Chương 12: Chapter: 12, Supernatural.

Esha's Point of View:

A week passed after that incident. This one week I just went to class at the university and then came back at home after the classes. One day there was a meeting in Rokhsana ma'am's chamber but I didn't attend at that. I was absent on the pretext of illness. I didn't go because I didn't want to meet with Sara again at any cost. These days I have been avoiding everyone. Sadia, Mahdin, Tonmoy, or even Neha, I didn't talk much with anyone. I only talked a few times when it was urgent or I really needed to, otherwise, I've avoided everyone. But from today I couldn't anymore.

Because today is the 7th of July.

Today is the last hearing of the verdict in Sohel Ahmed's case. And today, everyone concerned must be present in the district court. Rokhsana ma'am will fight the case as a lawyer for Mr. Sohel Ahmed. She'll lead us too. As her assistant, we will be sitting in the visitors' row.

We all appeared in the court between 10:00 AM. After us Rokshana ma'am arrived.

I paused at the second when I saw she appeared with her. For a brief moment, I felt everything went blank inside my head and I could hear my own heartbeats against my chest. My chest was drumming so fast that I had feared if others could hear it too.

I started to sweat heavily. I swallowed a gulp followed by mumbling to myself, "Holy shit! Fu*k, dammit."

From the beginning, I had prepared myself that I would never talk with her again or face her at any cost. So I turned around and mixed with the crowd in front of the courtroom's main door.

As we were about to enter the courtroom, Sara grabbed my hand from behind and said, "Don't worry, Esha. I'm pretty sure that we'll win today. After we win today, Aunty will throw a party at our house. She organizes it for every batch every year."

It took almost ages to process myself to utter a single word. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. I rolled my eyes with anger at her then gathered all my guts and blunted out with my teeth clenching, "Okay, got it. That's all there was to it. Shall I go in then?"

"No. I have something more to say to you. I need your help, Esha. Please leave the courtroom after the hearing of the case. Can we please talk privately for a while alone? Can you please give me a little time?"

I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. My body was slowly calming down. My body responded in defeat as I slowly started to give up all my perseverance. I guess, I somehow knew from the beginning that no matter how strong my determination is, it'll be all in vain just right at the moment I will face her.

I raised an eyebrow at her as thousands of questions were popping up in my head. I unclenched then again clenched my jaw and said, "You can just tell me now what you want to say." And exhaled deeply.

"No, it can't be said in such a short time like now. The trial will probably start in 15 minutes. You better get inside. What I'm gonna tell you is very important. I wanna have a long discussion with you about something which I can't explain in such a hurry. Now tell me, will you give me your precious time?"

I bit my bottom lip in such frustration as I acted in defeat and said in a feeble tone, "Okay, I will." Then I immediately looked down and turned around so I didn't have to face her anymore.

"Thank you so much! I'll wait at a nearby cafe then. I'll text you the address. Oh yes, please give me your number."

I entered the courtroom immediately after giving her my number.

The verdict of the case was heard. Sohel Ahmed was released on bail. The accused Hafizur Rahman was sentenced to life imprisonment with a compensation of 1 million. Finally, he was imprisoned.

After the hearing of the case, Hafizur Rahman's lawyer challenged us to file a case in the High Court. They threatened us that they would go to a higher level and victory over us.

Ma'am ignored their threats and said sarcastically to us, "If we again become the prosecutor against them, they will have to lose like this again. Oh no, poor people! They wanted to buy the judge with the bribe but couldn't. Hahaha."

We all laughed together after hearing the joke from ma'am.

She said in a happy tone, "So students, we will have a party at my house this evening to celebrate this victory. You all have to come. Everyone must be present by 6:00 PM."

Mahdin, Neha, Tonmoy, Sadia said together, "We will."

Tonmoy said in an excited tone, "Can't wait for tonight. Thank you so much ma'am for throwing a party for our victory."

She replied, "Not to mention. After all, this is all of your first victory working together."

At that time my cell phone vibrated loudly as a text message popped up on the screen of my mobile phone. Sara had already texted me the address of the restaurant. Now she was asking me to meet right at that time.

Ma'am noticed that I was zoned out and not enjoying the moment so she urged and said, "What happened, dear? Don't you wanna join the party?"

I felt very embarrassed as I realized I was not paying attention to them at all and became oblivious with something else. I stammered and said, "Ah, I-- I mean...yeah I will, sure. But umm...I gotta...go now. I'm extremely sorry, ma'am. I had to meet with someone at a cafe."

"With whom? Is someone special? Is it your boyfriend?"

"Umm...no!!! It's not my boyfriend, I ughh--"

"You don't have to say it tho. I already understand. You're already very embarrassed, dear. Hahaha. You don't need to. Please chill and relax. You may go now. But be present at the party in the evening."

My face lit up with a smile as I got the permission to go. After saying goodbye to ma'am, I went to meet Sara at the restaurant.

Sara was sitting at a table in the corner.

There was a cup of coffee in front of her on the table. I went and sat in front of her. I didn't have any guts to look into her eyes at all. I didn't know why, but I was too afraid to look into her eyes. It seemed that all the mysteries of the world can be solved with those chocolate brown eyes.

