Dhruvan had asked Ratneshwari to come to his house the next day. He wanted her to meet his mother. Ratneshwari was sitting in her bedroom. She dialled Dhruvan's number. Dhruvan received her call.

"Hello beautiful girl"

"Hello"

"I was about to call you. Come here at 3 pm."

"Did you tell your mother about me?"

"I will tell her after reaching home from college. She is hell bent on getting me married. I want to surprise her."

"Will she like me?"

"Ratneshwari, do not worry. You are a wonderful person who has a beautiful heart and soul. My mother will surely see your beauty. She will love you like our Viji."

"Okay, bye"

"Bye, take care "

Ratneshwari wore a purple coloured silk saree and braided her hair. She lined her eyes with kohl and wore a bindi. She wore a pair of gold earrings and a gold chain. She looked herself in the mirror and sighed. She remembered the day when Shivan went to her house to see her. She said to herself,"Let bygones be bygones. Shiv, perhaps you were right. I should move on."

She decorated her hair with Jasmine flowers. She was wearing Jasmine flowers on her hair for the first time in 8 years.

She took an auto and went to Dhruvan's house. She was nervous and as a result, she was shivering. She sighed and entered through the gate. She saw a young girl watering flowers in the garden. The girl noticed Ratneshwari. She ran to her.

The girl said,"You are looking very beautiful. Is your name Ratneshwari?" Ratneshwari nodded her head in affirmation. The girl hugged her tightly. Then, she said,"My name is Vaijayanti. My family members call me Viji." Ratneshwari smiled at her and said,"You are Dhruvan's sister, right? He told me about you." Vaijayanti's eyes beamed with happiness. She said,"So Anna told you about me. That's good. Anna arrived just a few minutes ago. He bought a lot of sweets today. Amma will be shocked. My Anna likes to surprise people. I really want to see her reaction when he will tell her about you. He must have done that already. Let's go inside."

Vaijayanti and Ratneshwari entered the house. Ratneshwari looked around. It was a big house. Vaijayanti whispered into her ears,"Anna and Amma will be in Amma's room. Let's go there unannounced and surprise them." They walked upstairs towards the room. The door was ajar. They were about to open the door when they heard someone shouting.

"Whattttt? You want to marry a divorcee?"

"Amma, what is the problem?"

"You are asking me what the problem is?"

"Yes, Amma. What is the problem? She is a good person and I don't think that there is something wrong with marrying a divorcee."

"That woman could not stay with her first husband. How can you expect her to stay with you?"

"Amma...."

"What is wrong with you? Is there a scarcity of young unmarried girls in the city?"

"I love her."

"So what? Should I let you marry her just because you love her?"

"Why not, Amma? Moreover, it was not her fault. Her husband left her."

"And you believed her story? How can you be so sure that it wasn't her fault? She does not have a family. Who knows what her origins are? She might be the daughter of a prostitute who is staying here alone to lure rich men into marriages."

"Amma, do you hear what comes out from your mouth? You were never like this. How can you speak such things? Amma, she comes from a good family and the members of her family are dead. At least respect the dead ones!"

"Okay! Let us assume that her husband left her. But do you know why he left her?"

"He loved someone else. He even got that other woman pregnant and that's why....."

"When the woman of the house is incompetent, then the man seeks peace outside the house."

"Amma, it's not how think. You do not know what she went through."

"Perhaps I do not. But I have seen the world more than you. Her husband would have never left her if she had put enough effort. If the husband engages in extramarital affairs, then it is the failure of the wife."

"Or perhaps the husband was just unfaithful. Perhaps he never tried to love her. Perhaps he had been ignoring her all the time."

"The wife failed to win his heart even after living with him under the same roof. You said that she lived with her husband for 2 years, right? She could not make him love her in 2 years. How can I expect her to love you and take care of you?"

"You cannot imagine how much she had loved him."

"Why did she divorce him if her love for him was so strong? I would have preferred death to divorce."

