Vote on all the parts of the spree (it started from chapter 288) and comment to show your excitement for more chapters. Don't skip any parts, as things will not make sense. 

Also, I am trying to update quickly for you all, but these chapters are taking me 4-5 hours to write sometimes. I don't want to rush them as this track has been something that I've worked on for many months now, and I have been so excited that it's finally happening. 

I hope that the quality remains in tact. I don't want to sacrifice quality for quantity, although I'm trying to balance them both for you. 

It takes a lot of effort to write these parts, and I'm thinking of slowing down actually. This is why your love is important, if you want fast updates. So if you want the next part soon, I will do my best, if you shower your loving comments and stars!

I love that in the last part, many of you thanked me for the fast updates... because it shows that my readers are grateful! It touches one's heart to see that their hard work is being appreciated. Thank you for that. 

Make sure you show appreciation to everyone -- your family members, friends, people who work for you, people who entertain you, servers at restaurants, maids, janitors, farmers, employees at stores... everyone is working hard. Being grateful is a great virtue, and counting your blessings really makes you see life differently. And I am so grateful that my readers appreciated my hard work too.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! ❤️

--

Pregnant. Abortion. 

They were just words to Anirudh, words that couldn't be the truth. 

On his drained face, a look of anger appeared. Intense fury. Rage. 

Chandrachur was playing games. The moment that Thakumaa wanted to marry Bondita to Chandrachur, Anirudh had already figured out that his intentions were probably not right. Why would he want to marry a married lady? That too, someone who was happy in her marriage. After that, he married Tupur like there was nothing wrong. 

However, just like he let Thakumaa go for this, he let Chandrachur go too, because Thakumaa seemed to have faith in this man. Perhaps he really believed he was doing something noble by marrying Bondita, since Thakumaa had probably fed poison in Chandrachur's mind about Anirudh's relationship with Bondita at that time. Anirudh had also wanted the best for Tupur. 

Now, Chandrachur was saying such alarming things about his wife. Things that just weren't possible. 

He couldn't even process right now. He could hardly think. The way that the rage was clouding his mind, made Anirudh's hands ball into fists. 

All he could do was raise one of those fists and hit Chandrachur's face hard with it. 

Chandrachur blinked, confused, as the painful blow from Anirudh's fist landed on his cheek. He stumbled a few steps back, grabbing onto his cheek where the punch had hit. 

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Anirudh screamed, stepping towards him, and grabbing the collar of his shirt in a menacing way. 

He pushed Chandrachur onto the ground. 

Normally, Anirudh didn't lose his cool to this extent where he had to raise his fist. Even when Bipin had insulted Bondita, he had landed a few hits and left. 

This time though, the matter wasn't simply about an insult. It felt like Chandrachur was taking advantage of Bondita's silence. She was already going through something, and he was putting a different meaning to it... calling her disloyal, saying that she was pregnant, and she tried to have an abortion. 

"Barrister Babu," Chandrachur hissed from the floor as Anirudh climbed over him, "I'm telling the truth. Bondita is hiding her pregnancy from you. And she tried to kill her baby --" 

He couldn't finish, because Anirudh had landed another hard blow on his face, causing blood to spill out of the side of Chandrachur's lip. Anirudh's knuckles had gashes too now because he had hit him so hard. 

"YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO UTTER NONSENSE ABOUT MY BONDITA!" Anirudh yelled. 

Chandrachur winced in pain -- Barrister Babu's punches were strong. 

"These punches you're giving me, you should give them to your wife," Chandrachur said, getting angry now while coughing with pain, "She's the one who betrayed you! Why are you abusing me, when I was only giving you the news? You should abuse her!" 

Then he immediately regretted what he said. What if this Barrister Babu took him seriously and hurt his Bondita? What if she got a wound on her beautiful body because of this Anirudh Roy Choudhary? 

No, that body had to remain beautiful for him. 

Damn it, that Devil inside of her would also ruin her body. If only he could safely get Bondita that abortion! 

The worries of Anirudh abusing Bondita, were put to a rest though, because his words only infuriated Anirudh even more, and this time, he threw punch after punch at Chandrachur, to the point where he couldn't even wince without feeling another blow to his face. 

"Abuse my Bondita? Abuse her? Speaking such filthy things!" Anirudh screamed, landing punches on Chandrachur's face. His heart was screaming with agony as he pushed away the small possibility that Chandrachur could be right. "STAY WITHIN YOUR LIMITS." 

An angry Chandrachur, somehow managed to grab Anirudh's arm and push him back. 

"JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH DOESN'T MAKE IT A LIE, BARRISTER BABU!" Chandrachur screamed, and somehow got off him, bleeding from his face.  

Anirudh reached for Chandrachur again, but Chandrachur pushed him down onto the floor.

