The Unbreakable Bond

Chapter Seventeen

Majed leaned all of his weight on Maaz's embrace, not fighting the deep slumber he fell into. Maaz continued to rub his back softly, kissing his forehead in between.

…

When Maaz heard soft snores, he emotionally pecked Majed's head pulling him closer to his body. "Bhaiya is so sorry baby....he didn't mean to be so harsh."

His voice cracked, but he pulled himself together and got off the bed with Majed knowing when awake he would hate to be here. He could come back to fix up the room later, with this thought in mind he walked out of the room to his own room, laying Majed gently on his stomach, who immediately started to whine.

"Shh...relax!" Hearing his elder brother's voice Majed relaxed and let himself fall back to sleep.

Maaz sat beside him running his hand through Majed's hair. He picked up his phone and dialled Murtasim who picked on the second ring, "Hello, Maaz"

"Bhai" his voice cracked, finding it hard to keep himself together. Murtasim became alert, driving quickly as he had left his office earlier, knowing his brother needed him at home, "Kya hua hai Bhai ki Jaan? Itne udass kyu ho? Majed theek hai? Usne tume kujh Kaha?"

{What happened, Bhai's life? Why are you so upset? Is Majed alright? Did he say something?}

Maaz held back a sob, pulling up his hand muffling it. "Shhh, tum to mere strong bache ho na. Kyu roh rahe ho?" Murtasim kept whispering sweet nothings, in hope Maaz would calm down.

{Shh, you're my strong child, hmm. Why are you crying?}

"Bhai..." Maaz repeated but didn't say a word later, Murtasim parked the car quickly getting out and walking inside.

"Baccha relax! Bhai yaha pe hai!" He kept his voice soft and walked into the living room hearing Maaz's muffled sobs. Upon arriving his gaze fell on Maaz who was sitting with his back to the sofa, supporting his head on his knees.

{Relax! Bhai is here!}

Rushing to him, he kneeled down beside him and pulled him into a hug. "Bhai!" Maaz's voice was almost suppressed but Murtasim could clearly hear the pain behind his voice.

He didn't question why he was about to cry but focused on providing him comfort, "Shh, bhai tumare pass hi hai! Chup Kar jao mera baccha!"

{Shh, Bhai's here! Calm down}

Murtasim moved on to the sofa, picking up Maaz and placing him on his lap in a comfortable position. Starting to run his hand through Maaz's dishevelled hair, he focused on calming down his distressed brother.

Maaz soon found himself relaxing in his elder brother's embrace, his crying seizing to sniffles. "Theek ho?" Maaz nodded in response, sitting up slightly abt to move out of Murtasim's lap but he stopped when the latter shook his head.

{You good?}

"Abb btao kya hua tha. Aur Majed kaha hai?" Murtasim questioned, wiping the remaining tears clear from Maaz's face.

{Now tell me, what's going on. And where's Majed?}

Maaz narrated how he discovered their younger brother had a fever, going through the rest of the day. Throughout explaining he could feel his heart clench at him words, "He told me, he....hat-es...me Bhai!"

Murtasim pulled Maaz against himself kissing his head, "Maaz, Jo tumne kia vo bilkul sahi Kia, I wouldn't expect anything less from you. He could have seriously injured himself if you hadn't stopped injecting the dose on time and we've been over this multiple times. He was lucky he had you because I would've tanned his backside before even getting to the medical room. When he said 'I hate you' I can assure you it was out of anger and frustration. His emotions weren't in control, he could never hate you. Hate is a strong word, bacha and no matter what, do you think we could ever hate each other. We may be upset but we won't hate."