“Congratulations then. Finally, you have sorted it all out.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Banerjee.”

“Now when can I expect you to call me Mom like Rupa does?” Mouli asked making both of them blush.

Paritosh replied, “I’m a bit old fashioned for Mom. Can I call you Ma? That’s what I used to call my mother.”

“That’s what I used to call my mother too,” chirped Mouli, “So, it is cool! Rupa. Get something to celebrate. If sweets are not there, even coffee will do!”

“Sure, Mom,” she left the room.

“I know you will do so, Paritosh. But as a mother I cannot help myself from saying this. Keep her happy.”

“Rest assured!” Paritosh smiled.

“And demand it from her, if she doesn’t make you happy on her own. But don’t let go of her.”

“Yes,” Paritosh blushed thinking about how mistaken he had been in assuming that Rupali wanted to end the relationship.

“And don’t do what you did during her student days,” she laughed.

“I am going to get a lot of grief about that, am I not?”

“You will manage.”

“It was never intended to hurt her.”

“I’m sure. She was overly sensitive about certain things, I believe. Her father died when she was very young. She hardly remembers him. Despite my best efforts I don’t think I could fill up that void. She always sought acceptance and appreciation from… what shall I say… authority figures? Which meant teachers in the schools and college. Thankfully, she got what she sought most of the time. But you proved tough. Didn’t give her what she wanted,” Mouli laughed again.

“I am sorry. I never realized that I was affecting her. It just wasn’t the best time of my life. But I will make up for it, I promise.”

“I’m sure you will. Don’t worry about the past. She, herself, does not think much of that now. She was a child then.”

“Are you two again talking about something that I will come to know a few years later?” Rupali pouted as she entered with the coffee.

“I won’t repeat my mistake, dear. So, let me tell you that Paritosh has just now promised to me that he will make up for all the troubles he gave you when you were a student. I’m sure he is going to make up well for it.”

“Mom! If you tease us any more I’m going to run away from here.”

“I won’t dare. Give me my coffee. And now I want to rest. So, I think you two should go out and sort out any remaining issues.”

Paritosh and Rupali blushed. Weren’t they looking forward to spending some time alone?

—

They went to her room after the coffee.

“So, how do you plan to make up for the troubles you gave me?” Rupali’s happiness colored her voice and demeanor. She was on the top of the world and it was out there for anyone to see. “Especially when you don’t even admit that you disliked me.”

“To start with, by apologizing, and by explaining.”

“You have so much to explain.”

“I have been an idiot, I guess. It’s time to undo all the mistakes.”

“All right. Let me hear you out,” Rupali said feigning a judgmental attitude.

“When I had first seen you, my life was a bundle of confusions. My mother had died a while back. I had brought Amrit with me to Mumbai hoping to get some good treatment for her. But the doctors, psychiatrists, all of them gave similar answers, whose gist was that it was too late. She should have been treated earlier, in her childhood. I had hardly gotten time to know her. It was an arranged marriage, and even after the wedding, she had to stay with my parents to take care of my mother. When she came here with me, I didn’t know what I felt for her. I mean I definitely hadn’t gotten enough time with her to have fallen in love with her. But I could not ignore her either. It wasn’t her fault. She was my responsibility. So, I had decided to take care of her and accept my fate. Then I saw you. I remember the first time I had heard you speak in my class. It was about the interpretation of Akbar’s policies by different historians. I was amazed at how you had not just mugged up the quotes from the different historians, but had actually analyzed their stands, where they came from, whether there were specific agendas behind their interpretations. I was very impressed.”

“You remember that?” Rupali’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes. And before I knew it, this charming, intelligent girl, who was full of life, had started affecting me beyond what was appropriate in a teacher-student relationship. I would find myself smiling when someone discussed a prank played by you in the faculty canteen. I wanted to have you around all the time. And that triggered my mental alarm. It just wasn’t right. I was a married man. I had a wife to take care of. And you were merely a child then. My student. Not even an adult officially. I just had to rein in my emotions. I had to keep away from you. I didn’t know if it was real or a figment of my imagination. But the more I tried to ignore you, the more I found you around me. You would be sitting on the first bench in my classes, always volunteering to answer. If there was an extra-curricular activity I was asked to organize, you would be right there, impossible to ignore, winning prizes most of the time. I found you all around me and I tried harder to push you away. And… I hadn’t realized until recently what I ended up doing in trying so hard. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry that I hurt you. I can’t undo the past. But in future, I’d never let you be hurt. Not by me. Not by anyone else.”

Rupali looked like she had witnessed a miracle. She shook her head and said, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say that you forgive me for that.”

“Of course, I do. I have done that long ago. You have been so nice to me since I came back; I had started thinking that it was a different man I had known then.”

“That, too, is a good way to look at it,” Paritosh said smilingly, “Although my feelings have remained the same. And when you came back, I was as unsettled initially as I used to be back then. But I realized that I was indeed a different person now. I wasn’t as edgy as in my younger days. After a while, I was confident that I could be in control of myself around you. And so, I did not have to go those extremes.”

“You succeeded very well. I’d never have known. You didn’t accept even after I had made a fool of myself that night.”

“I was so worried after that.”

“Why?”

“You had said something like I made you fall in love with me. I thought I had betrayed my emotions. I felt like I might have misled you at a time when you were so vulnerable.”

“You don’t think so now, do you?”

“I don’t care now if you are vulnerable. I will keep you safe.”

“But you must know that it is not my vulnerability that makes me feel the way I do.”

“No. It’s not,” he smiled and pulled her in an embrace.

—

To be continued