"STUPID, IDIOT, DUFFER! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" Saba yelled over the phone... the tone was so loud that Murtasim had to move the phone away from his ear as he wrinkled his brows... "On the new site for an urgent meeting...is everything okay? Is Meer—...." he was cut off.... "Don't you dare ask about her!.... if you were so concerned, why the hell did you leave her alone in the first place?...I told you to be with her as she needed you the most but YOU JUST DON'T LISTEN, MURTASIM!" Saba was super pissed.... "IS SHE OKAY?" he started to panic... "Babasaab told her everything..." she lowered her tone... "and She passed out again ...that too calling out YOUR name.... but you idiot, decided to vanish from the FACE OF THE EARTH!" she yelled again... and there! he mentally kicked himself yet again! "I will be there in 40 mins" he confirmed looking at his watch as he almost ran towards the car....

'Calling out your name' why did she call out his name? After last night, did she still expect him to be there for her? Was she counting on him?.... Did Baba Saab tell her that I knew about it? Was she mad that instead of telling her the truth, I screwed up with her? ... a thousand mixed emotions were going through his mind as he tried to figure out the meaning of each turmoil buzzing his brain with a new apprehensive query.... one second he felt guilty and the very next moment, he wanted more.... one second he felt he lost her and the very next moment he felt she wanted him as much as he wanted her.... "Shit Shit Shit" Murtasim repeatedly banged on the steering wheel out of frustration and then ran his fingers through his hair as he rubbed the back of his neck, while trying to concentrate on the traffic....

"She will be fine! Nothing to worry about. Call me if needed" the family doctor reassured with a smile as she met the husband of her patient at the main entrance. Entering the bedroom, he received two glares from his mother and sister, who threw him a disappointed look before leaving him with his wife, who was leaning against the headboard with her hands in her lap....

Murtasim quietly walked to his side of the bed.... trying to maintain a decent distance as he did not trust himself around her anymore... she looked somber yet attractive in the purple suit... he found her even more beautiful... he wanted to take her in his arms but was afraid to mess things up again.... he wanted to kiss her, cherish her, ravish her and make love to her again to the fullest contentment of his heart.... he felt he did not get enough of her.... and needed more and more of her.... No, he could never get enough of her..... what the hell was he thinking? she was in a dilemma and all he could think about was to make love to her?.... 'BUZZ OFF MURTASIM' he heard a knock on his brain...

He knew about it all and yet left her alone to deal with it all by herself.... he regretted it last night and abandoned her in the morning.... Yes she knew she wanted to hide but why did not he seek her? .... why did he come here now? to show sympathy?.... 'I FUCKING DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY!' her heart cried out in frustration.... 'HOW HARD IS IT TO TAKE ME INTO YOUR SOOTHING ARMS AND MAKE ME FEEL WANTED AND NOT ABANDONED?' Meerab closed her eyes and bit her trembling lower lip, trying to suppress herself from bursting out at him.... grabbing her legs against her chest she buried her face in her knees as she broke into a sob.... "Go away, Murtasim" in her low shaky voice, she told him, still weeping.... "leave me alone....I don't need you.." she lied with another sob...

Meerab did not want to face him... she was ashamed of herself.... she hated him ...she wanted to be alone....most importantly, she did not need him.... the realization hit him hard as Murtasim helplessly watched her sobbing in her knees... with a broken heart, he left the room, granting her the space he wished she never wanted....

"I don't need your sympathy... I don—" she looked up to find the room empty... and she broke into another cry as she covered her mouth with both hands to suppress the loud emotions coming out of her chest.... He was gone again... he left her alone yet again....

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Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.... it seemed like the two did not bother to make an effort on it out of the fear of getting turned down and none of them were ready to take the rejections!

"I want to take her with me" Mrs. Munira Ali told the people sitting across from her and an immediate silence fell around the room .... "of course, only if you permit" she added keeping her eyes at the heads of the Khan family.... "for what?" Murtasim entered the room as his gaze fell on the elder lady, who with a smile extended her right hand to the young man, "As-salamualaikum Naanu" he gently bent down to leave a kiss on the back of her right hand.... a royal gesture of respect... "Since you are here now, I must seek your permission to take your wife to the Nawab mansion in Islamabad" Mrs. Ali requested....

'Stop me Murtasim, Please stop me' she looked at him with anticipation.... Meerab never failed to be expressive with words, but all of a sudden, she found her mouth to be sealed... waiting for his command.... she sat there numb, eyes fixed on her husband.... he already messed up so many times and now he wanted her happiness, whatever she wanted...and this time, he will not allow his desire to overlap her wishes.... "It's upto her.... if she wants to go for some time, sure." there! He drew a line with the term, 'some time'.... 'Please don't, Meerab' his heart cried out... She found her heart being shattered into a thousand pieces.... he wanted her to go.... away from him... far away....

