Bamson, do you know what it feels like to be away from your loved ones? I know it too well. Many children leave their homes and go to other countries to study… they return, they manage… but I feel not everyone must have broken inside the way I have.
You know, Bamson, living for your loved ones is not hard. The real pain begins when you are no longer part of their lives… when even in their prayers, there's no place left for you. Bamson, my heart is aching.
I tried to hold back my tears, but despite my efforts, I started crying out loud. My heart was swelling with pain. Bamson, look at me—I feel like I'm breaking apart, like there's no one left for me here. I keep asking myself, how can someone remove you from their heart so easily?
I sat a little ahead, looked into his eyes, and whispered, "How can a mother remove her child from her heart?" And in that moment, I felt as though Bamson's eyes were filling with tears.
Then suddenly I thought—no, Zoya, you are not completely alone. You still have him, this soul who understands your pain. Whether he can grasp your words or not, he surely understands your tears.
And with that thought, I laid down on the floor, pulled my knees up close to my chest, wrapped my arms around them, and covered my eyes with my arms—crying again, this time letting my heart pour itself out.
Bamson didn't come close, but he sat at a little distance, his eyes fixed on me. It felt as though he was quietly watching, understanding in his own way. His presence filled the room, and even from that distance, I felt less alone.
I removed my hands from my eyes and looked at Bamson. And in that moment, I felt as if he was saying to me:
"Zoya, I'm not all right either. I love my Jeon.J, but I lost my home. I know he's trying to find me, but I can't reach him. I miss him. I want to walk with him, I want to play with him. My life has also changed. Not only human lives change—ours do too. I don't know if I'll ever reach my father again or not."
Father (Jeon.J).
Hearing this in my heart, I gave a little smile and thought about his first entry into our room.
(Flashback)
"Ruhi, do you have first aid in your room?" Minji asked while looking at Bamson's wounds. The wounds weren't deep, but it was important to clean them.
"Yes, I have. I'll bring it," I said. Minji carefully cleaned Bamson's wounds.
"Hana, we need to arrange some food for Bamson," Minji said while looking at him.
"But what will we find now? We didn't think about his hunger while saving him. Now what do we do? The hostel mess will also be closed," Hana said with worry.
"We have to do something, Bamson's health is not good," Sofia said.
"Sofia, listen, do we have anything in our room that Bamson can eat?" Minji asked.
"I don't think so. We didn't do groceries yet. The plan is for tomorrow, don't you remember?" Sofia said.
"Oh yes, I forgot," Minji said.
"You three don't have anything either?" Minji asked. Ruhi and Hana shook their heads no.
I sat quietly on my bed, listening. When a few seconds passed in silence, I raised my head and saw everyone staring at me.
"Not again, me?" I said quickly. They were just standing there staring.
"Okay, I have some snacks. Just those only. Okay, biscuits too, that's it. And I brought these from Pakistan. I know Bamson won't like them," I said.
"Zoya!" Minji called my name loudly. I looked at her and took out some biscuits and snacks from my side cupboard. Since I don't like masala snacks or sugar biscuits, I thought these wouldn't be of much use to them. But when they saw the packets, they got so happy and jumped like, "Yes! Yes!" I couldn't understand.
Hana said, "If pets don't have food, you can give them a little milk. But if you have salty snacks or biscuits, it's better. Pets will eat those."
"And look, these are all salty and sugar-free," Minji said, and immediately searched for a box. She quickly found one—my box in which I kept my writing tools. She took it from my table.
"Look, he's a dog. Just put it on the floor for him, he'll eat."
"Not this box!" I said, looking at her. (But Minji looked at me like I had told her to put the dog on the floor and feed him!) I sat on my bed watching them put my snacks into my own box and feed them to a dog. The more I tried to stay away from Bamson, the more they were involving me.
