And the gap remained unsealed....

She sat around the scenic lake under blazing sun, when he appeared out of nowhere. She glanced at him and then looked away. Today, she didn’t have the courage to look him in the eye. Gone were the days when she had thousands of stories to narrate to him. And today even he didn’t seem in the story mood. He sat down on the rock beside her, sweeping the sand by his hand and said; “I am sorry, we are just not meant to be together”…She didn’t move. He continued with hesitation, “My parents will never agree for our marriage unless you are ready to convert to the shia faith…there was an awkward silence before he murmured, “Wwwilll-yooou?” She threw a pebble in the lake and intensely looked at the swirl in the water, completely ignoring his question. The person she loved more than herself was demanding something that will deprive Eman of the 24 year long relationships.

She gazed at the sky to escape from the bitter reality and giggled wretchedly when she thought of their first meeting, and the exchange of glances. It was truly love at first sight! She had fallen for him on the very first day of the university and his heart throbbed in affirmation when he first looked at her. Their meetings got pace with time and soon they were spotted together everywhere from the library to the lake, a mile distant from the university. Their late night conversations and lunches at the cafeteria strengthened their love bond and five years passed in no time.

After graduation, the pressure to get married from Eman’s family grew more on her. She was timid to tell them how deeply she loves Sameer. Being the only child, she didn’t want to disappoint her parents but at the same time just the vague imagination of a future without Sameer gave her goose bumps.

Apathetic of the world around them, they continued their relation; of course there is no medicine which could eliminate this beautiful emotion or even reduce it. Things were going smoothly when one day Sameer’s parents asked him to marry his cousin, Abeer, who was currently in Dubai. It was a bummer on his head; he didn’t sleep the entire night. The face of Eman flared in his mind, her innocent eyes claimed something, her laughter pierced his ears, and the time they had spent together flashed in his mind throughout. He couldn’t put a five years long relationship aside and marry Abeer, that would be injustice to Abeer and cruel to Eman. After a lot of consideration, he called Eman at four in the morning of the same night. She was frozen when heard about his parents’ desire, there was a lump in her throat, and all the blood from her body seemed dry. Without saying a word to him she hung up and dug her face in the pillow. She cried the rest of the night, she knew Sameer would never let down his parents and then the wall of different faiths was also standing firmly against them, which couldn't be denied. She belonged to a strong sunni family whereas he was a kattar shia. After five years, they realized that their love story had no plot, there are troubles in their way, which if removed will hurt their loved ones.

And today, after almost 2 miserable months they both sat together alongside the lake just like the old times but the flame of love wasn’t as luminous as compared to the past. Eman wrapped the shawl tightly around her and said with tears streaming down her face, “Sameer, I love you more than anything, you are my first and last love, my summary of dreams. For me love happens once in life and it already happened in my life. This compromise will not reduce the passion of my love for you but I don’t want to disappoint my parents either. I thought you would seal the gaps of my fingers but things aren’t in my favor. You will stay in my memories forever, although somewhere deep down, but just like the freshly mowed grass.”

His lips moved to say something but he stopped and ended the discussion with a loving gaze. He wanted to tell her how much he argued with his parents to convince them for their marriage but all his efforts went in vain. He dived in the sea of thoughts and arguments he had the other night with his parents...

He was distracted when she tripped over the stone and almost fell down but he grabbed her wrist and prevented her from falling down. He intensely looked at her the last time, her dark brown hair covered her shoulders, the sunrays had given her skin a gold look, and her beautiful waist-long hair a shine. She looked like a “Sun Diva.”She turned around and gently got rid of his grip on her wrist and walked towards her car. He stood there still, watching the love of his life go away from him; he wiped the tears off his face and clenched his fists. He was helpless today, nothing could change his fortune. He cursed his fate and with drooped shoulders walked to a different path where he would never find Eman….