"I'm going to marry that raped girl, Baba. You can disagree as much as you want, you can be angry. but my decision will remain unchanged."
Imran's father Ershadul Haque remained silent in his position. For the first time, his eldest child dared to look at him with fiery eyes. Not only that, the boy who has never spoken to anyone in the family in a rigid tone without being flexible, is talking to him today in a high and difficult voice. Ershadul Haque also said in a rigid voice,
"You're making decisions out of emotion. What will society say?"
"Society? Isn't this society man-made? My question to you is, how will you answer your conscience for breaking your promise?"
"The situation was favourable then, and the girl was also pure."
"whatever happened to Nishat, happened unwillingly. None of this defiles her in any way."
"Is this your final decision?"
Imran sighed in an attempt to calm down. "I've only made my decision once, Baba," he replied, trying to normalize his voice. "I don't feel the need to repeat it again and again."
Only Ershad knows to what shook his head. Then he made his final decision in a soft voice, "Then you will have to leave this house forever, Imran. And all ties with this family and clan must be severed."
Imran's expression changed briefly, but he quickly hid it behind a difficult expression. Meanwhile, Imran's mother Yasmin Begum cried over such a ruthless decision towards her child. As soon as he heard her crying, Ershadul Haque looked hard at her. The hard command not to utter a word in that look. Yasmin tried not to make a sound and pulled a part of the veil/ orna and pressed it to her mouth. But somehow she can't stop crying. Imran noticed all these but did not utter a word. He just stared at his mother's face for a moment. He can quite guess his mother's unspoken words. When he made eye contact with Yasmin, Imran only shook his head and gestured something to his mother. In this, Yasmin raised her hand and tried to convince her son about something.
But due to Ershad's meaningless chatter, he failed in that attempt too.
Taking a deep breath, Imran said in a broken yet firm voice, "Okay. That's it. I'm leaving this house of yours. Only..." Taking a break in between sayings, Imran looked at his younger sister Esha, who was hidden behind the curtain.
He again said, "Take care of Esha. Don't let even the slightest bit of what happened to Nishat happen to my sister. She's not a strong-minded girl like Nishat who can bear it."
Ershad didn't reply. He looked back at Esha, whose face was noticeably swollen‚ trying to hold back tears. He looked back at Imran. Imran disappeared into his room for a few minutes and came back again. He had a small bag in his hand. He placed the bag on the sofa and untied its chain. Inside were some of his documents and some clothes. Showing it, Imran said to his father in a somewhat contemptuous tone,
"Look, father. If I'm stealing anything from you, this family, or this lineage, except for academic documents?"
Ershad didn't reply. But his gaze betrayed his hidden feelings. Imran ignored them all. After waiting for five minutes, he looked at Ershad's face and then, putting on the chain of his bag, left the house very calmly and naturally. Ershad, who was behind, watched his son leave until he was out of sight. Although a gap between his lips and the movement of his tongue could be seen, he didn't utter a word. When Imran was out of sight, he slowly walked forward and sat on the sofa. He looked at Esha with a silent gaze, bending his neck, for a while and scolding her,
"Why are you standing there like that? Don't you have study or homework?"
Esha startled by Ershad's sudden scolding and entered her room. When the door to his room started to close a little, Ershad shouted again in a loud voice, "What will be done by slamming the door, let me hear? There will be no crying in this house. I have to live with ten other people in society, I have a marriageable daughter at home. I will not allow myself to think with emotion. Imran has gone, let him go. When the emotion runs out, he will return to the courtyard of this house along the same path he took. I, Ershadul Haque, am waiting for that day."
---
Standing next to the tea-stall in front of his friend Ali's apartment, Imran lit a cigarette and inhaled a lot of the poisonous smoke of burning tobacco in one long drag. This caused an extra light gray smoke to come out of his nostrils. Holding the cigarette between the index finger and thumb of one hand on his wrinkled forehead, he took out the phone with the other hand and called someone. After two or three rings, the person on the other end received the call. After puffing on the cigarette again, he asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you in your room?"
A sleepy voice replied from the other end, "Hmm. Why?"
"Do you need a roommate? For a few month?"
A sound of movement came from the other end, "You... got kicked out of the house?"
With a sigh, Imran exhaled the extra smoke once more and uttered a short 'hum'. The person on the other end became angry, "You really lost your mind, Imran. Who would abandon their parents for a raped girl? Is there a shortage of girls?"
Imran's jaw tightened so much in anger that his teeth began to grind together. He warned in a thunderous voice, "Watch your tongue, motherfucker. Do I want to hear the same lecture from you? You will only answer the question I asked. If you say anything contradictory about Nishat, I will tear out your tongue and feed it to you."
