Shiuli is sitting silently on the floor of the house. Zakir Khan and Shahida Begum stand in front of her. The two of them sit facing Shiuli. There is silence between the three of them for a while. Zakir Sahib breaks the silence and says, “Shiuli?”
Shiuli does not answer. She glances at Zakir Khan for a moment. Then she looks away. Zakir Sahib says, “You must have heard us?”
Shiuli nods in the affirmative. Zakir Sahib says in a somewhat hurt voice, “My married life is very happy. We lack nothing. Except for one thing. Do you know that?”
Shiuli does not answer. This time she looks at Zakir Sahib and Shahida Begum’s faces with one look. Zakir Sahib says again, “You can fulfill our needs, Shiuli. We have everything in our house. Except for one innocent flower. We don’t have the flower in our house that I want to take for a walk every afternoon. My wife will prepare it for school with her own hands. She will feed it with great care. I will bring new things for her every night. She will be very happy to receive them. Her happy face, her simple smile will make our house water like colored light. We lack such a flower. We want to make that flower for you, Shiuli.”
At this stage, Shiuli noticed that tears were flowing in Sahida Begum’s eyes. It was like she was about to fall in the middle of the moment. Breaking the silence, Sahida Begum said in a soft voice, “It is not possible for me to give him the happiness of a child. I did not understand that he is so worried about his child. You know, Shiuli, I did not want to make you my child. But now, looking at him, I feel that he cannot live without you. Because he has accepted you as his child. That is why I request you to accept him as our parents. We cannot adopt you because you are not accepting us. Your one yes will make his life complete. So I request you to accept us. If you agree, a smile will come on his face.”
“And yours?”
Understanding the meaning of Shiuli’s question, Shahida Begum fell silent. For the past few days, Zakir Khan has been convincing her to adopt Shiuli. In his convincing, Shahida Begum’s inability has repeatedly come to light. At first, Shiuli could not accept him because he was raped, but later she accepted him for Zakir Khan’s sake. But today, instead of accepting Shiuli as her daughter, she feels more pain due to her own inability. That is why she fell silent. Seeing Shahida Begum silent, Zakir Khan said, “She is happy with my happiness. You come to us. Then you will see that one day she will be happy with your happiness too.”
Zakir Khan spoke many more emotional words to Shiuli. Finally, after hearing everything, Shiuli agreed to go with them. That is, she agreed to become their adopted child. Zakir Khan was very happy when Shiuli agreed. Seeing her happiness, Shahida Begum wiped away tears from her eyes in secret. She said to herself, “If this is how my disability is suppressed, then so be it.”
Zakir Khan and Shahida Begum completed all the formalities and finally took Shiuli home. From today onwards, Shiuli is their child. The car stops in front of Zakir Saheb’s house. Zakir Saheb first gets down from the car, then extends his hand towards Shiuli. Shiuli is a little surprised to see this. She puts her hand in Zakir Saheb’s hand. Then she gets down from the car. Her hand is still in Zakir Saheb’s hand. Shiuli feels the touch of Zakir Saheb’s hand and says to herself, “Father, this man wants to be my father. He has legally become a father. However, he has not yet taken your place in my heart, father. But I am afraid, father. The way he has extended his hand of trust and faith towards me, he will soon take the place of father in my heart. I am afraid, father. Again, I will forget you because of this.”
Two drops of tears are rolling down Shiuli’s eyes. Seeing this, Zakir Sahib wipes away the tears from her eyes. He wipes away the tears with great care. Seeing this, Shiuli looks at her with unblinking eyes. Zakir Sahib wipes away the tears and says, “You don’t have to cry when you enter your own house, mother.”
Shiuli keeps looking at Zakir Sahib with surprised eyes. On the other hand, Sahida Begum is looking at the two of them with one look.
Zakir Sahib takes Shiuli’s hand and brings them to the front door of their house. When they reach the front door, Zakir Sahib stops. Seeing this, Sahida Begum says, “Why are you standing here?”
“You stand here for a while.”
Saying this, he makes Shiuli and Sahida Begum stand and goes inside. Sahida Begum cannot understand anything and looks at it with annoyed eyes. In a few moments, Zakir Sahib returns. He has a wedding bouquet in his hand. Seeing this, Sahida Begum gets annoyed and says, “All this drama.”
“My daughter will enter my house for the first time. Will I not welcome her?”
Hearing Zakir Sahib’s words, Sahida Begum left even more annoyed. Shiuli stared at her leaving with unblinking eyes. Zakir Sahib said, “Don’t mind your mother’s words. Your mother has a problem with her head, that’s why she doesn’t like these things.”
Zakir Sahib said the words in a funny tone. Shiuli laughed wickedly upon hearing that. Zakir Sahib then took the time to welcome Shiuli. After the welcome, he took Shiuli’s hand and brought her inside the house. Shiuli stepped inside the house and closed her eyes. She was overcome with emotion and said to herself, “This house is mine. It was beyond my imagination that someone would welcome someone like me with such love and take her home. So is this house really mine? Will I find peace here like my home?”
The city was bustling. People had locked themselves in their houses in fear. They were even going out in fear during the day. However, they are completely locked up in their homes after the evening. Because murders are happening one after another in the city. In the last five days, five bodies have been found. All of them are being done in the same way. Now the police are completely sure that a psycho has arrived in the city. Who is killing people one after another. But who is he? The question is going around in everyone’s mind. Despite their best efforts, the police are unable to find any clues to this murder. Finally, failing, they decide to hand over the case to the DB police team.
The DB police team has already arrived at the police station. The leader of this team is Chayan Sikder. Police officer Rafiq hands him the case file. With it, everything found next to the body. Chayan matches the seven notes found on the seven people on the table. His first attention falls on the name ‘Shwetnasha’. He says in a somewhat surprised voice, “What kind of name is Shwetnasha? Is it a man or a woman?”
“I don’t understand that, Shalar. No one by this name exists. We have searched a lot. If only I could find one with this name.”
Overhearing Rafiq’s words, Chayan exclaimed, “Is he a murderer or a fool who would tell us his name?”
Rafiq felt a little ashamed. Chayan looked away from him and looked at the note. He started reading the note he found with the first person. It read, “He who dies by crushing a hundred flowers under his hands and feet deserves to have his body dismembered.
That’s it, Shwetnasha.”
