For Neelesh Kumar, a promotion, a salary hike and marriage to the woman he loved were all within reach.For Anamika Samant, whose parents had travelled from West Bengal last week to meet her future in-laws, a new chapter of life was about to begin.Instead, the couple became victims of the fire that ripped through a commercial building in Lucknow on Monday, turning wedding preparations into funeral arrangements.A major fire broke out at a three-storey commercial building housing an animation centre in Lucknow’s Aliganj area on Monday afternoon, killing at least 15 people, mostly students, and injuring nine others, officials said. Many victims were trapped on the second floor while attending classes at the centre.Twenty-seven-year-old Neelesh Kumar and 30-year-old Anamika Samant met while working at the centre where they were both employed. What began as a workplace friendship gradually blossomed into a relationship, winning the approval of both families.Just last week, Anamika’s parents travelled from West Bengal to Lucknow to meet Neelesh and his family as preparations for their marriage gathered pace.”A small ceremony was performed at our house. We all met Anamika. She was a very jolly girl,” Neelesh’s brother Abhishek said outside the post-mortem house.The families had already begun planning the next steps. Neelesh’s relatives had booked train tickets to visit Anamika’s family in West Bengal next week.”The train tickets were booked, and preparations were under way for the journey,” Abhishek said.For Neelesh’s family, the loss is particularly painful because he had spent years carefully planning for the life he hoped to build after marriage.The second of three siblings, Neelesh was known among relatives as a hardworking and dedicated professional whose life revolved around his job. Family members said he was expecting a promotion and salary hike this year and wanted to strengthen his finances before settling down.”We wanted to solemnise the marriage this year itself, but he said he would get married next year. He was excited about the expected salary hike and promotion,” a family member recalled.According to relatives, Neelesh had been saving money for the wedding while also contributing to the construction of a new family house.”Neelesh told us that he would get married in the new house once it was completed next year,” said Samrendra, a relative.Instead of preparing for wedding celebrations, the family now finds itself waiting outside the post-mortem house to claim his body.The tragedy has deepened further for Anamika’s family. Her cousin Somilya (27), who also worked at the centre, was among those killed in the fire.Hours before the blaze, relatives were discussing travel plans, wedding dates and a new beginning. By evening, those conversations had been replaced by frantic phone calls, hospital visits and the grim task of identifying the dead.For the two families, a journey that was meant to lead to marriage has instead ended at a post-mortem house.