Binoba hastened his steps and bumped at Asha, intentionally. His voice was soft, only Asha could hear. "Why are you still here? Where is Mister Ronjon? And don't approach the police officers or someone can leak your presence."
Asha was so shocked by his words that she almost tripped. Binoba pulled her with him and talked loudly for Netratav and other's ears. "Chotto Bh
At this moment, the man Binoba sent arrived outside Fishal's office. "Is the District Representative in?" A man led him in. Fishal heard the news and gave the man a written order to be given to the Chief of Police, void of the knowledge that Netratav was already there.Before the man left, Fishal asked, "Do you know where Asha Das right now?"
fter an hour of walk, Asha, who was still wearing a Panjabi, found her way to Mukti's restaurant. What she saw stopped her from moving. It was closed, stone marks on the walls, windows smashed to pieces, and dripping paint writing on the wall saying, “Poisonous food, stay away.”Asha’s temple throbbed with rage and planned to wash out the words, but patrons started coming. She knew these people well. That meant it was almost lunchtime. She crossed the street in a hurry and hid behind a tree with her head down. The incoming couple froze when their eyes laid on the written words. "I don't believe this. We've been eating here for years, but we've never been poisoned. Who did this?" the wife said."Maybe jealous people did it. This restaurant had wonderful food, so they got a better income compared to other eating places," the husband replied. He touched the paint and left a mark on his finger. “Don’t… What are you doing?” His wife took a hanky and wiped clean the red paint from the husb
Chapter 18As Fishal came out, he saw the police car and wondered why the Chief of Police was there. As timely as it could be, Netratav came out smiling and talked with him.
She stealthily hurried ahead to the kitchen. How to save Ronjon? She paced around. Her eyes went to a knife. Kill them? Her stomach knotted with the thought. What to do?Her eyes caught the tray used earlier. Yes, the delicacies that were thrown. She picked them up, chose the clean ones, and arranged it on the most conspicuous section of the table. To complete the bait
Asha exerted all the strength she had to move the loaded curtain inch by inch, afraid it would become pitch dark and had no way to find her way to her hideout on time. As time went on, she noticed the sandy path was still clear to her eyes. She looked heavenward and saw a full moon. And said a brief prayer, thankful for providing her light. It solved half of her trouble. However, she carefully checked the surroundings from time to time to see if there was anyone following or who saw her.
On the next day, she bought a veil, covered her face, and went to a doctor. She asked for medicine to wake a person."Let me be clear, the man is sleeping for a long time like in a coma?" The doctor said, sitting behind his wide glass desk, confused with her request.
The old lady gave her directions up to a small empty sandy lot at the end of Panibon, where the salt water and river water met."Find a purple flower with long stems and thorny leaves," Thakurma said, eyes looking vacantly at the swirling river water.
Ronjon thought of filing a case against the District Chief of Police and Arup. Asha went in their hiding place with a bunch of Bapa Pitha laid on a flat stone covered with a wide banana leaf. She handed one to him. "You don't know Mister Arup's connections. It's not worth your life. Let it be." She said those words, thinking of her father’s death where justice w
Asha blew air in exasperation. "Okay, Chef Ronjon Munshi.""Why is the chef title being inserted in this conversation?" Ronjon asked as one of his brows raised.
Both Asha and Ronjon went back in later. An hour more and the doctor came out from the operating room. All of them stood right away, aside from Asha, who slept, exhausted from crying."Who are the relatives of Shaheb Arup Mukherjee?"
Noontime came. The scenery was mesmerizing, but Rimas mind was not on it because the scorching heat of the sun was like burning coals roasting them alive. He tried lessening the soreness of the sunburns by covering his head with his shawl but held the cloth in his firm grasp, keeping the strong wind from blowing it away. Suddenly, someone yelled at his back. Everyone looked to where the shout came from and saw a woman pointing at a man who fell from the train. All the passengers on top of the roof were frightened to death. They might be next if they would not be careful.
Unknown to them, Rimas silently sat at a corner at the airport in the capital city. He tried to buy a ticket to flee the country but as Ronjon and Harry had predicted, all flights were sold out a long time ago and no more tickets were provided for the following months. Every family decided to find the best place suited for them to live. Somehow, the British Raj had not yet submitted any clear boundaries of the two countries, and there were only four months left before the set independence day.
Tarapati went back in and wakened Ninu and Arup."Ninu Bhai, your daughter is here. You better get up or something ugly will happen," Tarapati said while shaking Ninu.
Tarapati came out smiling to greet Asha, who stood in between Ronjon and Harry, but halted his steps when he saw the police cars escorting behind. He looked back at the two men sleeping in the living room, Arup and Ninu, and thought of waking them to clear up the situation to the unfriendly visitors.That night, when Ninu, Tarapati, and the rest arrived in the mansion,
Instead of being happy, Tarapati's mind boiled in rage against Ninu."Who are you playing with? Me? How dare you impersonate my late good friend?" Tarapati hollered right up to his lungs as he clenched his fist to strike Ninu on the face, but the latter calmly moved his head and shifted his hair to show Tarapati his hairy mole behind his left ear. Tarapati's hand tempo
While Tarapati was at it, he asked Ninu to allow him to talk with Sovhona alone. However, Sovhona was not at ease with the idea. She insisted on Ninu to stay with them. Hence, Tarapati had no choice but to ask Ninu for an oath of secrecy because he perceived him to be an outsider. He absolutely did not recognize this Ayoush's real identity even though they were close before.
Tarapati went to visit and talked with each of Rimas wives, aside from Sovhona, who he had no inkling of her where to find. The wives were in outrage after learning Rimas sold the house and their properties in secret. They couldn't even accept that he had the nerve to keep all the money to himself. With the fact that most of his acquired lands and business establishments were from their dowries, most of them wailed in agony and a few wished to sue him but with no power and money to do so.