Last Waltz

The promised day arrived soon. The Raees Mansion was decorated in glam and glitz, colourful tapestries and rare flowers draping the grand hall of the mansion. Close friends and distant relatives mingled with each other, sharing tales they heard or experienced with the bride or the groom.

Ahmer sat patiently on his throne, friends and family behind him and a curtain of flowers separating him from guests and family on Ruqsana’s side. The young man dazzled all who watched him, dressed in his princely white sherwani and regal turban with pearls and gems embedded.

Soon, Ruqsana descended the stairs, followed by her family, earning gasps of wonder with every step as guests beheld her purple lehenga embroidered with gems and gold, her dupatta covering her head. She drew the eyes of all but her eyes were only on Ahmer and his on her. She took her seat on the throne on the other side of the curtain.

Qazi, the veteran Muslim cleric, gave a short sermon on the importance of marriage in religion and society. He recited some prayers, making both the bride and groom repeat after him.

Then he asked Ruqsana, “Your guardian Saad Raees is giving you in marriage to Ahmer Qaiser with Adnan Raees and Ammar Qaiser as witnesses, with a mahr of 1 billion dinar and a property in Khaneh offered to you, do you accept this marriage?”

“I accept.” Ruqsana replied. Qazi asked her twice more and she repeated her acceptance each time.

Qazi turned to Ahmer and asked him, “You are marrying Ruqsana Raees daughter of Saad Raees with Adnan Raees and Ammar Qaiser as witnesses, giving her a mahr of 1 billion dinar and a property in Khaneh, do you accept?

“I accept.” Ahmer affirmed. Qazi repeated the question twice more and Ahmer answered the same each time. Then the bride and the groom signed the marriage contract.

“With this I declare that Ahmer Qaiser and Ruqsana Raees are lawfully wedded in the eyes of law and shariah. Let us pray for a blessed married life for them.” Qazi started saying a prayer and everyone joined in.

After the prayer, Ahmer and Ruqsana were seated together on a throne to receive gifts and good wishes from the guests.

A year later, in a meeting room, Ruqsana was presenting her new app to the board of directors with slides playing on the projector.

“Our research shows high demand of approx 90 percent in middle class sample and 80 percent in upper middle class sample. Projections show that a million downloads can be expected within the first week.”

With that, her presentation came to an end. The board clapped politely and accepted the pitch.

“That was brilliant,” said a young man with wheatish skin and red hair, “the board was impressed with the research and figures.”

“Thanks Adnan bhaijaan,” Ruqsana said, “I’m not going to lie, I was genuinely nervous.”

“You get used to it the more presentations you give,” Adnan assured her, “it’s amazing to see how far you’ve grown. I bet Mamma and Papa feel pretty stupid about their views now.”

“We made up about that long time ago, I wish you wouldn’t bring it up,” Ruqsana huffed.

“Okay, okay! I’m just saying you’ve exceeded everyone’s expectations,” Adnan raised his arms, “enough about work, tell me how’s your married life?”

“Nothing much happening, I was busy with the app and Ahmer is busy with his project. We haven’t had much time to ourselves.”

“Is he taking part in party meetups like his father wanted?”

“He is, that also takes up some of his time, though he said his team is about to wrap up the project today.”

“Sounds like you have some catching up to do.”

“Yeah, it does.”

It was night, the office was almost empty except for one corner where a crowd was gathered, watching Ahmer tap away at his keyboard.

“Friday is on! Friday is on!” They cheered as they watched Ahmer complete the last scene of the episode. After giving the scene some finishing touches, Ahmer set the file to render.

“YEAH!” Everyone cheered, finally done with the task for the day.

“Finally! I thought you’d stay here all the way until tomorrow morning,” Shoaib cheered.

“I’d have finished faster if someone didn’t mess up the keyframes,” Ahmer quipped.

“I already said sorry. How was I supposed to know that Zahir Fight Final was not the final version?” Saif asked sarcastically.

“Alright now, no fighting, all’s well if the end’s well,” Salman pacified them, “Now’s the time to relax and party.”

“That’s right,” Tahir, their boss, chimed in, ”This is a big day for us, our final episode is finally ready. Now’s not the time to look at who did what wrong, each one of you has done a great job and we should celebrate that.”

“YAY!” the employees cheered.

The team went to a bowling alley, testing their skills against one another, enjoying great food and celebrating a job well done.

“I can’t believe it, our first anime is finally ready to air,” Ahmer said as he sipped his soda.

“I can’t believe we’re making an Anime here in Aslanistan,” Shoaib said as he took a bite of his burger.

“Technically, it’s an animesque animation,” Saif corrected him, taking a bite of his kebab roll.

“Po-ta-to, pa-te-to,” Shoaib retorted.

“Definitely potato,” Saif answered.

“It’s been a year since we joined TerrorBytes Studio, but it feels like only yesterday,” Salman said with a fond smile.

“I’m glad we joined them, Tahir sir is so supportive and always ready to try new things,” Ahmer complimented their boss.

“He manages pressure from the management like a boss,” Shoaib quipped.

“Ugh!” Everyone groaned at the pun.

“Some of our juniors have applied for jobs at our studio, right?” Salman asked.

“Yeah, Faiz, Fahad and Alisha,” Saif affirmed.

“It’ll be great to animate stuff with them again,” Ahmer smiled fondly.

“I heard the Anime Club got lots of new members this year,” Shoaib said, “So many that they could start their own studio if they wanted.”

“They’ve been making amazing stuff too,” Salman pointed out.

“Yeah, their UTube channel crossed 1 million subscribers this week,” Ahmer added when his phone started ringing, “Just a second guys,” Ahmer excused himself.

“Don’t mind us, Roxy bhabhi must be anxiously waiting for her Prince,” Shoaib teased.

“It’s been a year since our marriage, when will you stop teasing me for it?” Ahmer asked.

“When you stop being irritated by my teasing,” Shoaib answered.

Ahmer shook his head and picked up the call, going to a less noisy area of the place.

“Assalamualaikum, did you finish your project?”

“Walaikum assalam, yes, we just completed it. How was your presentation?”

“It was great! Everyone loved it.”

“I knew they would, you put in a lot of work into it,” Ahmer smiled.

“So, I was thinking, it’s been a while since we went out. How about we go watch that new movie you were talking about?”

“I can’t, I’m in a party with my coworkers right now. How about tomorrow? I’ll be free after the party meeting.”

“That’s too bad, what about Prince? Is he available tonight?”

“Prince,” He smiled, “is always available for you.”

Ahmer bid farewell to everyone before going to the washroom and putting on a blonde wig. Prince then rode his bike to the cinema theater where Roxy was waiting for him, wearing a silver wig.

Prince walked to her and offered his hand, “Shall we?”

“Yes,” Roxy replied, taking his hand and they went into the theater, enjoying yet another masquerade.

The End.