Present

She is an ailing patient suffering from lung cancer. Doctors say extensive smoking caused it. Lakshmi, such a homely name, and yet down with cancer due to smoking. One's instant opinion would be to think that her bad habits led to this. But everyone would look, only at one side of the story. Cancer can be good, and guilt, exemplary.

Ten years ago

'You are a disgrace to my family. You don't please me in anything, at all' said Lakshmi's husband, Kumar, drunk.

Not again, thought Lakshmi, and even before she could utter a word, there was a tight slap on her face. She was getting used to this beating since her first year into marriage, yet, this was turning out to be beyond what she could take. 

She looked at him, shocked. In Kumar's eyes, she could see a glint of devilish glare, much of which hinted hatred towards his submissive wife.

Lakshmi was well read, and held a masters degree in English Literature. She always wanted to teach, to be with children, treat them as her own as she couldn’t have her own. Maybe that was the cause of her husband’s hatred. 

But can't there be a couple without a baby? Is love all about sex? Lakshmi usually asked, but she was always replied with Kumar's intense beating, thus always breaking her thoughts and sometimes even her bones.

Kumar knew that Lakshmi can't be a mother well before they were married. But, his boss's continual insults at work, his mother's incessant blaring that he should have married a girl of her choice, and his friends running away from him because he had become a drunkard, made him a maniac. His anger surmounted and seeped all over him. His fury was around and within him, and the scapegoat was Lakshmi. 

He knew that he was to be blamed. He knew that he was wrong. Every time, after he was done with his wife, the beast inside him would subside,  and he would go to sleep without much further fuss.

His victim was in a bad state, both physically and emotionally.

Neither could she retort, nor could she speak up, the result, she found refuge in alcohol and smoking.

It all started by her drinking the remnants of liquor at home. But she wasn't satisfied. An old friend of hers, taught her how ecstatic a person can get just by puffing smoke through a whitish-orange one inch pipe. 

Years rolled quickly. Kumar never changed, his mother never changed, and Lakshmi, she was drowned in a world of smoke. . Without her family's knowledge, she kept smoking, and the beatings became something like a religious sermon performed at a temple daily.

And then, that fateful day came, when cancer was diagnosed for Lakshmi. All the secrets were revealed. Her cigarette habit, and the cause for it. Kumar felt extremely bad. Guilt took control and a pulverizing pain seeped through his heart, as he immediately recognized that he, and only he was the sole cause for it.

From that day on, Kumar took care of his wife as good as ever. The guilt in him, made him work towards her treatment and shower love upon her as much as he had ever shown. The cancer, a disease that kills was good enough to improve their bonding. The soul-mates as they should have been, the pair perfect in their imperfections, totally self-sustaining, was kindled, their love for each other re-kindled. 

Kumar's mother passed away due to heart attack some years later. And it was just Kumar and Lakshmi in the house. Kumar volunteered to retire much earlier than his time, just to take care of his wife. He had earned money sufficient for what was a hopeless surgery. But still, he clung on to her and gave her hopes that she was going to survive, just like a good husband. 

Cancer was good; guilt was exemplary to have revived a long lost love. The two were powerful elements for the forming of bonding that they never shared in years.

Present

Lakshmi looks pale and dull. Her head shaved, her skin tone many shades darker, her beauty whisked off. But yet, she smiles at her husband. In her eyes were not a drop of tear, but Kumar's eyes are puffy red. He is not attempting to give her hopes. He knows that her time has come. 

'It's okay' she says, smiling, her mouth bloody.

Kumar makes an attempt to call the doctor while she clutches his hand and barely mouths the words, its okay, Kumar. I am now happy to die. The long years of bad times, I have forgotten all that. I forgive you and thank you for everything that you have done for me.

Her soul departs, leaving behind her body. So does his.