"What do you mean?"
"I am her father-in-law; she is Pushpa. We were searching for her for quite some time." An elderly man with her wife standing next to Kitbok's brother comments.
"Yes, they're from Kongthong. That girl is their daughter-in-law." Kitbok's brother agrees with them.
What exactly is happening? Kitbok wonders, his mind racing. "Bring me the husband."
"Our son passed away 1.5 years ago; he is no longer with us." The elderly woman says.
"See, she has no husband; that's why she keeps lying about her identity and seducing a boy from a wealthy family." Kitbok's brother is attempting to persuade him that Ahmaya is a complete liar who, as a widow, is attempting to start a new life through deception.
"Shut up; I don't believe you guys." Kitbok refuses to trust them; he feels there is something he is ignorant of.
But his older brother threatens him. "You have to. We're going to that woman; I'm going to drag her from that house and send her back to Kongthong."
"Brother, don't." Kitbok is trying to stop them from humiliating Ahmaya.
"She belongs there." His brother responds.
"No, she doesn't." Kitbok is aware that she does not belong there, that there is something odd.
"You've lost your mind." His brother and her in-laws start to depart for Ayani's house.
Kitbok doesn't understand anything; her name isn't Ahmaya; is she Pushpa? She's a widow. Why was she here if she was from Kongthong?
He rushes to his brother, "Take me with you; I want to see the truth through my eyes."
.
"See, you can't come to my house and cause chaos anytime you think, sir. I know you are concerned for your younger brother, but this isn't right," says Ayani as she opens the door and sees them all. "You may talk to your brother and work things out with him personally," she continues.
"We're not involved with you or that girl; her in-laws came seeking for her and wanted to meet her, so we brought them here." He responds to her with rudeness and contempt.
Ayani makes eye contact with Kitbok, and they are both bewildered and stumped. Ayani knew it would happen soon. In laws? who that girl truly is, and in which body Ahmaya lives. This will be a major disaster.
"In-laws? Please explain more." Ayani enquires.
"Let me come inside and talk." They bash their way inside and sit in the seating.
The brother and in-laws sit inside, acting as though they've won something or that they can make someone else look bad since they have the authority to do so.
"Bring her. She needs to accompany her in-laws." Kitbok's brother places an order.
"How can I trust you guys?" Ayani raises suspicions.
In the interim, the elderly woman says. "Pushpa married my son 5 years ago, but he died 1 and a half years back. She was devastated by his death and couldn't eat or sleep... Rather than sending her to her parents' home, we chose to keep her with us. However, she eventually ran away. We searched everywhere but couldn't find her. But now that we know she's here... please send her off with us; she's our asset."
"I can't send her off with you." Ayani denies sending her away with them.
"Ask her; she is our daughter-in-law." The elderly man suggests.
Ayani rushes to Ahmaya's room, where she is sleeping. "You need to wake up."
"What happened?" She wipes her eyes as she wakes up, still half asleep.
"Kitbok and his brother are here. This body belongs to some Pushpa; her in-laws are gathered." Ayani attempts to explain.
"What? Is she married?" Ahmaya is shocked and concerned about how she will manage the implications.
"She's a widow. Quickly come outside. Just tell them you don't know them, and I'll handle the rest." Ayani explains further.
Her mother-in-law rises up quickly upon seeing Ahmaya and asks, "Are you okay? Are you fine?"
"Ma'am, I am sorry; do I know you?" Ahmaya shows no emotion when she sees her and says.
"Don't act; I know you remember me...."
"I am sorry; I don't." Ahmaya doesn't know them, and none of her feelings are associated with them. Furthermore, she can't manage to go along with them.
The mother-in-law slaps Ahmaya hard, saying, "Don't act smart." She carries arrogance and fury.
"How could you slap me straight away? I said, I don't know you; now leave." Ahmaya yells back at her.
"You've got a temper now." She responds back.
"Ma'am, you see, I can't trust you as soon as she says she knows you." Ayani explains the mother-in-law modestly.
"Who are you to her?" She interjects.
"As a moral human, I need to help her, even though I am no one to her," Ayani responds smartly.
Kitbok's brother interrupts the discussion. He approaches Ayani and looks down at her. "Are you a slut just like her? Do you also go around and seduce men?"
"Please be polite and leave my house." Ayani dragged them outside her house.
Both Ahmaya and Ayani need to figure out something fast because they are in big peril. "We are in a huge mess. If I make you disappear suddenly, then all the suspicion will fall on me, and those people will not spare me." Ayani speaks.
"Just wipe their memory." Ahmaya proposes.
"I can't simply make people forget important aspects of their lives without a legitimate reason; God will punish me if I do. We have to find a way."
As soon as they could think of something, a mob began loudly knocking on the door.
"Shit." Ayani goes to the door, and Kitbok's brother and Pushpa's in-laws have collected a large crowd. They are all raging at Ayani and mocking her. "Send her with them."
"She is pretending to have forgotten."
"Even if she has really forgotten, it is the job of these people to remind her."
"She is their asset; send her off with them."
Pushpa's father-in-law walks in, takes Ahmaya's wrist, and drags her out with him. "Come on, let's go with us."
Kitbok and Ahmaya are looking at each other while her father-in-law drags her along, but they are helpless, and Ayani is too; there is nothing she can do right now. To them, she is Pushpa, and she cannot prohibit her in-laws from taking her.
Ayani approaches her quietly, places her hand on her shoulder, and whispers, "Go with them; I will soon come to you, and we will figure out everything."
