(Part 1/3) “She had come from Damauli for college and was looking for work. She had rented a place nearby. I was working at a finance collecting deposits then. Someone we both knew insisted that I find her a job too. So reluctantly I took her to meet my manager. I told her: ‘Baini, I am not promising you a job but I will take you to my manager. That is the least I can do.’ I found out later and to my surprise that the manager had offered her a job. Not long after she was dealing with more important people than I was. And it surprised me. I would sarcastically tell her, ‘Baini, at least you can buy me a plate of momo for all that I have done for you.’ “

“That is not the only thing he would say. ‘Why don’t you let me give you a ride on my bicycle?’ He did not have a back sit in his bicycle. So I would just ignore him and walk my way. I was born in a village and talking to boys does not come easily to me. He must have thought I was full of self-pride. However, he did not know I secretly liked him. And I could not ignore him forever. When he bought a motorbike he was still chasing after me. Soon, I let him give me a ride. And soon we were going to work together. I do not know when we fell in love.”

“I always liked her. I always care for her. She was not from around and I would think she was lonely and needed company. I also have come out of a relationship so I was looking for a friend too. We became friends. And soon what started just as a feeling of care turned into genuine love.”

“Soon after, I started getting calls from my parents regularly. Their desperate pleas for me to return home became frequent. I figured that someone must have told them that I was seen with a boy in Lalitpur. I knew something was up. I knew they were planning something. I thought it would be a good idea to distance myself from them for a while. I was young, naive and in love. I then changed my sim card.”

“But I felt for her parents. I told her distancing herself from her parents was not the right thing to do. I told her maybe her mother was sick. Maybe there was some emergency. She was worried too. Of losing me. ‘If I go they are going to send me away with another man’, she would say. But I knew hiding was not an option. So one day I finally convinced her to go visit her family. She said she would but only if I came along. The next morning we got on a bus and headed towards Damauli.”