Meerasim: An Unlikely Alliance

An Unlikely Alliance - 1

Murtasim Khan, the name itself was enough to aggravate meerab. People were childhood friends and childhood lovers but they both were childhood enemies. It seemed like they both were owned by two opposite poles, if meerab stood north he undoubtedly belonged to the south. And as if Allah liked playing tricks with her, she was getting betrothed to this bastard.

His aura was as dark as a nimbostratus before a thunderstorm, he was a walking commotion. The dislike was not the correct word for her sentiments, she loathed him to the core. His "I know my powers" personality, his authoritative tone, his "I own this place" stroll, everything just ascertained to exemplify her hate for him.

From childhood, they were never on the same page. Meerab detested the golden cage, or as they call it, the Haveli. Be it that hornless monster, his bittersweet mother or his lecherous clingy cousin, Haya, they all were nuts. The only sane individual in the entire haveli was Maryam, murtasim's sister and Shahnawaaz Tayajaan, Murtasim's late father who used to treat her like his own daughter.
Anwar Khan, murtasim 's uncle was a rarely seen creature in the mad zoo. Whenever she was in haveli with her mama and baba, he was always out of sight. She could still count the number of encounters she had with him on her fingers.

They were family friends, her baba, Waqas Ahmed, and his father, whom she addressed as Tayajaan, Shahnawaaz Khan. Apparently, years ago they were neighbours but their bond grew substantial with time and this led to waqas being treated like a family member among the Khans. Well, that's what she was told from childhood.

Her birthdays were celebrated in Khan haveli despite her protests. Well, there was no logic in it but then logic was absent from their lives these days. She just turned 22 this year and rather than gifting her forms of law school, her parents had endowed her the golden cage, the same cage where she will be the trophy queen, but never the empress.

Life had taken a theatrical turn and just like a 90's movie playing in front of her, her baba had put forward a two-way choice.
Either she accepts murtasim along with law school or nothing. And meerab being meerab had chosen her goal over her happiness and said yes to an unwanted alliance.

———————

Currently, she was sitting in Maryam's room in her pretty black Anarkali, the most austere dress she could find over an array of heavy dresses scattered in front of her by her very own, Maa Beghum.
She opted for a pair of kundankari jhumka for her earrings and a plain gold chain over heavy necklaces. It was ironic that she was getting ready for the celebration, but her heart mourned for her coming to life with him, the beast.

Keeping her makeup minimal, and her long black hair in loose curls, she descended the stairs with Maryam, to be in the living room where everyone including him, was gathered.

Not bothering to even reimburse him a glance, she ignored him and simply took a seat beside him. Trying to ebb his presence, her eyes cast downward, directly at her palms. And that's when she felt it. The gaze.

The bastard's eyes were fixated on her and were looking at her intensely. She wanted to pluck his eyes off his sockets because he was shameless. This man did not have an ounce of shame. He was shamelessly taking in her form as they were not sitting for engagement but on their nuptial bed for their first night. What a jerk he was.

Meerab's actions were robotic for the rest of the evening. She did as presided over and the moment she dreaded for eventually came. They exchanged rings and were officially engaged.

Two hours later, she found herself in the garden looking at her finger. No doubt the ring was beautiful, it was intricately designed with diamonds arranged in the form of tiny flowers.

The ring shined in the moonlight in total contrast to her heart, which had grown shady after the engagement. The ring did not symbolise love, but a lifetime prison to her.

The only silver lining was the dates of nikkah were not yet finalised. There was a ray of hope in the hub of her heart that maybe she could convince her baba to break off the engagement.

She was lost in introspection when approaching footsteps caught her attention. It was none other than murtasim. Her arch nemesis turned fiance. He was dressed in a pristine white shirt and black trousers, the white shirt stretched across his well-built physique. Well, meerab knew he was handsome, given that every cousin including that bitch haya used to fling themselves on him, but Meerab liked death to admit it.

"Konse khayalon mein gum Ho, my dear fiàncè?" His low voice bounced off in the quiet garden.

"Tumhaare khayaalon mein". She also replied sarcastically.

He took a step forward and smirked, " Engagement hue Abhi do ghante bhi nahi hue, Aur Abhi se tum mere khayalon mein ho, waah".

The utter nerve of this jerk. Meerab wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. This man had a mountain-size ego and his self-pride was on a different level.
So without thinking about the consequences, she snapped at him," Haan, sochrahi hoon ki tumhe sabke saamne kaise zaleel karun".

She blabbered out and boom it hit right in the bull's eye. His eyes darkened and he closed the distance between them, "Mujhe zaleel karogi tum? Haan? Mujhe? Mat bhoolo hone wali biwi Ho tum meri".

Biwi, to hell with him and his family. She scoffed at his statement. She was not a doll and her identity would never be defined by him. Not until her heart was pumping blood into her body.

Anger seeped into her veins she barked at him, " Nahi hoon main tumhari biwi", she tried to remove the ring from her finger but never succeeded as murtasim grasped her both wrists in his left hand and pinned her to the nearby wall with her hands still in his grasp above her head.

"Tum Ho, Aur aaj ke baad toh bilkul ho" he growled lowly in her ear. His eyes were red and meerab could feel that he was burning in rage.

Never to step back, she held her head high and snapped, "Nahi, main nahi maanti is rishte ko".
They both were close, too close as the tip of their noses were almost touching. He drew a deep breath and rumbled," Don't try to provoke me meerab, tum Meri ho, Meri mangetar Aur bohot jald Meri biwi bhi banogi".

Tears of frustration lined her eyes as she snapped," You wish Murtasim, main kabbi tumhari nahi hongi, K—
She was unable to complete it as he roughly took her lips in a searing kiss. Her hands were still in his grip, placed firmly above her head, his other hand made its way towards her waist before roughly pulling her to him.

He poured out his frustration and anger into the kiss. His mouth bruised her lips. She was squirming under his hold but soon melted into the kiss as the heady feeling took over her senses. He smelled woody and citrusy with a hint of his natural fragrance and he tasted like cigarettes.

His mouth assaulting hers, she found herself closing her eyes and reciprocating the kiss.
The kiss was not roses, but it felt like fire.
Meerab responded with equal fervor and she soon felt his tongue demanding entry to deepen the kiss.
But meerab never did what was expected, so instead of providing him access, she bit his lower lip and sucked passionately.

His grip on her waist tightened and she found him caressing her curves. His hands travelled from the dip of her waist to the underside of her breast, where his thumb traced aimless patterns.

Meerab found herself weak in the knees, but never the one to admit defeat, she kept kissing him until they both were panting.

Their lungs were at fire but that was not the priority then. Right now, they savoured each other like a parched man found a gallon of water.

Their lips joined again, and this time meerab took the liberty of her hands to interlock in his soft, silky hair to pull him close. Her hands not only remained restricted to his hair but started their journey towards his chest emitting a gasp from him. They kissed again losing themselves in each other, till they both could not take more.

Panting heavily, they both broke off involuntarily. Taking a moment to compose themselves, soon the haze subsided and meerab realised what she had just committed.

Looking at him, she found his mouth curled upward in a smirk as if he won a battle. Detangling himself from her, he slowly whispered in her ear, " I hope abh samjhti Ho tum khudko Meri hone wali biwi, hmm, Good night, fiance".

She had given in despite her resolve. Before things got worse, she had to take matters into her own hands. She was not a procession to win over. And moments ago, murtasim had treated her the exact way. She would never be his. Not in this life.