Inhaling close to her ear, he assured her, "I can guarantee you a lifetime of adventures."
Meerab clutched her hands together but smiled and replied, "You better be sure, otherwise I'll be coming back for a refund!"
When she looked up not getting an...
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The grasp she had on his heart was painfully beautiful.
The windows were open and the curtains swayed in the air. The darkness outside seemed lit by fairy lights that lined the garden path. One could see the Haveli's grand door and its majestic silhouette from their room window. One could see people taking leave and servants removing the evening decoration. The music had stopped and the laughter had faded away. The wedding was over. The Haveli was slowly returning to its eerie silence. The house was now filled with emptiness. As the night sky grew darker, the Haveli seemed to sink deeper into its lonely stillness. The evening's enchantment was over, and the house was now shrouded in an odd melancholy...something different from its usual oddness.
She was standing there in the middle of the room, all alone. Her body embraced the bridal wear she still wore. She looked like classical artwork with her dark eyes wide and lined with kohl, her full lips slightly parted, and her long, dark hair cascading down her back, her off-white ivory-coloured dress clinging to her delicate curves. She stood out like a deity among the ordinary mortals in the room, her gaze distant and her face expressionless.
She looked almost like a painting, a portrait of frozen beauty.
Ironically, her physical body was still adorned in bridal finery, yet emotionally she was draped in an overwhelming sense of loneliness.
She felt the walls closing in on her. The windows creaked and the wind howled as if crying at the end of such a joyous occasion. She was all alone. She felt a chill run down her spine as a gust of wind blew through the room. The curtains fluttered ominously in the wind, creating eerie shadows on the walls. She shivered and hugged herself.
Suddenly, the lights turned off, and she shrieked "Murtasim!" in terror, her heart pounding in her chest. She heard the wind grow louder and more menacing and the curtains continued to flutter in the darkness.
What was happening? Was she dreaming? Where was Murtasim?
A figure shrouded in darkness. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the figure slowly approached her. She crawled more into the wall. The figure was almost upon her. She felt a light flash on her face and she opened her eyes. She felt like her soul had been resurrected back into her body as she looked up and saw his familiar face. Her expressions changed gradually. She extended her hand for him to hold her and got up with the support.
She looked like she was in a trance, trying to see if it was him. When he cupped her face and said "Hey Meerab, are you OK?" with a worried face, that was all it took for her to hug him. A sob escaped her lips. "Murtasim" and she hugged him tighter.
She was so overwhelmed with emotion that she couldn't respond verbally. Instead, she held him close and broke into tears.
"W..w..who leaves his newly wedded wife on their wedding night? You scared the words right out of me!"
