| Hawaaon Ke Paighaam | Messages Of The Wind

| Hyderabad |

"Waqas mai hairaan hu ke tum itnay araam se kaise baith saktay ho?" Maa Begum began archly.

Waqas looked down for just a moment before replying. "Bhabi Begum Meerab ka pata chal chukka hai, woh theek hai, aur kuch hi dair mai yahan aajaye gi. Iss waqt humaray liye yahi sabse zaroori cheez hai."

"Aur Meerab ka pata kaise chala hai? Agar mai tumhe phone kar ke na batati ke tumhari beti Qatar mai ghoom rahi hai, to tum dono ghaflat ki neend mai hi sotay rehtay." She said, raising her eyebrows and shaking her head.

Anila stirred, obviously taking offense to the statement. "Bhabi Begum, Meerab jhoot nahi bolti. Agar aisa huwa hai, to uske paas koi na koi wajah zaroor hogi. Humari beti ne aaj tak humse kuch nahi chupaya aur na hi humne ussey kabhi koi wajah di hai chupanay ki." She would not hear anything against her daughter, not matter who it came from.

Gently squeezing her hand, Waqas became the voice of reason. "Meerab ko aanay dein, phir baat karletay hain."

They sat in silence whilst the lavish tea and assortment of food items in-front of them lay untouched.

Meerab had thought she had faced enough shocks because of her one decision, but she had been proven wrong the minute she'd landed. Surviving the dreadful flight home had been bad enough, made only slightly better by Murtasim strapping her in the seat inside the cockpit. Two jaws had dropped when he'd revealed her identity. Hers because she'd never heard him say it out loud, and the First Officer's because he'd realised exactly who he was messing with.

The remainder of the flight had passed in silence, with Murtasim simmering with unleashed anger. The First Officer had only spoken to answer Murtasim's curt questions during the landing checklist. As for Murtasim, he'd kept an eye on her the entire time whilst flying the plane, and upon landing, had secured the controls, given one last look to Adam, and grabbed her hand to lead her out of the plane. She'd squeaked about her belongings, but he'd just muttered something about them being in the Flight Lounge in a bit.

He'd dropped her off at the lounge and disappeared. She had taken the time to change her clothes, say goodbye to Saba, and check her phone. What she was greeted with was hardly welcoming; seventeen missed calls and one voice note from her parents. They were at the Khan Haveli, and wanted her to come straight there. As much as she pushed down the increasing dread, the sickly feeling Meerab had when leaving Karachi was now back; something had gone wrong, she was sure of it.

Murtasim found her biting her bottom lip and pacing up and down in the lounge. He'd changed into an off-white suit paired with a white dress shirt, any remnants of Captain Murtasim Khan gone. She looked like herself again; her brown hair falling haphazardly over the shoulders of her sky-blue floral kameez. He took a deep breath; their drastic changes in appearance made it look like they'd never had the last week together; suddenly they were just Meerab and Murtasim again, back to their ground realities.

He was going to take her home and leave her there, whilst he went back to Hyderabad, just like how it had been for the past two years.

"Chalein?"

She looked up sharply and his eyes narrowed; something had happened. He raised an eyebrow in question.

As she walked over to him and handed him her phone, Murtasim just knew this was another mess he's be sorting out today. As he heard Waqas Chacha's voice tell Meerab that there a car at the airport waiting to bring her to the haveli, he tilted his head and Meerab with a question in his eyes. He had left the decision to her. Meerab just nodded her head and turned around to pick up her things, but was stopped by Murtasim.

"Aajaye ga luggage, don't worry about it. Let's go."

On reaching the entrance of the airport, Murtasim found her driver just as a porter brought her luggage out to the boot. Meerab looked around confused. They were going to same place, what was the need for two cars?