"We could have ordered food too," I said while watching Bamson, because he was happily eating my favorite snacks. "God will definitely ask about this separately—you people fed my favorite snacks and biscuits to a dog. I ask everyone, but here, nobody seems to care," I muttered to myself.
"Yes, we could have ordered if late-night delivery was allowed for the hostel," Hana said.
Bamson ate everything, drank water (water poured also from my bottle into that same box he had eaten snacks from), and then came and sat near the foot of my bed on the mat.
"Okay guys, let's go, we'll meet in the morning," Minji suddenly stood up.
"What? Where are you going? And why? And where will Bamson go? I mean…" Before I finished my sentence, Hana said, "He'll stay here, in this room. Don't you remember? We have to hide him. He's not well, he's getting weak."
At Hana's word "weak," I raised my eyes and looked at the so-called weak dog, who from no angle looked weak. Yes, tired maybe, but to his four loving caretakers, he looked fragile.
"Okay, do one thing. You go to our room with Sofia, I'll stay here," Minji said.
"Because we can't take him to our room, our two roommates are there."
In my mind, I was thinking—if I go there, Minji will stay here with Bamson, take care of him, maybe even let him sleep on the bed while she sleeps on the floor. And whose bed? Mine. No way.
So I said to Minji, "Meeting you today was really lucky. On the very first day of our friendship, you met your crush's son. Who knows what else is going to happen next? Maybe we should stop our friendship right here."
Everyone laughed at my words. I also laughed.
"I'm not going anywhere, I'm fine here. But make sure he doesn't come near my bed. Just explain to your idol's son properly," I said.
"Zoya, listen," Sofia came to me and said, "He won't bother you. They're very intelligent. After being separated from their owner, they realize no one is going to pamper them anymore, so they stop bothering others. And if they find a peaceful place after separation, they become even more cautious so they don't make mistakes. So don't worry. We could take him to our room, but we don't know how our other roommates will handle it. Here he's safe. Look how weak he has become. Who knows how many days he's been away from home, if he's even eaten or not. See, he's trying to sleep now. He's found his comfort zone in this room, with all of us."
I looked at Sofia and thought—"Such a long lecture for a dog? God, all of them have gone crazy. I don't want to behave about anything with them. Since evening, they're worried about this dog like parents worrying about their daughter's wedding preparations."
Minji was sitting with Bamson, stroking his fur. Hana and Ruhi went to their beds. I went into my blanket and said loudly, "Right now, you all look like my mothers, forcing me into marriage and listing the qualities of the boy. This friendship is costly for me, really. First day here, and I still have to live here for two years. And on the very first day of our friendship, a dog shows up."
"Not dog—Bamson!" they all said together.
But no one knew Sofia had caught a painful point from my words and started thinking about it. Even I didn't realize what I had said—"You all look like my mothers, forcing me into marriage." I didn't realize what had slipped out.
"Okay guys, it's too late, and I think the snow and cold are too much now. Take care of yourselves. And Bamson," Minji was saying.
I said, "Of course, we'll also take care of your idol's son. Hana, won't you lay a bed and blanket for him? See how fresh and peacefully he's sleeping."
Hana immediately stood up. I kept watching as she pulled out another mattress from under her bed. My eyes widened—was she really going to such lengths? God. She placed it in the middle.
"No, not there!" I said. "I get up very quickly when I'm half asleep if I need to go to the washroom. What if I step on your idol's neck in my sleep?" I put my hand on my own neck like I was showing he would die.
"Then you'll all curse me. Please, not there. And not near the window either, my table is already there. You've already messed up things by letting your nephew climb up."
"Uff, Zoya, uff, stop now!" everyone said.
"One minute—why do you call him nephew?" they asked.
"Because your idol is your brother, and his son is your nephew," I said.
Everyone's mouths dropped open. "Brother???"
I slipped under my blanket, covering myself up to my face. "Go now, it's late, sleep," I said.
But all four of them were stuck on that one word—"Brother."
To be Continue.....