Tales of Love

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The spectacular shade of auburn and tangerine sunk down on the stretch of the horizon, the colors creating a shade of fiery red and bleeding crimson. The sky looked like a kaleidoscope of shading hues of purple and opal as the sun descended. The sky burned with the receding sunlight as the king of the night rose up in its full glory.

Shehryar huffed a ruffled breath as he cruised the car on the busy road. Fine lines marred his forehead and his eyes looked troubled. Sheen coat of perspiration gleamed on his hairline despite the air conditioner being on. The traffic today was extraordinary busy, the pathway was filled with cars and vehicles. His agitation rose and he kept drumming his hands on the steering wheel to soothe it. The cause of his dilemma was the phone call he had just received.

Like an ephemeral mirage, her face roamed inside his mind. The cascading wavy hair, the supple, rosy cheeks and her slender nose. Then came the eyes, the most beautiful pair of eyes he had ever gazed upon. He imagined her face when he'd break the news to her. Shehryar shuddered after thinking of the consequences. He had seen her struggle, her immense bravery and her faith in God that had helped her to make this journey forward and now this news was going to obliterate everything to smithereens.

He kept thinking about the letter he had written down in haste before leaving today so that she'll have something to go by. It made his nerves tingle thinking about her reaction. Parking his car, he stepped out of it. The sun was about to be descended, and the bold, crimson spread across the horizon. He was walking across the porch towards the house gate when he saw her.

She was sitting on the wicker chair with her legs tugged underneath her. Her wavy, chocolate brown hair were tied elegantly in a braid, her wispy loose tendrils swayed on her face, obscuring her view. With gentle fingers, she tried to tuck them behind her hair but her efforts were futile as the wind gushed strongly. With a fleeting smile on her face, she was busy reading the book in her hand. Her dainty fingers were flipping through the pages elegantly and he was utterly mystified.

Before any logical reasoning could arose, he was walking towards her. As if, she could feel someone's presence, her head turned to look at him looming over her tawny figure. Eyes widening in shock, she hastily draped her dupatta on her head. Gently, she closed her book and sat straighter. He smiled looking at her apparent nervousness. Coming towards the other side, he draped his coat on the chair and sat down in front of her.

"Assalam-u-Alaikum."

She looked up from her book and whispered, "Walaikum-u-Assalam." Shehryar could detect her jittery nerves as she kept fiddling with her fingers repeatedly. With a sigh, he remembered the news he had to bombard on her. Looking at her face, how the lines marring on her forehead were now smoothened, her brows were no longer furrowed and she had started to even smile a bit too. He didn't have the heart to crush her, so he decided that as long as the matter was not solved, he won't bother her with it.

"Did you get the letter?"

He was biting his lip in anticipation of her answer. Layla stared at him with slight shock before she resumed her usual posture. "Yeah. I did. Zarah gave it to me." He took a relieved breath. Thanks the heaven, his sister did at least one thing properly. Not wanting to leave, he posed another question, "did you think about what ammi told you?" She knew what he was talking about, so she prepared herself to answer him.