"How badly I want to kill you right now, Barrister Babu, but if I do that then Thakumaa will kill me," Chandrachur seethed, glancing around to where a handful of passersby had huddled around, gossiping. 

Anirudh didn't care who was there. He wasn't done with Chandrachur. 

"You spoke such nonsense about my Bondita!" Anirudh yelled, his heart aching, as he sat up on the floor, "Chandrachur, I won't spare you." 

"It wasn't nonsense. It was the truth," Chandrachur hissed, standing up tall, "If you're so certain that it's fake, then go and ask Thakumaa. She was the one who delivered this news to Bondita herself." 

Anirudh just looked at Chandrachur from his position on the floor with a devastated look on his face. 

Bondita had gone to Krishnanagar when she had school the next day. She had driven there all by herself with Batuk. 

Why... else... would she go? 

No. No... absolutely not. This couldn't be true. They took contraceptive pills! He was sure that Bondita took them properly. She wasn't irresponsible. 

"Oh, and Anirudh Roy Choudhary, she went to get her baby aborted illegally, in the black market. I was the one who stopped her. I was the one who told her not to risk her life like that. I was the one who saved her. Where were you? You weren't even here," Chandrachur hissed darkly at Anirudh. 

Anirudh was hearing Chandrachur's words, but he couldn't process them anymore. He was in a shock. Disbelief. This couldn't be possible, but Chandrachur was saying it with such confidence. 

And he had caught Bondita meeting Chandrachur after school too. 

"She asked me to help her get an abortion. Did she ask you? No, she didn't even tell you. She trusted me," Chandrachur told Anirudh, darkly, leaning down over him now, dangerously close with a threatening expression. "She doesn't even want your baby. She tried very hard to get rid of it." 

Each of his words were piercing Anirudh's heart. Each and every one of them. 

"It's sad, because everyone thinks she loves you so much... but where did that love go? Where did that so-called faith go?" Chandrachur added on darkly. 

Anirudh's eyes got wet, and he glared at Chandrachur now, grabbing his shirt, and trying to push him again, but Chandrachur escaped his grip. 

"Lies and betrayal are all she gave you. Pain is all she will ever give you. Imagine how much she must despise mothering your child, if she went for the most despicable of abortions," Chandrachur went on, and then he leaned dangerously close to Anirudh again, uttering in a scary tone, "Coat hanger abortions." 

Anirudh felt a shiver run through his spine at the possibility that Bondita could even think about doing this to herself. 

No. All of this was fake. Bondita didn't think this, nor was she pregnant. He wouldn't get trapped in Chandrachur's words. 

Anirudh managed to push Chandrachur back on the ground, and stand up. 

"I trust my Bondita," he just hissed darkly at Chandrachur, "Your lies won't displace my faith in her, Chandrachur." 

Chandrachur looked up at Anirudh with a smirk through his bloodied face, "You will see who was right and who was wrong soon Barrister Babu." 

Anirudh turned around and left from there, his knuckles bleeding, but the pain his hand was feeling was nothing compared to the ache and fear that was building up in his chest. 

His Bondita... was...? 

No. He was adamant. He couldn't believe this.

He absolutely would not. 

-- 

When he entered the haveli, his hand coated with blood, Sampoorna was the one who saw him first. 

"Anirudh!" she gasped, and she rushed to him to see his hand, but he wasn't looking at her. 

He was breathing heavily, pain in his eyes and heart, pushing away Chandrachur's haunting words from his mind. 

Bondita told him that she would tell her what was wrong with her today. He wouldn't fall into Chandrachur's trap. He would wait for Bondita. 

"What happened Anirudh?" Sampoorna asked, but Anirudh stormed into his study, not even looking at Sampoorna. 

He fell onto the sofa in the study room, trying to take deep breaths, but feeling like he couldn't breathe. 

What if Chandrachur's words... no! No what was he thinking? How could he even doubt his Bondita? 

"I - I'll wait for you Bondita," Anirudh said, his voice heavy, full of pain and fear. "You'll tell me the problem. You said you will. I kn - know you l - love me, and you wouldn't h - hurt yourself like that. You know what I can't tolerate, is you causing yourself pain." 

The time she had made the tattoo of their names together, he had cried. 

If she ever were to get such a terrifying abortion... then... he didn't think he would ever be able to handle that. 

She knew very well that she wasn't allowed to hurt her body in any way. That was a strict rule. So there was no way... no way, that Chandrachur could be right. He was just trying to cause problems. That was all. 

Sampoorna entered the study room, a bowl of haldi in her hands. She sat down next to Anirudh, and noticed his pained expressions. 

"What's wrong Anirudh?" Sampoorna asked, and reached for his hand. 

Anirudh pulled his hand away.

He suddenly recalled Sampoorna Maa's words too. 

You shouldn't have done that... she had said. You had dreams, then why did you do this? 

