Everyone was asked to gathered in the living room on Murtasim's orders. Maa Begum sat on her signature sofa, and Murtasim stood beside her waiting for all of them to arrive. Mariyam and Meerab were the first to enter, followed by Haya and then lastly Anwar. Murtasim asked Meerab to stand next to him and Haya in front of him.
Then he turned towards Maa begum, "Maa, aap pooch rahi thi na Haya ne kya kiya hai? Wo aapko Meerab batayegi.", he said as he folded his hands behind him and gestured Meerab to start.
Meerab felt put on the spot for a good minute but quickly composed herself and began, "Maa Begum, Haya knew that the guy Maryam used to meet is Malik Zubair, she also saw her leaving with him and took the video but didn't stop us, neither did she inform Murtasim". Meerab finished, all the while, staring at Haya.
"Aur main Meerab ki baat ko sach kaise maan loon?", Maa Begum said, looking at Murtasim, seemingly still distrustful of Meerab.
"Maa please, think logically", Murtasim started irritated, "where else would Haya get the video from? And I trust Meerab, nothing else matters after that. Haya is guilty of a huge sin in my eyes." he finished and shot an angry look at Haya.
Haya was in a state of shock, she had not expected to be exposed. She, shaking her head, pointed and moved towards Meerab, "Nahi nahi, maa begum, nahi, Murtasim, ye Meerab jhoot bol rahi hai, maine aisa kuch nahi kiya hai, mujhe nahi pata tha Malik Zubair-"
Her rambling was cut off by Maryam, who shouted at her, "Bas kar do ye dhong Haya", which made Haya stop in her tracks, "Maa, Meerab Bhabhi is not lying, Haya admitted everything in front of me too, I didn't tell you all before because I didn't think you'd believe me after everything.
Maa Begum unable to process everything, put her head in both her hands while Murtasim issued his statement "Haya has hurt two of the most important people in my life, just for her own sick agenda, and I can't tolerate her in this house and within my family anymore. She will have to go back to her paternal house." Meerab and Maryam breathed a collective sigh of relief while Haya started crying hysterically.
That made Maa Begum look up, "Murtasim, bachpan se paala hai maine usse, aise kaise can we send her back to that hellhole where she was thrown out from as a kid?"
"Main kuch nahi jaanta Maa, Haya se Meerab ko khatra hai, she has already attempted to cause harm to her before, she can do it again, I can't take the risk of keeping someone like her here who'd go to any lengths to harm my spouse in pursuit of me", Murtasim said with finality and slid his hand in Meerab's. Meerab clasped her fingers around his', and felt tears prick her eyes at his protective gesture.
Haya knew there was no point pleading to Murtasim. He wouldn't listen, love for Meerab had gotten to his head. So she tried to get Maa Begum on her side and went close to her, "Maa please, aap to jaanti hai wo log kaise hai, wo mujhe bilkul pasand nahi karte please-", and as she tried to hold Maa Begum's hand and plead more for mercy, Maa Begum jerked her hand and spat at her, "Door raho mujhse ladki, meri beti ki zindagi barbaad karne chali thi, aur ab mujhse rehem chahti ho. I would still punish you even if I didn't send you to that house, but ab Murtasim ka faisla ho gaya hai aur main kuch nahi keh sakti." She got up and went away to her room leaving a crying Haya behind.
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Meerab lied down on the bed as soon as they came into their room, "I am exhausted, I just want to sleep now", she whined.
"Sure, its past 1:00 AM anyway," Murtasim said, taking a look at the wall clock. "I'll go freshen up".
Meerab looked at his retreating back as he went into the washroom and thought about his muscular arms dropped on her shoulder casually as they were walking towards their room. She had felt a strange sense of contentment over that. She sighed and began wondering how things were going to go forward for them from now on. She had bared her soul in front of him, had been vulnerable, and she could sense a shift in their equation after everything that happened yesterday.
Just then, Murtasim came out of the washroom, wearing his brown kurta shalwar. He was so majestic, she thought, even in a distasteful color kurta shalwar, he looked as bit handsome as ever.
"Kya dekh rahi hain?", Murtasim noticed her gaze and teased her.
Meerab went all flustered upon being caught looking but quickly compose herself. She then teased back, "Bas yeh dekh rahi thi ki brown doesn't really suit you."
"Oh accha, to aap mujhe isliye itni der se dekh rahi thi, because I don't look good in brown?" he kept the teasing going, catching onto her act.
