Jhanak was bewildered to see the Aniruddh Bose standing in front of her and couldn’t believe her eyes. She blinked confusedly and wondered, “What is Aniruddh Bose doing in my house that too this late in the night?” Both kept staring into each other’s eyes for a few seconds leading to an eyelock. (Ni..ni..sa..sa..ri…ga…ma…pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song plays in the background) Aniruddh gradually loosens his grip on Jhanak saying, “Listen I’m not a thief or dacoit who has come to rob, loot or kill you and your family, I’m an actor and you would have already seen me several times in TV and newspapers!!! Haven’t you?” Athough, Aniruddh was Jhanak’s favorite, her idol and her role model, she was pissed with the fact that he gatecrashed into her house in the middle of the night. She shakes her head in denial signing a “No” to Aniruddh’s question. Aniruddh was surprised and asks her, “You don’t know me? You don’t know the Aniruddh Bose? In which century are you living in?” She annoyingly stares and signs with her hands, “What are you doing here this late in the night?” Although, Aniruddh had no experience dealing with mute people, he easily grasped every letter which Jhanak had been showing him through her sign language. It was as if Aniruddh had known Jhanak since long even though it was the first time he met her; he answers, “That’s a long story!!” Jhanak asks him again signing with her hands, “What story?” Aniruddh irritated with her sign language, “Oh come on, what’s with this sign language? Nobody will wake up if you talk softly the way I’m talking” Jhanak signs him, “I’m MUTE!!!” Aniruddh was stunned and stares empathetically at Jhanak (Jhanak sad tune plays in the background). He says “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that you…” Jhanak cuts him and asks in sign language, “Now tell me what are you doing here this late in the night?” Aniruddh was taken back to the events which happened with him a few minutes back.
Flashback, a few minutes ago
When Driver. Ravi stopped the car with a jolt, Aniruddh was shaken off his seat and on being asked the reason for the sudden halt, Aniruddh was shown Arshi. Arshi Mukherjee, the chief media news reporter of Kolkata times, was the biggest information junkie in town. She held her ears far in such a way that she could grasp any gossips of any stars in town and today her target was to find out who that special person in Aniruddh Bose’s life, the one he mentioned during the Filmfare awards was? Aniruddh irritantly tells his driver, “Your day goes bad if a cat crosses your path and it goes even worse if a curiosity cat cuts your path!!!” Driver. Ravi, “Now how to shoo this cat off our path Sir?” Aniruddh, “You sit here itself Dada, I will handle her.” Aniruddh gets off the car, goes towards Arshi and asks her, “So what does the gossip magnet, Ms. Arshi Mukherjee has to do with me that she has blocked my way?” Arshi looks stealthily at him, goes close to him and adjusts his clothes saying, “As Anirrudh Bose would already know that Arshi Mukherjee sniffs media and paparazzi from kilometers away, then how can she miss the news of THE ANIRUDDH BOSE’s life from right under her nose?” Aniruddh angrily, “Haven’t I told you a million times now that I can’t give you any interview? Now listen!! As I have already warned you, I can file a case against you for forcefully intruding into my personal matters.” Arshi tells him, “Tsk-Tsk, I feel sorry for you Mr. Aniruddh Bose, you are trying really hard to keep your personal life a secret in front of the public but today I’m not going to leave you unless you reveal who that special person in your life is.” Aniruddh, “What will you do if I don’t?” Arshi smirks craftily and tells him, “Look behind me Mr. Aniruddh, you are live on camera and being a star you should know what the media can do to your image.” Aniruddh first looks at the camera, then at Arshi and smiles slyly pointing his middle finger (signing f**k you) at the camera. Arshi and her crew were surprised. Aniruddh bends down towards Arshi’s right ear and whispers, “First catch me if you can!!” In a flash, Aniruddh disappeared from there. Arshi shouts at her crew members “Catch him!!! No other news portal should get the news of the special person in Aniruddh Bose’s life before us.” All run in different directions to catch Aniruddh. Aniruddh on the other hand had reached the street of Jhanak’s residence running as fast as he could. He stops for a while to catch his breath, “What a witch!! She has to poke her nose in the personal lives of all the stars!! It’s a hassle to get rid of her.” Just then he hears some footsteps coming towards him. He looks frantically for a hideout and notices an open window in Jhanak’s house. Without a second thought, he sneaks through the window into Jhanak’s house. Flashback ends
Back to the present
Jhanak was glaring confusedly at Aniruddh who was still lost in thoughts. Aniruddh, “There I was running away from that curiosity cat and here I got caught in the mouth of a lioness!!” Jhanak perplexed signs him, “What cat, what lioness? What are you saying?” Right then Aniruddh’s stomach rumbled. Jhanak forgetting everything lets out a laugh. Aniruddh was entraced by her laughter. There was something magical about her which drew him towards her. Jhanak notices that Aniruddh has been staring at her and signs him, “Why is he looking at her like that?” Aniruddh gets embarrassed and is about to shout when Jhanak places her palm on his mouth. She signs, “What are you doing? You will wake up Shrabani Mashi!!” Aniruddh asks, “Uh…who?” Jhanak signs again, “Sh-ra-bani Mashi” Aniruddh asks her, “Shrabani Mashi? You live with your Mashi? Where are your parents?” Jhanak’s face glooms on hearing that question, Aniruddh could sense that he asked the wrong question but at that very instant, his stomach rumbled again. Unconsciously, an innocent smile reappears on Jhanak’s face. Although, there was a slight embarrassment in Aniruddh, he felt relieved that he could lift up her mood. He quickly snaps the aura asking, “Is this how you treat your hungry guests? Where is the kitchen?” He is about to go to Shrabani Mashi’s room when Jhanak stops him by standing in front of him. She signs, “What are you doing? This is Shrabani Mashi’s room!! You want to wake her up at this time?” Aniruddh asks her, “Then, where is the kitchen?” Jhanak catches his hand and leads him towards the kitchen. Aniruddh could sense a change of emotions in his heart when Jhanak caught his hand. His heart was thumping fast and somehow he was liking Jhanak’s touch. (Ni..ni..sa..sa..ri…ga…ma…pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song plays in the background)