Anirudh's heart got heavier and heavier. He looked at Sampoorna Maa as she tried to reach for his hand again. 

"S - Sampoorna Maa..." 

"Yes Anirudh," she said, taking his hand, and reaching to apply the haldi on it. 

"Y - you said... the other day... I shouldn't have... done something. What shouldn't I have done?" Anirudh asked her, sounding like he was in a state of shock. 

Sampoorna looked at Anirudh, her gaze now getting furious. 

"You still don't know?" she asked. 

"D - don't know what?" Anirudh asked, feeling scared. 

"You don't know what you did to Bondita? My innocent sister? When you were going to make her a barrister?" Sampoorna asked. 

"W - what? Why can't she b - be a barrister?" Anirudh asked, stammering in denial, his heart paining, "S - she can surely be a barrister! If you're talking about her test, then that's just a t - test!" 

"I'm not talking about any test Anirudh!" Sampoorna told him, "And this is what I feared the most! You would pressure her even in this state!" 

"P - pressure?" Anirudh asked, his heart dropping. "What p - pressure Sampoorna Maa?"

His shock was only building. He didn't want to believe it. He wanted anyone, anything to tell him that these doubts were wrong. That he was wrong. 

"You won't let her become a good mother, nor will you let her become a good barrister," Sampoorna snapped, and Anirudh's world felt like it came crashing down. 

Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, and he shook his head, withdrawing his hand from Sampoorna Maa's. 

"What are you... talking about..." 

"I can't even imagine leaving Sashwati and doing other things, but you'll force Bondita," Sampoorna said in an angry voice, "You'll force her to leave her baby and study, you'll force her to become a barrister when her child will need her the most." 

Pain was an understatement now, as he heard these bone-chilling words, that slashed at his insides like knives. 

"I always told you to be careful. I didn't want you to be intimate with Bondita. But you're a man. And how can a man control his instincts?" Sampoorna asked, shaking her head, "Now Bondita will have to suffer because you couldn't control yourself." 

There was sweat on his face, tears in his eyes, and he just forced a smile of disbelief and said, "Sampoorna Maa... you must be - be mistaken. D - Did Chandrachur talk to you t - too? He's trying to create misunderstandings."

Sampoorna glared at Anirudh, as he tried to push away the truth, and she said, "Chandrachur? No... Bondita spoke to me." 

Now the tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't hold back anymore. 

The mere possibility that this was true... that... that Bondita was... p - pregnant, was enough to send him to a state of frenzy. There were so many things wrong with this. Not just with her studies, her career, their dreams, but her life. Shubhra Maa nearly died when she had Anirudh... what if Bondita could go through the same fate? 

But no... no... that wasn't possible, because Bondita was not pregnant. He was still refusing to believe it. 

Sampoorna was startled to see his state, but she shook her head, "You were always going to react this way. This was why Bondita was too afraid to tell you. She respects you a lot... but you? You can't give her some respect and let your dreams go? For the sake of her? The future isn't only in changing society Anirudh, but the future is in raising a family too." 

Anirudh's tears weren't stopping, his heart was shattering over and over again, his pain was getting more and more grueling. 

"We - we both wanted to raise not only our family, but raise many families... all over..." Anirudh choked, like he was still in a shock, "We wanted to raise the world like w - we would raise a child. W - we wanted to empower not only our own, b - but strangers t - too. S - She wanted this t - too... B - Bondita too." 

Subliminally, he was already speaking in past tense, although consciously he refused to accept it. 

Sampoorna looked at Anirudh with a slight shake of her head and said, "If you controlled your instincts, if you had some self-control Anirudh, then the outcome would be different. But now, it's too late. Now she needs to focus on being a mother. Drop all of your dreams. Maybe when your child is old enough, there's a chance. Now, your child will need her. She won't have any chance to become a barrister at this time, and you should not pressure her. At least let her become a good mother." 

The world was shattering around him, and Anirudh didn't know what to do... where to go... how to hide...

All of Sampoorna's words were cutting him like knives. 

Self-control. He was a man. He had instincts. He couldn't control himself. He would pressure Bondita. 

These were all Sampoorna's words, and now he was afraid that... they were true. Sampoorna wouldn't lie, like Chandrachur. 

-- 

Outside, Trilochan had heard that Anirudh had gotten into a fight with some man, and he gasped loudly. 

"Why would he fight with anyone?" he wondered, but nobody had been able to hear their conversation and figure out why they were fighting. "Oh of course, I got it!" 

So Trilochan stormed into the haveli, straight into the study where Sampoorna and Anirudh were talking. 

Anirudh didn't look to be in a good state, and the wound on his hand confirmed the fight. 

"Anirudh! I knew it! Those good for nothing doctors probably pestered you too! They're spreading rumours about Bahu!" Kaka huffed, "You must have punched them, right?" 

