The unbelievable incident has brought bad luck in her life. "One is bound to bear luck. Everything depends on luck. If you were lucky, the husband wouldn't betray his wife," she said.
"You were proud of your husband," I told her. "He was a unique diamond. Now there you are. Men are too selfish. They love women until they are young to satisfy them. When the wife gets older, they go out in search of young women."
She added, "Why are you adding sorrow in my mortal life? Whatever it may be, he was my husband for twenty years. Do you remember the days when he sat in a hunger strike for seven days to marry me? Is it not he that promised in front of you to love and keep me as his queen." She wept bitterly. "The word is seeming gloomy. Perhaps, I will die breathlessly."
"What are you going to do next?" I asked in a quiet voice. "If you agree, you can go to my parent's home. You can pass the days there easily. You can hold a small business there. I am ready to help you there," I told her.
"Wonderful, your friend fled away from the village. What a naughty girl." This very news spread all over the village before fifteen years; the incident of their flight had created a kind of storm in the society. The meeting of so-called gentleman of the village pleaded in favor of and against them.
She belonged to a rich family in Nepal. She was the daughter of the officer. She was compared to a butterfly while walking. Every neighboring young gentleman was ready to marry her. When she had failed standard VII twice, his father had sent his well-wishers and assistants to search for a young man in the nearby villages -- it was publicly heard. On the other hand, she loved her boyfriend who was good in study, intelligent in speaking. Being an intelligent and clever boy, he was able to hold a job.
"I love you in this world." She had promised, in the presence of an aunt by holding his hand. "Hey, are you engaged with a notorious and naughty boy? If you marry him, your relationship with us will cut be forever. See! you are proposed by the young men of well-to-do families." These words from her father are reeling like a film in her mind now.
She was in her heyday. She ignored her family and fled with the boy, pretending that she was going to pray. She couldn't imagine that they had spent several days eating cheap food. They had made the moon and stars their friends. In icy-winter night he covered her with his clothes and he himself went to saint's fire-place in the public shelter. They worked as porters, dish washers, and cooks in hotels. At night they tried to forget the difficulties by embracing each other. They wiped out each other's tears. For several years, they were unable to take a room in rent.
"Oh! my wife I again got the job as primary school teacher. Now soon we are going to a rented room leaving this old Compartment. I want to finish my Bachelor. If I become successful, I will make you queen with my handsome earning. I would not allow you to work any where outside." He had promised these things in 2010.
He doesn't know how his college fees were paid by her. She fought with many obstacles. Meat would not be eaten more than two times in a year. Her days for disco and parties went for washing dishes for others. She silently underwent family planning, thinking she could not work and provide fees for her husband, after the birth of a new baby. He passed his B.A.-level exam after seven years, which was the happiest day for her. She was pleased to hear that her husband passed the Public Service Commission and got the post of officer in the revenue office. Her eyes were crying. She and her husband then hugged for hours weeping, which she regards as a dream now.
He who used to play with flowers on the hill, carried stones and bricks as a labor and brought sweets and meat for her, is now completely changed. He now began to visit bars. He who used to reach home at 5:27 pm now reaches home at 1 or 2 after midnight. He who could not separate from his wife for a minute now lives without her daily. He now-a-days neglects her and goes out without information. He goes around with young girls now. One day he came with meat and made her to eat it all, pretending that he had got a pain in his stomach.
She remembers the day. She compares the days of fifteen years back when she stayed with her parents and the days of to-day, she finds no difference. She is now in a hanging position. Her husband has brought a co-wife (step) in her presence. As she was penniless fifteen years before, today she is in the same condition. The cheeks that he used to kiss days and nights are now wrinkled and faded.
She slowly went to her husband's rented room. For her justice she thought it would be better to talk with her husband--The husband for whom she devoted her youthful days to upgrade, hid her sorrows and grief, to spread joy and trust. She remembered the past, how she sang to make her husband happy in a full moonlight night under the world of stars, how they promised to live and die together. She couldn't remember more than that. She entered the rented room of her husband. In front of her eyes, there were her husband and co-wife. She couldn't resist.
She went to the bathroom, washed her face and wept, and is still weeping.
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