2nd December, 1942, Roy Chaudhary Kothi, 10:00 pm
Later that night, Batuk was lying on the bed while staring at the ceiling, mentally revising the plan that he had made with Shashwati. His talk with Shashwati and the tickling match that followed had left him in a much better mood.
The ringing of the telephone interrupted his revision. Realising that only one person would call him here, he scrambled up and almost ran to the desk to pick up the phone
"Hello?", he said eagerly.
"Sou tou nahi gaye thay na?" Her soft voice sounded like honey to him, and brought an instant smile to his face.
"Nahi nahi...", he quickly reassured her. "Jaga hi tha... Kaisi hou tum Mallika?"
"Abhi tou itni nervous hun ke lagta hai ulti aa jaaegi"
That familiar proclamation instantly piqued his attention.
The memory of her infamous anxiety attacks before her exam brought a smile on his lips as he asked,
"Kyun? Accountancy exam hai kya kal?"
It had become somewhat of a joke during their college days. Irrespective of the time and effort that Mallika put into studying Accountancy and despite knowing that she would invariably top, she used to get extremely nervous before an exam, forcing Batuk to find ways of "distracting" her, during their study sessions.
"I wish, at least tumhari madad le paati padhne mein. Nahi this is worse!"
Batuk had always been interested in business related subjects. And this interest didn't stop him later also even when he chose Law as his career path. Despite being a law student, Batuk used to spend more time studying Accountancy and Business Studies with his friends in Commerce, especially Mallika. And due to his aptitude for Accounts, he often ended up helping Mallika in the subject.
He knew that most of Mallika's anxiety stemmed from nothing as she was a brilliant student herself, but she sounded pretty flustered at the moment, and that was new!
Furrowing his brows, all his attention was on her as he inquired,
"Kyun kya hua?"
On the other side, Mallika sighed heavily and then launched into her nervous tirade,
"Arey miene bataya tha na jo mien kaam ker rhy hun for the widows?"
Batuk instantly remembered her work which she had told him about...
The same that she had started to earn Bondita's forgiveness.
He gulped as an overwhelming wave of pride and affection washed over him for Mallika, for trying to do what he could truly understand now.
Prayashchit...
With a small smile, he returned his attention back to Mallika's conundrum.
"So Batuk, I told you na that Association ki kuch ladies handlooms ka business kholne ka plan kar rahy hai? Tou kal ek bade industrialist ke saath meeting hai humaari... Business proposal dekhna chahtay hai humaara woh!"
"Isme worse kya hai? Proposal kaafi samay se tayyar hai na?" He was confused. It was unlikely for Mallika to get worried about small things like that.
"Haan, mager kal usey present karna hai mujhe! Batuk agar kal koi bhi gadbad huyi tou inn sab ki itne samay ki mehnet pe paani phir jaaega!" She hushed, her breathing erratic with all the nervous energy.
A full smile bloomed on Batuk's lips as he realized that his Mallika was really, really serious about this thing. She really, actually, truly wanted to help those women!!
STAI LEGGENDO
Setting It Right! (A Batuk-Anirudh-Bondita-Kaka Story)
FanfictionHello everyone! So, we are back with a new story. It was my idea to write an Epilogue because, like Ayesha and I, I was pretty sure that many of you must have been disappointed with the show's ending, especially because the team wasn't given a few m...
