Romanza In Rome

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Wedding Editorial

• Lilah

• Filza

•Lilah•

The cool autumn evenings were filled with light showers of rain and gentle breeze. The willful skies, clear of clouds and full of bright sunlight. The roads and streets were dusted in the neutral, earthy tones of reds and browns. Once green lushness had dwelled into a sandy loneliness. Tress budding with lead buds, tiny head sprouting as loss made way for recovery. The humid Monsoon gave way to the gentle relief that was the months in between Sunmmer and Winter. A thin line of separation, keeping the extremities at bay. Nights were chilly and thin shawls were wrapped around the shoulder of women, the days were warm and thin clothes covered the bodies.

The month of November, when Autumn was dwindling into the white of December winter, joyous unions of love were at an all time peak. The doves and pigeons were busy unifying the bonds in the skies. From their pristine beaks tunes of love and cries of longevity rose. Gurgling out into a passionate volcano of feelings. The grandeur and opulence of each marriage was in the love the newly weds held and not the gold that was melted to tie the two together. Of one of the many couples were Aliyaar and Barekhna. Theirs, the most grandest of all weddings. Large scale with the arrival of foregin ambassadors and business mongols. In midst of it all was Lilah, stuck in the sides, cheering on her eldest brother her eyes stuck to the door waiting for her bhai's arrival.

Arham had missed out the first pre-wedding event due to heavy traffic and landslides in the Northern province. He had called forty minutes ago confirming that he had entered the outskirts of Lahore. Any moment now, he would walk in from the door and slide into the chair next to her for breakfast. That much Lilah was sure about. Placing her hands on the silken table mats, she rearranged the order of cutlery. Taking the knives out and removing the forks. Laying them down, all arranged in neat rows. Her hands twitched in anticipation, the soft trousers of her night suit now annoying her. Drifting off into a realm of her own, she managed to ignore the entrance of the man she had been waiting for—her brother Arham.