The Eternal Love Story (Part 2)

Read on to know what happened to Ron and Lily’s fairy tale love story, on the fateful day of 9/11.

Looking into the pleasantly delirious NYC skyline, Lily thought about her future, about the life that she was going to share with Ron. She realized that she hadn’t called her parents, yet. She knew they won’t be too enthralled as they thought Lily could have done better, but nevertheless, they would be happy. Lily was structured (sometimes, boring) and did things in a particular way, was never spontaneous. Ron would always encourage her to be impulsive. Today, it was going to change. 

“What am I doing here scheduling meetings with writers? I should be with Ron. A very long drive, perhaps!”-she thought out loud.

She strolled outside the office with an unusual speed. Her office was on the 89^th floor of the WTC tower. Impatiently, she waited for the lift and it would take at least 30 minutes for her to meet with her “pumpkin”, as she lovingly called him. Was this the happiest day of her life? Maybe, she wasn’t sure. But she was sure that it would be a day she would always remember.

“Hey, guys! there is an emergency at one of the WTC towers. There’s a fire. Let’s hurry!”-yelled the captain of the NYC Fire Dept. over the loud din of the siren. Ron’s heart skipped a beat and all he could think of was Lily. He hoped it was a small fire, restricted to the lower floors. For the first time ever, he closed his eyes in solace for a second and thought of Lily’s flawless cheeks rubbing against his. He tried to call her when they were on the way. The network was jammed.

It took him 35 minutes to reach the WTC site. He couldn’t locate one of the towers. His heart sank. He thought he was dreaming. A dream-where he proposed to Lily; where he was happy; where there was hope and there were endless possibilities; but there was a 105 storey tower missing from the face of NYC! It was the South tower. He stood numb; motionless.

Suddenly, he realized Lily’s office was In the North Tower. Amidst all the commotion, he ran up the stairs to evacuate people from the building that stood aloof, and importantly, to save his future bride. And then THUD!

 In a moment, it was all gone. Everything crumbled down to ashes.

Lily heard about the attacks on the radio broadcast of the cab that she had taken. She knew that her gallant boyfriend would be there rescuing people. She rushed to the site-only to find debris; the debris of her entire life with Ron. A single tear rolled down her eye.

With that rolled a peace of parchment in the smoke that read-

Dearest Lily,

For saying Yes-“Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours. ”

Love for a lifetime-Pumpkin.

It was the last card, that she never got.

PS-

(Readers, please let me know if you liked it. If you did-please just take out the time to write like in the comments. It will help me do better. And as this is my 1st love story, it will encourage (or discourage) me from writing more.

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…)