"Ten Rupees: A Short Story"

A whole year had passed like this. One day, the wife called her husband and said,

“You’ve taken such good care of me. Not once did you frown. I feel like you shouldn’t have to suffer like this anymore.”

As she said this, she hugged him tightly and started crying.

The husband immediately feared that she was going to leave him for good.

Crying, he reassured her:

“Nothing like that will happen, dear. I’m right here with you.”

And he hugged her even more tightly.

She, having calmed down a little, said:

“If I go, our little one will miss me a lot. Please take good care of him.”

To which the husband, holding back tears, replied:

“I’ll miss you too, dear...”

and began to sob uncontrollably.

She said,

“Come closer...”

and she gently kissed his forehead, taking in the scent of his presence one last time.

And in his hands, she breathed her last.

He beat his chest and cheeks, crying loudly.

“Oh no! You’ve left me, dear! What will I do now? Our little one will cry for his mother... What am I supposed to tell him? How will I live without you? You’ve left me all alone... made me an orphan...”

He wept and wailed, hugging her tightly.

Until her last breath, he had lived only for that woman.

As Gerald finished the story, seeing the tears in both their eyes, he wiped away his own