This is based on the current track of the show, where Bondita is being taken to be a Sanyasini. This story takes place on the last night before she is supposed to be taken to Kashi.

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A sanyasini.

Bondita was going to be sent off the next day to be a sanyasini, and Anirudh Roy Choudhary hated himself because he wasn't able to do anything to stop it.

Every night that she stayed outside in the hut made him worry more and more. The Anirudh Roy Choudhary whose heart had stopped beating eight years ago, his heart was now beating with anxiety and fear. He was worried about her. Very worried.

He couldn't let her go to Kashi and throw away all their dreams. He couldn't let her sacrifice everything in his name. He had educated her and shown her the right path to bring a change to this world, not so she could leave everything behind for a punishment she didn't even deserve.

Anirudh hated himself.

He couldn't stand up for her. He couldn't be her rakshak babu. The hero she always looked up to. The hero she had fallen in love with. Her hero. He couldn't be that anymore for her.

He paced back and forth in his balcony, staring down at the hut that she was staying in.

Barrister Babu Bondita, who was supposed to be the voice of all women out there, was suffering and being punished.

No. He couldn't let it happen. But what could he do? He couldn't ignore the rivalry that was taking place between the two villages either.

His heart was beating fast, pulling him towards the hut, but his mind was telling him to stay away. His mind was warning him that what he wanted was not possible.

After a long contemplation and a war between his heart and mind, Anirudh lost the battle with his mind that night. His feet pulled him towards the hut in the wee hours of the night.

The door to the hut was open, almost like she was waiting for him.

There was a lamp burning inside, causing the room to be dimly lit. He took off his shoes before he entered her hut. He wasn't able to see her in the colourless saree which adorned her body. It was making his heart ache and made him want to cry.

When did his Barrister Babu Bondita turn into this?

"Sakha Babu..." Bondita said, a smile on her lips, her finger tracing the edges of the sheet she was sleeping on. "What have you come for now?"

Her back was to the door, but she knew without a doubt that he had come for her.

"Bondita," Anirudh said, his voice heavy.

She turned around to face him, still lying on the sheet.

"Please go from here," he begged again.

He had begged her for days, but she wasn't listening to him. She was stubborn. Relentlessly stubborn.

Bondita smiled and sat up.

"I told you my condition Sakha Babu," she told him.

She had accepted all pains in her life as a gift from her Sakha Babu. Her Sakha Babu was her God, and everything he gave her -- whether it be poison or prasad, she would take with a smile.

Anirudh's eyes were wet. He stumbled forward a few steps and fell to the ground in front of her, his knees pressing against the cold hard floor.

"Please Bondita, drop this zidd now," he begged.

"Sakha Babu, why don't you drop yours?" she asked him, still smiling. "All you have to do is accept that I am not a spy, and tell everyone we love each other. Then I won't go anywhere Sakha Babu. Then I'll stay here with you. Forever."

Anirudh felt his chest heave up and down. The dream she served him was beautiful, and he really wished from the bottom of his heart that he could do that. He wished that he and Bondita could stay together and they would never have to part.

However, he wasn't just Anirudh Roy Choudhary anymore. He was Tulsipur's Barrister Babu and they were at war with Krishnanagar, the place where Bondita was from. It just wasn't so easy.

"Bondita, please," he begged again, his voice now cracking.

"Sakha Babu, I told you why I can't run away. You were the one who taught me my values, and I will never go back on it," she whispered. A sad smile on her face, she asked, "Why can't you just accept that you love me?"

"I ... I don't..." he said hoarsely, fully knowing that his words were a lie.

Bondita laughed sadly.

"Sakha Babu, you're my strength. You're my soul. You're in all of my breaths," she told him, her own eyes flooding with tears. "My every heartbeat screams your name, my breaths all belong to you. How can I leave you in this state and go? How can I leave you in this darkness that you have buried yourself in?"

Anirudh shook his head frantically.

"Bondita just leave me," he begged.

Bondita edged closer to him slightly, and Anirudh fearfully was about to get up and step back, but she took his wrist to stop him from moving.

"Don't worry Sakha Babu, I won't kiss you," she said in a teasing voice now, even though her eyes were still full of tears. Even though she sounded like she was joking with him, every word of hers had a painful undertone.

