Who is he?

The wedding concluded. All ceremonies and rituals ended on a positive note and the newly wed couple was bestowed with blessings for the prosperous future. Guests had departed. Now Preeti was among her close relatives. This was the time when Preeti thought of asking her cousins about the enigmatic child.

Preeti approached her cousins Shyam and Shital who were the locals and knew everyone, "You know yesterday, when I was resting a boy had come to ask me to join for the dinner. I saw him just once, but did not see him at the dinner and even today during the ceremonies. Do you know who he was?" Preeti described the appearance of the boy.
Both cousins appeared puzzled. Shyam asked, "which boy are you talking about didi? Besides our nephews there was no other boy in the house. Neighbors were not invited yesterday, let alone their kids".
Preeti added, "did any of cooks and helpers had their children around? Because a boy did come to my room. As soon as I woke up he ran away".
Shital explained, "absolutely not didi. No helper brought their kids. I myself gave them the access to the kitchen. I was with them the whole time. None of them had their kids with them. One helper had asked to allow her young infant, but I did not allow her. It would have been risky for children where there are so many electric lights and hot pots".
"Then who was that boy? He must have come with someone. He was too young to come all by himself," Preeti muttered.

Shital and Shyam both decided to investigate this. They considered the appearance of a stranger as a security lapse. Preeti was glad that she was getting her cousins' much needed support. They asked their aunts and uncles about the mysterious child. But none of them were able to tell who the boy possibly could have been. However everyone was sure of one thing - there was no child of that age in the house and in the neighborhood.

With each passing minute and with each question the enigma around the child was growing. There had been more questions about him and there were no answers. Preeti could not find a way to find answers about him. Preeti felt that she would need to close the investigation about the mysterious child. She had accepted her defeat and concluded that the questions around the boy would go on answered. She had decided to drop the curiosity and return to her city life. When she had given up all the hope that is when answers came running to her.

It was her last day to be spent in her native village. Har cousins decided that with her they would go to the attic and see the old photographs. Preeti agreed because she too wanted to end her visit on a happy note and revisiting the old memories would have been the perfect way to leave the village with a smile on her face.

Preeti with her cousins was going through the old albums from their childhood. Those give them an opportunity to relive the happy memories from their good old days. The blurry photographs still carried the vivid memories from those very days. While looking at the old photos the cousins stumbled upon an old trunk full of blavk and white photos from the time before their parents. Preeti did not know that this was the exact place where she was going to find her answers.