This is a tense moment from the days before the wedding. The engagement and the news of the child were still unknown. Ira and Onik were returning from a secret meeting.
It was just before the wedding, near the Dhaka University campus gate. Ira was standing in front of Dhaka University. Their faces showed suppressed fear, as many familiar people were around.
Just then, Onik arrived.
Onik (In a low voice): "Ira, aren't you going home now? Aren't you going home? It's getting very late."
Ira (Casting a cautious glance around): "I'll go. Okay, you go home now. I will also go home. I'll take a taxi after you leave."
Onik looked at Ira with worried eyes and quickly melted into the crowd. Ira waited a few moments, took a rickshaw, and went straight home.
The Father's Confrontation
Upon entering the house, Ira saw her father sitting calmly in the living room. His face was stern. Ira realized something was wrong.
Ira was trying to quickly slip past him when her father spoke up.
Ira's Father (In a stern, suppressed voice): "Where have you been all this time?"
Ira froze. She knew it was useless to lie. Her entire body trembled with fear, but her eyes showed exhaustion. She couldn't hide it anymore.
Ira (Head bowed, softly): "With Onik, Baba."
Ira couldn't finish her sentence.
Rage, despair, and the fear of family honour—everything combined, and her father lost control.
Ira's Father slapped Ira.
The sound of the slap reverberated through the whole house. Ira stood still, holding her cheek, her eyes closed. Tears rolled down her face, but this time, neither anger nor resentment was born in her heart—instead, it was a final decision: this family and society would never accept her love. This blow was the last reason for her to make her final exit and begin a new, secret life with Onik.
The Father's Devastating Ultimatum
The father was still trembling with anger. His hand was still in the air, perhaps regretful of his action, but his burning rage concealed it. He spoke, panting heavily.
Father (Voice shaking, fiercely):
"Get out! From this moment... this relationship is over! Do you know what my honour is worth to this society? Don't your mother and father have any respect left? You've ruined everything! If I hear you talk to that boy again for even a moment, then you have no place in this house! Go, go to your room!"
He closed his eyes in anger and agony, and Ira realized in that silent pain that she could never truly return home.
The Mother's Secret Support
Following the father's harsh command, Ira did not stay there for another moment. With intense humiliation and heartbreak, she ran to her room.
Then, Ira locked her room door and cried.
She lay facedown on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably. Her eyes were still burning, and her cheek was stinging from the slap. The sound of banging on the outer door could be heard, but Ira ignored it.
Within moments, the loud voices of her parents quarreling filtered through the door, overriding the sound of Ira's crying. Then she heard her mother arguing with her father.
Father (In a harsh tone): "You be quiet! This is all happening because you encouraged her! That boy... that religion..."
Mother (In a voice mixed with anger and despair): "You hit her! Didn't it hurt your hand? And religion! What religion! Our relationship with Onik's father is so good! Our relationship has lasted for so many years, such a long friendship! Why are you forgetting that?"
Father (Shouting): "Relationship and religion are not the same! What will society say! Their son with our daughter..."
Mother (Cutting him off): "Society? Society has known for ages that they are crazy about each other! And you are insulting my friend, and hitting your own daughter! Then you... what are you so afraid of?"
Amidst all her tears, Ira lay still. She was stunned by her mother's unexpected and profound support. Her mother was prioritizing their friendship with Onik's family over her father's religious or social fear. Ira realized her mother was never completely against their love but had remained silent due to her father's rage and fear of society.
The Gaze of Resolve
The sound of the argument between her father and mother gradually faded. Ira wiped her tears. Her cheek was still throbbing, but her fear had lessened because she knew—she was not completely alone. Her mother was just silent, but she was not hostile.
Ira slowly sat up. She didn't look at the mirror in the room but turned her entire focus to her body.
Then Ira looked at her stomach.
Her fingers gently touched that area through the fabric, where the small proof of their love was growing.
Her eyes no longer showed signs of fear or tears, but the hard resolve of a new mother. She gave a silent promise to the life inside her:
"You are my shield. For you, I will never back down again. I won't tolerate any more blows, any more insults. This slap from Baba... this ends for you. I have to win for you."
Onik's Parallel Suffering
In the same period of the flashback, shortly after Ira was assaulted by her father, Onik also experienced a similar horrific moment.
