Man, today I did the big mistake of going on Tere Bin twitter and I kid you not people were saying they prefer Haya for Murtasim over Meerab. Like yeah, she tried to push a supposedly pregnant woman down the stairs, she did black magic, she lusted after a married man and tried to break apart a marriage, let her sister go with a known criminal but hey, atleast she loves Murtasim like a crazy obsessed stalker unlike Meerab. I guess I just didn't realise how many people think loving a married man and breaking up marriages are the heights of romance these days.🤷  These people are out there among us, yall be careful😭

Anyways, this is one of the chapters I had in my draft. Hope you guys enjoy.

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Murtasim shouldn't be driving this fast.

Specially with Meerab in the passenger seat.

He knows he shouldn't be risking his wife's life again because of his emotional overdrive. But he was panicking. And he was panicking bad.

His brother was appearently in jail for the last two days and no one had bothered to inform him! Even though he specifically ordered Bhaktu to discreetly give Saad all his emergency numbers!

Now all he gets is a desperate call from a sobbing Maheer informing him that Saad was rotting in a dirty jail cell without any medical care, despite being beaten up badly.

What was wrong with these people?!

His bloody fake family, the one Saad preferred over his true one, would rather have in suffer in a jail cell than contact someone who can help him!

His knuckles were almost white from holding the wheel tightly. From his peripheral vision, Murtasim could see Meerab fidgeting, her beautiful face ashen and eyes teary. He always wondered how this girl next to him seemed to have endless empathy for people she barely knew.

Even though her kind heart often did her great disservice, Murtasim wondered why she still persisted on it?

Maybe it was because he had been exposed to the dark side of man kind from a very young age that Murtasim was almost cruelly indifferent to horrifying injustice of their world, he envied Meerab who could still feel the righteous fury and natural kindness.

"Tears?" He couldn't see her crying. It made his chest ache. "Is it in preparation of our upcoming accident?"

Meerab's hypnotic eyes snapped at him, as usual narrowed in fury. "Yes, you're an expert, I heard."

Murtasim chuckled, his hands relaxing. He could always depend on his favourite spitfire to distract him. "You have heard correct." He gave her wink, just to see her face flush red in anger. "They gave me a degree from the same university where you got your one in stubbornness."

"Really?" She scoffed, folding her hands in front of her chest. "But how did you even qualify? They have strict standards like you know-" she pretended to think, "- not being a self-obseesed, arrogant human being."

"That can't be true!" He gave her a sweet smile. "Then how did you get in?"

Meerab let out an enrage huff. "I got in because I'm a nice likable person." Her glare on only intensified. "Unlike certain violent folks around here."

He blinked at her innocently at the accusation. "Clearly they haven't seen your danda skills on the side of the road!"

"Sometimes I want to give a live demonstration of my danda skill on your thick head and send you up." She threw her hands up in frustration and looked outside, away from him.

Hmm. He can't have that.

He faked the most pathetic face he could manage. "I knew your love was the only thing stopping you from murdering me!" His car entered the busy Karachi streets as he took the last turn; his anxiety building up again. "Admit it, you can't live without me."

Meerab threw him a disgusted look; it only made him laugh. "Don't delude yourself, Khan Murtasim Khan, the only thing stopping me from pushing you down the stairs is my lack of widow appropriate outfit and a bottle of fake tears." She filpped her raven locks over shoulder and poked his chest to get her point across. "Got it?"

With his free hand that was resting on the gear shift, he caught her smaller hand. Slowly, without taking his eyes of the road, he brought it close to his lips and pressed his lips onto the delicate milky soft skin. "Got it."

He eyed his wife who looked both adorably confused and scandalised.

Meerab shivered under his gaze and looked flabbergasted as usual by his unexpected actions. Despite her bravado, Murtasim always found it hilarious how nervous she got in times of their close proximity. It was so endearing that sometimes he wondered how she would react if he kissed her in the lips.

On a second thought, he doesn't have to wonder. She would kill him. And Bury him somewhere remote.

Startling him out of his thought, Meerab snatched her hands like it burned as soon as they reached their destination.

He could hear Meerab's loud breath. It was going to be very difficult. For of them. This will hurt Meerab and her tears, in turn, will kill him.

But they had to do it. For Saad.

He had to keep his words to his Baba Sahab.

He got out and walked towards Meerab's side to open her hand. She was sitting quietly, staring at the building in front them, unblinking.

Murtasim held her hand. As she looked up, those beautiful eyes that Murtasim always preferred in a childish glare, was filled to brim with water. "You can stay here if you wish." Murtasim cupped her checks and wiped a drop that fell from her eyes.

"No," her voice quivered, huanted and miserable. "Let's go. I have to."

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As Meerab entered through the open doors of her childhood house, she wondered why it felt so unfamiliar; why she couldn't recognise the same vases that had been kept in the living room for years; why the framed pictures seemed to mock her; why her favourite candle on the dining table seem to laugh at her; why the stairs to her room felt so unwelcoming to her.

