If Only- A Tere Bin Story

Reality strikes!

Meerab finished making breakfast with great difficulty after the heart fluttering encounter with her husband 30 minutes ago. She ordered the maids to set the table while she moved out of the kitchen and saw a que of servants with items like clothes , jewelry and shoes in their hand. All of them were going towards Marium's room. In a flash of a moment reality struck her. 

"Marium..." she let out. Marium, Murtasim's only sister, is getting married to Naurez Khan but against her will. Marium had confided in Meerab about her love affair with this guy named Anas a couple of weeks ago, since then Meerab had tried everything to convince Murtasim and Maa Begum to meet this guy for Marium's sake. Hell, she almost succeeded but then all hell broke loose when Anas's mother turned out to be an ill-mannered, unkept and distasteful lady who wreck havoc in their house hold and when Meerab pushed Murtasim to go meet Anas one-on-one, by the twist of luck, he ended up on the wrong address. To make things worse that address was of a brothel.

Since that day there was no stopping Murtasim. He fixed Marium's marriage with Naurez to be held by the end of the week and Maa begum restricted all her movements and took her phone away. Meerab had been tirelessly trying to stop this forced marriage because no one in this house understands the trauma of such a marriage more than her. Granted, in this moment she did feel content with her marriage but she lucked out with Murtasim, or did she? Doubt was creeping in on her.

She shrugged her head, pushing her own doubts away and moved towards the direction of Marium's room. She waited a few moments until all the servants were out of her room before she entered and pushed the door close. Meerab came rushing towards Marium, concerned. Marium looked away from the things lined up in front of her towards Meerab. Marium's face was covered with tears, her eyes red, her face ashen. 

"You couldn't do anything for me....nobody could" said Marium giving a ghost-like appearance.

"Esa nahi hai meri jaan" (it's not like that, love) Meerab tried to console her but didn't know how.

Marium's state was breaking her heart. She wanted to help her, do anything to make her feel better.

"Tell me, what can I do for you?" Meerab asked Marium.

"can you give me your phone? I want to talk to Anas one last time" Meerab felt uneasy at her sudden calm voice but complied. She handed her phone over to Marium and left the room to stand out side the door so that Marium can have the last conversation with the love of her life uninterrupted.

The door opened in about 10 minutes and Marium came out. She looked much better now, may be she has accepted the reality, Meerab though and her heart sank.

"there...your phone. Thanks" Marium thanked Meerab and closed the door of her room before Meerab could react. Meerab's heart felt heavy.

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Meerab was in the living room when Murtasim came down from stairs. He had changed in to work clothes and looked very dapper. However, Meerab didn't look towards him. Murtasim saw her fixing the flowers of a tall glass vase on the center table, she looked lost. Murtasim cleared his throat a bit loudly and that brought Meerab out of her thoughts.

"itna mat socho mery baray mai. Kahi mujhy hichki na lagjae" (Don't think about me to much, I might get huccups)Murtasim teased her.

Meerab rolled her eyes at his comment and replied "Itni farigh nai hun mai" (I am not free all the time). Meerab continued to fix flowers.

"I am going to get some work done but I'll be back by 6.00 pm" Murtasim was trying to make conversation with his uninterested wife.

"hmm-mm" was Meerab's only reply.

Murtasim was getting agitated now. It was surprising to him because just a day ago, this was Meerab's patent reaction towards him, stony and disinterested. But today, well, not today. Murtasim decided to change it right then.

"I wanted to see your black dress" He said inching toward her.

"han...what?" She was still lost in her thoughts when he said it. She turned her face to look at him and found him surprisingly close.

"the black dress, you said you would wear on Marium's wedding. I want to see that dress"

The request was strange but still Meerab said "it's in the closet I will show it to you" eyeing him cautiously.

"No, I want to see it on you" said Murtasim flatly but his eyes had turned dark.

Meerab let out an exasperated "whyyy?"

Murtasim leaned forward so that his lips were only inches away from Meerab's ears. Meerab instantly darted her eyes towards the far corner of the room where a maid was dusting crystal show pieces and thankfully facing the other direction.

"why?" Murtasim repeated her question. "Because If you don't put it on how am I going to take it off you". 

Meerab choked on her breath and quickly faked a cough as the maid turned towards her. Murtasim said "hey! relax. Drink some water okay" without any hint of sympathy, in fact he was barely stifling a laugh. Meerab glared at him, her face red. Murtasim waved her 'bye' while quickly exiting the room.

Meerab controlled an urge to strangle him.

**********************************************************************************************************  It's the end of this part. Feedback is appreciated.

Ps: Marium-Anas/MZ drama ahead!