Meri Musibat [Tere Bin FF]

16. 22, 25 - Part 4

A/N: I was going to hold back Murtasim's POV till the end, until y'all hated him, but then I read the comments and I was like "okay, maybe they don't need to hate him that much". So here y'all go! See you on the other side!

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Murtasim Khan stood rigid, his muscles coiled tight with a tension that threatened to erupt. The conversation swirling around him felt like a cacophony of harsh, discordant notes, each one striking a nerve. He clenched his jaw, a storm brewing in his eyes as he listened to his mother's words, words suggesting that Meerab should be married off.

A part of him, a part buried deep beneath layers of duty and familial obligation, wanted to believe his mother meant well. That she was trying to guide his straying heart back to the path she deemed right. But her suggestion had the opposite effect. It ignited a fire within him, a fire of possessiveness and longing, accompanied by a hollow ache where his heart used to beat with hope and love.

He wanted to scream, to unleash the fury that simmered just beneath his surface. He wanted to proclaim to everyone in the room that Meerab was his, that she belonged with him. But the bitter truth clung to him like a second skin – he had forfeited that right. He had pushed her away, he had laid his own grave, and now he was reaping the whirlwind of his actions.

As the voices around him grew louder, insisting on the necessity of Meerab's marriage, the pain in his chest sharpened. It was a physical hurt, a manifestation of the emotional turmoil he was drowning in. He hated how the mere suggestion of her being with someone else felt like a thousand knives twisting in his gut.

But what shattered him the most was Meerab's acquiescence. When she nodded her agreement, it was as if a part of him died. He knew Meerab. The Meerab he fell in love with was fiery and headstrong, a woman who carved her own path and stood defiant against the world. And now, seeing her broken, subdued, agreeing to something so against her very nature, he couldn't help but loathe himself.

He had broken her. The realization was a crushing weight. He had shattered the very essence of the woman he loved – her indomitable spirit, her fierce independence. He had dimmed the light in her eyes, the light that had once shone so bright and fearless. In his quest to protect her, to shield her from the harsh realities of his world, he had inadvertently destroyed the part of her that lit up the world.

Murtasim's heart ached with a sorrow so deep it was almost suffocating. He stood there, a silent spectator to the unfolding tragedy, a tragedy he had authored with his own hands.

Murtasim felt Meerab's gaze pierce through him, her eyes holding a depth of understanding that unnerved him. It was as if she could see the turmoil raging within him, the storm of emotions he battled to keep at bay. How could she not? His actions in the past days had laid his heart bare, exposed his soul in ways he never thought possible.

He remembered the desperate frenzy with which he had searched for her, his voice hoarse from yelling, his eyes stinging from unshed tears. The moment he found her, covered in mud and barely conscious, a sob had wracked his body, a visceral reaction to the sight of her so vulnerable, so close to being lost forever. In the cold, sterile room of the hospital, he had sat by her side, whispering apologies to her unhearing ears, praying for her to wake up, to look at him again.

Every waking moment since she had opened her eyes, he had watched her, a silent guardian, yearning to reach out, to soothe her pain, to erase the distance that had grown between them. But he couldn't, shackled by the weight of his decisions, by the path he had chosen.

He felt a pang of self-loathing as he realized his involvement was expected in the discussions about her marriage. The idea of finding a suitable man for Meerab, the woman he loved more than life itself, felt like a betrayal of the worst kind. Yet, there he was, listening to his family plot a future for her that didn't include him.