Burn The World

Bloodhound

Trigger Warning: Mild Violence

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If there was one thing Murtasim wasn’t, that was an idiot. He was incredibly observant and perceptive and he wasn’t about to be easily fooled.

Just because Meerab one day got up and randomly spewed nonsense, that didn’t mean he was dumb enough to believe it. Something was wrong. Majorly wrong. He immediately knew Meerab was vulnerable. He could sense it.

Murtasim had gone as soon as he could, with a fleet of his men, to seize Rohail. He didn’t care if it was considered criminal to break and enter someone’s house. He wasn’t going to be waiting around for days for an official warrant where Meerab was involved.

But Rohail wasn’t there. His house had been sealed up and it appeared he had run away. Murtasim still had it broken into anyway. He had the place ransacked and overturned.

It was odd how the gate on the driveway was smashed and the basement walls appeared to have dried up glue all over them. Perhaps they were covered in some sort of wallpaper that had been ripped off later. But other than that, he found nothing odd. He found nothing that could tell him what was going on. Nothing that could lead him to Meerab.

Murtasim returned to his flat angry and worried, though he still had his men searching any possible place Meerab could’ve gone.

Naurez had come over to Murtaim’s flat as well, trying his best to help in any way he could.

Saba and Farrukh were already at Murtasim’s place since the afternoon when Meerab had gone missing. Saba’s tears hadn’t stopped since she’d realised she had lost Meerab.

After the call Murtasim had received from Meerab telling him she was breaking up with him, Saba and Farrukh were completely shocked as well. They refused to believe Meerab had willingly run off with Rohail.

Saba looked up the moment Murtasim came inside. Her eyes silently asked for answers.

“Rohail isn’t there. His house was locked up. It looks like he ran away,” said Murtasim in a hollow voice. “It’s a bad look, I know. It really does look like Meerab ran away with Rohail. But I don’t believe it. I just know in my gut that what she said on the phone wasn’t the truth.”

“Exactly! It’s just not possible,” said Saba fiercely. “Meerab used to come to me to discuss every little detail of her relationship with you. She fawned over you. Rohail was almost non-existent in her talks. She’s lying about loving Rohail, I just don’t know why.”

In any other circumstance, Saba revealing that she knew about the steamy details of his and Meerab’s relationship would’ve left Murtasim thoroughly embarrassed. Right now however, Murtasim didn’t have the liberty to be embarrassed. He was latching onto any detail, any clue that could help him reach her.

“That’s what I thought too,” said Naurez. “She looked like she was going to die the day Murtasim came back with his burn. She has to be lying. But we can’t deny the fact that Rohail did go missing at the same time as Meerab. She took his name on her last phone call. What are we missing here? You sure you didn’t see anything odd in the park Saba?”

“No. I’m certain I didn’t see anything odd. I just know she went to the toilets and didn’t come back,” Saba answered, while she wiped away her tears for the billionth time.

The way she described Meerab’s disappearance made a chill run down Murtasim’s spine. It sounded more like a missing person’s case rather than someone who had willingly left.

“Does anyone know if Rohail has any other properties in the country?” asked Murtasim, desperately grasping for some sort of lead.

“We need to be thinking about all scenarios,” said Farrukh, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. He set aside the apple he had been munching on. “There’s a actually a good chance wherever Meerab is, she isn’t with Rohail. If we are convinced she’s lying about loving Rohail, then it’s not likely she ran away with Rohail, is it? We’d be wasting time and resources if we went searching for Rohail, not Meerab.”