I wanted to write a chapter for so many days but my cousin sister's only son died. He was just twenty-eight years old, so we went there for few weeks and after coming back also, I had no mood to write as her cries were in my ears :( She is crying every second and jiju was also collapsing while walking and is unable to even walk after hearing the news :(

Anyways, you guys enjoy!!

This chapter is little bit different.

Kavya's POV

We decided to go out and have some Pani Puri.

While we were going towards the Pani puri stall, Tanisha greeted a lady and a man with a smile.

'She is my landlord,' Tanisha said as they left.

'Oh. And he is the guy you were talking about, who is twenty years younger than her?' I asked.

'What?' Tarun was shocked.

'Yes. I heard that she got married when she was twenty years old, and her husband died when she was thirty years old in an air crash. For almost eighteen years she was alone, but, two years back, she got in a relationship with her office colleague and he stays with her from the last one year,' she told him.

'How old is she now?' Tarun asked.

'Now she is fifty,' Tanisha replied.

'And he is thirty?' I asked.

'Yes. You know, till she was staying alone, and going to the job, she was a good lady, but the moment she started relationship with him, she became characterless and everybody stopped talking with her and everybody even stopped staying in her house as renters,' she said.

'And, maybe, that's why I got this house. How do you think I got this two bedrooom apartment? Because for past year, this house was empty as nobody was ready to stay as renters in her house after she started living with her young boyfriend. When I got to know about this house, I contacted her, and she was ready to give this house in half the rent as she needed money monthly,' she continued.

'God! This society has a bad habit of judging people,' Tarun said.

'Yes, nobody was there for her, when she stayed alone for so many years but as soon as she got someone everybody had a problem. Nobody talks with her here. I also talk with her only while giving rent as I don't have time,' Tanisha said.

'I want to know how they fell in love. Because of their age gap,' I said.

'You want to know about it? Let's go and meet her today,' Tanisha said.

'Are you crazy?' I asked as we reached pani puri stall.

'Both of you are crazy,' Tarun said and we ordered Pani puri.

'Actually I also want to know, how he melted the heart of that lady who was alone for twenty years,' I said.

'You know whenever I go to her house to give rent I wanted to ask them about their love story, but never had courage to ask, but now, let's go with you guys. If I ask with you guys, it will give me courage,' Tanisha said excitedly.

'I am out of this. I am having pani puri and going to the house,' Tarun said making us laugh.

'Okay, then, anyways, I will have to go to her house to give rent in two to three days, but instead of going in few days, I will go today along with you,' she said to me.

'Every month you give cash?' Tarun asked.

'Yes. She doesn't have google pay or anything,' she replied.

'Let's go,' Tanisha said as we got our pani puri.

*****

Tanisha's  POV

'Today you are early to give rent?' Divya asked as we got inside.

She was wearing a red saree with black sleevless blouse.

I have never seen her wearing anything other than saree.

'Yes. I will go to her house and stay there for few days so I came early,' I replied.

'She is your friend?' she asked and gestured us to sit on sofa.

'Yes. She is my friend, Kavya,' I said as we sat on the sofa.

We saw Dev coming out of the room in a white shirt and black pant. He saw us, looked at Divya and again went inside the room.

'Sorry if we are disturbing you,' I said.

'No. We just finished having our tea and coffee. By the way, I am glad you guys came, as nobody comes here anymore. It's refreshing to talk with someone other than Dev or my office colleagues,' she said.

'Can we be direct? We want to know something from you,' I said directly and she became surprised.

'Yes?'

'I have heard few stories about you in neighbourhood,' I said and she started laughing.

'Of course, you have.'

'So, that made me curious to know about your love story but I was scared to ask about it to you directly, but Kavya gave me confidence to come here and ask about it,' I said and she started laughing.

'Yes. When she told me about you, I also became curious to know your love story,'  Kavya said.

'For this I have to call him,' she said and looked towards bedroom.

'Dev,' she called him and in almost five seconds, he came outside.

'Yes?' he asked as he looked at us.

'Come here. Sit beside me,' she said and he sat beside her.

'You know her, right?' she asked looking at me.

'Yes. Tanisha, right?' I asked.

'Yes, and she is her friend Kavya,' she introduced Kavya and they greeted each other.

'So, they want to know our love story,' she said with a smile on her face but he was surprised.

'Really?' he asked.

'Yes,' she replied to him.

'So, Tanisha, you are okay with us? Our reputation is not good here. You must have heard lot of things about us?' he said.

'Yes. I heard few things and frankly, I also judged you as the age gap between you guys is huge, but, I wonder how you both fell in love with each other,' I said and they looked at each other and started laughing.

