An Eternal Love Story (Part 1):

I have never tried my hand at love stories, reason being-I am a cynic when it comes to love. But there is a story that you have to read if you have ever fallen in love, or you hope to. Here it goes…

It was a pleasant morning in Manhattan, NYC. With groggy eyes, she woke up to a sound of glass breaking. Ron was sitting beside her bed, with a rose in his mouth and a ring in this hand, the broken glass was that of a flute as she could see Champagne in an ice-bucket.

“Lily Jackson, I have hopelessly fallen in love with you-to the point that I managed to break the only flutes we had to drink champagne from. Will you marry a bull-in-a-china-store like me?”

Lily couldn’t say no those innocent eyes that were of an angel. He took her in his mighty arms and embraced her as there was no tomorrow. He was David-Michelangelo’s David-with perfects pecs, biceps and above all with a heart of gold in its place. Lily, was immaculately beautiful; very petite and nimble on her foot. She walked with a grace of a ballerina in the corporate world, where people strode like military men. She was a publisher-a big one. The match was a weird one, one that happens in fairy tales-the princess and the soldier. Lily was on cloud 9.

She went on to do her work, but could not keep her mind in place. Could anyone blame her? She announced it to all her colleagues. Her gal-pals were all giggly (they seemed happy) and mushy(but they envied her) and pestered her with a thousand questions of the way he proposed.

“… is how he proposed. It may not be very lavish or romantic, but for me it means the entire world to me,” declared Lily, wearing a proud smile on her face. She peered at the NYC sky line and smiled to herself.

Ron was with his firemen buds. They looked at his girlfriend’s picture and made nasty comments about the “lucky bastard”. “The son of a gun” had got himself a bride that the “jackass” never deserved. Ron was a popular kid with his firemen folk. They were happy for him (they WERE really happy) as they ordered 3 kegs of beer for the groom-to-be at 8:30 am in the morning.

Ron hoped Lily got the flowers and the note. He could not wait for the day to end. But he did not know that along with him the entire nation waited for the day to end. It was 11^th September 2001.

(TO BE CONTINUED…)