Sara said, "Ah...I'm sorry. I just ordered a cup of coffee. I didn't really know what do you like to eat. You can order now if you want. Order whatever you want to eat. Don't be ashamed. I'll pay the bill."

I felt a hot flush just ran down my body. I curled up my fists under the table on my lap and said in a serene tone, "Orders can be placed later. Let's talk about work first. Why did you ask me to come here?"

"Ah, everything can be said. Why are you in such a hurry? It's only half past one. You don't even have a class today."

Intense suspicion immediately started to engulf my apprehension. I said narrowing my eyes but carefully distancing my gaze so that I didn't have to look directly into hers, "How did you understand that I don't have any class today?"

"I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything. But please place the order first."

I gave up at Sara's insistence. Finally I ordered a strawberry milkshake.

"Why did you order so little? I already told you can order as much as you want."

I rolled my eyes at her and said, "There's no need of that. It's already more than enough."

I must always remember not to look into her eyes. Because when I look into her eyes, I feel like I'm gonna lose myself into the deep abyss of illusion. Why does Sara want to talk to me today? Does she want to talk about what happened between us that night?

Sara suddenly said, "Not at all."

I stared at Sara in surprise. She understood what was on my mind again. I didn't look into her eyes this time.

"My parents died in a road accident ten years ago from now. I was only 12 years old back then. I was alone and afraid. Almost all my relatives live outside the country. Only my maternal aunt Rokhsana Hafeez was in Bangladesh and you know it well that she's an influential lawyer of our country. So, then she started to adopt an orphaned kid like me and started raising me. But this is not all I wanna say to you today. I have a more important thing to negotiate with you."

I sighed deeply as I felt sad after hearing all of her words. I quickly ran the palms of my hands on my face and said, "Yeah, I'm listening. Please shoot."

"So after my parents died, my aunt started adopting me. Her only son Aditto lives abroad but occasionally comes to the country often. He is 2 years older than me. He has been in the country for the last 8 years and has rented a condominium in an other area from our local. He has been living in there since he returned back to the country. Because auntie doesn't want me to get too close to him before our marriage. She is the only one who raised me since my parents died. One day I was feeling very lonely. There was no one at home at that time. Aunt has gone to court to fight the case. I was a high schooler at that time. I called my aunt again and again but she was not answering the phone. Her number was saying it was switched off and wanted me to send voicemails. At that time I just wanted to talk to someone. I hope you still know that from my childhood I was extremely introvert and barely had friends. I had nobody special expect you, my aunt and ex boyfriend Aditto. So I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. I felt like I was losing my mind in some kind of deep hellish abyss. I got extremely scared at that time so I tried to open my eyes. But unfortunately my eyes got locked and I literally couldn't control anything. The more time passed the more I felt it was deepening. I could see light through the other side of the deep, dark tunnel. I felt something supernatural on my mind which I can't express in words right now. At this point I felt I might have entered someone's mind. I didn't know whose mind it was. My eyes were closed but I could clearly see that I was standing in the courtroom. A row of judges were sitting in front of me. The defendants were standing in the two hedges on the both side. Then I realized I just entered in my aunt's mind."

I couldn't believe my ears after hearing her words. I swallowed a gulp and then asked, "How was that even possible?"

She exhaled deeply and said, "Okay let me finish then. I then said to my aunt, 'why am I here'. The people next to me were looking at me in surprise. The judge said, 'Order, order, order. Miss I think you need to take some rest. Irrelevant matters are a punishable offense to be told in court. End of speech for today'. Only then did I realize that I had the power to control the minds of others. And it can be done through telepathy. Which is what I'm doing."

I clenched my jaw and said, "And you've been doing this from all these times with every fu*king one. Even at that night! That fu*king night which has been the nightmare of my life since it happened. That night you controlled my mind, Sara. I know this!! That's why I slept with you. But I don't understand one thing, the boy you used to fall in love with while you were in school, is that your cousin Aditto?"

"Yes, you are right. That Aditto. He is my cousin and was my boyfriend. And yes, I'm very sorry for the injustice which I've done to you wrongfully. But trust me there was a reason behind it."

I clenched my whole face in anger and blattered out, "Tell me right now what was the fu*king reason!!!"

"My aunt is a homophobic. She found out one day that I like girls. From then on, she forced me into a relationship with her son. And she said that I should stay together with Aditto until I get married with him."

My jaw dropped and I felt my heart skipped a beat when I listened to her words. I couldn't believe my ears anymore. I couldn't look at her anymore as I started to feel extremely sorry for her so I just looked down at the ground.

After some moments I said in a feeble tone, "I'm extremely sorry to hear that."

Sara just chuckled in response and said, "You know what's funny? After Aditto cheated on me, I told my aunt about it. Well, she ignored it as hard as possible and told me to continue my relationship with him. If I didn't, she will force me to marry him right at that moment. For this, I controlled your mind and slept with you that night so that I could tell my aunt that you are my girlfriend. I thought we would fight the rest together then."

I felt like the whole sky just broke over my head after hearing all the words from Sara.