"Have you noticed anything recently?" Sarita asked her husband Raghav who was reading the morning paper.
"What?" responded Raghav without raising his head from the paper.
"Rahul keeps on visiting on some pretext or the other." said Sarita. Rahul was a 18 year old college student who stayed in the neighbourhood.
"So?" Raghav asked not showing any real interest.
"He visits only when Sneha is at home." Sarita continued. Sneha was their 35 year old daughter in law who was a school teacher.
"He would have some difficulty in Mathematics."
"I don't think he is at all serious about studies."
"Then?" Raghav enquired not understanding where the talk was leading to.
"You know what a teen boy thinks all the time. After all you also went through that phase. Sneha is young and attractive. I bet he is up to something. And Sneha is responding too. You should observe how her face brightens when he is around."
"You are overreacting. It is natural that she would like some young company. We should understand her needs too."
"I understand the so called needs. But I don't want people gossiping. I want to protect the family honour. Is that wrong?" snapped Sarita.
Raghav started thinking about the matter. Sneha was a good daughter in law who took good care of them even after the sudden death of their son in a car accident two years ago. She became sad and quiet after the accident. She spent all her spare time taking care of household chores and her five-year-old son Deepan. She decided not to remarry because of Deepan. Raghav encouraged her to be more social and was happy when Rahul started visiting. She was relaxed and looked happy again.
Raghav was annoyed with his wife. He wondered why she was unable to understand the situation.
After few days Sarita reminded him that something was wrong. Sneha and Rahul were in the other room from where the constant sounds of chatter and laughter were coming.
"Are you going to do something about it?" Sarita demanded from her husband.
After sometime Sneha came out of the room along with Rahul.
"Mummy may I go to the market with Rahul?" She asked her mother in law.