Years passed

"She was married off to a man thrice her age. Obviously, without her consent. She was kind of paralysed to the situation... she was young.. very young... and a captive of the affluent. It was, as a consequence of her father's debt what she had to pay off through her marriage.

After some days of her wedding...

"His condition is beyond repair", the doctor said with a grief as he examined her husband.

....."

"What happened to him, granny?"

"He died sweety... of plague... it was a pandemic of that time... spread like a fire... blazed off innumerable cities and localities.... 

As the doctor left the room, it was she and her 63 years old husband suffering in agony alone. She couldn't but serve her husband. She knew his death is near. And so as her. 

One winter morning as she got up the bed and as per her daily schedule went to her husband's room, she saw him dead as stone. The chilled wind from the window made him cold as ice. He was a dead body lying in the bed as she arrived there with the cup of tea. "

"Oh! He died... well... what's the moral of the story? Plague is pandemic?"

"The whole story lies after his death. She was in love. Not with him. But his son. Who was of her age. This might be a tragedy to love one's son. But she was never his mother. Neither the wife of his father. She waa treated as a maid in the family after her wedding. And she had only one persob who actually took a great care of her. It was him. Her son. Her lover."

"Wait! What! A son loves his mother like his girlfriend! "

"No, she wasn't her mother by heart. She was her lover. Always. Even before she had to marry his father. They knew they can never get married for their cast difference. So they decidedto stay as mother-son. But they never left each other ever. As his father, her husband, died, she was to set on fire with her dead husband as per the then Indian ritual Satidah. This ritual is the widow is to be burnt along with the dead body of the husband"

"Burnt alive?"

"Alive... a brutal ritual, isn't it?" 

"That's not fair!"

"I know. Well... it's abolished now. So, she knew then her death was knocking at the door. She was afraid. As a girl of only 16 she had no idea what was about to happen in her life. A teenager, about to be burnt for the death of 51 years man, without any valid reason. She had her soul and her heart to her lover who was no way willing to lose her for this unfair treatment. Just at the night her husband died, she went to her lover and they decided to be with each other until her death finally comes. The whole night they were together. She lied in his arms for the last time and he then decided to save her from this tragic end. He had a plan. A plan to save her. But that night she saw her in the white sharee as the widows ware. And she was under the tree where she knew she'll be burnt. She could feel the torments of hell right in front of her. A nightmare. That indulged her in dark thoughts. That terrifying scene took her sleep of the night. At one moment she thought there's no way to save from the social ritual that's been carried out for a long time. She freed herself from his warmth and got up of the bed. A wild thought came across her mind. What if she dies before the society kills her? She went to the kichen and got drenched with kerosene. She took the hurricane and...."

"She died?"

"He saved her."

"Let me conclude the story, honey..." an old man entered the room and sat by his tired wife who's been telling the story to her grand child.

"Grandpa, when did you come!"

"Been here for a while. Well... I went to the store. It was closed. Couldn't get your gummy bears... but look what I have for you!"

"A diary! Yayy!"

"Write your stories here. And let me conclude this one. So....

He was sleeping and all on a sudden he felt there's no one by him. He thought it might be an illusion. But as he got up, he saw she wasn't there. He looked for her everywhere possible. Even below the bed........"

The grandchild giggles....

The old man continues, " Then he could smell the kerosene and reached the lawn following the smell like a dog!"

The child giggles more...

The lady argues, " Never! He was never a dog!"

"He was, is her dog. He'll follow her till death, wherever she goes...."

"What happened then pa?" The child murmured.....

"He hugged her from the back and said, "Light me up with you" then she turned back with her beautiful eyes full off tear."

The lady adds, " She was tired of the society. But she indeed had faith in him. The next day they woke up and she got ready in her white clothes for her funeral along with her dead husband. As she sat by the foot of a large old tree and people started gathering woods around her, she stood there still. Waiting for her death. She had in her mind, she won't regret the death if it comes."

"The white sharee added a huge deal of beauty to her. She looked amazingly pure with it. Never he told this to her. But she looked extraordinary in that plain white dress." The old man looked at his wife and smiled.

"Well.. he stood at the other side of the tree. There was a hole behind his back that opens at me."

"All his lanes opens at her... always...." the old man sighs....

"And as the people started piling up the woods against her, he dragged her out of the hell. They had no way but leave the country then. Because they were the culprit of the society they were living. They started to move on from where nobody knows them. And now they are as old as 65 and have a beautiful granddaughter like you..........."

They both smiled at the child as she fall asleep a long ago.

"Only you can set my heart on fire", the girl in the old lady arouse....

"I love you, my cookie", the boy, before 50 years, started leaning to his girl....

"Aye! Get off me! She'll get up!" and she swiftly withdraws her lips from his as whispers, "I love u too, cupkee!" 

They gets off the bed and kisses the girl to sleep. Somewhere they found back their 50 years back... them.....