Renewed Vows (Tere Bin)

4. An Unexpected Visitor

After a couple of hours he woke up to Meerub calling him. "Murtasim utho Marium ke ghar nashta le kar jana hai Maa Begum bula rahi hain." she called to him.
He woke up but kept his eyes closed. He wanted her to call his name again like she just had.
"Murtasim uth jao", she shook his shoulder when he didn't respond to her voice. He sat up and took her hand in his before she had a chance to leave his side. She looked utterly beautiful even though she had just showered and her hair was still wet.
"Betho Meerab", he said gently pulling her towards him.
"Maa Begum bula rahi hain.." she tried to pull away.
"Betho Meerab!" This time his tone was a little stern and she obeyed.
"Kya hai Murtasim?" She was clearly annoyed at him as she sat down.
He half expected her to deny the words that she had said to him early in the morning but she just looked at him with what seemed like love for him in her eyes. He was glad.
"Tumhe agar acha lage tou roz mujhy hug kar ke so sakti ho." He barely whispered with an innocent smile.
She got up from the bed and turned her back towards him but not before he saw her turn red at his statement.
He also got up from the bed and went into the washroom to shower, deliberately coming out of the washroom shirtless but he had put his towel around his shoulders. He had gotten a little bold gaining confidence from the way she was blushing at his statements.

" Murtasim kurta nahi pehanna tum ne?" She was shocked to see him shirtless.

"Tum choose kar ke batao na konsa pehnu", he pleaded.

She sighed and rolled her eyes at him. Then she began flicking through his wardrobe while stealing glances at him. He was so hot she thought to herself. And so hard to resist as well. She pushed these thoughts aside as she focused on choosing the kurta.

He had noticed her glancing at his figure more than once. It felt good.
"Ye lo Murtasim ye wala pehn lo", she said handing him a black kurta trying her best to look away so that he doesn't sense what's going on in her head.
He took the kurta from her hand and smirked. "Like what you see Meerab?"
"K..K..kya matlab?" She could kick herself for glancing at him like that. He had noticed it. "Pata nahi kya kya soch raha hoga ab", she muttered to herself.
"Kuch nahi soch raha mei Meerab
Tumhara haq hai dekh sakti ho mujhy", he paused to look at her then said "aj bhi meri meerab bohat khoob surat lag rahi hai"

"Chalen?" she said in an annoyed voice but inside she felt butterflies.
"Chalo." Murtasim took her hand.

"Itni der kyu laga di beta. Mei kab se intezar kar rahi hu."
"Sorry maa! Mei hi der se jaga hu, utha hi nahi ja raha tha mujh se. Meerub tou jaldi jag gyi thi." He was trying to make Maa Begum see her positive traits so that she would warm up to his wife again.
"Chalo koi bat nhi beta, ek gari mei tum aur meerub chale jao ek mei driver ke sath mei aur haya aajayengy. Mei ne nashte ki tokriyan pehly hi rakhwa di hain." she said accepting his apology.

"Ji maa sahab , chalo Meerab", he was glad that they could have some privacy while meerab was glad that Haya would not be with them. Wait, where was Haya? She wondered as she looked around, her eyes failing to find her anywhere.
Just then someone walked through the door. It was Naurez. All three of them were shocked to see him.
"Assalam o Alaikum Maa Begum". His tone wasn't as soft as last night.
"Wa...Wa Alaikum as salam beta! Itni subah subah sab kheryat hai? Marium tou theek hai? Aur wo hai kahan?" A look of worry crossed Maa Begum's face.

"Jee Marium nahi aayi. Mei akela aya hun", his expression was dead serious.
It was very confusing to see him so angry and serious as compared to the happy, laughing Naurez that they had bade farewell to just last night.

"Marium ne mujhy sab kuch bata dya hai" he said.

Meerub first looked at Murtasim then at Maa Begum. A look of fear had now replaced the confusion and worry on their faces.

"Uss ne mujhy bata dya ke ap logo ne uss ki shadi jaldi kyu ki" Naurez continued.

Meerub found both Maa begum and Murtasim staring at each other trying to process what Naurez was saying. Then she saw that Haya had also joined them and she too looked shocked.

"Aur yeh bhi bata dya hai ke Malik Zubair ne uss ke sath kya kiya."

Maa Begum wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. She had kept these things hidden from Naurez's family and now Marium had blurted everything out to him on the first night. She still wasn't sure how was Naurez going to react. She decided to clear Marium's name before he had a chance to say anything further.

"Dekho beta iss me Marium ka koi Kasoor nahi hai. Wo bechari tou masoom hai, be kasoor hai, pak daman hai. Ye sab tou Malik Zubair..."

Naurez cut her off, "Yeh sab ap mujhy kyu bata rahi hain? Yeh sab tou ap ko apni beti se kehna chahye tha na?" He had a look of disgust on his face.

Meerab now saw Maa Begum and Murtasim looking guilty. The change of emotions their faces had undergone in just a few minutes amazed her.

"Baykasoor hai wo, pak daman hai, she was trapped aur uss ki koi ghalti nahi thi.. Shouldn't you have said this all to Marium?" there was an underlying note of hurt in Naurez's voice.

He then turned to look at Haya and said, "I have been played. Kisi ne mujh se kaha tha ke mujh se muhabbat karti hai wo. Lekin ab mujhy uss se sachi muhabbat ho gayi hai."

He turned to Maa Begum. "Ap tou uss ki maa thi.. Phir bhi ek aesi bat par jis mei uss ki ghalti bhi nahi thi ap ne usse ghair kardya.. Bas ek bojh samjh ke ap ne usse utar ke phenk diya. Uss ki ghalti ko maaf bhi tou kiya ja sakta tha na. Ghalti tou har insan se hoti hai Maa Begum. " The hurt was now visible in his voice. Maa Begum's eyes glistened with tears at his words.

They had not only blamed Marium but abandoned her too Meerab thought to herself. The night Murtasim had left her in Karachi had one of been the worst nights of her life. She was extremely glad that Marium had Naurez who defended her like this.

"Ab Marium yaha kabhi nahi ayegi. Aur sirf mera nahi uss ka bhi yehi faisla hai." With his final words Naurez left leaving everyone in the room shocked and Maa Begum teary.

"Marium.. Meri Marium" Maa Begum cried.

Murtasim sat down beside his mother to comfort her but then his eyes looked into Meerab's. She seemed angry. He sighed to himself and muttered under his breath. "I hope that this time I'm wrong about you Meerab."

Feedback would be appreciated

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A/N: This is my first time actually writing a fan fiction and i can't believe the votes and comments i have received already especially on the previous part. Also the Naurez part in the drama was just too good to skip. I altered it a bit but the theme is same so the original credit for the scene goes to Nooran Makhdoom who is the writer of Tere Bin.
I know this part got a little boring towards the end but I'll make it up in the next few parts. Hope you're enjoying this angle of the drama so far.