ehsān zindagī pe kiye jā rahe haiñ ham
man to nahīñ hai phir bhī jiye jā rahe haiñ ham
~ Imtiyaz Khan
•••
Meher sat on her bed and watched the grey clouds as they cried for her. She buried her head between her knees and sighed, she couldn't fathom how someone who had loved her so dearly, whose entire life once had revolved around her, could do this to her.
Meher closed her eyes and remember the day and she did very well. She had just returned home from college and as soon as she steps her foot inside the threshold her brother held her with a tight grip on her arm and swung his other hand to land a booming slap across her cheek.
Her bhabhi had apparently lied about their argument, she had accused Meher of calling her and her son names since she had fallen pregnant before her nikkah.
Junaid had dragged Meher by her hair and had locked her in her room not before setting fire on her college bag burning all her books.
Meher cried, begged, screamed for Junaid to believe her but he didn't. Meher begged her mother and Zohra khala to take a stand for her, support her, tell her brother that nothing of that sort had happened but they didn't either.
All of them left Meher to suffer alone.
But apparently the fates had something else in their mind for her, they had woven her future with a thread already bound with another.
Meera watched the rain pour down, the gloomy weather reflected on her mood as well, the heavy feeling in her chest was a foreboding feeling of the doom impending on her.
The door to her room opened with a creek. A face she had wanted to avoid came in her site of vision.
"Congratulations Meher." Rukaiya said mockingly. "Tumhara nikkah tay kar ke aa rahi hu." She said laughing. (Your wedding has been fixed)
As the words which had left Rukaiya's mouth started to make sense to her, a lump formed in her throat, all she wanted to do was throw everything in her reach at the woman standing in front of her, mocking at her helplessness.
Meher refused to cry in front of the woman who played a major role in taking away the little happiness she still had left after her world flipped upside down.
"I can't wait for you to leave." Rukaiya spat as she closed the door behind her bolting it shut.
That night hearing her cry, Zohra khala had come to her room after everyone had slept, she held Meher close to her as she cried her heart out. Zohra khala told Meher about the conversation she had overheard between Rukaiya and Junaid, the groom's family were paying them a sum of 25 lakhs for the wedding.
•••
Meher sat in her room, in a cheap red bridal dress which was given to her to change into, she signed the nikkah nama (wedding contract) selling herself, not that she had a choice. She dreaded the man who had bought her, because she hardly felt like a wife and more like a purchase commodity.
Her wedding had to be a joke, not one person from the grooms side had come to take her home or to witness the nikkah. She sat in her room, twisting the hem of her dupatta. Her mother and Zohra khala had left her side after she had signed the documents and left her alone with her thoughts.
How had her life come to this.
The door of her room opened making the weird creaking noise it always did.
"Chalo bibi niklo mere ghar se, aur tumhe khuda ka wasta hai apni shakal dobara matt dikhana." Her sister in law said picking up her bag and dragging it outside. (C'mon girl get out of my house and for gods sake never turn up at my door.)
She looked around the room one last time, the blue walls with falling plaster, her small bed, the trunks kept under them which had her clothes, her chair and table, her doll Sameera, she was leaving everything behind, she was leaving her old life and her memories behind, never planning on returning back to them.
As she stepped out of her room, she saw her mother and Zohra khala waiting outside for her and of course there was her sister in law and only person she truly loved in this family - Humayun her nephew.
A small smile stretched across her lips as she saw him standing next to his mother dressed in a black kurta and diaper.
Meher bent down and wrapped her arms around his tiny frame as a lone tear left her eye.
"MeMe." He squealed in delight.
"I'll always remember you." She whispered and kissed his forehead.
"Meher." The voice made her conscious of her surrounding again. She quickly wiped her tear and stood up turning around to face her brother. Behind him stood a man, with Hazel eyes and a raven mop of curly hair, sporting a five o'clock shadow clad in a black shirt and black pants. Was he her shohar ? (Husband)
"Rukaiya go get the Quran time for Meher's Rukhsati." Junaid said walking towards her, Meher had unknowingly taken a step behind distancing herself from him.
"Quran mere sar par rakhne ka kya fayda bhai, jab kafan me lapet kar aap mujhe bech rahe hai." She said looking at him blankly. She could see a flicker of emotions in his eyes before they were channelled into pure fury. (What is the purpose of sending me away under the shelter of Quran when you are selling away a dead me.)
"Arham sahab I think it's time you leave, you have a long way to go." Junaid said trying his best to control his anger.
Meher saw the man she now associated with the name of Arham shake hands with her brother and he then walked out of the door, not sparing a glance at her.
She turned on her heels to leave but stopped when her mother called out to her.
"Meher meri jaan." Minahil said. "Won't you hold your amma one last time."
"No." Meher replied. "I pray to God that after today, none of you see my face ever again." She said and stomped out of the house.
Meher stepped out of the threshold hauling her big bag and looked around for the man in black, but she found no one.
"Meher Bibi ?" A man dressed in a chauffeur's clothes approached her.
"Ji."
"Sir is in the car, please come." He said taking her bag from her for which she was grateful and walking her towards a black sedan parked across the seat.
She waited for him to keep her bag in the boot of the car, he opened the right door of the backseat for her and she hopped inside.
He sat on the left side of the backseat, typing furiously into his laptop.
The driver got in and started the engine and their journey, to where she did not know.
An hour or two after aimlessly looking outside the window, she fell asleep only to be woken up by the sound of the car door closing.
The space next to hers was empty. She looked around to see they were parked outside a mansion.
"Do you mind telling me which city we are in ?" She asked the driver who looked at her with confusion from the rear view mirror.
"Uhh .. we are in Lahore Ma'am."
______
Preview of Chapter 4
"Yo..you want me to bed her, fuck her, impregnate her huh ? Don't worry my love that's what I'll do." He said in a hoarse voice, controlling the tsunami of emotions trying to drown him.
"I'll made sure she does all her wifely duties, you are free to do what you want." He said and left, closing the door with a loud thud.
AN: Updates on Mondays and Thursdays