I am in the mood to go on another spree! Here's the second update for today. 

Please read, vote and comment on the part before this as well, and get both parts to 450+ stars! 

Enjoy! 

-- 

After spending some moments with his lips locked on hers, Batuk breathlessly pulled away from Surabhi. 

"Why the hell does kissing you feel so good?" he grunted. 

Surabhi blushed and she said, "I can say the same thing about you." 

Batuk's ears turned red. Surabhi felt good kissing him? He was quite proud to hear that. 

"You were stressed out. Is something wrong?" Surabhi asked softly, and Batuk's heart hurt, because he suddenly wanted to explain his dilemma.

He wanted to share it with someone. 

But how could he trust Surabhi with this? On top of that, even if he told Surabhi about his dilemma, it wasn't like she would know what to do. 

So he decided to just keep it vague. 

"If someone you care about is in danger, what would you do?" Batuk just asked. 

Surabhi blinked at him a couple of times, and asked, "What kind of danger?"

"Like if their whole life will be shattered!" Batuk said dramatically. 

"I will warn them," Surabhi responded. 

"It didn't work," Batuk said with a heavy sigh, "He seems happy to ruin his life." 

Surabhi looked at Batuk with concern and asked, "How big of a danger would this person's life be in?"

"Uh... probably, he can die." 

A broken heart was nothing less than death anyways. 

Surabhi's eyes widened and she said, "Then that's serious! You have to save this person!" 

"Yes, that's what I'm trying to figure out..." Batuk just murmured. 

He rested the palm of his hand on Surabhi's cheek and said, trying to change the subject, "Come over tomorrow. After school." 

"To your house?" Surabhi asked, eyes wide. 

Batuk nodded, "Kaka won't be home. There won't be a big fuss. You can come." 

"Okay," she said, then teased, "But why do you want me to come so badly? So you can make out with me again?"

Batuk's ears turned red again and he said, "Maybe... and maybe because I want to talk to you too. It feels like it's been a while since we spoke." 

Surabhi's heart fluttered at the prospect that Batuk wanted to talk to her. So there were things that weren't just kissing on his mind, after all. 

-- 

When Manika went back to her room for her lessons, she sat down on her chair and closed her eyes, hoping that Anirudh could explain himself to Bondita. Vikram hadn't arrived yet.

"What am I thinking? They'll be fine. Their bond is thicker than even the core of the earth!" Manika said to herself. 

Then her thoughts changed to those of anticipation. She was anticipating how things would go at her husband's house. Would they allow her to meet her son? 

She was aching to hold him lovingly and nourish him with her breast milk again. 

Did her son of only five months, miss her as well? Would he cry for her? 

The thought made her heart ache, and she was beginning to feel restless. 

Vikram entered the room, in his regular clothes. He had gone home, freshened up and changed before coming to the haveli. He was wearing a simple cream kurta top and loose white pants. 

When he came inside the room and saw Manika's eyes closed, tension on her face, he immediately sat down next to her, worry on his own face. 

Manika opened her eyes, when she felt his proximity. 

"Sorry, I was just... tired," she said. 

"If there's any problem, you can share it with me," Vikram told her reassuringly. "You don't have to hide it."

Manika sighed and she confessed, "Anirudh told me that he would take me to meet my son, and we would discuss with my husband directly about the divorce." 

Vikram looked at Manika, his heart hurting, when he heard that she would have to face her husband again. However, he was also happy that she would be able to meet Pratul. Even though she didn't say it much, Vikram knew how much she missed him. 

He looked at the tension on Manika's face though, and he immediately decided that he needed to do something about it. 

Lessons were no good. They would have to take a break from learning the Devanagari script for today. 

"I'll be back!" Vikram just said. 

Manika watched Vikram with surprise, as he ran out of the room. 

"What's Vikram planning?" Manika wondered, a small smile on her lips. 

She was finding him quite cute. 

-- 

When Bondita spoke about Vikram and her love for him, a pout appeared on Anirudh's lips, because that was something he couldn't forget. 

The struggles he had faced over this boy was something that would certainly give him premature grey hair! 

First, how Bondita used to be so close to him, sharing chocolates, boldly saying things like she loved him. 

He remembered that her first love confession was to Vikram. Before she even said I love you to Anirudh himself! 

Eventually, he had even given up on the idea of Bondita ever liking him, due to Vikram. He had witnessed their cotton candy dates, their sweet words to each other, their affection. 

So he thought that Bondita was head over heels with Vikram, and even gave her the freedom to choose him, because he was a good boy. Anirudh had no reason to say no. 

He would never hold her against her happiness. 

So when Bondita chose Anirudh, saying that she had chosen him, then, now and forever he could hardly believe it. He had been so happy, so touched. He had cried lots that day. 

She told him that Vikram was just a good friend, and as always, she had a way with her words. That was enough to make him listen to her, and push the idea of Vikram away from his mind. 

Anirudh had always somewhere thought that she had a crush on Vikram, before somehow falling for him. 

Today though, it seemed confessions were happening. 

"You were also a fool?" Anirudh questioned, wondering what she meant by that. 

Bondita blushed, and said with a smile, "Just like you thought you were in love with Manika Didi, I was also... not exactly in love with Vikram." 