When she said that though, Anirudh looked away, not knowing how to react. His heartbeats were getting faster by the second, and he felt like he could break out in a sweat.

He needed to get out of here fast.

She pulled herself even more closer, so that her knees were touching his on the ground. Before he could even process what was happening, Bondita had wrapped her arms around him from the floor in front of him and hugged him tightly.

He felt like surrendering everything and hugging her back. He craved her loving embrace for the last eight years, but he was all alone. Nobody was there to hug him and tell him that everything would be alright. He was always the giving hand, telling his family that everything would be okay. But Anirudh? He had nobody.

Now when her hands had wrapped around him so warmly, so lovingly, all Anirudh wanted to do was melt in her embrace.

However, he forced himself to listen to his mind. He tried to pull her arms off him.

"Stop this Bondita," he said hoarsely.

"Sakha Babu, I only said I won't kiss you," she teased, smiling softly, while tears fell down her cheeks. There was a deep pain in her chest as she tried to hug all his pain away. "But I didn't say I won't hug you."

"Why are you doing this Bondita?" he asked, still trying to break free from her embrace, but she was being stubborn here too. She wouldn't let him go.

"Because Sakha Babu, I love you. I want to take every pain of yours and make it mine. I want to take all of you and make you mine," she confessed to him. "All of your pain, all of your sorrows. All of your baggage and burdens. Sakha Babu, give it to me. We can share the load. Don't take all the pain on yourself."

Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he struggled against her stubborn embrace.

She only held him more tightly now, bringing her body even more closer to him, as close as she possible could.

He squeezed his eyes shut as she whispered, "For one moment Sakha Babu. Just for one moment, forget everything and feel my hug."

Anirudh didn't know how it happened. In fact, he felt so weak now. So weak that he couldn't listen to his mind anymore. He was sobbing. His tears flowing freely down his cheeks, as she just held him to her, embracing him lovingly.

Finally, his shaking hands reached around her and hugged her even more tightly. He embraced the Bondita he missed for the last eight years. His Bondita.

While he sobbed against her, she also cried, her tears escaping freely as she tried to soothe him by rubbing his back. He felt like he could collapse against her. That was how relieving her hug felt to him right now.

She had badly wanted to hug him when she returned from London, but never did she imagine their first hug would go this way. She always envisioned that he would hug her proudly. Happily. That he would hold her tightly and proclaim her as Barrister Babu Bondita, and everything would be fine between them.

Why did this dushmani come in between and snatch her Sakha Babu's happiness? Why was it making him live a depressed life?

"Please Bondita," he sobbed, holding her tightly. He could feel his layers of burdens being peeled off slowly with this embrace. "Don't do this to yourself."

Bondita broke the embrace, shocked that despite everything he was still worried about her. She wanted him to cry and let out his pain over the enmity, but instead, he was crying over her fate.

He had already sacrificed his dreams in the name of this rivalry, and he was trying to desperately preserve hers now.

She used the end of her saree to wipe his tears away, causing him to look up at her eyes with so much pain and fear.

"Sakha Babu, why don't you try my way this time?" she asked him softly. "Just once try it."

"Bondita I'm tired," he whispered to her.

Bondita let go of her saree and reached up to remove his glasses. Anirudh stared at her with shock.

"Come here," she told him lovingly, and sat cross-legged on the floor, indicating to her lap. "Sleep on my lap."

"No Bondita," he told her, fresh tears again making their way into his eyes.

"Listen to your heart today Sakha Babu," she whispered to him, and reached up to cup his face gently. "Please Sakha Babu."

"If you don't go back Bondita, it's the last time we will meet each other," he told her hoarsely.

"Why are you so worried?" she asked him, with a sad smile.

"You know why," he told her, unable to fight his heart anymore.

"I do, but I want to hear it from you Sakha Babu. If tonight is our last night anyways, we can make it meaningful," she told him with a sad smile.

He pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them, shaking.

Bondita placed her hands on top of his knees, and somehow this move of hers calmed him down. He felt so safe when she held him, when she touched him like that. He wanted to bury himself in her arms and forget everything.

