FF: The Secret Desires (Tere Bin, Meerasim)

Part 22: Gush of Emotions

They said life was unpredictable. In one instance, you were too proud to achieve a life that you aspired for and the next moment, you cursed the same life for its existence...Anwar Gulzar stood by the large window of his reading room as he revisited the course of his life... his childhood was full of taunts and mockery due to the man who dared to give birth to him but chickened out to claim him, and now he doubted if that was even true....

Was it too easy to feed the lie to avoid the complexity of the truth? His mother was not there to give testimony. They said powerful and honorable people were always afraid of losing one thing, that is their hard earned reputation, their honor. They would happily choose death over dishonor. Was that the reason why his father never told him the truth? He could have easily been terminated knowing that he was the illegitimate one but his father did not...living under a lie of betrayal for all his life had been the ultimate punishment for the injustice he served to the girl he hated all his life... he let out a scoff at the irony of his life.... he hated her and treated her unfairly for something that had turned out to be his reality!.... It was karma!....

He wanted his identity, power and respect in the society as a revenge for the abandonment he felt from childhood and he conquered it by manipulation but never did he ever imagined it to backfire him with so much humiliation in this manner....he knew he was going to lose everything now... the power, respect, and identity, all that he earned with rage and passion would now be gone in a fraction of a second and he would not be able to fight for it.... when suddenly the vision started to blur as he felt a little pain in his chest and the next moment he was on the floor, gasping for air....

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"No move, Chicky!" Meesam frowned at her fork when Murtasim looked at his left to find Meesam looking at the fork in her hand and speaking.... leaning back on this chair he crossed his arms against his chest as he observed her actions... instead of stabbing the chicken with the fork, she was carefully scooping it with the cutlery and as her tiny hand moved it close to her mouth, she would lose the steadiness and the piece will fall back on the plate... he watched her failing in couple of attempts when she became frustrated and instructed the lifeless food to behave, "Bad Chicky.... no good" Meesam frowned again and his lips pressed together in a subtle smile...

Before he could step forward for assistance, Murtasim watched how Meesam successfully put one piece into her mouth and he felt so proud of the girl, "Good job" he clapped and she blushed with her shoulders raised a bit as she chewed on the chicken.... His heart would involuntarily make him smile at Meesam's innocent reaction at him... "peep peep peep" Emad managed to grab Murtasim's attention as he ran over his little tractor on the boiled pumpkin, smashing the poor vegetable under the wheel...."buddy, you are supposed to eat it, not run a tractor over it" before he could pick out a piece to feed him, Emad dropped the last thud and splashed the mashed vegetables all around the high chair, including his bud's white Kurta....

"Astagfirullah, Murtasim!" Meerab bursted out looking at both Meesam and Emad who were sitting on their respective high chairs with food scattered everywhere... Maryam, Sahil, Zubair and Haya stopped on their tracks at the end of the table as they witnessed Meerab with both her hands on hips looking at Murtasim with a frowning face when the man was sitting with a relaxed attitude between Meesam and Emad on the other end of the table... Saba was about to go to Emad when Sahil stopped her with a wink and pulled her back to his side gesturing towards the scenario before them.... "Don't spoil the scene....let the fun begin" he smiled and Saba sniggered....

"Who the heck babysit kids like this?" Meerab held her head in her hands as she watched Meesam trying to put the next piece of chicken into her mouth and Emad busy crushing the boiled pumpkin under his mini tractor.... "Wait. I was supposed to babysit them?" he raised his brows, getting conscious.... "Who else was supposed to do that? Only you three are here, and last time I checked, you are supposed to be the adult one among the three" she stated in total disbelief....