Anirudh blinked at his wife, who was seated on his lap, his grip around her waist tightening. Bondita shivered when she felt his fingers grip her bare waist, digging into the skin firmly, but still gently. 

"Not exactly in love? What does that mean?" he questioned. 

Bondita looked at him with a small smile and said, "I got confused..." 

Anirudh's eyebrows furrowed now, and he asked, "Why did you get confused Bondita?"

"Because the ladies when we were staying in our hut had told me the symptoms of love! Your cheeks are supposed to turn red and your heart is supposed to stop! That's what they said!" Bondita explained, "And the teacher yelled at us while I was talking to Vikram, and suddenly I felt my cheeks go warm and my heart stop beating! So I thought I was in love with him!" 

Anirudh's eyebrows furrowed so much that they nearly touched! 

His naïve Bondita believed that was love? 

"Bondita, that's not love, that's fear!" 

"I didn't know back then," she said, blushing, "So I thought I was in love with Vikram." 

Anirudh looked at her incredulously. Bondita had overheard some ladies talking and concluded from their statements that she was in love with Vikram? Based on symptoms that could mean anything! What if she just had a fever?

He wanted to find those ladies now and give them a good lecture for misleading his Bondita!

"But I wanted to be in love with you Pati Babu... so when I had those signs for Vikram, I got very sad," Bondita further confessed, making Anirudh look at her with shock.

He felt a mix of emotions -- one was absolute irritation at those village ladies who had manipulated his Bondita at that young age, and another was a happy feeling that Bondita didn't love Vikram after all. 

She only ever had eyes for him, and this was making his heart fill with warmth and happiness. 

"You wanted to be in love with me?" Anirudh asked her softly. 

Bondita nodded, a pout on her lips. 

"I was in a dharam sankat Pati Babu!" she exclaimed dramatically. 

A smile reached his lips, " A dharam sankat?" 

"My desire for my Pati Babu or my symptoms about Vikram? I didn't know what was right and what was wrong! I was very confused!" Bondita said, her eyes wide, and she looked very adorable. 

Anirudh just chuckled and he tucked her hair behind her ear lovingly, brushing his fingers past her cheek. 

"Your dharam sankat, did it get solved?" he asked. 

"Yes! Of course!" Bondita said with a grin, "My Guru solved it for me!" 

"Did he?" Anirudh asked, raising his brow, "How did he do that for you?"

Bondita blushed hard and said, "By making me fall for him even harder!" 

A blush appeared on Anirudh's cheeks as well now. 

"That's the reason?" he asked softly. 

Bondita nodded, and whispered, "I fell for him so hard, that I never wondered about Vikram ever again. All I did was think about my Pati Babu 24/7. There was no more room in my nanhi si brain to think about anyone else." 

Anirudh's cheeks were hurting, as he smiled now. Her added drama and cuteness was making his heart flutter quite a bit. 

"Is that so?" he asked, his heart fluttering. 

"Yes Pati Babu! That's how my dharam sankat got solved!"

Anirudh leaned towards her and kissed the tip of her nose. 

"How could we ever have thought that we'd have separate romantic lives, when our worlds revolved around each other?" Anirudh wondered. 

Bondita smiled and said, "Even if we went anywhere Pati Babu, we would have inevitably found ourselves back here." 

"With you on my lap, in my arms..." Anirudh murmured, looking at her beautiful features and feeling at bliss. 

Bondita hugged him, her arms wrapping around the nape of his neck. Anirudh pressed his nose into her neck as he held her to him. 

She could feel his lips on her neck and it was inciting certain feelings inside her. Feelings that were not so innocent. 

Bondita pulled back slightly and looked at him, feeling like now that their pasts were revealed, a little bit of kissing was in order. 

After all, they had an emotional moment earlier, and there was some residual love from that moment that was left over for her to shower him with. 

She leaned towards him and pressed her lips on his lovingly. Anirudh kissed her back, feeling an overwhelming sense of joy in her kiss after these secrets from the past came out. 

It was like they had shed yet another layer between them, and he was looking forward to shedding other things right now -- namely, clothing. 

As soon as he deepened the kiss with his tongue, they were interrupted by a knock on the open door. 

Irritated, Anirudh turned his face to glare daggers at who just entered. 

Vikram's eyes were wide. 

The door had already been open, and before he even realized what he was doing, or what was happening in this room, he had knocked on the door. 

It seemed as if he had just interrupted a private moment between Anirudh and Bondita, that too with Bondita on her Pati Babu's lap! Things didn't look too innocent in here! 

How could he have known that in the afternoon itself, these two would do something so passionate with the door wide open? 

Anirudh's glare was on Vikram, and Bondita turned to look at him too, her face red. 

"Vikram, what are you doing here?" she asked breathlessly. 

-- 

Did you enjoy this chapter?

Finally, their past 'loves' are cleared to each other, and I'm so emotional, that they have shed yet another layer between them. 

How is Vikram going to react to the sight he just saw? 

Why did Vikram come to the room?

What do you think Batuk feels for Surabhi? Does he like her? 🙈

What did you think about Batuk's vague explanation over Vikram's situation to Surabhi? 😂

On the first book of MDMB, I have posted a chapter for a 600K+ reads celebration, where I asked for everyone's favourite parts in the book. Do check it out and participate! 

Remember to hit star and comment on both the last chapter and this one.

Love you all very much! ❤️