Onik's father was extremely strict about his social standing and religion. Onik's relationship (with a girl from another religion) and his plans for conversion (which his father must have somehow discovered)—all were extremely dishonourable to him.
Upon entering the house, Onik's father began harshly scolding him. He threatened Onik, citing religious tradition and family honour.
When Onik tried to calmly explain to his father that he couldn't live without Ira, or that he was ready to do anything for his love—that was when the father's rage peaked.
Onik's father couldn't control himself. Trembling with anger, he also delivered a fierce slap to Onik's cheek.
With intense humiliation, rage, and the unexpected blow, Onik's face turned red. Although tears didn't flow, that redness contained deep pain and stubborn resolve.
Father (Shouting, hand raised): "Get out! I won't acknowledge you as my son! Your death is better than insulting this religion!"
This blow and final rejection made Onik realize that all ties to his old life were severed. Neither he nor Ira had a path backward. Their only sanctuary was with each other and in their unborn child.
Four Months of Silence
Following the brutal rejection from both parents, both families kept their children under strict watch. After these blows, Onik and Ira decided—or were forced to decide—that their relationship could not continue.
Then Ira and Onik didn't speak for four months.
That time was the hardest of their lives. They completely cut off all contact with each other. Onik tried to focus on his career and new lifestyle, and Ira was forced to manage her studies and the tense family situation.
In fact, they had forgotten (or were trying desperately to forget).
Every day they woke up, they tried to forget the truth that their love ever existed. They deleted each other's phone numbers, pictures—everything. As if they had never been together in life.
During these four months, Onik woke up every morning with a profound emptiness in his chest, and Ira spent her life avoiding her father's harsh gaze.
But the attempt to forget was bound to fail. Because between them was an unbreakable bond: Ira was carrying the biggest truth of their love in her womb.
Four months later, when the changes in Ira's body and her physical sickness became impossible to hide, Ira realized that the four months of silence were just a waste of time. Forgetting was impossible. Their love had no separation, only victory.
It was this realization that led Ira to shed all her fears, decide to find Onik, and initiate the grand final announcement in Cox's Bazar.
The Father's Agonized Farewell
One morning, the time for pretense was over. Ira knew she had to leave.
Then Ira was leaving the room. She had decided she would not return today. She would go straight to Onik and declare the whole truth, not to her parents.
As she gathered her bag, took a deep breath, and reached the door, opening the lock and taking one step outside—
Just then...
Her mother was standing in the hall. She was holding an old photo album and looking at her. She must have known this day would come. She didn't say anything at first, just looked at Ira.
Mother (Calmly, but with tearful eyes): "Where are you going? What else is left to lose?"
Ira (Head bowed): "Where my only truth is, Ma. I can't stay anymore."
Mother (Softly handing the album to Ira): "I know everything, child. I've known for the last three months. I was silent out of fear of your father. Go, take the biggest truth of your life now. This is what will protect you."
Ira took the album. It was filled with pictures of her and Onik from their childhood, a testament to the friendship between their two families. Ira broke down in tears, hugged her mother, and said her final goodbye before leaving. Her mother did not try to stop her. She knew that stopping Ira now meant stopping the biggest truth of her life.
Ira left, carrying only the album and the new life in her womb. This time, the "real story" would begin.
The Crying in the Other Room
As Ira walked out with the reassurance of the old album, her mother stood silently by the door.
Just as Ira exited the main door, no sound of the mother's crying could be heard. But right then, a muffled cry came from the next room—the one where the father had confined himself after the argument and the slap.
Then her father heard it from the other room—Ira and her mother's final emotional farewell.
The man who had hit his loving daughter out of rage and fear of society could not accept his daughter's final departure.
The father stood silently, leaning against the wall. He had publicly shown his wrath, but the deep love hidden inside him finally broke through.
He cried for his daughter.
This crying was a mixture of remorse for his rage, fear for the inevitable suffering in his daughter's life, and worry about losing face in society. He knew his daughter had gone to seek her lover, and perhaps she would never be able to return to society with honour. This crying from the father proved that his violence was not true hatred, but the terrible helplessness of his fatherhood.
He simply said through his tears, "My... my Ira... my daughter."
Thus, Onik and Ira, taking the final blow and the ultimate love from their respective families, set out to begin their new life.