Jhanak’s house, Kitchen
Jhanak signs Aniruddh, “There you are, this is my kitchen. Aniruddh looks around but he finds nothing to eat. He checks the fridge and there was nothing there too.” He asks Jhanak, “What is wrong with you and your Shrabani’s Mashi? You don’t make anything to eat?” Jhanak signs, “We prepare fresh food during every mealtime and finish them up without leaving any leftovers.” Aniruddh, “Great, so I have to stay hungry the whole night?” Jhanak signs him, “Just give me 10 min” She goes towards the cupboard, takes out some flour , then takes out an onion, few spinach leaves and a potato from the vegetable basket. She prepares the batter with the flour and cuts the vegetables and dips them in the batter, a drop of batter splashes onto Jhanak’s right cheek. Aniruddh signs her about the batter on her cheek, Jhanak tries to wipe it off but she is unable to. Aniruddh signs her that he will help her, takes out his handkerchief which had the letters AB neatly embroidered on them and wipes off the batter from her cheek. Jhanak kept looking at Aniruddh’s dark brown eyes as he carefully wiped off the batter from her cheek. She could sense that there was a hidden pain in his eyes, a pain which he did not want to reveal to the outside world. As she kept staring into Aniruddh’s eyes ni..ni..sa..sa..ri…ga…ma…pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song played in the background. After Aniruddh wipes all the batter from Jhanak’s cheek, she asks him if she could keep his handkerchief, wash it and return it to him later. Aniruddh, “This was my mother’s gift for me before she died, since she died when I was really young, I don’t remember her and the only token of love, I have of her is this handkerchief so I keep it always close to my heart.” A tear rolled down Aniruddh’s cheek as he said that. Jhanak having herself lost her parents when she was a baby, could completely understand Aniruddh’s grief. She wanted to hug him hard and say that it was okay but she resisted. Aniruddh continues, “Anyways what will you do with my handkerchief, you are not my FAN to keep it as a tribute with you!!” Jhanak looked on, she pondered to herself “Should I tell that I’m not just his fan but his biggest fan in the whole world? Never mind, leave it what will he do knowing it.” Aniruddh forwards his handkerchief to Jhanak and says, “Here keep it but don’t forget to return it to me after washing it.” Jhanak nods compliantly. Aniruddh continues, “Now what are you waiting for? You want my stomach to rumble again to show that I’m hungry?” Jhanak smilingly puts the vegetables quickly in the batter and fries them to make fresh pakoras. She places them neatly in a platter and serves them to Aniruddh. Aniruddh takes them into his hand and is about to go the dining areas but Jhanak stops him signing, “Don’t eat in the dining hall, it’s too close to Shrabani Mashi’s room, she will wake up!!” Aniruddh asks her, “Then where should I eat?” Jhanak narrowed her eyes with a puzzled expression. Aniruddh exclaims, “So let’s go to the other room!!” Jhanak gets nervous and shakes her head in denial. Aniruddh asks, “Why?” Jhanak signs, “It is my room and you can’t go into a girl’s room without her permission. Aniruddh, “Permission my foot!! Who will seek your permission in the middle of this night? I never took your permission to enter your house and now I don’t give a damn for your permission to enter your room.” He forcefully goes into Jhanak’s room even when she tried her best to stop him and as soon he entered the room, he was dazed.
Jhanak’s room
From walls, windows, cupboards to the mirror everything was covered with Aniruddh’s photos. He looked slyly at Jhanak who now blushed in embarrassment and asked her, “So this is why you said you don’t know the Aniruddh Bose!!!” Jhanak tries to change the topic signing, “Eat the pakoras otherwise they will go cold.” Aniruddh smiles and starts eating the pakoras. He relishes them and compliments Jhanak saying, “This is so delicious!! If it was my home then I would be having them in front of my television watching my favorite dance program but here your Shrabani Mashi will wake up.” Jhanak heart leapt on hearing the word DANCE. She signs Aniruddh to watch her and slowly dances to an unheard music. Aniruddh was completely captivated by her dance that he forgets his pakoras, gets up and goes closer to her to watch her every move (Ni..ni..sa..sa..ri…ga…ma…pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song plays in the background). As Jhanak kept dancing, she unknowingly twists her foot and is about to fall when Aniruddh catches her in his arms. They share an intense eyelock (Ni..ni..sa..sa..ri…ga…ma…pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song plays in the background). In a few seconds, both realize the awkwardness in their position and free themselves from each other. Both feel a gush of emotions in their hearts but are unable to express to each other (Ni..ni..sa..sa..ri…ga…ma…pa..ga.. Jhanak-Aniruddh romantic song plays in the background). Finally, Aniruddh breaks the silence asking, “Do you have your childhood dance photos?” Jhanak nods and goes to take out an old album from her cupboard and sits on her bed to show her photos. Aniruddh sits cautiously beside her careful enough not to sit too close. Jhanak starts showing her old photos while explaining to Aniruddh in signs when and why those photos were taken. However, Aniruddh was too tired after the long day that he starts dozing. When Jhanak was about to show Aniruddh Shrabani Mashi’s photo, Aniruddh unknowingly places his head on Jhanak’s lap and sleeps off. Jhanak was bewildered but she decides not to wake Aniruddh up and herself dozes off leaning backwards.
Unbeknownst to both of them, someone takes their PHOTO in that position.
———
To be continued.
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