Lia verma, a young journalist of 32 years walked into the house of the former mayor of LA, Mrs Rosa Parks. She was dressed formally in a white shirt and black office skirt that reached upto her knees. She had a wristwatch which she looked upon to check the time.

It was noon, but pretty chilly. The cold breeze flew in, making the curtains twirl. Lia stared at the tea cup which was served to her. She didn't dare to think about anything at the moment. Her eyes portrayed her blank mind.

Mrs. Parks walked into the room with a walking cane, followed by the maids who would serve her the tea, and two guards with files in their hands.

She was too old. She had glasses now. The time when she met Lia for the first time, she looked like she was in her 40s but suddenly she looked fragile when she met her now. She took her slow steps to reach the couch and was helped being seated by her was-to-be-granddaughter-in-law.

"Hello, Mrs-" Lia tried to speak as the old lady asked the rest to leave, "I'm really honored that you finally let me see you. How are you doing these days?"

"You're kind, young lady," said she in a breaking voice, "I'm doing just fine. I've retired but I help the new mayor sometimes. And also, I give out speeches on political issues. To be honest, this doesn't feel like a life of retirement," she smiled through her wrinkles, "What about you? How old are you? What are you doing? Are you married yet?"

"I'm a 32 years old, journalist by profession and..." She faked a smile, "I'm not married."

"Ohho," said Mrs. Parks sadly, "I remember you were in college when I met you. Jacob brought you home to stay with us," she laughed sarcastically, "I wish I had known you better those days. So it all comes to my fault of not approving your relationship with him and the-" she almost broke down.

Lia quickly sat beside her to comfort her, "It's okay, Mrs. Parks, it's okay. I'm as depressed about it as you are."

"I hope you blame me for it," she cried.

"No! Why would I?"

She looked at her long flowy brown hair and calmed down. After a while she asked, "What's your name again?"

"L-Lia! It's Lia Verma," she said nervously.

"And...who's Arorhea Laghari?"

"Rhea?! She's...she's a friend," she smiled, wanting to talk more about her, "do you remember her?"

"I...remember her name," she finally took a sip of her tea, "after the accident, Mr. Wilson's daughter visited me. I asked her if she knew your name. She told me it was 'Arorhea Laghari'."

"WHA-"

She nodded.

"What do you mean? If I'm not wrong, it's Sabrina Wilson, isn't it? What did she do?!"

"I...come to think of it, I think she lied to me," she gasped.

Suddenly Lia grabbed her phone, "ma'am, would you please let me take your interview?"

"Haven't had one in a long time...but sure."

"Thank you very much!"

It took her around five minutes to set up her phone, mic and the lights that she was carrying with her all the way from her country. She let the sunlight play a role as well.

"Mrs. Parks, can you please tell us something about the accident of...J-Jacob Parks?"

She half smiled, "yes dear. That day was an important event for the family. It was Jacob's parents' sixteenth year death anniversary. We decided to walk to their tombstones for paying respect to them. It was very unfortunate that he was involved in a car accident because of me. I know he was just trying to save me-"

"Ma'am, do you remember his girlfriend? You had put the blame on her for killing your grandson. Is it true? And what made you think so? And what about Arorhea Laghari?"

"I hated Jacob's girlfriend back then. She stayed with us for a few months before I forced her to return to her country. It was another few months later that we got into the accident. I was out of my mind. It's very painful to say, that I lost my parents at a young age, I lost my husband during the presidential elections, I lost my son and his wife at a plane crash and now my only family was gone too. I was going through a lot at that moment. I was thinking straight. As compared to then, look at me, I'm so calm," she laughed as a tear escaped her eye.

"It's...we're sorry, Mrs. Parks-"

"Don't be, I've been getting along with the loneliness now. So it's fine," she chuckled but Lia could sense the immense pain in her old beating heart, "...next question?"

"You haven't answered the previous one yet, the one about Arorhea."

"Oh! My memory!" She smiled through the pain, "yes, Arorhea Laghari. Somebody had told me back then that, that was Jacob's girlfriend's name and she was behind the accident. As I told you earlier, I was out of my mind. I believed in everything I heard. Plus my hatred for her wasn't less. So that was easier to believe that she tried to kill me. I wish I had known Lia back then. I never even tried knowing her. She's actually not that bad. It was all in my head. She was in India all the time ever since she left living with us. And I'm very sad to say that Arorhea, who was a school going girl back then, got involved I this mess. It was merely an accident."

"Mrs. Parks, can you tell us who told you about Arorhea?"

"Yes, it was Mr. Wilson's daughter. Sabrina Wilson. He's a businessman who used to work with us sometime and we became close. His daughter often came to visit me. It was her who showed up at my house after a long absence to tell me that Arorhea killed him. And I fell for it."

"Okay.....and...do you want to sue her?"

"She was naive. But I don't think I'd do that. She has a future after all. And why bring up old matters and destroy peace, right?"

"Then why did you agree for the interview?"

"Dear, I've been feeling very suppressed because of this thing in my chest. I really wanted to get it off my chest. Now I can finally breathe," she smiled.

The journalist smiled back, "what about Arorhea now? Do you know that her family's permission for staying in the States was withdrawn by the government of USA?"

She nodded, "I do acknowledge that. I hereby, will soon ask the authorities to retrieve her passport and get it fixed."

"She would be happy to hear that. After all that she has been through at an early age," Lia held the phone steady, "thank you for allowing the interview, Mrs. Parks, you were of a great help."

"The pleasure is mine,"

Lia ended the video and put her equipments back into the attaché she was carrying, "really, thanks a lot," she smiled at her again.

"You're helping her, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am," she sat on the couch and finally sipped her tea. It was cold but she didn't bother to complain. There was silence for a while as the two women enjoyed their tea.

"Dear,"

Lia looked up.

"Would you please forgive me?" Asked Mrs. Parks, "I had been very harsh to you in the past. It was all my fault. Because of that....probably...Jacob couldn't rest in peace-"

Lia put down her tea cup and held her hand, "please, Mrs. Parks. Don't say that. It wasn't your fault," she said emotionally, "and I don't blame you for anything. I have no regrets, you see."

"Then why aren't you married yet?"

"I-"

"See, you can't move on from the past, my dear."

She left her hands, "I guess I would never love to move on from that. Someone told me true love comes back. It may even take an eternity, may take another lifetime, but we will come back together. He will come back to me, I believe."

Mrs. Parks looked into the lady's shining eyes. They gathered tears but those never fell. She looked at her with a smile, "dear, would you like to stay over?"

Lia turned to her, "sure," she smiled, "I'm at California for about a week. Next week I'm flying back to India and after 3 or maybe 4 months, I'll be going to Florida. I guess I'll visit you again then."

"Oh! You have a packed schedule!"

"I guess then I won't have to bother you," she chuckled.

"But I would love to be bothered," she giggled, "I would find you a good man."

"Don't be bothered about that. I'll find Jacob," Lia smiled.

The old woman looked at her with pity. She felt extremely sorry for her.

-to be continued...

Lia Verma
OCCUPATION: Journalist/News reporter
AGE: 32
APPEARANCE: long brown wavy hair, dark brown eyes
HEIGHT: 163 cm