The most luxurious wedding in the countryside that day drew crowds from across the district. The bride, Priya, was as beautiful as a pageant queen, the groom, Rahul, was the director of a furniture company, and both families were perfectly matched. The wedding marquee covered the entire communal courtyard.

Amidst the lively music and shimmering lehengas, while everyone was busy taking photos with the nearly three-meter-tall flower arch, an old woman in tattered clothes stood huddled by a nearby row of trees.

Her hair was sparse and white, her hand clutched a torn dupatta, and her mouth was parched. She said nothing, only looked towards the water table—where a cool water dispenser stood by the gate. Each time someone passed by, she would gently raise her hand:

“Please… could I have a sip of water?”

No one paid attention. Some even snapped:
“Go away, old woman! Beggars should know their place!”
“This is a prestigious wedding; are you trying to scare off the bride with your bad aura!?”

The bride was taking photos with relatives at the time. But as she turned to look… she froze.

The glass of water in her hand fell to the ground, shattering.

Her face turned pale, and she rushed directly towards the old woman, disregarding her long wedding dress and her mother’s calls to stop her.
Amidst hundreds of stunned gazes, the bride knelt on the ground, embracing the trembling beggar woman.

“Mother… I’m so sorry… I am an ungrateful child…”
“That day… I was afraid of being ridiculed because you were a rag picker… so I didn’t acknowledge you…”

“I said I was an orphan… to easily change my life, to easily enter a wealthy family…”

“I hid from you, avoided you, so that today you have to stand and beg for a glass of water right at your own daughter’s wedding…”

The entire hall fell silent.

Priya’s mother-in-law turned pale, her father-in-law angrily threw his glass of wine to the ground. Priya’s birth mother—the beggar woman—only tremblingly raised her hand, unable to utter a word.

Some people burst into tears. Some turned their faces away. And there were even those who… quietly withdrew from the wedding.
Priya’s father (her adoptive father who helped her hide the truth) roared:

“How dare you deceive their entire family!?”

The bride only knelt at her mother’s feet, saying nothing, offering no explanation.

The old woman, choked with emotion, stroked her daughter’s hair:
“You’ve come so far… But I only asked for a sip of water… not because I was thirsty… but to ease the bitterness in my heart…”
The wind died down. All eyes were heavy as lead.

One week later…

The grand wedding marquee was dismantled. The bride disappeared from the village. People said she was seen at a charity food stall in a small town, serving water daily, wiping tables, and caring for the homeless—beside a frail old woman whose smile shone brighter than the bride’s on that wedding day.