Imran quickly hung up the call and said in a hoarse voice, "You son of a bitch."
Trying to calm himself down with a sigh, he ran his hand through his hair. When he stepped out to leave the place, his phone rang again. The name 'Ali' was clearly visible on the screen. He cursed him once more, hung up the incoming call, and started walking down the path. After walking a little, someone grabbed his bag from behind. Imran's anger was still like a burning coal. He somehow controlled the urge to beat the unknown person as he wished and looked back. Ali said with a guilty expression, an apologetic look,
"Dude, I'm sorry. Don't get angry. I was slee—"
Ali could not finish his sentence. Imran jerked his bag back and scolded him with his index finger, "Don't touch me. Or else I will kill you."
When Imran stepped forward, Ali ignored his threat and stood in front of him, "Okay, kill me. I won't stop you. Now let's go inside. Feed your hungry stomach first."
For a while, the two fought fiercely. In the end, Ali emerged victorious. However, after coming to his room, Imran beat him to his heart's content.
---
Towards evening, Imran sat down in a rickshaw, puffing on a cigarette. He told the driver to go to the City Hospital and started looking at the smiling picture of the girl on the phone's home screen. He was puffing on a cigarette with his free hand.
He got off in front of the City Hospital, paid the driver, bought three chewing gum named 'Center Fresh' from a small shop nearby, took one in his mouth and started chewing. He took out his pocket perfume and applied it to his body. All in an attempt to remove the smell of cigarettes from his body. Then he entered the hospital.
The door of cabin room number 207 was opened with a gentle push, and when Imran entered, he saw a woman about his mother's age sitting leaning on a chair. The lady opened her eyes at the sound of footsteps. As soon as she saw Imran, she tried to get up from her seat, but he motioned her not to get up. As soon as he got close to the bed, the girl's closed eyes also opened. Her gaze was almost lifeless, fixed on Imran. Imran smiled faintly and touched the girl's hand and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Hi, Princess," He said in a soft and gentle tone, and continued to stroke the back of the girl's hand with his thumb. Knowing that he would not get an answer, he asked, "How are you feeling?"
In response, the girl just stared at him blankly. Imran was not disappointed. He reached out and gently touched the wound on her cheek. The lady sitting on the chair slowly stood up and said, "I still haven't been able to feed her today."
Imran nodded knowingly and the lady slowly left the room. He focused his full attention on the girl.
"Why do you do that, Nishat? Don't you have to be normal? How many assignments are left, class test, practical… won't you do these? Someone else will take the 'topper' tag from you. I won't like it."
Nishat didn't react to all of Imran's words. She only blinked once. This was a small act, but a smile played across Imran's entire face. He went ahead and placed an extra pillow behind her head and made him sit in a half-reclined position. Then he pulled out a comb from the drawer of the small table next to him and arranged his hair into a neat braid. He said,
"You understand, Nishu-pakhi, (Pakhi means bird) I will braid your hair even after marriage. Even in old age, when you will only have namesake white hair on your scalp."
Imran smiled to himself. Nishat did not react. She did not move. The girl was like a living inert substance. She could only blink occasionally. A disappointed sigh escaped Imran's nostrils. After a while, the previous lady returned to the room with a bowl of steaming soup, but she did not wait long. She handed the bowl to Imran and immediately left the cabin room.
Imran tried to feed Nishat lukewarm soup, saying, "Hey, Nisupakhi, get well soon. I want to take my wife home soon. I don't like living alone anymore."
Even though the spoon full of soup touched Nishat's lips, she didn't try to drink it. Imran uttered indistinct words and said again, "Nishu-pakhi, eat quickly. If you eat, I will eat too. I am very hungry. I beat Ali pretty badly today. You know, my brain doesn't work when I am hungry."
Everything turned into a struggle. But Imran still maintained his calm, normal, and submissive demeanor. Coming very close to Nishat, he said softly, "Please, Nishu-pakhi. Eat. At least for me? Do you love me or not?"
He touched the spoon to Nishat's lips once more and this time she started eating a small amount. But while feeding, Imran was forced to stop for a moment, looking into Nishat's eyes. Because her eyes were filled with tears. He made no attempt to stop her crying. Instead, he kissed her forehead deeply and continued feeding her. Even when those salty water started flowing down her eyes and cheeks, he was still calm and normal. He just wiped her cheeks with a gentle touch. And every now and then, he started touching her forehead deeply with his lips.
TO BE CONTINUE…