As she felt Murtasim's rough hands tighten around her, she couldn't understand why she didn't feel like the little girl who used to live here.

All the pictures of that laughing, smiling young girl pierced through her hear like a knife.

Where did she go?

The attentive student in simple jeans and kurti, who would run to college leaving behind her half eaten breakfast?

The youth club president who would stay up late to organise another fund raiser?

The local NGO volunteer who would go to help out women in shelters?

The young, naive girl who had big dreams and an even bigger smile?

Somewhere along the way, Meerab had lost her. The little girl had died a slow painful death in between all the betrayals and heart break.

Not one person mourned her.

All these people around, looking at her hopefully - the couple who raised her, the maids who cared for her, the drivers who took ker to school- all their faces looked for that girl.

They wanted that girl to be here somewhere. But Meerab wasn't her.

This Meerab had no dreams, no ambitions, no smiles. She lived in a cage made of gold; her chains were made of love.

She only had a husband. A husband with whom she was terrified of falling in love.

So Meerab swallowed her tears back, like she did on her wedding day, like she had done so many more times. Why should she cry in front of people who gave her these tears in the first place?

They were here for Saad. And nothing else.

They needed the best lawyer in the city for Saad which just happens to be Waqas Ahned, that's it.

Her brother- in-law, the sweet man who was just like her, who had given her a candy in gratitude- he needed this help. She wasn't going to let her own grief ruin everything.

To her shame, Meerab found herself jealous of Saad sometimes. Unlike her, his foster parents chose him. Unlike her, he had a choice. Unlike her, he hadn't lost himself.

"Are you okay?" Her husband's words were full of concern as always. Meerab wanted to ask him just why he was so kind to her, why couldn't he fight her like old times.

Why did he have to change and claim to love her? Just when all the people who claimed to love her had hurt her?

If it was the old Meerab, the naive, beloved child of this house, then she would've given him her heart in an instance. But it wasn't the case. She didn't know who was the one more unfortunate between them.

Meerab who was afraid of being loved by him? Or Murtasim who was afraid of never being loved by her?

"I'm fine." Meerab attempted to smile. From Murtasim's worried expression, it seemed like she failed. "Just do what you need to do. We will then go the station, okay?"

He looked like he wanted to say something. Comfort her maybe. But he stopped himself and instead gave her a smile. "I'll hurry. Sit with me." He pulled her with him to the sofa and sat down and she followed like a willing child; not wanting to have any conversation with any of the people present in the room.

Her foster parents looked at her with tear filled eyes. They tried to talk to her throughout the discussion. But Murtasim deflected all of them, somehow understanding her wish to not get involved.

Meerab tried to listen and understand Saad's case. The one who had accused him of assault, some Areeb appearently, was the son of a rich family with a capable lawyer.

On the other hand, Saad's foster family couldn't afford one at all.

Great! Another rich man who thinks he can get away with anything because he can just pay his way through the system. The justice system was truly pathetic.

Waqas and and Murtasim conversed with Saad's foster father on phone as they built up their case for Saad with self defence as motive.

As a child, Meerab used to watch her father do this with stars in her eyes, thinking one day she would go onto study law.

Saad's case was weak. He had beaten Areeb so badly that he was still in the hospital. Claiming self defence won't be much of a help. It will leave a permanent stain on his records.

"Along with self defence, why don't we file a case back against Areeb in charges in harassment towards Maheer." The words left her mouth before she could think. Waqas and Murtasim's eyes snapped towards her.

"But that will put Maheer in an uncomfortable position. It will effect her reputation." Murtasim twirled his mustache, he was considering Meerab's suggestion.

"Yes, but during the self defence angle,  we will have to bring in Areeb trying to harass Maheer anyway." She looked at her husband who was listening intently, instead of Waqas Ahmed. "A harassment case in the hands of a lawyer of ba- Waqas Ahmed's calibre can destroy anyone's life for good."

Her foster father flinched at the cold address.

"So along with the self defence angle, if we threaten them with a physical harassment case towards a woman, we will be able to force them into withdrawing their case. A settlement between us is possible." Meerab continued under Murtasim's calculating gaze. "After all, a physical assault case between men is nothing new, but towards a women, his reputation will be in the dirt. If Saad's reputation can be threatened, then so can be his."

Waqas Ahmed and Murtasim looked at each other thoughtfully. "It is indeed a clever plan." Murtasim looked back at her. "If we can force them to resolve it in between ourselves, Saad's records remain clear too. It is a bargain. "

"I'll call Saad's father. We need Maheer to agree to file a case." Waqas Ahmed looked at her with proud eyes now; the way he used to look at her after she came first in an exam.

She averted her eyes, looking back to her husband who was now dialing Saad's father.

Throughout the mess, his hands were still clutched onto hers and hers to him.