Cold Bones

TWO : Truce

(Songs for the chapter- Skyfall by Adele, Paint it Black by Ciara and Empires by Ruelle. Play these while you read Truce and I promise it'd be a whole new experience.)
Trigger Warning: graphic description of death.
...
She returned to find the tempo of the orchestra to have turned upbeat.Almost a mimicry of her state of mind,the absurdities of the day on its way to reach a crescendo before she snaps.If Meerab could count the last three times she had been around her uncle's eldest son, it'd be few minutes ago when he was swallowing the face of the annoyingly repulsive woman.Prior to that it had been during her ma's funeral when he had tried to kill her father belligerently
and that one time in fleeting moments during his own mother's funeral when Meerab was a little more than ten.Quite an interesting history of encounters.

Murtasim Khan has always had a looming presence.And she never had endeavours to find out more about a man who was the ultimate force in legitimising the now questionably adjourned vendetta.From afar,she glanced back and forth between her father and her uncle perplexed.She was enraged, for all these years of her baba's fury that she had to endure silently appeared to be an exaggeration, if a gala dinner is all it took to end ruinous rivalries.

Meerab's head snapped back as a hand reached her shoulder unexpectedly."Relax! it's me." The handsome man in the blue suit smiled.
"Oh, Murshad, yes. I'm sorry, just a little zoned out post the long journey.How have you been?"Murshad, if had to be defined solely by a word it'd be "chivalrous", unlike his older brother who evidently lacked etiquettes. And humanity, Meerab's brain nudged.

"Charming as usual,well dressed and extremely gorgeous.You know me Meerab, that's how I always have been." Murshad winked with a mischievous glint in his eyes and Meerab could not help but laugh,feeling lighter.He has always been a good company.In the few conversations they have shared over the years, she noticed how he possessed a natural ability to make one feel at ease. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that he chose to play no part in the family's heinous pursuits.

On catching the glimpse of them together Mannat Begum hastily made her way to drag them to the dias.The enthusiastic guests had already gathered around waiting for the cake to be cut.Delicate layers of buttercream, adorned with strawberries stood proudly at the centre of attention.The Carefully arranged carnations around it and the glittering confetti added further layers of warmth to the event.She made an effort to replace the cold concern in her heart with that very warmth.Her father appeared to be unimaginably exuberant and for a moment she wondered if it is so necessary to over analyse a situation and jitter.If all had been forgiven and forgotten she had no gains dwelling on what ifs.She at last let herself relax,putting her questions on hold until she reaches home.

"Murtasim's conference must have extended.I think he wouldn't show up.You know Anwar,the boy is so engaged in business all day long I feel pity at times."Meerab's uncle spoke regretfully and she could vividly imagine what "Business" he had been engaged in.

From what she perceived through eavesdropped conversations as a teen,Murtasim had not been welcoming to the presence of his father's new wife and son. It explains his reluctance to be punctual for an occasion that holds no meaning to him.However, Meerab could not fathom how he's so imprudent to be doing what he was doing right within the vicinity of the place he had excused to avoid.

She was too ingenuous to contemplate the prospect of him consciously choosing to make a point.He'd rather be fucking in the distant corners of the ball room than attend the sham of a celebration his father thought he could oblige him to.

Meerab's father that day, had all the benevolence of the world it seemed,he encouraged a very disappointed Shahnawaz Khan, "Why don't we cut the cake brother?The guests have waited long enough, I'm sure Murtasim would make it by the time we are done."