Ahmaya decides to accompany them, but Kitbok simply observes and mulls over thoughts.
They carry Ahmaya by force to Kongthong, which is 45 kilometres from Mawphlang.
Ahmaya is merely waiting for Ayani to come to her rescue; likewise, Pushpa's in-laws do not look like decent individuals; they are twisted. She is also thinking about what Kitbok might have thought of her; he would be puzzled, he doesn't know much, and he would have thought I was a liar.
As they arrive at their home in Kongthong, Pushpa's mother-in-law pushes her to the ground. "What? You don't remember us. You ate our son, and now you're seducing other men; shame on you!" She screams at her.
"What? Are you serious? I'm not sure how your son is... I mean, my husband died, but I am confident it was not my fault." Ahmaya argues back, but she wonders if Pushpa did something that caused him to die. "How did my spouse pass away? I don't remember," she says to her in-laws.
"You genuinely don't remember, or you just want to rub our scar. He died of malaria." Her mother-in-law responds.
"So, what's my fault in it?"
"Be quiet; you are cursed because you are sinister. My son has died.... Foolish woman, we were very happy that you yourself ran away from here; we weren't going to bring you, but that guy himself approached us to take your daughter-in-law far because he wanted you away from his brother; he offered us plenty of cash too."
Ahmaya is appalled to hear this; Kitbok's brother wanted me to stay away from him, and he chose this way of doing so?
"We're exhausted, so put our stuff in our room and prepare some tea." The woman orders.
A young man enters the house, "Mum, you arrived home." He appears to be the second son of Pushpa's in-laws.
"Sister-in-law, you are back; that's good." He speaks to Ahmaya.
"Bring water for my son... he just came in don't you see?" The elderly lady instructs Ahmaya.
"Why should I? Doesn't your son have his own legs?" Ahmaya says in a stern attitude.
She gets a heavy slap from her mother-in-law, who keeps calling her "you witch". Pushpa's brother-in-law intervenes, saying, "She must be tired; leave her."
Ahmaya, enraged, enters a room and sits.
"Oh, you came into my room by yourself?" The lady's second son enters the room.
Ahmaya apologises and gets up to leave.
He clutches her hand as she prepares to leave, "Wait, why are you leaving? We can talk." He's touching her hair and neck, and she's uncomfortable with his actions, words, and touch. She frees her hand from his clutches and heads straight to the kitchen. He comes to the kitchen after her.
But then his mother enters the kitchen, "You are here; go to the market and bring some veggies," she says to him.
"Sure, Mom. "I'm going," he says, touching her butt. Ahmaya smacks him hard. "You pervert."
"What's happening here? Did you just slap my son?" Her mother-in-law hasn't spotted her son doing that, and she's furious that she dares to hit him.
"I was touched inappropriately by your son." Ahmaya attempts to explain, but she doesn't believe her words.
"How can you blame my son, you slut? You must've done something.... You deserve to die." She starts striking her again, this time harder.
The boy snatches her hair. "You surely need a lesson."
The son and his mother pull her to a dirty room, toss her in, and lock her up. Ahmaya sits there and pities Pushpa; she feels so horrible for her. Pushpa was in so much pain. She rubs her body, hugs herself, and cries, and she feels terrible for Pushpa.
.
Ayani is trying to figure out how to get Ahmaya out of there quickly and back home before everything is ruined. Even if I bring her, nothing will happen right away. I can't keep her with me; I need to locate a spot where she can be hidden from everyone.
Kitbok arrives at her residence and asks, "What is going on? Tell me now. Her name is not Ahmaya; is it Pushpa? What's going on here? Explain to me now." He has a lot of questions and is eagerly searching for answers.
"I realise this is probably very complicated for you; I can't tell you everything; please understand and leave. Ahmaya is the only one who will answer your searches." Ayani urged him to go.
"No, you tell me. She is not here right now to answer me; she is with her fucking in-laws. You answer me." He screams at Ayani out of curiosity, and he is getting agitated .
"She is indeed Ahmaya, and she is Pushpa too." Ayani responds.
"What do you mean?"
She goes on to say, "It is true that she came from the future, and Ahmaya is living inside Pushpa's body. Since the body cannot travel across time, her soul did and ended up in Pushpa's body."
So, the face I kissed was not the face of Ahmaya; the hand I touched is not hers.... Oh my god, this is so fucked up. He thinks.
"I told you going ahead with her would be difficult for you."
"So, what's happening now?" he enquires.
"I don't know; I need to bring her back and send her to the future as soon as possible." She responds.
Kitbok is distressed and depressed. She needs to return to where she belongs, and the entire time she is here, she is not even in her body, and he is crying loudly. He cries so loudly on his walk home that the trees can hear him, and his cries reverberate. He loves Ahmaya so much, but he has never seen her true face and is not even able to see. He has never met the actual Ahmaya. He loves her so much that it crushes his heart to think that he hasn't even seen her and is unable to live with her or have an ordinary existence with her.
.
Ahmaya is sitting and weeping lightly over Pushpa And that is how the night passes. She hasn't slept a single wink. She was concerned all night, wondering when Ayani would come to her support.
And the door to the room opens. "Make her learn and give her some brains; we can't live with her at this point. She's already eaten, my son." She heard her mother-in-law's voice.
A new lady walks into the room and slides the door.
"How are you doing, my girl? .... can you forgive me?" She speaks.