The voice of his heart was becoming louder and stronger.

Anirudh let go of his knees and took her hands in his. He held them tightly, feeling them.

For the first time it hit him that her hands had grown.

She had grown.

With everything that was going on, he didn't have time to appreciate how she had grown, how beautiful she had become.

"Bondita..." he told her softly, tracing her fingers with his gently. "You grew."

Bondita couldn't help but genuinely laugh now.

"Did you think I would shrink?" she asked him.

He couldn't help but feel lighter already seeing her laughter. The voice of his heart was already stronger, and the beautiful laughter of hers that he had loved and missed so much was in front of him again.

"I just want to look at you," he told her softly. "I want to take my time admiring you."

She smiled at him, and said, "Sakha Babu, I'm yours completely."

Anirudh now moved closer to her and Bondita closed her eyes, feeling his fingertips lightly trail across her jawline. Her chest heaved up and down as her breath caught in her throat.

"Wow," he muttered, and she blushed.

"What is wow?" she asked him softly, opening her eyes.

"You're beautiful," he told her, a glint in his eyes. "My Bondita has grown to be so beautiful."

When she heard him call her his Bondita, her heartbeats got even faster. She smiled at him, feeling love in his acceptance.

Had he stopped being so ziddi?

He walked with her on a path filled with painful stones, he tried to stop her from stepping on glass, he stole food for her, brought medicine for her wounds. He had done so much for her in these last few days when she was here staying in this hut.

Now was this his final acceptance?

She looked into his eyes, as he just admired her. It seemed like he couldn't get enough of it.

"I love you," she then said, unable to control her tongue. She felt it so deeply inside her as he looked at her with that kind of love and admiration, that she couldn't help it.

His heart filled with warmth this time, hearing her confession. In front of him, he saw the innocent Bondita who he had fallen for. The innocent Bondita who had won his heart many times over. The innocent Bondita whose zidd always won over his.

The innocent Bondita who always won.

And this time, she won again.

A small smile reached his lips as he told her, "I love you too Bondita. Very, very much."

Confessing his love made his heart feel completely relieved of every pressure he had buried himself in over these last eight years.

Tears filled her eyes and she smiled widely, her heart beating erratically for him. She just threw her arms around him and hugged him again. Anirudh hugged her back, holding her to him like she was most precious to him in this whole planet.

She knew how much her Sakha Babu loved her. She didn't need to hear his words to know. However, hearing him accept her like this did make her feel happy and relieved. The relief wasn't because she wanted to hear him confess his love, but rather because she wanted to lighten the load on his heart.

Just like he had set her free and given her wings to fly, this love was what would set him free and give him his wings back. All she wanted was for her Sakha Babu to fly again.

Now the last step he needed to do was accept it in front of everybody, and Bondita was certain that he would. She knew that no matter what happened, he would never let her go. He had been struggling with his mind's voice because he thought he had a choice... but the truth was that there was never any choice when Bondita was in the picture.

She was always his priority, and even tomorrow she would be.

When they broke the hug this time, Anirudh's eyes didn't leave her. It was like he wasn't done admiring who she had become.

It was the first time he even allowed himself to be astonished at her like this.

Bondita blushed as she watched him glance into her eyes, as if he was pinpointing where the changes had taken place.

"Sakha Babu," she said breathlessly, "If you look at me like this then I really won't have any control over what I do."

Anirudh looked at her with shock.

End of chapter.

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Preview of the next part of this TS:

"Bondita, where did you learn all of this?" he asked, his tone now stern.

Bondita smiled. "What are you talking about?" she asked him innocently.

Anirudh felt his own cheeks flush just thinking about it. "All of this flirting," he told her, sounding embarrassed to even mention it.

"Flirting? What's that?" she teased, enjoying pulling his leg.

Anirudh frowned and sternly said, "Bondita! I understood how you were flirting with me even when you came to me as Vaijanthi! Don't pretend! Did I send you to London to study or learn all of this?"

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I hope you enjoyed this! This is different from what I normally write, as I'm used to writing longer fictions, but I really wanted to give a go to a potential reunion scenario between them!

Please let me know what you think, and if you are interested in the next part. ❤️