Night — inside the silent apartment
After Madhurima left, a kind of suffocating silence settled over Katha's apartment.
Outside, in the corridor, there were only the occasional sounds of the elevator, and the distant noise of a television drifting in from some far-off apartment.
Again and again, Katha touched her lips, feeling the slight swelling—the incident at school that afternoon kept replaying in her mind.
Just then, a faint metallic sound echoed in the corridor—it seemed like the door of the opposite apartment had opened. Unable to control her curiosity, Katha moved toward the peephole, but suddenly her mother's warning flashed in her mind—
"Don't stand there staring at that man."
Still, her mind refused to listen. Peeking through the narrow slit of the view mirror, she saw—
Indrajit opening his door.
Seeing him again, that adolescent curiosity stirred in Katha's heart—why did the man look so attractive even in such ordinary clothes, even from behind?
At that very moment, Indrajit suddenly glanced toward Katha's apartment door.
His ethereal, handsome jawline, long slender nose, and the high bones of his cheeks carved a sharp, striking beauty into his face. Katha's heartbeat quickened.
In the play of light and shadow, the lines of fatigue on Indrajit's face looked deeper, yet at the same time there was a strange pull to him. His features were so perfectly sculpted!
He looked like a handsome prince from a tragic tale—exactly the kind of stories Katha had read and cried over so many times.
She desperately wanted to go and talk to him. But her mother's command echoed again in her mind. So Katha did nothing.
Indrajit, too, turned back toward his own door and went inside.
---
It was almost eleven-thirty at night. Katha lay on her bed, sleep refused to come in her eyes.
Inside her mind, the thought kept repeating—
"What a handsome man!"
She remembered the biceps and abs she had noticed on his body that morning, the faint veins on his neck, the sharp line of his collarbone….
Katha could hardly believe how someone could be so perfect.
But the very next moment, her mother's warning returned—
"Don't talk to the man from the apartment opposite."
The more her mother forbade it, the more her mind seemed to drift toward him for no reason at all.
That evening, she had seen him feeding a stray dog. The small, frail dog wagged its tail as it ate, while the man sat quietly beside it.
At that sight, Katha's teenage heart had felt a strange tenderness.
Could someone like that really be a bad person?
But then her mother's word—"criminal"—came back to her, filling her with doubt again.
What kind of criminal was he? Theft? Violence? Or something else?
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted—
Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside. Slowly, the sound came to a halt right in front of her door.
For a moment, Katha's breath caught in her chest.
Her mother's words rang in her ears—"Don't open the door."
Ding-dong… ding-dong…
The sound of the doorbell made her heart pound harder. Her mother had clearly said—no matter who came, don't open the door.
Slowly, she walked toward the peephole.
On the other side of the glass stood a man—
a familiar face… Mr. Aniruddha Sengupta, a member of the colony committee—around forty years old, wearing a formal shirt, a thick gold chain around his neck, and in his eyes, that all-too-familiar kind of lewd, glossy gaze.
This was the very man her mother had referred to as —"Aniruddha Uncle."
Katha knew him. Her mother spoke to him when necessary because of apartment matters. But Katha had never felt comfortable around him. He was definitely a bad guy.
His face was tense, irritated. His posture aggressive.
"Open the door, Madhu!" he shouted.
"You have to pay today. If you don't, things won't end well for you or your daughter."
Katha hesitated.
Her mother had told her not to open the door… but he was a committee member. Someone known.
Meanwhile, inside the opposite flat, Indrajit lay on his bed with earphones on, unaware of the shouting outside.
On the other side,
Katha was terrified.
"Open the door!"
Aniruddha's voice hardened, almost commanding.
He banged loudly again.
"If you don't open it now, you'll regret it."
Her hands trembling, Katha slowly unlocked the door and opened it a little.
Opening the door, Anirudh's lustful gaze went straight down—to the tender thighs exposed from under Katha's shorts.Katha was wearing her usual sleeveless tops and short hot pants at home.
The lustful look in his eyes, came down through Katha in such a way that it raised a thorn in her flesh.
She fidgeted with her hands to pull the hem of her shorts down to cover them, but the man's gaze didn't budge.
Katha felt a wave of discomfort crawl over her skin.
— "Isn't your mother at home?"
His voice was rough, carrying a strange trace of contempt.
The man pushed the door open a little wider and stepped forward. Out of fear, Katha instinctively stepped back .
"Maa…She… she's gone out for work," Katha said, her voice shaking.
Mr. Aniruddha snapped angrily,
— "Your mother sleeps around with men just fine… then why can't she pay the three months' due rent? When will she pay?"
Shame and humiliation seemed to freeze Kotha in place.
— "I don't know… when my mother returns, you can talk to her…"
Aniruddha took another step forward, widening the gap of the door even more.
— "You don't know? You know everything—how your mother earns that money… huh?"
