"What I meant is that I am going to fight this case with you, my badlaav partner!" Anirudh announced excitedly.
Bondita gasped and widened her eyes in surprise.
"What?! Really?!" she squealed before jumping up and down on the spot, clapping her hands ecstatically.
Anirudh chuckled from seeing her enthusiasm and watched her express her emotions admiringly.
Bondita was so happy right now- it has always been her dream to work with Anirudh for at least in one case and it seems like it's going to finally happen.
She then ran into his arms, hugging his torso firmly and looked into his doughy eyes that hid behind his framed glasses.
"Sakha babu, I can't even explain how excited I am right now!" Bondita softly expressed as Anirudh cupped her cheeks with love.
"I can see it in your eyes, Bondita!" he softly spoke before playfully squinting his eyes at her, "But I still want you to take the main lead in this. I'm just going to be there for your support."
"But sakha babu-" Bondita pouted.
"No buts, Bondita. This is what your Barrister babu wants!" Anirudh strictly stated.
Bondita stuck her bottom lip out disappointedly and looked at him with puppy eyes, trying to lure him so that he could change his decision.
"Bondita, come on... don't make that face..."
"What face?" she cutely sulked to which he squished her cheeks, causing her lips to part.
"Don't tempt me..." he whispered seductively, his warm breath tickling her lips.
Bondita was breathing hard now and just lost herself in Anirudh's captivating gaze. She loved playing this temptation game and so she decided to play some more.
She fluttered her eyes innocently at him, melting Anirudh's heart instantly from witnessing this subtle act.
"Barrister babu, if you want me to fight this case with you than you have to pay me some fees." Bondita stated softly with her squished lips.
Anirudh smirked and got even closer to her face.
"What fees?..." he whispered, his lips ever so lightly brushing against hers.
Bondita lowered her eyes from experiencing the sparks inside her body from his light touch and breathed, "Something that my sakha babu can't offer..."
Anirudh alluringly gazed at Bondita and tenderly stroked her plump lips with his thumbs. Bondita now shut her eyes totally to allow her touch sense to work in its full potential.
"Are you sure, Barrister Bondita Das?..." Anirudh flirted before lightly placing his lips on her yearning ones, "Barrister babu follows a strict set of rules unlike your sakha babu..."
Bondita felt faint as Anirudh's lips grazed hers when he spoke like this. She tried to complete the kiss but Anirudh kept on backing away temptingly, frustrating Bondita in the process.
"Uh-uh! Wait..." he husked, "Tell me your query and I'll fight it for you..."
"Well... my lips have been quite lonely for a while now... it may need some accompany, Barrister babu..." she whispered, now looking directly into his glistening eyes.
"Hmm... let me check..." Anirudh murmured as he traced her lips before gasping, "Have you been lying to me, Ms Das? I have evidence that your lips have been utilised recently. Are you trying to scam your own Barrister here?"
Bondita cheekily smirked and shook her head.
"No...."
"Another lie! You are now going to get punished by Barrister Anirudh Roy Chowdary for committing fraud against your own clan."
Before Bondita even got the chance to process what he just said, Anirudh pressed his lips against hers hungrily and started to passionately kiss her. Bondita instinctively closed her eyes and also kissed him back rhythmically.
They were moving back and forth on the lips they were working on, inducing their individual desires even more. Bondita moved her hands from his chest to his neck and was fiddling around with the white band collar.
Anirudh was so caught up in this intimate kiss that he nearly forgot about his 'punishment'. He then grasped onto her face and abruptly bit Bondita's bottom lip, pulling it with his teeth sensuously.
This action did in fact catch Bondita off guard and the initial bite did slightly pain but the way Anirudh was behaving so passionately today aroused her even more and she genuinely wanted him to do more of what he was doing.
After pulling her lips to the furthest it can stretch up to, he suddenly let go of his grip from his teeth and they recoiled back to their original position.
"Mmmm!" Bondita moaned from feeling this pleasurable pain.
