Tere Bin - OS compilation

Divine Love

Hello guys!

Let me just say episode 30 was frustrating to watch. I felt like they ruined a great opportunity for Meerab's character to grow and took her back to square one. One of the parts I did like was Meerab's poem like dialogue at the end so I was inspired to write this. Enjoy!

Meerab was still thinking about what happened with Mariyam, love is such a crazy thing. It made even a sensible, responsible girl like Mariyam do something as reckless as calling her lover to her room in the middle of the night in a place where her brother Mr. Sher Khan lived, with dozens of guns. Don't get her wrong, even she is a romantic at heart, honestly who wouldn't want to experience the wonderful feeling of being loved and cherished. But after having been forced into a marriage she hadn't wanted and betrayed by her family , it's no wonder she has become skeptical about love. She was lost in these thoughts as she entered their bedroom.

Murtasim looked relieved seeing her and asked from his sprawled position on the couch, "Where have you been Meerab?". Meerab snapped out of her thoughts and said slowly, "I was with Mariyam". He got up confused, "But you said she had slept, didn't you?", "Ah, I thought she did, but I saw her in the kitchen and we started talking about her exams", she made up the story as she went along and sat down on the edge of their bed. "Strange", Murtasim said shaking his head.

He noticed Meerab was lost in thought and asked, "What are you thinking about?". Meerab said absently, "Just about love". "Love?", he asked surprised. "Yes, isn't falling in love amazing? Not everyone finds true love so easily", she said with a small smile. Murtasim was intrigued, he had been losing hope of her ever being romantic with him and for the past two days she has been blowing his mind with her gestures and now this talk of love? Hmm, maybe there is still hope.

Looking at his surprised face she asked, "Don't you understand?". He just shook his head. She looked into the distance, smiled and quoted,

***

Love is like the wild rose-briar,

Friendship like the holly-tree—

The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms

But which will bloom most constantly?

The wild rose-briar is sweet in spring,

Its summer blossoms scent the air;

Yet wait till winter comes again

And who will call the wild-briar fair?

-        EMILY BRONTË

***

Murtasim was even more intrigued hearing her recite a poem, so he waited for her to explain the quote. By now they had sat side-by-side on the edge of their, no scratch it, her bed. "Falling in love can be a spontaneously wild and exhilarating experience. When a person falls in love, initially they don't care about anything else and just bask in the glow of their newfound love for each other, just like when a rose blooms and overshadows every other plants/trees around it with its beauty during spring and summer. But when life isn't all so rosy or fair and gets hard to manage, the friendship and respect along with the love the couple share, helps them get through the hardships and protects their love, just like how a holly-tree acts as a constant unmovable presence, being in the shadow and even surviving the harsh winter which the rose alone cannot do", she finished smiling.

Murtasim sat stunned looking at her. He never would have guessed she had such elaborate perspective on love or even that she was interested in it. The Meerab he knew from childhood was a active kid who didn't like to sit still and always ended up in some trouble. As she grew up, she had become distant and didn't like visiting them and kept to herself when she did. The only version of her he got to see was her justice-seeking-feminist side, he had been on the receiving end of that lectures more than once too. He shuddered at the memory. He felt a strange sense of loss for not being there when she grew up into this amazing woman who somehow managed to be strong and vulnerable at the same time.

Meerab snapped her fingers in front of Murtasim and waved her hands in front of his face. "Were you listening to me Murtasim?", she asked with a raised eyebrow. Murtasim started smiling strangely. He slowly took her hands in his. She was surprised but let him be. "Of course I was. How can I not, when you describe love so beautifully?", he asked smiling. He stroked her knuckles with his fingers. "Meerab", he asked looking into her eyes, "When simple, innocent love changes into an otherworldly state like you described it becomes divine love".

Meerab said surprised, "Maybe, but it's few and scarce nowadays". Murtasim shrugged and intertwined their hands together. Meerab was shocked and tried to pull away but he held her tightly and asked, "What if someone does love you unconditionally, honours your respect more than his own and protects you from the harshness of life's winter like the Holly tree". Meerab looked away from the intensity of his eyes and laughed nervously, "No one would love me like that". Murtasim was outraged, "Come on yaar", he said exasperated.

Meerab thought for a while and said, "Maybe I will find a guy who will love me that way", she nodded absently. That's it, he was sure she is doing this on purpose to torture him. He pulled her closer and wound his arms around her waist, held her chin in his hands and said seriously, "I am the only one who's going to be with you in this lifetime. Don't even think of anyone else. For God's sake, I'm your husband!", he finished with a little helplessness creeping into his voice.

Meerab acted like realization just dawned on her and asked, "Were you talking about yourself Murtasim?". He said annoyed, "Who else am I going to talk about. And you ruined a perfectly romantic moment", the last part he muttered under his breath releasing her from his grip. Meerab missed the contact.

"Oh stop brooding Murtasim!", she said exasperated. "Do you honestly think I'm going to leave you and find another guy? I do have some principles, and regarding the matter of love", she paused at this, "I don't know. How can I believe you? Yes you stood by me and protected my respect but you also accused my character, didn't listen to me and act like you own me", she ticked off the reasons one by one. Murtasim looked wounded, "I was angry, I knew what I was doing was right and I do own you", he mumbled to himself.

Meerab missed his reply as she was busy counting everything that was wrong between them, "And you tore my favourite book just because I didn't follow your orders", she said sadly shaking her head like it was the last straw. Murtasim looked beyond disbelief at her, "We were 10! And I asked you not to bother our neighbor's dog".

He remembered clearly when the said dog had barely missed taking a chunk out of his legs when he tried to protect her after she ignored his warnings and tried playing catch with it. That had set off the aggressive dog into chasing them. She just laughed at him after they were safely tucked away in his home. In anger he tore up her book.

Meerab shrugged. Murtasim got up still looking shocked by her reasoning. Without a word he took his paperwork and left their room shaking his head. "He should leave before she dug up something from when they were babies and blamed him for it too", he thought to himself somewhat scared. Meerab smiled broadly at his back. She loved unravelling the otherwise perfectly composed Murtasim, he was cute when he was annoyed.

On a serious note, she was really grateful to him for everything he did for her. The dog incident reminded her that even though he acted like he hated her since childhood, he had always protected her no matter how much she frustrated him. She had to admit to herself, somehow she has started looking forward to his presence.

He also grew up to be maddeningly handsome, she blushed remembering walking in on him as he was changing his shirt that morning. God, he was making her feel something alright, a feeling that made her vulnerable and soft inside. She wondered where he went to and smiled cheekily, "I'll get him another coffee and maybe tease him a bit more". Deep down she knew that was just an excuse to spend more time with him. But no, she's never admitting that out loud anytime soon.

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The quote is from the poem "Love and friendship" by EMILY BRONTË. I don't know Urdu and when I read this poem it felt perfect somehow for this story. Hope you like the tale as much as I loved writing it. Do vote and leave your comments! Thanks!