Kotha's face turned crimson with shame. She felt terrible.
Mr. Aniruddha looked at Kotha in an extremely lewd manner and said,
— "Listen kiddo, you owe three months' rent. Will you pay today? Or will you repay it the same way your mother does?"
Kotha understood the hidden implication in his words—an icy discomfort spread through her body.
In fear, Kotha replied hurriedly,
— "I don't know anything. Please talk to my mother."
— "Talk to your mother?" He sneered. "You've grown up now… why don't you arrange it, huh?"
He stepped even closer, his gaze roaming as if trying to see through her clothes, down to her skin.
Kotha tried to step back again, but Aniruddha moved closer and whispered,
— "You're pretty like your mother … even younger and fresh, so it'll be even more fun having you."
Katha felt frozen with shame. Fear gripped his soul.
Kotha replied trembling,
— "What are you saying… please don't—"
He moved even closer.
Katha kept stepping back. She was extremely frightened worrying how horrifying this night is going to be for her! She prayed to the Lord to save her.
Just then, the door of the neighboring flat opened.
Indrajit stepped out—bare-chested.
Actually, he had been feeling very suffocated inside his room, so he thought he would walk around the corridor for a while. Assuming that at such a late hour, the mother and daughter wouldn't be outside—and partly out of habit—he had come out without putting on a shirt.
The first thing he saw was Mr. Aniruddha standing very close to Katha, fear clearly visible on her face.
Anger flared up inside him like fire, but he kept his voice calm.
Looking at Katha, he asked calmly,
"Is there any problem?"
Mr. Aniruddha turned toward him and laughed mockingly.
"Oh! The gentleman from jail is here too! Why did you come outside? Nobody called you. Go back inside."
Indrajit's jaw tightened from the sight infront of him.
"Why are you standing so close to her?"
Aniruddha gave a sarcastic smile.
"Standing close? Huh—
The rent for this flat is three months overdue—I've come to collect the money. Mind your own business."
Indrajit struggled hard to suppress his anger as he began to speak, but the veins in his neck stood out with rage.
He said,
"At this hour of the night, you've come to collect rent from a child?"
Aniruddha snapped angrily,
"You've got a lot of nerve, talking back to me like that! You've just come back from jail—stay within your limits. I'm a member of this colony committee—I can do whatever I want."
Katha's eyes darted around—things felt like they could turn serious at any moment.
Aniruddha turned back to Katha and grabbed her arm tightly.
"So tell me—when will your mother pay the money? Or will you—"
Pain twisted Katha's face, and a surge of blinding rage flared inside Indrajit.
This was enough!
Indrajit couldn't hold back anymore.
With lightning speed, Indrajit clamped down on Aniruddha's wrist.
His eyes were ice-cold with fury.
"Let go of her hand."
Aniruddha shuddered in pain.
"Let go, or it won't take long for you to be back inside again."
Indrajit replied in a calm but thunderous voice,
"Remove your hand from the girl… or it won't take me even a second to break it."
Aniruddha Sengupta released Katha's arm instantly.
The same Aniruddha Sengupta who feared no one in this colony was now afraid of Indrajit—because Indrajit was an ex-convict, someone who could truly break his limbs or even kill him.
Katha stared in shock.
Indrajit let go of Mr. Aniruddha's hand, but his gaze seemed to devour him.
Aniruddha threw one last threat as he stepped back,
"Don't think I'm letting you go. I'll ruin you so badly that you'll feel it in your bones whose body you dared to touch. One day, I'll chase you out of this colony like a stray dog."
The words barely registered with Indrajit.
But Katha stood frozen, looking at him in fear.
Aniruddha Sengupta slowly walked toward the stairs, but even as he left, he shot Katha a venomous glare.
Standing at the door, Indrajit turned to Katha.
"Are you okay?"
Katha didn't speak—she just nodded. Inside, her chest was still trembling with fear.
Indrajit noticed that Katha was wearing shorts and a sleeveless top.
Seeing her delicate flesh bare like this, he looked away for a moment, then looked back at her face and said,
"If you have any kind of problem, call me."
He didn't know what right he had to say that—but he couldn't stop himself.
Then he murmured softly,
"Go. Go inside now."
Katha looked at Indrajit and said,
"Thank you, uncle."
Then she went inside.
After Katha entered, Indrajit stood for a while, staring at her door.
Inside, Katha immediately went to the peephole and kept watching Indrajit.
After that, Indrajit went back into his own apartment and closed the door.
As soon as Indrajit went inside, Katha's heart sank.
She lay down on her bed again, but sleep wouldn't come.
On the other side, Indrajit also couldn't sleep after going inside.
That wasn't new for him—he had suffered from insomnia for a long time. Ever since that incident, he had thought of no woman except Tandra. Thoughts of Tandra were what kept him awake.
But this time, he found himself thinking about that little girl.
To be continued…