March, 1950

"Ambika Roy Choudhary, eat your food right now!" Bondita ordered, sitting next to her almost eight year old daughter at the dining table for dinner.

Anirudh was across from Bondita, with Girish, Ambika's twin brother beside him. 

Trilochan and Somnath were beside Girish, while Binoy and Sampoorna were beside Ambika. Sashwati was 16 now, and she was sitting at the head of the table.

After the twins were born, Anirudh and Bondita had worked hard to get Binoy's mental illness treated. He was mostly back to his normal self now, after many medical treatments. There were side effects of emotional distress after he returned to his normal state, but he was slowly recovering from that as well with constant therapy sessions.

A one and half year old Bhavani was in a high chair that Anirudh had specially ordered from London, and she was at the other end of the table, beside Bondita.

Bondita was managing feeding Bhavani and her other stubborn daughter at the same time.

"Maa, I don't like saag!" Ambika whined.

"I didn't give you any options Ambika," Bondita said strictly, "You have to eat whatever is cooked!"

Ambika pouted, and she looked at her Baba across the table, her eyelashes fluttering, then she glanced at her Thakurda Trilochan Roy Choudhary, whining, "Babaaaaaa, Daaaaaaa!"

They were the two people who the kids could most easily use their cute tactics to try and get their way. In fact, these two quite often even fell for their cuteness. 

The kids called Trilochan Da fondly instead of Thakurda.

Anirudh looked at Ambika, feigning sadness and he just said, "Baby, even I don't get my say with your Maa."

Bondita glared at him, and Anirudh just smiled innocently at her.

Trilochan on the other hand smiled fondly at his granddaughter and said, "Ambika, I'll give you chocolate if you finish your saag."

"Kakasasurji!" Bondita said, "Her teeth will rot if she eats so much chocolate."

Trilochan said, "Bahu, let her have it as a reward!"

Anirudh just watched Bondita with a small laugh, as Ambika grouchily began to pick at her saag.

Girish was the only one of their kids eating his food without any fuss.

After the kids finished eating, they went to play. The rest of the family members also left, leaving Anirudh, Bondita and Trilochan at the table alone. That was when Trilochan opened up about a serious topic. 

"Bahu, Anirudh, you have to be careful. There are death threats coming in the mail," Trilochan said, "I say, drop all of this revolution stuff!"

Anirudh looked at his Kaka and said with a sigh, "Kaka, these death threats have been coming for years. They have no basis. We will never drop our dreams."

Bondita nodded and she added on, "Don't worry Kakasasurji, death threats aren't new. We've been getting them since I was a child, when Pati Babu sent me to school. And constantly, since I've been working as a barrister. They're just threats, only to scare us and stop us. Nobody will touch us. Plus, our security is strong at the haveli."

"It doesn't matter. I want bodyguards with you two, whenever you go out," Kaka said sternly, causing Anirudh and Bondita to look at each other with deep pits in their stomach.

It was almost like deep down, they could feel that this time things were about to get serious.

Later that night in their bedroom, after the kids had gone to sleep, Bondita asked Anirudh intensely, after getting in bed beside him, "Why don't you ever scold them? I'm the one who looks bad, while you're the cool Baba!" 

She was referring to the incident earlier with Ambika of course. 

Anirudh chuckled, placing his arm underneath her back and snuggling with her, pulling her close.

He said, "It's time for me to take a break."

"A break?" she demanded.

"I've spent so much time scolding you already when you were younger Bondita, it's time for your Pati Babu to relax now and be the cool one," he told her with a smile.

Bondita furrowed her brows at him.

"Because you scolded me all those times, I grew up into a gem!" she told him, not even feeling awkward about praising herself.

She was her Pati Babu's work of art after all, and she was very proud of him for what he had moulded her into! She had to praise his artwork. 

"Yes, you are my gem," he told her with a smile, "But everyone says you are Anirudh Roy Choudhary 2.0. So you can take my role now in being strict. I've retired from my position in this matter!"

"Pati Babuuu!" Bondita whined, glaring at him. 

"Bonditaaa," he teased back, pulling her closer against his body and changing the subject into something quite shocking,  "Why don't we have a fourth child?"

Bondita's eyes widened and she gasped, "How much do you want to make me work?"

The three kids were already making her run around constantly, on top of that, their barrister work and their social revolution! The two of them barely had time for themselves!

Anirudh ran his hand down her bare waist, towards the tucked in portion of her saree and he softly said, "Tonight, a lot."

