Without You

02 The Truth

"Marriane, wait."

But Marriane does not find it in her to stop walking. She can not. Today her limbs have a mind of their own. With a vision blurred by not just speed but what are unmistakably tears, she runs the way from the posh but now gloomy dinner area, into the serene escapes of her room.

But just as she steps onto the staircase that leads to the the upper unit of the mansion where her room awaits her to engulf her in its peace and offer solace to her, a warm hand she recognizes to be her mother's pulls her away from the stupor she had entered. The hand that never once felt tired from lovingly caressing her cheeks in a motherly adoration now felt no less than a policeman's gritty hold because of their harshness.

These very hands snatched at her and Marriane was pulled in a jerk like motion to look her mother's way.

"Look at me Marriane!" She heard her mother's voice cry.

Thus slowly, unwillingly, she raised her head to look at her mother in the eye, and is astounded to have found the beautiful doe eyes of hers dampened by tears too.

"Come back to your Father, listen to what he has to say. There is nothing more painful than to watch the child that garners the centre of your universe act up against you. Nothing more agonizing than to see them wrench their caring hold on their child. You have caused him hurt Marriane, and you must apologize."

"What about me mother? Is my hurt of no worth to you?" Marriane's voice changed into one laced with utter venom and she added, " I thought at least you'd help me here, that in such a situation, you'll come to my aid. But no. Mother, I need to be allowed to have a future, I don't know what the Khan family has told you this time. I have been abiding to their requests that are anything but, rather what appear to be more like orders. As if by some sick twist of fate we are forced to abide, to what they ask of us whether we want to or not! Until now Mother, I have been taking all that you say to me with a stoic patience because I care about you two; because I find your words worthy. But today I find it evident more than ever that it is nothing but the petty traditions of that household that speak through you both."

A single tear trickles down Marriane's cheek, a tear that is the beginning of an onset of infinite tears for reasons all of Werner family yet remains ignorant. Mrs. Werner's eyes follow as it trails a path of wet down Marriane's already damp cheeks.

Marriane does not know, but right now, right at this moment, it isn't just her wrecking in sorrow. Her parents are hurting way more than she is, but only if she knew she'd stop, however, she doesn't know so she doesn't stop.

"I will not comply mother." She hisses her voice an octave higher than a whisper. "Not today, because now, it is my future that these brats seem now to be after, and I would rather die than prostrate my future into their hands—I would rather die than let them have their way with me once again."

"You have said enough Marriane." Booms the voice of Mr.Werner as he steps into the hallway his stride longer with the hurry to reach the two women.

The very women who amidst of a fiery meltown turn their heads to look at the man his face crimson with fury, and the crest of his forehead creasing in several places as he acknowledges the scene before him with eyes so wide they bulge.

Marriane takes her chance to wriggle her hand from the siege of Mrs.Werner's hold, but Mrs.Werner wouldn't have it. There are things that await discussion, things that wait to be uttered out loud.

"We had been waiting to deliver the glad tidings of your matrimony Marriane. The Khan family has requested your hand in marriage with their sole heir Mortosem Khan." Mr.Werner finally utters the reason why Marriane's pleas were pushed into the oblivion.

Marriane is at a loss of words, her lower jaw having dropped open sparsely, but the torturous news delivered brought her a seismic shock, that was anything but sparse in integrity. Marriane's heart curses her father, but it too knows that this is not her father's will that had just approached her, the opposition to her studying further was just a mild consequence of the Khan family having asked her hand in marriage, a decree that too must have been put into place by the Khan family.

If she feels this garrotted thanks to the faraway presence of the Khan household and its nonsensical customs all while she is still living in her house, marrying into the Khan family will marr her life completely.

"No, I can not let this happen," thinks Marriane, as she shakes her head in defiance to the cruel decree of a fate she never wished to be hers. Her lips pursed with the effort to hold a heart wrenching scream that had been growing inside her.

The heart of her father breaks into a million pieces as he watches his daughter shed tears of a sorrow that the relentless talons of destiny had brought onto her, a sorrow that he was the bearer of. It was a first. For all the times he protected her, he thought he'd be capable this wise too. But this time he had failed his daughter. Mrs Werner too was being pulverized on the inside, but none of the parents had any choice but to feign nonchalance this way at least Marriane will have someone to blame upon the tragedy of her life.

"We wished to break this news to you in a more jovial state of mind and environment, but there is only so much parents can do f—." Continues Mr. Werner, but is cut off as Marriane can no longer contain the burden of such drastic news.

"I.Will.Never.Marry.Him," enunciates Marriane with her saccharine voice and words having morphed into a single bloodcurdling utterance. And with the adrenaline now raging through her veins, she is able to wrestle her mother's hold on her, as her head throbs, wailing a story all the times she was faced with the filthy and entirely unentertaining shenanigans of the Khan family. It reels back to every unfortunate moment she spent visiting the family on the insistence of her parents and was faced by a boy that she despises since the moment she saw him about a decade ago.

Being the only son of a filthy rich household comes with its cons, Mortosem Khan was a guy with a disgraceful amount of ego, even as a boy too, but still, for reasons unknown to her, anyone who met him was filled with utter respect for him. Everyone except her.

Zayn Khan, the city's most powerful landlord had just one son before he left his wife Sephura widowed and left in her care Mortosem, in whom Sephura saw a flourishing future of the household. Mortosem indeed had picked up on all the characteristics Zayn Khan possessed, and so, to Sephura the words of Mortosem became as valuable and worthy as any, just like once Zayn Khan's words used to be.

Marriane was a girl with dreams and a woman residing both physically and mentally in the contemporary world, while the Khan family was one merely physically living in a changing world, because their ways never changed. Their customs and regulations for the women of the household astounded Marriane to no end. Women of that family wouldn't go out without a man accompanying him, weren't allowed to study after about the age of 17-18, wouldn't be allowed to talk in family matters; and last but not the least, while many people threw graduation parties and attended such ceremonies, the graduation ceremony for them was thrown in no form other than their hand being given in marriage one day or the other. The spouse in question would be a choice of the men and elderly of the house and the girl had to depend on her family for assurance that they had indeed chosen the best for her.

Imagine tying the knot with a man in an arranged marriage where neither the woman knows the man nor does the man knows the woman. Would such a marriage be a success?

Marriane hated to see this happen, she was well-versed with the rights of an individual and never understood why it was just the women who failed to receive such rights. She was a girl raised in a city and stood tall and proud for the fact that she a girl. She had her dignity and wished that other girls be granted theirs. As a child she hated to see such scenarios. But the frustration of finding such mentalities to exist this close to her, made her furious. Mentalities like such, that were gradually seeping even closer to her, and being implemented on her little by little. She knew who was responsible for such a turntable shift in her life and she wasn't going to let it be this time.

***
Uneventful, but this chapter gives insight on the background of the characters of this story, especially Marriane.
Imagine yourself in such a place, would you have done the same? Would you put your parent's respect at stake, and fight for what you think is better for yourself?