'When words are lost, silence speaks. When hearts are broken, the eyes weep. But when sorrow borrows into the soul, there is no stench of loss.'

   ~ words from a novel Manya read

They say a woman never forgets her first love. It's true. She never does because no one lets her. Not the people, not the surroundings and not even the nature.

For Manya, her love became her biggest mistake. It started with her eldest brother who had started teaching in the footsteps of her parents, he fell in love with the daughter of Vidya High School principal's daughter. The engagement present she gave to her only sister in law was telling her mother in law about Parth. She of course did out of the goodness of her heart.

When her mother asked Manya to call Parth. She couldn't. He wasn't using his social media profiles or whatsapp. She left messages, voice messages and calls. He never saw. Maybe he had left his phone in some drawer in the house, just like he left her.

Her mother was angry but she hid it from her father and brothers. She asked the future daughter in law to not mention it ever again.

But trouble never comes alone. Manya was two month pregnant when she finally managed to figure it out that something was wrong with her.

There had been no sign. No fainting or vomiting. No weight gain but just her peroids were light.

She remembered, while sitting on the toilet and  staring at the pregnancy test strip, that her grandmother had always hated girls because they could bring shame to the family.

Manya wasn't ashamed. She was just shocked at the cruelty of life. One mistake. She had just done one mistake. She had fallen in love. She had trusted. But unlike those dramas, there wasn't any supportive second lead. There wasn't any understanding family. There wasn't any government support. She was alone. Totally alone. How come searching for happiness had resulted in this complete sorrow?

She was quiet for many days. She didn't eat anything. No one asked her why. Her mother turned her face away whenever she saw her. She was disappointed. Manya didn't know what will her mom do if she found out that she was pregnant.

After thinking everything for days, she realised that she couldn't give birth. Lying on her bed with her hand on the place where her baby was present, she whispered sorry to it. She was a terrible and selfish person who wasn't strong to take care of her baby. But she had to chose. She couldn't let an innocent soul bear the burden of her mother's mistake for the rest of the life.

She planned and placed an online order for special clothes. Next morning, after her parents left the house for their jobs, she went into their room and stole the cash from safe.

Back in her room, she hid the cash and started searching for answers on forums. Finally, she found the clinic name. She called and booked an appointment. There was a spot available for today.

She left in the morning and was back in evening before her parents came home from their job. She stayed in bed and no one came to look for her. As she lay on bed shivering with fever and pain, she remembered suddenly that it was her birthday.