"Ji haan, bilkul isliye hi. Ab aapki faltu baat khatam ho gayi ho to main jaake fresh ho loon?", Meerab asked, feigning annoyance, but the smile on her face betrayed such.
"Ji jayein, bilkul", Murtasim replied, chuckling lowly.
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When she came out, she found him lying on the sofa, scrolling through his phone. One of his legs was hanging down the sofa, and even though she knew it was an uncomfortable space for a grown man to sleep in, observing it in real time made her grimace. And just then she decided it was time to give him his rightful place back. As she reached him, she noticed him looking at his phone, quite concentrated , his lips puckered. He looked cute and she felt an insane urge to drop a kiss on his cheek. Astagfirullah! She chided herself at the thought and called him as he still hadn't noticed her.
He looked up at her with a surprised expression, "Meerab?Kya hua? Koi problem hai?"
"Nahi, main woh keh rahi thi ki tum bed pe so sakte ho", she said not meeting his eye.
"Main bed pe? Aur tum?", he asked just to be sure.
"Main bhi", she said as she played with her fingers, still not meeting his eyes.
Murtasim stood up slowly facing her, and titled her face with his finger, making her meet his eye, "Are you sure Mrs. Khan?" he said, his voice hoarse.
She couldn't look into his eyes more than a few seconds, and looked down as she spoke "Haan main bed share kar sakti hoon tumhare saath, I trust you plenty."
"Okay. Thank you.", he thanked her, a soft smile playing on his face as he scanned her bashful one. It was a new look on her which made him feel giddy inside. She was falling for him and it was obvious, he thought back to her words in her childhood room, "and I had just started fal-" and his smile grew wider.
She glanced at him, only to find him smiling like an idiot, "Kya hua?" she asked sheepishly, now feeling embarassed at her proposal.
"Kuch nahi," he shook his head, "let's sleep", he put an arm around her shoulders and led her towards the bed.
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Last night, they had slept with quite a distance between them, but as Meerab woke up she found herself in the crook of Murtasim's arm, her own on his chest. Strangely she didn't feel weird about it, and instead snuggled closer to him. It felt safe, and warm and home under his arms. She wondered what was it about him that made her start trusting him so implicitly? Almost falling for him? Maybe it was his unwavering support towards her, ofcourse before he abandoned her upon being manipulated. She sighed as she felt a shift in her emotions, from that of contentment to un-sureness. She removed her hand from his stomach and got up slowly to go freshen up. The sun rays coming from outside the window gave indication that it was later than usual.
_______
Murtasim slowly opened his eyes, his mind still foggy from sleep as he spread his arm to feel Meerab. When his arm came back empty, his eyes opened completely, and searched around the room for her. He found her beside the dresser, in a blue shalwar kameez looking heavenly as always. She was drying her long wet hair, completely oblivious to his eyes on her.
He got up from the bed and slowly moved towards her. She was struggling with her hair when he bent down and said near her ear lowly, "Good morning".
She shrieked, not expecting him to be up, and the dryer fell from her hand, dropping on his feet.
"Ouch Meerab", Murtasim winced as he picked up the dryer. "Itna kya dar gayi?", he turned Meerab as he spoke and started drying her hair himself.
"Uff, I am sorry, but tum kar kya rahe ho?", finally composed from the almost heart attack he gave her, she asked.
"Baal sukha raha hoon", he replied cheekily.
As he ran his finger through her hair, she shivered. He was in very close proximity, and it gave her a good look of him in the mirror. His face was in deep concentration, his moustache though still not curled up looked as majestic as ever. His strong biceps flexing as his deft finger worked gently through the knots of her hair. Meerab felt in awe of him as she kept on looking. He was doing such a mundane task for her, being so gentle with his hands, so careful as to to not pull on her hair.
"Okay, all done.", Murtasim said as he turned off the dryer and went forward to put it on the dresser. Meerab still lost in thoughts of him, didn't reply.
Murtasim looked back at her, concerned, "Hey, where are you?"
And Meerab felt like she was broken out from a riverie. "Uh, nowhere, uh- I mean, thanks", she said.
"You're welcome", Murtasim replied but his heart sank as he understood her uneasiness at his action. She had agreed to sleep on the same bed with him, but she was not comfortable with him yet. He had to earn her trust completely. Just when their relationship was taking an upward spiral, he fucked up. He had to fix things and it'd happen slowly.
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A/N: Do read the part titled Author's Note and first chapter again for better understanding of the further story.