STORY 1 - SHE FORGOT ME, I DIDN'T

This is one of the stories I wrote a few years back, I feel it is deep and painful, and who knows, maybe it's true.

It was her wedding day. She was supposed to be happy, but she couldn't just stop crying. The reason was not she'd miss her family, but, she'd lose the love of her life. She could never see her father sad, so marrying a stranger was an only option left. Little did she know, for the person she was sacrificing her love, to him she was just money. Yes, he was selling her away! 

The moment she got to know this, she knew where she had to go. Her eyes still filled with tears but there was a small curve on her face, because now she could spend the rest of her life with her lover. 

'I' was her lover. The man she left everything for. Those four years that I spent with her, were the most wonderful days of my life. I promised I'd never let her go, but then why did I keep this secret from her? On her wedding day, when she came running to my place, she hugged me tight and cried, she told me everything. It couldn't see her like that, I couldn't leave her like this, but then, why did I? When she left her family for me, no matter what reason, why couldn't I? I couldn't go against the wishes of my family. But before I could say anything to her, what she saw was her answer, "A photo of me and my wife, on our wedding day, hung on the big, white wall". 

Yes, I lied to her. I got married three months back, because I had absolutely no choice. Yes it was blackmail, I couldn't see my mother die because of me. For me, it was an arrangement, not a marriage. 

As soon as she saw the photo, she ran away. I wanted to stop my love, my life, but a hand held mine. It was my wife, I realized I had move on.

Five years later, I was out shopping with my wife and my son. Being four years old, he wanted and ice-cream and when he didn't like it, he'd threw it away. The very next moment, a poor lady jumped on that ice-cream, picked it up from the road and starting eating it like she hadn't got food since ages. When I saw her face, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was her, my love. The face which used to be fair was dark now, hair spoiled, and she was wearing torn clothes, the same pink lehenga from her wedding day. She was behaving like a child. When she saw us, she got scared, she threw the ice-cream away and ran. 

She lost her life because of me, her happiness and her memory. She never came back, not because she recognized me, but because she forgot me. But I never did. 

XOXO,
Sanch.