Deewangi

chapter 7

She went back in the bedroom after handing the food trolley back to the waiter after Murtasim had his dinner. She find Murtasim again working on his laptop. She closed his laptop. He looked at her with anger. She gulped with nervousness. She knew she was testing limits. But now she was not going to back down she told herself. If she will have to, she will fight him for his own wellbeing. She knelt in front of him putting her hand on his knees.

"Please, aapko aram ki zarurat hai. Bas thodi dair so jaiye. Phir wada karti hu khud apko jaga dungi do ghante me." She said making puppy eyes. Which melted him. She felt him visibly relaxing.

"Ok." He noded. "Lekin tumhe mujhe jaldi jagana padega. Nahi to kal boht aham meeting hai financers ke sath. Agar unhe humara product pasand ata hai to ek boht badi deal humare hath a jayegi."

"Okay. Promise." She smiled and got up to switch off the lights.

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Meerab looked at Murtasim sleeping peacefully. He was looking vulnerable. It was like she was seeing him showing human weaknesses for the first time. Did she even know him as the person he was?

She had always seen him as a perfect man who was above mere human shortcomings. To her he was like a star whose light never fades and whom she can only look at from far away. He was good looking, confident, well mannered, responsible, protective, a gentleman. Someone who wasn't afraid of anyone. A perfect personification of teenage female fantasy. She smiled sarcastically. Did she really love him? Can you even love someone without knowing them personally? Maybe he was right. It was just an infatuation.

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Next day when Murtasim came back to hotel room Meerab was not there. He remembered when he asked her this morning if she would like to go somewhere for sightseeing, she had declined. She said that she had plans with Pinar. It hurts to absorb the fact that she doesn't need him for anything anymore.

Last night the way she took care of him he thought she was gradually accepting their relationship. But in the morning she was back to ignoring him.

He misses the time when she used to look forward to his injunctions for any of her problems. But mostly he missed when she used to stay up late waiting for him in kitchen. When he used ask why didn't she sleep. She would make some excuse that she was hungry or that she couldn't sleep. And he never thought there was something else. How could he not see? Maybe because he was too busy suppressing his feelings for her. To stay away from temptation he had made sure never to be alone with her after their first two meetings. Because she way too young. And he used to feel like a pervert to even think in such direction.

But when she had her first accident while learning to drive, she was 17 at that time, he felt like his heartbeats stopped for the first time. When he took the stearing wheel from her to control the car. When he pulled it on side. She was still clinging to his arm. Her face was buried on his shoulder. He patted her shoulder. But she shook her head. When she didn't look up he forcefully turn her face up by holding her chin.

"I am sorry." She had tears in her eyes. "Mujhe nahi chalana gadi. Mujhe Phuppo ke paas ghar jana hai." She was trembling.
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"Kuch nahi hua. Jab seekhte hain to accidents bhi hote hain. Ese hi to driving seekhogi." He put his hand on her trembling ones. Though her hands were cold with shock but they had burned his hand. He had pulled it back.

He had promised himself he will look after her, protect her from everything. So how could he have such feelings for her. He finally won over his attraction for her when his Dad got ill and he dived in work to save his company. But then after his father's death his mother wanted him to get married to Meerab. But he knew that she wanted to study. He also didn't want to get married when he had no guarantee of the kind of future he will offer his wife. He was afraid and anxious about the company. His father had put his whole life to build it. And he was on the verge of losing it. And he had actually believed they had no such feelings for each other. He wished he had asked her whether she was happy with them getting married or not, instead of telling her how bad an idea it was. He wished she had said something instead of agreeing with him. He didn't know if he was oblivious to her feelings or she was really good at hiding them.