| ×𝟏𝟏 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 |
❝Do you know the meaning of the flowers you sell, miss?❞ Ashar asked with his full focus on the flowers.
❝Not yet.❞
❝Do you know what Lavender means?❞ Mawar understood he wasn't much interested in her answers but she on...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Like drones in the battle field, let the petals of flamboyant Spring rain on us; till in the pages of history, our love is sealed," Ashar muttered, laying down comfortably on Hanna's lap staring at each dancing petal, mesmerized.
"Why drones? Why not like the leaves in the Winter?" Hanna gestured.
"Because drones have an impact, Winter leaves don't." He grinned at Hanna, she chuckled and resumed playing with his hair.
Could their love story truly make a place in history when so many of his unintelligent decisions and actions had tainted their formerly lovely story?
Hanna's last words to him were a gesture of earnest gratitude which she signed to the security camera in the room. Her final action was a fond smile and caressing Ashar's recklessly unkempt hair.
Ashar mimicked Hanna's actions from that night on the heliotrope flowers he gathered to buy that week.
Though Mawar was fairly new to the florist job, she knew what heliotrope meant. She would have loved to offer him a friendly shoulder to cry on. But she knew it wasn't a shoulder he was looking for in her small shop. It was the essence of a lost love that brought him here every week. It wasn't friends and followers that he needed, it was the flowers his late wife lived among. Hanna wasn't physically with him. But her memories were all he cherished, all he ever wanted to be devoured by. And that was all that guided him to her shop over and over again.
That had been Ashar's last visit before practically disappearing from the face of earth. For weeks Ashar didn't come to the shop. Mawar had the shop open till after midnight on Saturday. On Sunday too. When Monday night rolled away, an unknown alarm rang in her mind. It took her some time, but she successfully collected his address. In excitement and vehement hope to meet him, she ran, jogged and ran again to his residence.
There he was, in his lawn, smiling and plucking some stunning flowers. From afar, the flowers weren't apparent to the sight. Upon coming closer, Mawar was rendered speechless. Ashar's lawn, flowerbed and all around his property till it could be seen was brimming with red and purple night gladiolus. In his hands were an equal amount of each colored gladiolus.
Not wanting to alert Ashar, Mawar followed behind him to wherever unknown place he was headed to. Multiple times he stopped to sprinkle some water droplets on the flowers. He took care of the flowers as if they were his kids, eliciting her curiosity more. At last, they reached a Muslim cemetery. Immediately she knew why he was here. Still, she followed him inside, hiding herself from his sight.
From the side, Mawar could see him muttering something but they were inaudible to her. She assumed he was reciting prayers for Hanna. Rather than leaving the flowers on her grave, Ashar began to rip the petals off and write something on the ground. A small content smile danced on his lips throughout. Even while straining her neck, Mawar couldn't catch what he was writing until some time later when he looked far away for a second and laid down beside the lettering.
"Silence of Melody"
Mawar could only awe at his efforts and admire his undying love for Hanna. She stared at the close lids of the unrelenting, true-blue swain for hours. Living in the hustle bustle of city life, sunset wasn't something she ever got to enjoy, which she did that day. But when the moon rose up with the promise of eerie silence and resolute cold, she couldn't wait any longer. She called out for him, poked him, shook him, but his lifeless body wasn't to move any longer either. Even his warmth had been left to be given to the one whom it belongs to: Hanna.
When realization hit her, Mawar's jaw slacked open. She never believed in true love but seeing this she wondered how many people out there could be as persistently in love with their dead wives as him. How rare they were! How exquisite their love was! Mawar couldn't hold her tears anymore. Her heart tore thinking of how profound his love could be for Hanna. How much pain, anguish, torment and utter hopelessness he could have stored in his heart after losing his soulmate. How many sleepless nights he might have spent counting the days till he could reunite with his only love.
One thing she heard from all of his mouthing was a whisper looking at the vastness ahead of him, "My forever, my eternal light, take me back in your embrace. I am lost without it. Without you." It wasn't to the emptiness she realized. Ashar probably truly imagined his wife standing there for him, to take him with her. What a sweet way to welcome her, even though she wasn't real. What a pleasant way to leave one last melody of his undying love into the silent air!
Like dry leaves, Hanna and Ashar's relationship might have fallen apart but their love held on tight, sheathlike. A third person might say they lost to the game of life. They might claim that the golden couple's fairytale was a mere fallacy. But who would tell them about the love that lived on? Who would tell them that the fairytale was studded in the history books in gold letters, to fall back on when love becomes a mythical concept only.
In a couple hours, the world bade its final goodbye to the grief-stricken, yearning spouse to reunify the pair of albatrosses. With stars lighting up the sky and the moon glinting like pearly fire framed a dreamy date setting for the couple. Truly the day marked the eternal silence of a pleasant melody.
Mawar imagined they would be cuddling and enjoying the warmth they once lost. Her mouth stretched into a melancholic smile. Love that's not mutual resembles a silly decoration, ignored and criticized. It was a love that burnt the one who felt. Standing in front of the two abreast graves, with a lesson learned the hard way, her eyes shed the last stream of tears before letting go of what never belonged to her.
"Sleep tight, lovers. Long live your love that scintillates bright," Mawar whispered on behalf of the universe anticipating the reunion of silence and melody.
༺✿༻
Howdy for the last time!
That's the last chapter and the end of the short story. If you enjoyed it, do—
Vote • Comment • Share
It feels so good to finish a story no matter the length. Hoping I'll soon finish a bigger project but till then...
