Lila walked back to her small mud hut under the cloudy winter sky. The cold wind blew against her face but her cheeks still felt very hot from the meeting at the storehouse. She looked down at her wrist and saw the silver bracelet back in its place. Her heart was beating fast and her mind was completely full of Thakur Veer's deep voice. She felt a strange weight in her chest because now she had a massive secret to keep from her family.

When she reached home the evening was just beginning. In the village the evening time is the busiest part of the day for the women. Lila immediately tucked her grandmother's silver bracelet deep inside her winter shawl so nobody would see it. She did not want her aunt or her uncle to ask any questions about her visit to the estate.