“Mukundo Babu!”

Mukundo beamed on hearing her voice. She had obviously recuperated well. She was sitting in the hall and having a cup of tea.

“Someone looks well. Where is Kaku?”

“Not at home. Has gone out for some work. Can you take me to my room?” She still needed some support while moving around.

“Sure. Come.” He held her hand and put his other arm around her protectively. They slowly walked to her room. As soon as they were inside, she surprised him by suddenly hugging him tight.

He restrained himself from responding as passionately. He patted her head and then held her until she pulled away a bit. Her face had gone crimson.

“Are you fine?” he asked softly.

She spoke despite feeling shy, “I was so weak, I hadn’t even held you properly once. Sometimes I felt like it was all a dream, an illusion. And you weren’t really here.”

“I am here, Pihu Rani. And nothing is going to make me go away now. But you don’t do such things. Not until you have recovered fully.”

She looked up at him curiously, not understanding what he meant. He smiled at her. “I don’t have a mask now, Piyali, which I can hide behind. And you seem to have no idea what your proximity does to me.  I can’t act on my urges until you are fully recovered. So, don’t tempt me, please.”

She averted her eyes and moved back. Her heart pounded so hard on understanding his implication that it threatened to jump out of her body. Mukundo chuckled on seeing her condition. How naïve and innocent she looked. Was she really capable of feeling that passion for him which had reflected in that hug over two and a half years ago?

“Let me help you to bed,” he said and led her there. “Oh. And I forgot,” he took out an envelope from his rear pocket, “This had come for you. I received it while coming.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t know. Seems like something important.”

“Important?”

“Yeah. He was insisting that he would give it only to you.”

“Then how did you receive it?”

A teasing smile formed on his lips. “I told them that I am your husband.”

She gulped hard and colored. “Hadn’t you just stopped me from doing such things?” she said in a low voice.

“I had stopped you because I have a problem. You don’t seem to have the same problem.”

“How would you know?” she fixed her eyes on the envelope and spoke in a low quivering voice.

She frowned on seeing the contents of the envelope.

“What is it?”

She put it aside. “Acceptance for Ph. D.”

“Congratulations, Pihu Rani,” his eyes shone. “From Stanford itself, right?”

She nodded, but looked at him with expressionless eyes.

“What happened?” he asked, “Not happy?”

“I’m not going back, Mukundo Babu?”

“Because of me?”

“I don’t want to do a Ph. D. I already feel exhausted after MS.”

“Really?”

“It is true that I don’t want to leave you again. But it is also true that I don’t want to do a Ph. D. I had applied because… well what would I have done if you hadn’t come? So…”

“Pihu Rani. Here is something you should know. I am not going to leave you again, either. But we don’t have to be in Kolkata for that. I can take a sabbatical; even try to find a job wherever you have to go. You don’t need to sacrifice anything for being together. Now tell me honestly. What do you want to do?”

“I have a job offer. I can join their India office. But…”

“But?”

“It is in Bangalore.”

“Is that what you really want?”

She nodded.

“Then that’s what we’d do. But I hope they will give you a couple of months to join. Because you will need at least that much time to recover fully.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I will send my job application to ISI Bangalore.”

“How can you decide so quickly?”

“I have suffered from my indecision and silence, Pihu Rani. Not any longer.” He had something else in mind too, which he didn’t yet tell her. Her father would also get a better treatment in Bangalore. There was a super-specialty hospital there.

—

Piyali had recovered a lot, though not completely. Mr. Banerjee asked them to get married before shifting to Bangalore. It would make things easier. They could stay together. Neither of them had any objections. What were they to wait for? It had already been a lifetime of waiting.

Mukundo asked Piyali what kind of a wedding she wanted. “Simplest possible,” was her answer.

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t matter.”

“Don’t you want…”

“No. I want nothing other than just… ending this wait.”

He smiled and kissed her on forehead.

Her first choice was a simple court marriage. But that would need a month’s notice. So, they decided to arrange a wedding in a temple instead. He asked her to come to shopping with him.

“I want to see my wife in a saree,” he told her teasingly.

She frowned and asked looking worried, “You mean… can’t I wear my usual dresses after the wedding?”

He laughed out loud. “Silly girl. Of course, you can. I don’t think you can as much move around wearing sarees all day long. And I don’t intend to carry you around all the time. I was talking about the wedding.”

She smiled and blushed furiously. She was going crazy. She always did around him, didn’t she?

She was taking too long to get ready. He came back to her room and found the door ajar. She was probably in the bathroom. He sat on her bed and noticed a book peeping out from under the pillow. Curious, he took it out. He was taken aback at first and then a mischievous smile formed on his lips. He got up to leave the room with the book before she came back. His eyes fell on the clothes she had discarded while changing. There was a bright red dupatta lying on the back of a chair. He picked that up too, walked out briskly and hid his stolen possessions in the car. When he came back she was ready to leave. She didn’t seem to have noticed the theft.

He bought her much more than one wedding saree. When she objected, he whispered in her ear, “Once in a while even after wedding won’t hurt, would it?” She smiled nervously and weakly. It would take her time to get used to his romance. She was used to his camaraderie and protective instincts. This change was sometimes unnerving, even if sweetly so.

“The billing queue is long. You sit here, while I pay the bill. I don’t want you to get tired.” She nodded, although she would very much have liked him to be by her side every single moment. She still tended to tire quickly and his advice was reasonable.

“Isn’t that Pihu?” she looked up startled on hearing the voice.

“Aporna Di?” her throat went dry.

“It’s so good to see you, Pihu. How are you doing? Are you here alone?”

Piyali paled. What was she to tell her cousin? Who was she here with? And why?

“No. Not alone,” she managed to reply, “How are you, Di?”

“As well as I can be. I had come with a friend. Her sister is getting married. She wanted to buy something for her. Who are you with?”

Piyali gulped hard. There was no point hiding. Mukundo Babu would be there any minute. And especially if he noticed who she was with, he would practically come running… “Mukundo Babu. He is getting the billing done.”

Aporna smiled weakly and changed the topic, “You look so weak. Have you been ill… Oh – what is this?” She noticed the packet of bangles Piyali was carrying. Shaakha-pola, a pair of white and red bangles that married woman wore, was visible through the translucent polythene bag. “Are you getting married, Pihu?”

Piyali smiled weakly. Despite herself a blush crept up on her face. “Wow! You didn’t inform us. Who is the lucky guy? You are running away from home or what…. How come nobody knows…”

“She isn’t the kind to run away from home…” Mukundo’s voice startled them.

“Mukundo!” Aporna paled on seeing his stern countenance.

“Let’s go, Piyali,” the way Mukundo helped her up and protectively put his arms around her left nothing to guess.

“Wait!” It would have been more dignified for her to let them go, but she could not check herself in time. “Are you two…”

“Yes,” Mukundo replied while Piyali stayed tongue-tied, “We are getting married.”

“How could you… She is a baby! Mukundo…”

Mukundo replied with a crooked smile, “Much more mature and loyal than you, Aporna. Don’t try to talk to her or to me in future. You have destroyed my life and happiness once. I am not about to let it happen again.”

Aporna felt a surge of anger. “You are disgusting. This is… She has a hopeless, unhealthy dependence on you. It isn’t a match. This will be a disaster.” She had still harbored a faint hope of her reunion with Mukundo, especially given that he hadn’t married anyone else yet. But this…  And her own cousin?

—

To be continued