Unveiling Meerab [Tere Bin FF]

46. the past and the future

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you for all the love for the last chapter - I love how much y'all love whipped Murtasim + the new Shahryar/Maryam ship, hehehe. Enjoy the chapter and see you on the other side!

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The darkness around her was suffocating, the night air heavy with an ominous silence. Meerab found herself standing outside her parents' house in Karachi, the familiar warm façade towering over her like a cold monolith. Her heart raced, and she could feel the desperation rising in her throat. She raised her hand, knocking on the door frantically, the sound echoing in the stillness of the night.

"Mama! Baba!" she cried, her voice breaking with emotion. Tears streamed down her cheeks, hot and relentless, as she pounded on the door. "Please, open the door!"

Her pleas were met with silence.

She banged harder, her knuckles aching from the impact. "Mama, please! Baba, it's me, Meerab! Let me in!" Her voice grew hoarse, the words barely audible through her sobs. She pressed her forehead against the cold wooden door, her body shaking with the force of her cries.

But the door didn't open.

She yelled for her mother again, her voice a raw scream. "Mama, please! I need you!" The silence was deafening, a void that swallowed her words and left her feeling hollow. She turned, her back against the door, sliding down until she was sitting on the ground, her knees pulled to her chest.

"Why won't you answer me?" she whispered, her voice a broken plea.

The scene shifted abruptly, the familiar surroundings of her parents' house dissolving into the imposing presence of the Khan Haveli. She was outside the grand entrance, the heavy wooden doors looming above her like a barrier between her and the love of her life. The suddenly cold, unfeeling walls of the haveli seemed to close in on her, amplifying her sense of isolation.

"Murtasim!" she screamed, her voice echoing off the stone walls.

Her fists pounded against the door, the pain shooting up her arms but she didn't care. "Murtasim, please, I need you!" Her sobs grew louder, her desperation more palpable.

She could feel the cold seeping into her bones, the chill of the night air cutting through her thin clothing.

But the door didn't open.

"Murtasim, where are you?" she cried, her voice breaking with anguish.

She slid down to her knees, her hands still pressed against the door. "Please, answer me! Why won't you come to me?" Her pleas were met with the same oppressive silence, a void that seemed to grow larger and more suffocating with each passing second.

The dream shifted again, more violently this time.

She was no longer pregnant, but holding a little girl in her arms. The child clung to her, her tiny fingers gripping Meerab's clothes, her face buried in Meerab's shoulder. Meerab's heart ached with a fierce protectiveness, the weight of the child in her arms grounding her amidst the nightmare.

She was still outside the haveli, still knocking, still begging. "Murtasim, please! We need you!" she cried, her voice now filled with a mother's desperation. The little girl whimpered, sensing her mother's fear and distress. "Please, Murtasim, open the door!"

The door remained closed, the silence more oppressive than ever.

Meerab's cries grew more frantic, her knocks more desperate. She could feel the little girl shaking in her arms, her tiny sobs adding to the cacophony of despair. "Murtasim, don't do this to us!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "Please, we need you! She needs you!"