Then he pushed her down against the bed and started to attack her neck with kisses, clearly having a lot of energy inside of him.

She blushed and she moaned, "Pati Babuuu!"

"As long as I live, I will never ever get tired of desiring you," he murmured into her neck as he bit down on the skin gently, making her breaths grow faster. 

"And as long as I live, I will never ever get tired of getting desired by you," she teased back through her heavy breathing, as his lips moved down to her shoulder, his hand moving across her stomach lovingly. 

As long as I live; it had a deep truth connected to it, one that ensured that even in the next life, the desire that they felt for each other would not fade. As long as they lived, they would desire each other. 

The two of them didn't know that these next few months would be their final ones of this lifetime. 

The yearning that Anirudh and Bondita had in their souls for each other, would only get deeper as the years passed, in the time they spent apart. 

After all, their souls were the ones which loved, not their bodies. Their bodies were just here for expression. 

So when two connected souls were kept apart like this, would they really wait long to express their love again? 

2021

A beige sweatshirt and black sweats. 

That was what Anirudh had given for her to change into. 

Her dress was hung on a rack in the bathroom, and Bondita just stared at herself in front of the mirror blankly. 

Her collarbone was quite accentuated, her clothes quite large on her. On top of that, her red dress had padded cups, so she hadn't thought to bring a bra. If her nipples got erect for any reason, they would poke through Anirudh's sweatshirt. 

Maybe she should change back to her dress, but somewhere, her stomach performed somersaults at the thought of being in Anirudh's clothes. It was quite thrilling and exciting. 

She didn't know this man, yet she was so comfortable with him. She connected with him at once. 

There was a mysterious link between them that she couldn't understand. 

Ever since she felt his lips on hers, the thought of their kisses kept on lingering in her mind. She touched her lips gently, as she glanced into the mirror, a flush on her cheeks. 

His kiss felt so pure. As if Bondita's lips were touched not by someone else, but another form of herself.

In the kitchen, Anirudh had almost finished boiling the maggi noodles, when he heard her footsteps approach. 

Those footsteps also hit his system with a sense of familiarity. 

In fact, he could almost hear anklets along with those footsteps, but Bondita wasn't wearing anklets. 

So whose chimes could he almost hear with her footsteps?

"The maggi is almost done," he told her with a smile, as soon as she entered the kitchen in his clothes. 

She was still looking extremely beautiful in his sweats. In fact, he was finding her more gorgeous than ever in his clothes, and not so innocent thoughts were beginning to plague his mind. 

Anirudh's throat dried up, and he turned around to focus on the maggi. 

He wouldn't do anything against her wishes, just like he promised her, so having these thoughts would just be torturous to him. 

"I could have made something for you. You're taking the time to make me dinner," she told him, glancing at the boiling noodles.

Anirudh looked at her again and he said with a smile, "This is nothing. If we made anything fancier, it would take much longer. For maggi noodles, the package says it's supposed to take two minutes to boil... even though I've been boiling these for at least five."

Bondita couldn't help but smile. 

The two minutes claim on the package was definitely false! She could never make maggi in two minutes!

Anirudh paused for a second before continuing, "Besides, for some reason it feels like..." Like you spent a whole lifetime feeding me.

He felt ridiculous for having such weird thoughts and feelings. How was what he was thinking even possible?

"It feels like?" Bondita asked as he poured the maggi into two bowls.

"Nothing," he said, covering it up, but meaning this too, "It just feels nice to cook for you." 

She just smiled at him, her heart fluttering, and the two of them took their maggi noodles towards the L-shaped sofa. 

Anirudh had placed one of his legs up on the sofa, his other one on the ground, turning his body sideways to look at Bondita. He placed one of his elbows on top of the backrest, his hand resting against his cheek, as he admired her. His other hand was holding his bowl of noodles safely. 

He didn't want to look away.

Bondita was seated properly, with both of her feet on the floor, facing ahead, and when he turned his position so he could watch her, her face flushed.

She was feeling that same thrill, along with a nervous feeling as she started to eat her noodles with her fork. Anirudh also began to eat his noodles, still facing her.

"You... keep looking at me," she finally said nervously, after she swallowed what was in her mouth.

Anirudh smiled and he said, "I'm eating with you, so of course I'll look at you. The question is, why aren't you looking at me? Is my face so repulsive?"

Bondita shook her head immediately and turned to look at him.

"No! Not at all!" she said immediately.