'Actually, he fell in love with me and pursued me for almost six years,' Divya said.

'What? Six years?' I asked.

'Yes. He came to our office when he was twenty years old and our boss asked me to guide him. That's how we started talking,' Divya said.

'Yes. And, slowly I started liking her. The way she made me understood things, the way she never got angry at me and even took blame upon her whenever I made mistakes. And, I liked the charm she carried and, also I loved to see her in different sarees,' Dev said.

'For me he was just an intern. I would have done it for anybody,' she said and he glared at her.

'What? Why are you getting angry? You were new in the company. You were just twenty years old. And, I was forty. Of course it was my job to teach you,' she continued.

'But, it was big thing for me. I felt someone caring and defending me for me for the first time, as my parents has already died in a car accident when I was two years old and my uncle took me in but he only provided me financial security, he never gave me love. After his girlfriend broke up with him, he hired a maid and cook for us and immersed himself in work to forget her and used to come late at night. But for you, it was just a job, right?' he asked angrily.

'Dev, that is past. Now, I love you. Why are you getting so worked up?' Divya asked.

'Don't fight guys. After that what happened?' I asked.

'After that for the next two years, we were just employees, but we got close as employees. Having lunch together. Going out for dinner and all that. For me, he was just my intern, and it was my job to take care of him,' Divya said and again earned a glare from Dev.

'For her, I was just an intern but for me, she was becoming my obsession. If I didn't talk with her even for a day, I used to go crazy,' Dev said.

'You knew that she was a widow?' Kavya asked.

'Yes. I heard about it in my first week of job,' he said.

'My husband died in a plane crash. Ours was a love marriage. We married against our family so nobody talked with us. Both the families came to his funeral and left the same day. I tried to talk with them but they didn't even speak a word. I can understand his family but my mom also didn't talk with me, infact, didn't even look at me and till now nobody has called me,' she said.

'We were trying to have baby for many years, but we were not having a baby even though both of us didn't have any problem so his friend asked us to go to temple in Gujarat and pray, as his friend had a baby after praying there. But, I got diarrhea on that day, so he went alone and suddenly I saw news of plane crash on the news,' Divya told us.

'I never planned to fall in love again. I thought I had my fair share of love but Dev came and changed everything. One day, I went to work dinner with our boss and Dev got crazy and didn't talk with me for a week. I didn't know what his problem was as he didn't speak a word with me but by the end of the week when I constantly asked him why he is not talking with me and did I do something wrong, he finally told me that he loves me and can't see me with anyone else,' Divya said.

'And, she instantly rejected me,' he interjected.

'I was shocked and confused. How can someone fall for an old woman like me? He was just twenty-two. And I was forty-two,' she said.

'But I love you despite our age gap,' he said.

'I know that now. But that time, I didn't knew this. I rejected him but he didn't leave me. He said that I don't have to accept his love. He wanted me to just stay by his side. Slowly, he started showering me with his love without expecting anything from me. For six years he did it without expecting anything,' she said.

'And I would have done it forever but, maybe, god felt pity on me and you realized your feelings,' he said.

'Yes. A new employee of his age joined our company and she started flirting with him openly. He rejected her advances but she was persistent and one day he went out with her.'

'She lied to me that her mother has fallen from stairs and asked me to take her to the hospital but she took me to a restaurant, otherwise I would have never gone with her and at the restaurant she proposed me. Divya's jealousy made her follow us and she saw it and got angry and finally confessed to me that she has also fallen in love with me,' he said.

'Wow!' Me and Kavya explained in unison.

'So for the first two years, I was in love with her and she had no idea about it and, for the next six years, I decided to love her without expecting anything in return.I just wanted her by my side,' Dev said making us smile.

'And, for the past two years we are in a relationship but  last year only he moved in with me as his only uncle died,' she said.

'So, you were not scared of society when you decided to give him a chance?' Kavya asked.

'You know, everybody loved me in the neighbourhood but now people look at me in such a way as if I have commited a crime,' she replied.

'But the thought of being together with him gives me strength to overcome every looks of the society. I know people talk about me behind my back and earlier I used to feel bad, but now, I don't care as long as he is with me,' she continued.

'Today we are glad that you guys came to meet us. Tanisha comes here only to give rent but we are happy that today she came to know about us,' he said.

'And, are you not bothered that you are fifty and he is thirty?' Kavya asked directly.

'I mean... sorry for asking directly. I just want to know, how you guys fought with your insecurities,' she continued.

'I am more insecure, specially when I see her with our boss who is divorced. She  has more money than me and she says that she is old but now also she can woo any man she wants with her charm. I have nothing to give her whereas, our boss is rich than her. He can give her more money which I can't,' he said sadly.