"R - rumours?" Anirudh just asked, looking up at Kaka with lost eyes. 

"Yes, those nincompoops came here and reported that our Bahu went to the hospital to get an abortion. But that's impossible!" Kaka huffed, "They don't know anything! Doctors are useless! And our Somnath is turning into just like those fools! Fraudulent!" 

The world had already crashed down on him, so why did it feel like it was crashing down again? 

From every angle, the truth was hitting him like a tonne of bricks. Yet, he didn't want to believe it. He still didn't want to accept that this was true. 

"Leave me alone!" Anirudh suddenly said to both Sampoorna and Kaka. 

"What? Anirudh?" Sampoorna asked, "I still haven't finished applying haldi." 

"What's wrong with you Anirudh?" Kaka asked, "You've already unleashed your anger on them. Why are you getting angry at us?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he bellowed to the two of them again, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. 

"Anirudh, why are you crying?" Kaka demanded. 

"GO FROM HERE KAKA!" Anirudh screamed, and then he stood up and went to his desk, dropping the hourglass with rage. 

Trilochan winced, grateful that the hourglass didn't break. 

"Sampoorna Bahu, let's go from here, otherwise this whole room will fly into outer space!" Kaka said, shaking his head, "You know his temper." 

"What use is a temper now," Sampoorna said, and she left the study room, leaving the haldi there on the table. 

"Anirudh..." Trilochan tried again, but Anirudh glared at Kaka, about to pick up his globe, and Kaka gulped nervously, before he ran out of the room as well. 

After Kaka left, Anirudh wiped the tears from his cheeks. 

"No. Everyone must be mistaken. Even - even Bondita must be mistaken if she told Sampoorna Maa this. She can't be pregnant. She takes pills. Contraceptive pills. The pills wouldn't have failed like this!" Anirudh said logically. "I'll... I'll ask Thakumaa. Yes. She will tell me that Bondita's not pregnant, and her pills are completely fine. That's... that's the best." 

Anirudh went to the phone and called Thakumaa's number. 

"Hello?" Thakumaa's voice said. 

"Thakumaa, it's me... Anirudh," Anirudh said. 

"Jamai Babu!" Thakumaa said, sounding surprised. "You remembered me today! How are you?" 

"I just... need to ask you something. About Bondita's contraceptive pills. They... they work fine, right?" Anirudh asked, sounding afraid, "There are no problems with them, right?"

He was met with a long silence, until Thakumaa finally spoke up. The silence felt like the longest silence of his life. 

"Jamai Babu... there is no problem with the contraceptive pills, but... she wasn't taking contraceptive pills. The pills got switched with Tupur's fertility medication, the day you came to Krishnanagar," Thakumaa explained. "And now... Bondita is... pregnant." 

Thakumaa's confirmation sliced his insides like an ice cold knife, and he was shivering, shaking so much, that the receiver fell from his hands. 

"Jamai Babu?" Thakumaa's voice could be heard faintly from the phone. "Don't be shocked Jamai Babu. You're going to be a father. A father!" 

Anirudh glanced at the phone, his body shaking with pain, fear, shock... and somewhere, a strange... weird... almost hint of warmth in the most cold depths of his insides.

A father? 

-- 

This update took me a long time to write, because of the depth of Anirudh's inner turmoil. If you have read this book, then you will know how strongly he has felt about this topic for nearly 200 chapters. And Bondita, who knows Anirudh best... always knew he would react this way, hence her fears were not baseless. 

Just like I explained in a previous chapter about how a mother can feel a disconnection with her child, a father can too. Remember ARC is a man of many shades, many layers, and you will see his shades unfolding in this track. 

That being said, you don't have to be scared, and you can trust me. It might be scary because you don't know where this is heading... but remember, I'm writing this with a vision in mind. I've already outlined the whole track, until the birth process (which there is lots of time for), so be patient, try and stay supportive, and observe the development in the characters and their relationship. 

This track isn't just for drama, but for major character development. You will witness how both Anidita develop in this track. And I'm so excited to pen it down, and I hope you're excited to read it too. 

How did you find this chapter? Were you able to understand Anirudh's turmoil? There was so much... fear, insecurities, doubt, heartbreak... that I hope I did a good job in penning it down. 

Anything that stuck out to you the most? 

Did you like the scene with Anirudh beating up Chandrachur? 

What did you think of Sampoorna/Anirudh's scene? 

There was some comic relief with Kaka's scene. Did you like this? 

What do you think will happen now? 

Anything you are looking forward to?

If you would like the next part soon, then remember to press star and shower your comments, and I'll try to post another one today for you all, if the response is good.  

Just like Bondita had written in her letter, that Anirudh's love and support is what keeps her going, your love and support is what keeps me going! ❤️❤️❤️

I love you all very much!