Anirudh slightly opened his eyes and looked down at her lips, noticing that the lower one was slightly swollen. He then proactively went closer to suckle on them to help heal them a little.
"Did it hurt you?" Anirudh concerned amidst the kissing.
Bondita slightly shook her head in disagreement but Anirudh broke the kiss and looked at her dearly.
"Bondita, you need to tell me when you're in pain. Don't hide it from me!" he stressed to which she cutely frowned.
"You're only paining me now from not kissing me!" she whined.
Anirudh raised his eyebrows and pinched her cheeks that were puffed out due to her slight anger.
"Bondita that's enough for today... and tomorrow... and the day after..."
Bondita's jaw dropped from hearing his statement.
"What?!!" she gasped.
"Yes! I want you to now focus on the case. If we carry on getting distracted like this then we're going to go nowhere in this case!" Anirudh emphasised.
"How is this even a distraction?" she huffed.
"Bondita, we're working together remember?" Anirudh reminded as he hugged her from the back, "So now I only want us to focus on this case and get it done and dusted as soon as possible, ok?"
Bondita turned to face Anirudh gloomily and whispered, "So you won't even kiss me?"
Anirudh giggled from hearing her frustration from the tone in which she spoke in.
"No, not when we're working. Maybe during our free time but I don't want to assure anything." Anirudh stated as he stroked his fingers over her reddened lips, "Bondita, I get that this may upset you a little but please try to understand me. Once we resolve all of these dushmani problems, I'll do anything you want."
"Anything?"
"Anything!"
"Hmmm..." Bondita hummed as she turned around and held onto Anirudh's hands, "Sakha babu, I wholly understand your point so don't worry, I'll try and constrain myself for the next few days!"
Anirudh grinned at her maturity and kissed her forehead before whispering, "That's my girl!"
Bondita halted and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Sakha babuuu..." she playfully called out, "You are literally contradicting your own words! Remember no kissing!"
Anirudh tapped the back of his head foolishly and chuckled at her.
"See! This is what I meant! Anyways come, let's go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us!" Anirudh informed as the couple left the study.
Bondita entered Anirudh's room and found it empty. Initially, she thought of waiting until Vashma arrived but Bondita was so tired that she ended up falling asleep within minutes of lying on the bed.
Meanwhile Anirudh checked up on the rest of the family before entering Batuk's room. He found his younger brother sitting solemnly on the bed, procrastinating about something serious.
"Batuk, what's wrong?" Anirudh asked as he laid out the duvet on the bed.
Batuk came back to his senses and chewed his lips stressedly, trying to think of an answer. That was when Vashma came out of the bathroom with puffy eyes and froze from seeing Anirudh in the room.
Anirudh noticed that she looked quite upset but before he even got the chance to ask anything, she quickly ran out of the room. Anirudh watched her leave and sharply turned to face the nervous Batuk.
"Did you say something upsetting to her?" Anirudh queried.
"Huhh? No! She-she is just missing her family, that's all..." Batuk managed as he avoided eye contact with his elder brother.
Anirudh sighed and sat next to Batuk and watched him for a couple of seconds.
"Batuk, I have so many questions running in my head but I don't know which ones to ask you first."
Batuk gulped fearfully and prayed that he doesn't ask any questions that may lead to him telling the truth.
Anirudh scratched his head confusedly and paused when a good question came up in his mind.
"Ok so I get why Vashma is feeling a little reserved with us because she still hasn't really bonded with us and everything is new here for her. But why does she seem to be quite distanced from you?" Anirudh inquired concernedly.
Batuk's eyes widened- how did his Big D notice this so quickly?
"Oh w-well she is close to me but she doesn't showcase that in front of everyone else..."
Anirudh narrowed his eyes and stared at Batuk.
"Are you sure that's the case?" he sternly asked.
"Yes, Big D. Everything is normal between us!" Batuk nervously reassured before yawning loudly, "Ughh I am so tired! I'm going to go bed now, good night!"
Batuk then quickly jumped on the bed and closed his eyes to fall asleep. However, his heart was still racing from this investigation. He needed to sort something out before everyone slowly discovers the truth about their marriage.
