Just you and me, Bondita

Bondings and Misinterpretations

"Don't worry, he wouldn't find out about any of this. And trust, none of us would snitch against you."

"Of course I trust you all, but at the end of the day he is his nephew and he would be extremely concerned and furious to find out that Batuk got hit by someone." she mumbled in response.

"If that's the case then I'll take ownership of that. If Kaka ever finds out about Batuk's face then I'll say that I slapped him..." Somnath reassured before glancing down and slightly smirking at Batuk, "...slapped him for being an annoying brother."

Batuk glared back at him before exhaling deeply.

"Yeah don't stress too much, Vashma. I'm pretty sure Kaka has other things to focus on other than my face so he wouldn't figure out about this anytime soon." he comforted, still holding onto his cheeks with the soaked handkerchief.

"Hmm... okay then...." she weakly responded before sitting back down on her original spot, next to her husband.

As they were all going back to sit in a circle, Bondita came across a thought. She had this question in her mind for all these days but never had the chance to actually ask it. However she had a great opportunity to ask now.

"Vashma, how comes you always refer to Kaka Sasurji as Batuk's Kaka? Why do you never call him Kaka Sasurji like me?..." she curiously queried, startling the already worried girl even more.

"Uhh... I... umm...." Vashma stumbled as she glanced at Batuk with wide eyes, pleading for help.

"Haa, that's a good question, Bondita! Even I was wondering the same." Anirudh added on contently, "I mean you even refer to me as Anirudh babu. Now I'm not forcing you to call me Jhethji or whatever, but you can always call me Anirudh dada instead. There's no need to showcase any formalities with any of us- we're all part of the same family now! "

Vashma smiled emotionally at Anirudh and gently nodded her head to show that she understood what he said.

However, her mind constantly reminded her that all of these relations were only here temporarily. This is the reason why she didn't have the heart to call them by their actual relational names as she worried that she may get too attached and when the right time came, it would be heartbreaking to cut all ties with them. However right now, she still proceeded to give in for the sake of the situation.

Whereas, Bondita and Anirudh saw her agreeing and beamed at each other happily. They have both noticed how Vashma seems to be secluded in the household for a while now and they've always felt bad witnessing this. This is why they have been trying to include her, as much as they can, in a lot of things.

"So.... What are you going to call me then?" Anirudh asked eagerly.

Vashma lightly chuckled and quietly said, "Anirudh dada..."

Everyone felt solace right now as they witnessed Vashma gradually warming up to them. Batuk, especially, was the happiest here and was grinning ecstatically at his wife, despite having swollen cheeks.

Somnath was smiling too and decided to add on.

"Oh yes, you can call me Somnath dada too!"

Vashma maintained her grin but was in fact panicking internally. Batuk has mentioned how she and Somnath were actually the same age and right now, she didn't know if she should rightfully call him Dada or not.

She gave an eery glance to Batuk before nodding weakly.

"H-Haa... Somnath... da-da..." she stated mumblingly.

Somnath beamed contently at her before passing Vashma the bottle on the floor.

"Here. It's your turn to spin the bottle now."