In fact he was very handsome and she didn't want to look away at all!

Anirudh chuckled and he teased, "Regardless, if you don't want me to look at you, then I will stare at a wall and eat, just like you were doing."

Bondita blushed and she said, turning her knees to the side and facing him now, "No. Don't... don't look away."

Anirudh's heart fluttered, feeling like he was in seventh heaven when she gave him permission to look at her. 

After they finished their food, Anirudh took her bowl from her, and she gave him a formal look, saying, "Let me do it." 

"No need, you're here as my guest. Allow me to host you," he said, as he went to the kitchen. 

Bondita followed him and said as he washed their dishes, "You're doing so much for me. You brought me to your home, offered me your clothes, made me food, and now you're cleaning up after me too."

"It's not for free," he told her lightly, making her look at him with shock, her heart pounding hard in her chest. 

Was there a catch?

A sudden fear took over her system again. Was Sanjay right? Did she trust this man too soon? 

When she didn't reply, he turned off the tap and looked at her with surprise. 

Oh no. He had scared her. 

Why did his heart feel like it got punched hard at the mere thought of scaring her? 

"I'm so sorry," he apologized right away, "I didn't mean it like that." 

She breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to trust him, and largely she did for some reason, but the fears kept on coming back. 

"What I meant is that I get happiness doing these things for you," he told her seriously, "I don't expect anything from you. You don't owe me anything."

Bondita looked at him with awe. How was he so good? 

"Sorry... I just had a weird thought. I shouldn't have doubted you," she apologized.

"There's nothing to apologize about. The roads aren't safe anymore, unfortunately. There are all kinds of sick people out there, and it's only right that you'll be suspicious of a stranger's intentions," he told her softly.

She once again was awestruck by just how much he understood her. 

Anirudh wanted to place his hands on her arms and convince her that she could trust him. He wanted her to know that he would be there for her, and she needn't be scared of him. However, he kept his distance again.

"Let's sit down," he just told her, and she nodded, feeling a sense of relief that this man didn't judge her for her thoughts.

They sat down on the sofa in their previous positions again, facing each other. 

"So..." Anirudh murmured, wondering what they could do.

He had brought her here, but he didn't even have a plan!

"So..." Bondita repeated, looking at him, a blush on her cheeks.

Even though things hadn't really been awkward between them until now, a strange awkward tension was suddenly born, because their minds were getting in the way of their hearts.

It was like their hearts knew a certain truth behind this silence, but their minds were trying to fill it with false noise or distractions.

"Uh... shall we watch TV?" he asked her.

"Sure," she said softly.

He reached for the remote and was about to turn on the TV, when she said, "Can I ask you something?"

He placed the remote down and said, "Of course." 

"I just wanted to know more about you," she confessed. "You said you don't have a girlfriend, or a friend who is a girl. Yet, you respect women so much. How don't you have a girl in your life?"

Anirudh looked at her, surprised by her question. 

He answered, "I don't have many friends. Neil is my one real friend. Other than him, I don't have anyone who's that close to me. Many people find me too fitoori, too extreme. They judge my cause, and they don't understand me. Neil also doesn't understand my purpose completely, but he doesn't judge me for it. He respects it, and helps out wherever he can. He is a good friend."

Bondita smiled at the idea that he was fitoori, her heart feeling rested when Anirudh said he had found a good friend in Neil.

"But I'm sure, many women must have been after you," Bondita told him, "After all... you're great. You're probably the dream man for many women. You must have had tons of people who loved you."

He was not just great in her eyes. He was amazing.

Anirudh couldn't help but smile.

"I don't know if I'm the dream man of anybody, but there have been people after me for various reasons. My name, my fame, my money. Or maybe they believed they loved me, but would want me to adhere to their ideologies, their rules," Anirudh confessed, "But me? I don't believe in love."

Bondita looked at him with shock, and Anirudh began to narrate his story. 

He told her about his childhood, about how his mom had two marriages, both of which ended in divorce. How he witnessed that bad fight between his mom and dad so early in life that it emotionally scarred him.

"And this is why I don't believe in love," Anirudh confessed, after telling her about his life. "But my grandfather claims that love is real, it exists... that his brother and his wife were truly in love. But how can that be when the world is so messed up? Everyone is only concerned about themselves."

Bondita looked at him, tears in her eyes as he narrated to her his story -- the pain in his heart, mirrored in her own.

