouth fell open. 

Why was she insulting him? 

"Batuk, I'm also not interested in running after you all the time. If you want to pretend to hate me, then go ahead. I'll also pretend I don't want to talk to you," she told him seriously. "I want to see how long you can keep this up for, actually." 

She made sure to emphasize that she would have to pretend to not talk to him, because Surabhi would also have a difficult time staying away from him. 

After all, he was making her heart flutter, and she was actually beginning to like him, as strange as it was. She couldn't figure out why she would like him, but he did make her knees go weak. 

Batuk looked at her, and then he said, "I can keep it up for a long time Surabhi, so there's no point in waiting." 

Surabhi just laughed and she said, "Alright, as you say. But Batuk Roy Choudhary, this time, you'll be the one to approach me first. Whether that's today, tomorrow, or months from now. I won't approach you first." 

"I... never!" 

Surabhi just smiled and she said, "Best of luck staying away from me." 

Then she walked away from him, leaving Batuk to watch her go, his mouth falling open again. 

No, I will not talk to her. I refuse to talk to Surabhi. Never! Batuk thought in his mind. 

Self-control would be difficult, but he was stubborn as stubborn could be in the matters of those he loved the most. And after what she did with his Dada and Boudi, there was no way he would fall for this physical attraction, even if it was damn hard not to!

"Bloody hell Surabhi... just don't come in my dreams again, and I'll somehow manage," Batuk just mumbled to himself, 

As Surabhi walked away, her smile dropped and her heart hurt. The idea of Batuk not talking to her, did cause an ache in her chest. Not only had she grown to like him in a romantic way, but she had lost his friendship, and that was something that hurt more than she ever imagined it would. 

The next four months passed just like this... 

-- 

Precap: 

Promo scenes, where Manika comes crying in the Roy Choudhary haveli, where Vikram is. 

--

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! 

Did you like the Batuk/Bondita scene? 

Anidita/Sashwati scenes? 

Bondita, who has a particular love for her unborn children (😂), has quite motherly instincts for many members of the RC haveli already. What did you think of the references to her being Batuk's and Ani's mother? 

The Batuk and Surabhi scene? After four months, are Suratuk going to erupt or what (I think this was most popular ship name)? Or will they still ignore each other? 🤭

Are you excited for Vikram and Manika, and the new track? What should be their ship name? 🤭

Again, if you want fast updates, and more importantly, if you want this story to go on, you know what to do. 

Please press star and leave your comments on all parts from chapter 241. Get all parts to 450+ stars. Love you all very much. ❤️