"Amma......."

Ratneshwari did not have the strength to listen to anything else. She ran out of the house. She took an auto and returned to her house.

Ratneshwari locked herself in a room. After a few hours, she came out of the room. Her eyes were swollen and she was feeling weak. She threw the jasmine flowers that she was wearing, into the dustbin. She took a bath with cold water. She was hungry but she did not want to cook anything. She was too tired to even cry. She threw herself on the bed and slept.

(Next morning)

It was Sunday. Ratneshwari woke up and cooked breakfast for herself. She knew that she was not fortunate enough to start a family of her own. She thought of Dhruvan as she sipped the coffee from her cup. He had brought a smile on her face after years. But was it worth smiling for him? She got momentary peace and then, painful words from his mother that were going to torture her forever. Was her love for Shivan really that weak?

Dhruvan tried to talk to her several times. Vaijayanti had told him, how she ran out of the house crying. Finally, Dhruvan decided that trying to talk to her on phone was useless and so, he should go to her house.

Dhruvan rang the bell. Ratneshwari opened the door. She looked at him and stood still. They stared at each other for sometime. Then, Dhruvan initiated the conversation.

"Amma did not agree for the marriage. But that doesn't mean that we should lose hope."

"Your mother does not want to accept a divorcee as her daughter-in-law. Then how will you marry me? Will you go against your mother for someone like me? My own husband abandoned me. Why do you want to go against your mother for me?"

"I have told you before. You have a beautiful heart, Ratneshwari. Appa has agreed for the marriage. Let us get married. I know that with time, you will win Amma's heart."

"It is not that easy, Dhruvan. Your mother does not like me. You have to accept that."

"Why should I? I love you, Ratneshwari. I know that I have not made any mistake. Life is a war. If you stop fighting, you will lose. You have to fight, Ratneshwari. You have to fight for yourself."

"I am tired, Dhruvan. I am too tired. I married the man chosen by my parents. I gave him my heart. I loved him more than anyone else. But what did I get in return? Betrayal and Tears! What did I do to deserve that? God is the witness of my love. I know how much I had tried to win his love."

"Amma's words do not define you, Ratneshwari. I know who you are."

"Wait Dhruvan! Let me finish! I spent 10 years of my life crying. I fought against my fate. I tried to win my husband's love. But I failed! When you proposed to me, I saw a ray of hope. I thought that my winter will finally be over. There will be spring in my life. Everything will be fine. I have suffered enough. Now, I will smile again. But my dreams were shattered once again. Your mother will never accept me."

"Ratneshwari......."

"I do not have any more strength to fight. I am tired of trying to win people's hearts. If I marry you now, then years later, when there will be a fight between us, you will say that your mother was right and blame me for separating you from your mother. Fights are quite common in every household. But, our fights will not be normal. I will not be able to forget your harsh words. What will I do then? Where will I go? See Dhruvan, I can not marry you. Please do not ask me to do so."

"Is this your final decision?"

"Yes"

"Okay then. I will not force you. I just want you know that I love you a lot. I don't know if I will be able to love someone else in future."

"I know that you will be a very good husband. The girl who will marry you, will have a lot of expectations from you. Do not break her heart. Love her and keep her happy."

"I will try."

"Dhruvan, you are a good person."

"I think that I should leave now."

"Take care of yourself."

"May God give you the happiness that you deserve."

Both of them had tears in their eyes. They knew that they could never be together.

Oh! How cruel is fate! It offers the bowl of food to the hungry and then snatches it the very next moment.

Dhruvan left Ratneshwari's house and Ratneshwari closed the door.

She walked towards her room and held a portrait of Shivan that she had kept on the table. She looked at the portrait and said,"I lived for all these years with the sorrow of losing you. I will pass the rest of my days, with the memories of you."

Dhruvan looked at her house for the last time before driving away.

In this way, a beautiful love story ended before it had even started.