"But you... you were concerned about me," she told him, tears sliding down her cheeks. She brushed them away quickly so that he wouldn't realize that she was crying. "You didn't care about what anyone would think when you held my hand and took me inside the party. You didn't care about how you would look when you beat up Sanjay. If there is someone else like you who exists in the world, someone else who cares deeply about you, just like you would care for them, then won't that be... love?"

Anirudh looked at her with shock, and Bondita reached to hold his hand without thinking about it. She felt very close to him after he opened up about his life. 

Anirudh looked down at their joined hands, and he asked, "So you believe in love? How could you after having that experience with Sanjay?"

She looked at him, a sad expression on her face.

"I don't have any faith... ever since my parents died, neither do I believe in God, nor do I believe in faith itself," she confessed, her hand still in his, "Ever since I lived with my Mama and Mami, I've witnessed cruelty in this world day in and day out. If there was any hope in this place, if Durga Maa existed, why would my life be so messed up? I have no hope... not for anything..."

Anirudh looked at her with shock and pain, as she narrated her story too.

She told him about how her parents passed away when she was only eight years old, and how she had always been treated unfairly by her Mama and Mami. They took care of her, but always made her feel like she was doing them a big disservice.

"I don't think there's any such thing as hope in this world," she told him sadly.

Anirudh squeezed her hand gently in his and said, "I don't know Bondita..."

The way he took her name made her heart flutter. She loved how he said it.

Anirudh continued, "Maybe there is a reason for our struggles, a grand plan. I don't understand many things, but I find it strange, how I brought you here tonight."

"Strange?" she asked softly.

"As if there was a reason for it. As if there's something more to this world than we know. As if there's something that my mind isn't able to process... not yet," he confessed.

Bondita scooted closer to him on the sofa, bringing her legs up as well and sitting cross-legged as she faced him.

"It feels like that to me too," she told him, "Like there's a grand plan..." But she didn't want to be too hopeful. Just like everything else in her life, what if this was just a bad joke as well?

Anirudh looked at her with awe, and he scooted even closer to her, his crossed knees gently touching hers.

That was when he saw it.

On the sweatshirt of his that she was wearing.

Her nipples were poking through. 

Anirudh averted his gaze immediately, feeling his heartrate accelerating. 

What was wrong with him? How could he even feel anything after seeing this, when he had told her he wouldn't do anything? Yet, his desires were returning, and he was hanging on to his self-control. 

The strangest part was not just the fact that he was having lustful thoughts, but rather he had this odd sense of comfort with her that made no sense. It was like this attraction was not new. 

"You said something about your grandfather's brother and his wife being in love?" she asked him, intrigued, completely oblivious to what he had just seen. "Who were they? Can you tell me more?"

Anirudh looked back at her, into her eyes, deciding that he needed to forget about what he just saw. 

He murmured, "Anirudh and Bondita Roy Choudhary."

Bondita looked at him with surprise, her head spinning.

"Anirudh... and Bondita... Roy... Choudhary?" she asked.

"The Anirudh and Bondita Roy Choudhary," Anirudh confirmed.

"From history?" Bondita asked, her eyes widening.

Anirudh nodded.

"I was named after that Anirudh," he confessed.

"I was also named after that Bondita! After Bondita Anirudh Roy Choudhary!" Bondita told him, shocked. "Well, that was the name my mother liked... and I liked it too."

Anirudh looked at her with amazement now. 

It was such a coincidence! They were both named after Bondita and Anirudh, the couple who many revered as the ideal husband and wife relationship of recent times! 

Little did they know at this point in time, that there was no such thing as coincidence, but rather everything was fated.

"Were they that deeply in love?" Bondita asked curiously.

"My grandfather claims so," Anirudh confessed, "He says he's seen their love first hand. But I have my doubts."

All of a sudden, she felt a stab in her chest, hearing his doubt about the historical Bondita and Anirudh's love. 

"Why do you have your doubts?" Bondita asked, sounding heartbroken. "How can you even think that they wouldn't love each other?" 

Anirudh looked into her eyes, his eyes widening slightly. 

"Bondita?" he said softly. 

"Barrister Babu..." she just said to him in response, tears coating her eyes. 

-- 

The chapter was getting extremely long, so I ended it here, but I have already written majority of the next chapter, so it can come sooner if you are interested.

I wrote this chapter from scratch three times because I just wasn't satisfied enough. 😅 

I hope you enjoyed this part, and I would love it if you pressed star and shared your comments.

Love you all! ❤️