"Open the door Bondita...!"
His fist rattled the door and with it the little one's heart.
She had run at full speed, all that her little legs could manage and they did manage.
She was able to lock the door before her pati babu entered the room. But she knew very well the door stood no chance in front of the determination of pati babu.
He had threatened to break that silly wood piece down on various occasions.
"OPEN THE DOOR OR I SWEAR ON DURGA MAA I WILL BREAK IT DOWN...!"
His roar was invitable.
"See...? He didn't waste any time." She thought to her self. " He really hates this door."
Yes. Aniruddh hated that damned little door his wife always used to hide from him. It created a barrier between them and that too at times like this. She always did this.
Aniruddh had not expected Bondita to spring into a mini marathon that too in the opposite direction of the kitchen.
He was taken aback at her suddenly picked up speed and before he knew she was running, running away from him. Hiding.
He did not like it when she tried to hide herself from him. Not when she used to do it while playing hide and seek and absolutely not when she had a strong reason to do so. She was his responsibility , zimmedari. He was her protector.
He was supposed to hide her away from all of the society, world, evil and all that was not good. She was not supposed to hide from him.
This damned door is going down today.
There was a brief silence beyond the door.
"Where did he go ?" She wondered.
"Pppati babu...?!!?" As timidity yet audibly she could muster, she uttered.
There were sounds of rushed footsteps and a yell " GET BACK BONDITA...!!!" and BANG.
A loud blast like sound and heavy rattle of the doors told her that today they were coming down.
"NO PATI BABU...!!! WAIT...!"
Aniruddh's hands halted in mid air right before he was going to make another strike. A faint sound of movement of her anklets, a click from the other side and the door was open.
What she saw would always be imprinted in her mind. Her pati babu, eyes red with fury, sweat dripping from forehead , flaring nose and an iron rod in his hand. There stood her pati babu.
She had committed mistakes before too, she had asked questions in the past too. What she could not make out was what was so different this time that her pati babu today was adamant on bringing down the house, the door precisely.
She unconsciously took steps back when her brain comprehended the steps of pati babu coming towards her.
She could not look away from him.
And neither could he.
"Does she really not know the meaning of what she asked ?" He thought trying to calm his rage down. " Ofcourse she doesn't. How could she...?!! She is just 14...!!!!"
He threw the iron rod making a sound somewhat like a gun fire in the little girls ears.
Slowly walking up to her, to which she replied by tracking her steps back, he entered the room. By now tears were flowing freely from her eyes and she still didn't understand the weight her words held.
They were heavy enough to sink Aniruddh's world, sharp enough to pierce his heart.
" I could never, never do that to you..." To anyone witnessing this it would have felt like he whispered it but that was all he could manage between his anger, heartbreak, guilt and again the fuming anger.
"Aniruddh...?! What happened...??!!" Came his kaka's voice. But before he could come in the line of his sight, Aniruddh turned and locked the door from inside.
" So this door is worth something after all."
He slowly turned towards his scared little wife who was about to reply to her beloved kaka sasurji when he shook his head in a no forbidding her from making any contacts to the outside world.
Outside world. Yes. Today nothing was coming between his little ward and him.
He was about to drill a thing or two in his little wife's child brain and he needed no distractions, no manipulations.
Bondita's voice got stuck in her throat by the single movement of his head. She had tested his patience in the past several times but today she knew better. Even knowing nothing about her actions today, she knew by her pati Babu's reaction that somewhere she had crossed a line.
He came forward, bent to her eye level, maintaining all composure he could muster, he asked with a shaky breath " where did you hear it from ?"
His words came out calm but they brewed storm in her mind.