'Dev, I don't like our boss.'

'But he likes you even though he knows we are together,' Dev said.

'You told about your relationship in the office?' I asked.

'Yes, we told about our relationship to our colleaugues and they were okay about it,' Dev said.

'And the girl who proposed to him?' Kavya asked.

'She? She resigned long back. Divya confessed her love for me in the hotel infront of her and her lie was also caught that's why she got embarrased and left the company. Now she is working at another company,' he said and Divya looked at him.

'How do you know about it?' she asked.

'Arre, I saw on instagram. She came on my feed so I just checked her profile. Her profile is public,' he replied.

'Why were you checking her profile? We will talk about this later. Anyways, she already left the office but our new intern who works under him now became sad as she also had a crush on him. I am more insecure as he is smart, young and handsome and I can't even gave him kids as 'that time of the month' ended early for me. It ended five years ago,' she said.

'Baby, I don't want kids. You are enough for me. As I told you earlier also, we are enough for each other,' he said making her smile.

'People say that I trapped him as I wanted a boy to fulfil my needs,' Divya said.

'And, many people say that I trapped you as you have more money than me but we know that we love each other,' he said.

'Thank you for sharing your story with us,' I said.

'Thank you for talking with us,' Divya said.

'If I have time, I will come and visit you,' I said.

'You are welcome here anytime. But, we are also planning to sell both the houses as staying here, among all these gossips and indifference is hard,' Divya said.

'Now, we are adding up some money so we can buy house in Mumbai. We will get money after selling both the houses, but there are many other expenses also so we are working on our savings,' Dev elaborated.

'Really? I stay in Mumbai. Please, come to my house whenever you come to mumbai and I can even help you in buying new house,' Kavya exclaimed excitedly.

'Yes. We can take help of your husband also,' Divya said as she looked at Kavya's mangalsutra and sindoor.

'Actually, she is a widow but still tie mangalsutra and wear sindoor,' I said.

'What?' Divya asked shockingly.

'Yes, her husband died after eight months of their marriage. And, it had been three years since he is no more,' I told them.

'I am so sorry,' Divya exclaimed.

'But she is not alone anymore because she has fallen in love with somebody,' I told them.

'Wow! That's great,' Divya and Dev exclaimed in unison.

'But he does not love me. For him I am just his good friend,' Kavya said.

'He loves her. He has not realized it yet. You will meet him when he comes running here in search of her,' I said excitedly.

'What? You have fought with him and came here?' Divya asked.

'I wanted a break from him,' Kavya replied.

'He doesn't know she is here, otherwise he would have been here by now, but if he knows, he will come running,' I said.

'And another guy with you?' Divya asked.

'He is my friend, Tarun. He came to drop me off here and will stay with us,' Kavya replied and Divya nodded her head.

'If we go to Mumbai and especially to your house and by that time, if you are in a relationship with the guy you are in love with, I want to hear your love story,' Divya said to Kavya but Kavya was quiet.

'Let's exchange numbers. We will make a group. Just the three of us,' I chimed in and Divya opened the password of her mobile and gave it to me and asked me to save both our numbers in her mobile.

'Don't you think I am too old and boring to be added in a group?' she asked while I was saving Kavya's number.

'No. You are not. We can even do a girl's day out someday,' I said as I saved my number and gave the mobile back to her.

I asked her to call us and then we saved her number and and in five minutes I even made a group.

'I have made a group. Here we can talk and share memes and all that,' I said.

'Thank you. Now atleast Divya will have two friends. In office, people talk with us, but they are not friends. They are our colleagues. She doesn't have people other than me with whom she can have heart to heart conversations. Now she has both of you. Thank you again,' Dev said.

'If by the time we come to Mumbai and you have a partner, both of you can help us with everything in Mumbai,' Dev said to Kavya.

'I don't think I will have partner but I will help you,' Kavya replied.

'Okay then, we will leave. Now that we have each other's number, we can talk on call and message anytime,' I said.

'Oh,' I said and opened my purse and gave her the rent.

'I almost forgot about it,' I said making her laugh as she took the money

'Bye, see you later,' I said.

'Bye. I hope we will meet soon,' Kavya said and she gave us a smile.

'I also hope we will meet soon,' she said as we got out of the house and once again she bid us gpodbye and closed the door.

*****

I love writing stories about other couples also other than main couple.

I hope you liked this short love story of Dev and Divya.

Did you like Dev?

Did you like Divya?

Did you like their love story?

Have you seen couples, where girl is older and guy is younger?

Please COMMENT and VOTE if you liked the chapter.