"The Last Cup of Tea"

By: Akash G. Raurale

Every evening at 5 PM, Raj used to make two cups of tea.

One for himself, and the other for Meera.

It had been two years since Meera passed away, yet the second cup never stopped being made.

Neighbors thought it was his way of coping. Some called it madness. Others, pure love.

One day, a little boy who had just moved into the neighborhood came up to Raj and asked,

"Uncle, why do you always make two cups of tea when you are alone?"

Raj smiled, his eyes moist.

"Because she promised me she would be with me for tea... always."

The boy looked confused. "But she's not here, right?"

Raj looked at the empty chair across the table, and whispered,

"She is. Just in a way you can't see... but I can feel."

That evening, the boy went home and asked his mother,

"Do people we love ever leave us?"

His mother kissed his forehead and said,

"No, they just learn to live inside us."

From that day on, Raj wasn't alone anymore.

The boy came daily to have tea, listening to stories of a love that never died.

Moral: True love never leaves; it only changes form...