Incandescence

Epilogue

I stood in front of the mirror, looking at myself critically. There was no evidence of the scars or burns on my face anywhere. It seemed as if the accident had never happened four years ago. I was the same Alisha Humayun Khan Mughal that I was before I burnt myself that fated night in the office. My skin was flawless and over the weeks after the surgery, I had healed beautifully. There were no signs there to indicate that I had struggled between life and death two times in my life. After having survived such a huge accident, my life had seemed like dark. I thought I would never be able to live again.

I couldn't believe that when everything had seemed so dark in my life, Anis came with a light in his hand. He was responsible for what I was now. It was his strength and determination that had brought me here. Today was our four year wedding anniversary and in these four years, he'd never made me felt as if our love had lost its touch, in fact, even now it felt like we had just got married. He was the same loving Anis whom I had got married to. There wasn't one day when he didn't tell me that he loved me.

I watched as Anis stood behind in the mirror, his arms around my waist and his face at the crook of my neck, grinning childishly at me. He looked so adorable that I wanted to ruffle his hair. I smiled back at him, my eyes twinkling with merriment.

"So, how do I look?" I asked, looking at his eyes in the mirror. Even after four years, he still made my heartbeat race with his appearance. His hair was gelled up in an immaculate hairstyle and his shirt stretched over his broad shoulder, making him look handsome than ever. I tried to calm down my racing heart beat and divert my attention from his broad shoulders.

"Gorgeous." He whispered close to my ear, nipping my earlobe in the process. I smiled. That was the exact answer I had got from him when I was wheeled out of the operation theatre four years back and my face was covered in bandages. To him, I was gorgeous even at that time when he couldn't even see my face properly because of the bandages.

I slapped him lightly.

"You are a liar, husband." I said cheerfully.

"Oh, am I?" he looked at me with a pout. He seemed so adorable to me.

I nodded.

"But you do look gorgeous, except there is something missing here." He said. I turned to face him in confusion.

"What?"

He turned me around and then placed a necklace around my neck, with two hearts entwined on it. It was beautiful.

"Happy Anniversary, sweetheart." He whispered.

I smiled.

"Happy Anniversary." I said and turned around to kiss him soundly. Anis wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back, his hands gripping my hair. My hands moved over his back, clutching me closer to me and then slowly, they moved to his head, keeping him prisoner there. Sometime later, he drew back and breathed sharply.

"That was nice. How about another one?" Anis asked, moving closer to me but I stepped back, shaking my hand.

"We are getting late for dinner." I reminded him.

"Oh, yeah! Dinner!" he said, absent-mindedly. I grinned at him and turned him towards the door.

"Go! I'll be along in a moment."

Anis left the room and I turned towards the mirror, reapplying my lipstick which he had ruined with his kisses. I brushed my hair again and then turned towards the cupboard to take out my clutch.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. I went towards the door and opened it. Maira stood there, looking sad and forlorn.

"Maira!" I exclaimed. "Come on inside." I stepped back and allowed her to enter. She stepped inside and sat down on the armchair near the door.