Anirudh watched his brother bewilderedly and laid next to him. He hoped that he wasn't lying to him and decided to ponder about what he needs to do tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, the whole family were getting themselves ready to go and visit the relief camps. As Bondita finished getting ready, she glanced at Vashma, who was putting on the burqa, and watched her in awe.
"Do you wear this outside for religious reasons?" Bondita asked curiously.
"Uhhh yeah..." Vashma wearily replied- she couldn't tell her that she wore this to keep her identity hidden from everyone else.
"Ahh ok." Bondita replied before stressing, "Gosh, I am so scared to meet Kaka Sasurji today!"
Vashma also frowned worriedly and went up to Bondita.
"Same, I don't know how he's going to react when he sees me. I'll probably just hide in a corner but he's still going to showcase his anger to Batuk and that's worrying me..." Vashma emphasised.
"Well let's just pray that everything goes smooth!" Bondita hoped as the girls left the room and joined the others.
Sampoorna decided to stay back home and look after the children instead and so the two couples chose to leave together on the same vehicle.
Anirudh sat on the driver's seat whereas Batuk and Bondita stared at each other, not knowing who should sit on the passenger seat next to Anirudh.
"Batuk, I think you should sit here. I'll sit at the back with Vashma." Bondita offered but Batuk immediately declined.
"No Boudi, you should sit next to Big D."
"No Batuk, I think you should."
"You should, Boudi."
Anirudh and Vashma were watching the back and forth interactions between these two and glanced at each other in wonder.
"Alright that's enough!" Anirudh interfered, "Bondita, you sit next to me and Batuk can sit next to Vashma. We're already doing injustice to them by splitting them apart during the night so let them have a chance to catch up."
Batuk and Vashma awkwardly stared at one another whilst the other two were giggling within themselves. They all then sat in their respective seats and Anirudh soon drove on.
"Bondita, after we meet Kaka, you should go and meet your family members and then we'll take it on from there." Anirudh addressed as Bondita nodded in agreement.
"What is going on Big D?" Batuk asked cluelessly.
"You will have to wait and watch, Batuk!" Anirudh grinned before looking at the side mirror and noticed the huge gap between the couple at the back.
Anirudh found this quite suspicious and as he pondered about what may be going on between those two, he forgot to pay attention to the road in front of him. Bondita noticed that Anirudh was driving towards a tree and instantly grasped onto the steering wheel and turned it abruptly.
Anirudh realised what he was doing and applied the brakes immediately, halting the vehicle forcefully. The couple were panting anxiously, recovering from the fact that they nearly crashed into a tree which could've been fatal for them.
Anirudh glanced at Bondita who was gaping at him in shock and pleaded a quiet sorry with his eyes and pulled his ears lightly.
Bondita maintained her stern expression and shook her head disappointedly at him.
"Sakha babu! What happened?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention properly!" he guiltily apologised.
The duo then noticed that there was utter silence in the back seats and abruptly turned around to see the other's condition and were dumbstruck.
Batuk was gripping onto the door with one of his arm whilst the other was tightly wrapped around Vashma who was curled up against his body in fear. Batuk also had his head buried down next to her to minimise the impact of the car crash.
The two were oblivious of what was going on around them and still tightly held onto each other for support.
Anirudh and Bondita opened their mouth in shock and gawped at each other for a split second before hysterically laughing.
From hearing this, Vashma and Batuk came back to their senses and looked up from their compact position.
"You were laughing at me yesterday but look at you now!" Anirudh chuckled as Bondita playfully swatted his arm.
Vashma and Batuk then gazed at each other, realising the position they were in and immediately parted away, their faces flushing in embarrassment.
"Aww!" Bondita squealed, "Batuk you are so sweet! You showed how much you care about and love Vashma through this single action of yours!"
Batuk and Vashma froze, their eyes widening from hearing this and glanced at each other- questioning themselves whether Bondita's statements had some elements of truth in them...
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