Wo bhooli dastan

chapter 3

"Tum bilkul bhi nahi badli na, Meerab?" He asked scrutinizing her. "Aaj bhi utni hi selfish ho. Lekin yaad rakhna agar mere bete ko tumhari is zid ki wajah se mazeed koi bhi pareshani uthani padi to me bardasht nahi karuga." He left the house saying that.

She fell down on the nearest chair. If he was terrifyingly intimidating at 24 then now he was alarmingly calculative and cold at 31. She was afraid if Arham insisted for her to accompany him to Hyderabad she will have no other option left.

Back then he used to retaliate with power and anger immediately if he believed anyone has done wrong to him or his people. But now she had a feeling he has grown patient, now will take his time to torment that person.

The last time she saw him he had turned his back on her and never look back. At that time he thought she had made a fool of him by making him believe she has accepted him. But she was planning with her father to leave him all along.

She didn't think she will see him ever again. But now that she had seen him the memories won't stop coming back to haunt her.

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Flashback

Meerab was surprised when Murtasim didn't demand her to share his room. Instead she was shifted to one of the guest rooms from her father's portion of haveli. Murtasim had went to the villages to see the lands and reservoirs. She used to spend most of her time with her Dadi, who was curious why Meerab stayed back when she was supposed to go to Karachi. But didn't ponder much cause she was happy that Meerab was staying with her.

It had been three days her father was sent back to Karachi. Meerab was sitting with Dadi who was telling her childhood stories of her father and his siblings. Then a maid came to inform them "Khan aa rahe hain." The whole room went silent. The nurse who used to take care of Sarwat jahan Begum, the personal house help who was always there with her, the boutique owner whom she had asked to come because Meerab needed new wardrobe, everyone stood in attention. Meerab had her back towards the door when Murtasim entered the room. She didn't move a muscle. She felt like she was in frozen into a statue.

"Assalamu alaikum Dadi jaan." He said kissing his Dadi on forehead.

"Jeeta rahe mera pota. Ummeed hai sab theek chal raha hoga." Dadi said putting her hand on his head giving him blessings.

"Aap ki duaon ke chalte kuch ghalat nahi ho sakta. Aap aur duaen dijiye ke apne dushmano ko unka sahi anjam dikha sakun." He said

"Mein to bas tumhe khush dekhna chahti hu. Jab se Maryam ki shadi hui hai is ghar me jese veerana chha gaya ho. Mein to ab is ghar ko khushiyon se hara bhara dekhna chahti hoon." She said last sentence looking at Meerab. Which brought Murtasim's attention towards her. He raised his gaze to her. And her breath caught in her throat. She felt like a rabbit caught in headlight. She breathed out only when he look back at Dadi and said goodbye leaving the room.

Meerab felt suffocated in that environment where everyone treated their master like he was some mughal emperor. It gave him freedom to exploit his power. She wanted to get out of there really badly.

After that day she didn't see Murtasim much. He wasn't there at meals. He was either busy in his father's library, which was his now. Or he was gone to village to see the matter of livestocks, and lands and what not. She was spared by him but his relatives were not so generous. One day Dadi introduced her to Murtasim's khala, Begum Shahjehan Sultan, who was also from a Nawab family. She had a daughter named Haya. Meerab got an impression that she had expected Dadi to choose Haya for Murtasim. And Dadi's decision had made her bitter. She was nice in front of Dadi but when Dadi retired for her afternoon rest, she looked at Meerab and said