Dhaagey: The Ties that Bind Us [Tere Bin FF]

60. full circle

Author's Note: Happy New Year y'all! I hope 2026 is amazing for all of you. Who would have thought I'd still be writing Dhaagey in 2026?! Definitely not me! Onto the next chapter, it got away from me so it is very indulgent, I think I just don't want to end Dhaagey but all things must end...maybe in a few chapters. Enjoy this chapter, see you on the other side!

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Murtasim stepped into the room without urgency, still adjusting the cuff of his suit, voice half-distracted.

"Meerab, are you almost ready, they - "

He stopped.

No sound. No breath. Just... stopped.

The words died in his throat like they'd run into a wall, and for one suspended second the entire world narrowed to her.

She was sitting on the beige couch that had replaced the deep blue velvet settee that used to sit by the window, framed in beige drapery and fairy lights twinkling like fireflies beyond the glass. Her posture was regal, poised, but her expression, caught mid-motion as she reached up to adjust a long, dangling earring, was soft. Dreamlike. One arm lifted, bangles resting against her wrist, delicate fingers brushing the edge of her jaw.

She turned her head just slightly, catching his gaze. And smiled.

That smile, slow, knowing, just the barest curve of her lips. Like she'd been waiting for this exact moment. Staring back at him through soft golden light and a haze of rose-scented air, her eyes shadowed by thick kohl, her maang teeka gleaming against her hairline like a drop of moonlight. The chandelier above them threw light in a hundred directions, casting stars across the room, across her, and the glimmer caught in the intricate embroidery of her silver-blue lehenga like the universe itself was stitched into her skin.

And she looked...

Beautiful wasn't enough.

Stunning wasn't either.

Perhaps not even otherworldly.

She...looked like a sin he would never stop committing.

Like every line in every prayer he'd ever whispered under his breath had taken shape, gathered gold and skin and soft, impossible beauty and become her.

His Meerab.

She gave him that smile, that infuriating, amused little curve of her lips like she knew exactly what she was doing to him.

"What?" she teased. "You act like you haven't seen me before."

He didn't speak. Couldn't yet.

His eyes drank her in.

Her hair fell in soft waves over her shoulder, tucked just behind her ear to frame her face, that face.

Soft, flushed cheeks dusted in the same rose as her lips. Eyes lined dark, lashes curled, blinking up at him like she didn't know she'd just stolen the air from his lungs. Her mouth was glossed in a pink so delicate it made his blood heat, and he couldn't decide if he wanted to drop to his knees or drag her into him until the whole world collapsed.

He exhaled like he'd been punched.

"You're..." His voice cracked on it. "You're...I don't even have the words to describe how utterly gorgeous you are."

She giggled. "Thank you," she said softly, eyes dropping for a second, but when they lifted again, there was a sparkle behind them.

Then he smiled, that devilish, lopsided thing that always made her roll her eyes.