LOVE TRIALS

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It was past midnight when Yara sneaked out of the guest room, searching for Amaan's room.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

She had been itching to talk to Amaan the entire evening but he didn't let her find him, alone.

She held her breath and paused when the door to her left was pulled open.

"Amaan?"

"Anaam," Anaam corrected as he turned to her, she must have mistaken him for his twin brother with their similar heights and lean builds. "Are you looking for Amaan?"

"No, no," Yara hastened to clear his doubts, tucking her hair behind her ears."I just thought you were him."

"Alright. Good night," Anaam told her turning on his heels and counted under his breath waiting for him to stop him, again.

"Wait, Anaam. Can we talk for a moment?"

"Come," Anaam said, looking over his shoulder and pressed his lips together to hide a smile. Her soft footballs followed him to the now vacant library, Anaam left the door wide open. His parents were downstairs, his brother and his wife in their room in the other wing. Amaan's door had been closed, lights off when they had walked past it.

Amaan gestured her to a cushioned seat, he sat opposite her.

"How may I help you?"

Yara tugged her upper lip between her teeth, she clasped her hands in her lap, nervously.

"You both are strikingly similar," Yara said. Anaam smiled, graciously but didn't say anything, waiting for her to speak. After all, they hadn't come to point out the differences between him and Amaan.

"First of all, I am sorry for what happened in the afternoon," Yara began, her heart pounding in her throat and colour diffused in her cheeks.

"It's okay," Anaam uttered with a shrug.

"I didn't dare to talk to his parents but I am telling you-" Yara hesitated. "He and I, we're not... we're not together. It's the only time it happened. He didn't,  it's me. I-I did it."

Yara sighed, heavily.

"I like him. I like him, a lot and he doesn't like me like that. He didn't do it, I swear," Yara confessed, her lips turned down. "He's the most decent guy I have ever met. We have barely talked, we're hardly in the same room, alone. I have known him for a long time, now and all this time, he has never even looked at me straight in the eyes. No matter how much I wish he would."

Yara closed her eyes, "I wish I could marry him, Anaam but it's not possible. Is it?"

"There are a lot of differences between you and him, Yaritza," Anaam said, she understood.

"Please, call me Yara."

Didn't she know what he talked about?

Their religion, culture, caste, race.

"Do you accept him for who he is? Irrespective of anything?"