‘Dahlia, don't run.’
Footsteps crunched the autumn leaves before the cathedral
‘I will talk to them! Just please-’
She turned, shouting, ‘You said you loved me!’
‘I do!’
‘Then prove it!’
‘How?!’
‘You have until tomorrow morning! Meet me at the old chapel near the crooked brigde of the city!’
‘Wait!’
She was gone and he prayed for their union once again.
‘Father…I have something to say.’ His head bowed, fidgeting with his feet on the ground, he held his hands together in the front, pinching himself hard.
‘Go on.’ His father crunched the dry nuts kept before him as he leaned back and turned on the disk player;
*Every single day*
*And every word you say*
*Every game you play*
*Every night you stay*
*I'll be watching you*
*Oh, can't you see*
*You belong to me?*
*How my poor heart aches*
*With every step you take?*
‘Well, I wished to tell you that I am in love with the daughter of the Prophet of Old Mary Church and wish to marry her. I ask you for your-
‘Stop right there.’
‘Father’
‘You wish to tell me that you have decided for us to ne associated with that Prophet?’
‘Father, just for once, listen. I am in love. I cannot-
‘You absolutely can and you will end ties with het daughter, tonight!’
‘What? Father that's not why I brought this up! I want your permission to-
‘You know your father well enough, my son. Now go on and let me enjoy the music in silence.’
‘You wish to enjoy the song that talks about the heartache of lost love in silence while sending me to become the reason for your muse! Father, do you have no heart? Do you have no soul for you to dismiss me so cruelly to my demise!?’
‘Son, we all fall in love and we all shall have the courage to let go the one's we love. Its the one ultimate lesson of love.’
‘A lesson is only partaken when one attends its class. If I am to be banned from this love, how shall I ever learn to let her go?’
His father began playing the radio, ending the discussion with his silence.
The rain poured heavily in the night as he wandered the streets of the city like a lost dog. Aimless. His thoughts were filled with his love. Where might she be? Were she also soaking under the rain? Did she have any pains from the running? Is her dress giving her a hard time in this rain? Will she come tomorrow at the cathedral?
Will she? But What proof do I have to let her know of my love for her?
The next evening, he waited for her in the cathedral. Pulling out the grass, smelling the flowers, walking under the giant trees, basking in the sun then coming under the shades of the clouds, he waited for his love to illuminate his heart.
She came. Panting a little, beautiful as ever, her face glowed under the evening hue of orange and gold.
How do I say the ineffable? How do I tell her I love her to the point its hard to breathe. How do I prove it to her?
She had the power of just standing there and illuminating his soul. How does one even put into words such kind of effect that she had over him?
‘So?’ She asked. Waiting. She was regal, and calm and ethereal. She was the crown and the queen.
‘I-’
‘Uhuh.’
His heart beat under his chest like never before. His palms sweaty and his throat dry. Was he nervous? Yes. But there was more. He was afraid. Afraid of losing her to a stupid rejection of his father because he did not like the Prophet. He was afraid he would make the wrong decision and hate himself forever for it.
She came closer towards him and kept her cool hands over his warm and sweaty face.
‘I accept it.’ She said slowly.
‘Huh?’
‘Your proof. I accept it.’
‘B- but I never gave it to you.’
She giggled.’The proof is in your gaze.’
His heart hammered against his chest.
She continued, ‘You have been looking at me like you'd die if I took a step further away from you.’
‘Oh.’ He took a few breaths. ‘Is it that obvious?’
‘Yes. It is.’ She planted a kiss on his lips then smiled as she pulled away.
‘I-
‘Uhuh.’
‘Well-’
‘Well-’
‘I told my father that how could I give up on you when I had not attained you. Let go of you when I had not even loved you yet.’
His chest moved up and down, up and down, slowly calming.
‘You think you have not loved me yet?’ She asked, patiently, looking into his eyes.
He shook his head. ‘No, no I have not. Everytime I see you, I feel I have more to give. More to love. More to feel for you than I ever have. Everytime I look into your eyes, I feel I have more to gaze at. I snatch time from the universe just to be with you. I cower before my sire just to give myself to you. Wholly. O break his silence to roar your name. I give up my religion to become your disciple. The only silence I long to have is by your side. Where nothing interrupts your frequency from illuminating my senses. For you, I shall become a thief. For you I shall become a dream. For you I shall become the very thing you ask me to.’
She kissed him again, soft as the wind.
‘And for you, I shall become the memory of your name. And for me, Will you become the memory of my name?’ She asked.
‘I shall become whatever you ask me to.’ He cupped her palms in his hands as she cupped his heart in hers.
They stayed like that for a while, in each other's arms.
‘Let us run away together.’
‘No!’ Shs put her fingers to his lips. ‘Do mot say such a thing.’
He removed her hand gently from his lips, before kissing them. ‘My father will know and hopefully understand.’
‘No, I cannot let you severe your bond with your father. Your hope is merely a wishful thinking.’
‘I know it is. However, I have given myself to you. I cannot belong to anybody else, not even my father.’
Silence.
‘I hope you understand.’ He pleaded to her.
‘But where shall we go.’
‘Across the sea.’
‘But we do not know anyone there. Not even a distant friend or a relative.’ She spoke nervously.
‘We do not have to. We must now know ourselves through each other.' He said.
'You become my reflection and I, yours.’ She concluded.
