Chapter 3: The News.

The same day...

In the school, Sabu met his friends. During break the broken vase was in his mind, but the surprise test that followed immediately, gave him a shock so intense that the thought of throwing the vase away vanished from his memory. He realized it not until the end of the day, when he was in the bus with his brother on the way back to home.

At home, he was welcomed by his mother with showers of angry words.

"Where. Is. The. Vase?"

"M-m-mom, I was going to tell about it .. b-but--"

"BUT WHAT?" His mom shouted at him.

Sabu removed the broken pieces wrapped in paper from his bag

Sabu was trying to think about ways to put blame on Sanju but Lajwanti wasn't in a mood to listen anything. The little argument turned to a fiery war ruled by Lajwanti's anger. Yashwanti and Parimal were upstairs watching television. The sound of television covered up the noise of their heated argument.

But suddenly the angry war had to be ceased because of the ring at the doorbell.

It was Abba. But he seemed rather confused.

"I don't know why people were staring at me... Craaazy people," Abba ran his hands through Sabu's hair and gave him a toffee.

"No need to give him anything, Abba! Look what your beloved grandson has done."

"Oh.. what did he do, Lajjo?" Abba asked with a laugh. Abba never felt like he was a stranger in the house. Instead he felt as if he knows everyone since a long time.

"He has broken my favorite vase, Abba. It was gifted to me by his dad when we met for the first time." Lajwanti loved Lokesh and she cherished everything that he brought for her. 

"Oh, come on Lajjo. The vase was gifted to you by Lokesh right?"

Lajwanti nodded with her lips curved down in sadness.

"Then you should not scold Sabu. He is the most beautiful gift given to you by Lokesh."

These words touched Lajwanti's heart and her eyes became moist with happiness. She hugged Sabu and her anger melted down in an instant. 

The silence was broken by a huge chaos. Abba went inside to freshen up and Lajwanti opened the door to look what was the noise about.

She was shocked to see a crowd of reporters with cameras hung around their neck and ladies holding mike. As soon as Lajwanti stepped outside, everyone surrounded her. 

"Ma'am, we heard there is someone in your house who was dead he suddenly become alive!?"

"Ma'am, please can we meet him?"

"Ma'am do you know anything how did he become alive again?"

Lajwanti was confused and didn't know what to say.

Surprisingly, Lokesh arrived early that day. He saw the crowd of media and asked them to go away. They didn't answer any of their questions and went back inside their home, locking the door behind. The media reporters had to leave after some time.

Yashwanti and Parimal came back downstairs when they heard the noise outside. 

"What was the noise for?" Parimal questioned.

Lajwanti said, "Bhabhi, it was the media. They were asking about how Abba became alive."

Bhabhi is a polite way of addressing one's elder brother's wife or husband's elder brother's wife.

Yashwanti added, "How did they come to know?"

"Must be the neighbors... Bhabhi, the news reaches the reporters really fast." Lokesh replied.

Lajwanti went into the kitchen and brought some cold orange juice for everyone. She took two glasses in Sabu's room where he was playing video games with Abba. He kept the glasses and went in the hall where the other family members were gossiping.

"Lajjo! I forgot to give you this." Everyone called Lajwanti as Lajjo with love.

Lajjo was surprised and excited when she saw the movie tickets. Parimal and Yashwanti were jealous of her. That night, Parimal and Yashwanti cooked dinner for the family. When Lajwanti and Lokesh returned home from movie late at night, everyone was asleep. They had dinner and went into the terrace. The dark night was studded with stars. Lokesh pulled Lajwanti closer to him. They looked up at the crescent moon.

"Lajjo..." Lokesh whispered.

"Yes?"

"Your smile is like that crescent moon. Never let it turn into the inverted crescent."

Lajjo smiled and blushed,"It will always stay the same," Lajjo looked in his eyes as she wrapped her arms around Lokesh's neck. He was lost in her deep black eyes too. She continued, "Till the day you are with me. Please, never go away."

"I will never. But right now, let's go and sleep. You have to wake up early tomorrow again."

They went inside and slept cuddling each other.

The next morning, the newspaper vendor said to Lajwanti, "The news applies to Abba also!"

She was shocked to read the newspaper. Abba was not the only one who had become alive after death. 

The newspaper had the following headline on the front page:

Lajwanti showed the newspaper to everyone after Sanju and Sabu went to their school and Abba went to the temple. Everyone was discussing on a serious note. It was the time to disclose the reality to Abba. 

When Abba was returning back to home from temple, he read the news from the local newspaper vendor's shop. He recalled how Sabu said, "But Abba, how did you become alive?" and how Sanju stopped him from completing his sentence, when the kids came to take him home. He was assured that the same case has happened with him too because otherwise why would any family take a stranger inside their house and behave as if they had known for him for years? 

At the same time, he was also relieved to know that he was not the only one with whom this strange situation has happened.

Now will Abba get angry at the family members for hiding the truth from him? How will the family convince him about how he had died and came back to life just after about 5 days? How are so many dead people getting alive? Read to know more...