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"You know he was the first one to hold you in his arms when you were brought home from hospital" Mrs. Ali said with twinkling eyes as if it was just yesterday..... "When Rabiya brought you home, Mallik and Rabiya were so excited but Zubair was the one above all... He initially did not let anyone touch you as he thought you would also fall sick and go to heaven like his sister, Suraiya", Meerab looked at her naanu in disbelief..... Why did people have the tendency to hide things from her? She figured that the flight from Lahore to Islamabad was going to be harrowing...

"Suraiya was two months old when they lost her to pneumonia.... after 2 weeks, when Nadia could not make it after giving birth to you, Rabiya immediately wanted to take you in but to the world, you were the daughter of Anwar and Nadia, while Waqas and Nadia's marriage remained under the veil, they could not bring dishonor to their family prestige.... so they mutually decided that you will be carrying only his name while Rabiya and Mallik will take care of you.... but destiny had other plans... she also passed away when you were about 5 months old due to a sudden heart attack... Anila then became the mother figure for you, Zubair and Haya.... I tried to take you in but I was refused by your grandfather and we all had to respect his decision" taking a deep breath, she revealed before giving her grand daughter's hand a little squeez Mrs. Ali continued....

"Do you know why Zubair is a bit more emotional and protective towards you?" she asked and knew that Meerab did not have the answer.... "He once told me that he sees a reflection of Rabiya in you... do you know why?" She again asked to get the same response and this time the lady could not help but smile through tears in her eyes "Because Rabiya was your milk-mother".... Destiny was so cruel... she lost two mothers within 6 months of her birth ... "I am such bad luck to people" Meerab hid her face in her palms and broke into a sob.... "Of course you are not my love..... this is exactly why Zubair did not want to tell you the truth because you will end up blaming yourself.... he only knew about you being the daughter of Anwar and Nadia, he recently discovered about Waqas.... so please don't hold any grudges against him... he genuinely loved and cared about you...." ....perhaps her naanu was right... no matter how much she told herself but she could not hate her brother as much as she claimed to do... she hoped she could get her siblings back in her life....

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He was missing her.... Ya Khudaya... he was terribly missing her.... Her presence, her aroma, her smell, her face, her body, her skin, her eyes, lips, hair.... her touch... He closed his eyes in frustration as all the pent up anger, yearning, desire were pooling against his heart, overflowing and was at the verge of breaking the dam.... dumping the navy blue coat on the bed, he loosened his tie and threw himself on the loveseat sofa as he leaned back to rest his head, looking at the ceiling.... What the hell was he doing?.... acting like a lovesick Romeo? .... that was not him.... Khan Murtasim Khan crying over unrealistic emotions like love? ... not happening.... he pulled himself off the seat and rubbed his jawline as he realized he needed to collect himself and get back to his normal self .... Enough of vacation, he was not going to pine over her absence anymore ... enough of feeling guilty.... time to become selfish!... he needed her... he wanted her...and he will have her.... no matter what.... she belonged to him and he would make sure she stayed with him, whether she liked it or not!....

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His track slowed down as he caught the sight of her through the mid-sized purple colored shrubs.... the large garden was bordered with assorted colored shrubs, there were slabbed pathways to go to the segregated planted flowers and fountains.... the moonlight and the rays from the solar globe lights from the garden was illuminating a golden hue over her face... she was glowing with a natural beauty.... Meerab was sitting on the brick slabs with her chin resting on her right palm as the right elbow was supported by knee while left arm was simply resting on her lap.... The simple light cream cotton saree with black border magnified her beauty to such an extent that she indeed looked like the Cinderella of his story.... The long silky traces instantly urged his heart to make love to her at that very moment...the bangles....damn he missed the sound of her bangles in his ears....a little reminder of her being around him.... the smile she flashed to the direction of flying butterflies was teasing his desires towards arousal and he blinked to gulp it all within his erotic system.....(image credit:MsD Liza from FB)

He never called her in the past 2 weeks... did not even bother to ask if she was alive or not... he did not need her in his life anymore... Was it the wrong-time-guilt or the wrong-person-regret? 'Why are you making me feel so needy for you, Murtasim?' She closed her eyes... missing him... every inch of her body was missing him and his proximity as she visioned their love making.... the sudden flapping sound brought her to reality when she found herself admiring the bunch of blue butterflies trying to settle themselves on the edge of the blooming buds....

Her smile vanished when she met his gaze... leaning against one of the poles beside the planted bushes, he stood there with his right hand in his black pants pocket while the black blazer was hanging over the left arm... the purple dress shirt firmly clutching onto his masculine figure.... She thought her missing him was taking a toll on her imagination when the sudden thunderstorm got her startled and the following instant pouring of the rain did not give her enough time to react and collect herself to run inside the mansion....

Meerab did not bother to give it a second thought to her hallucination as she quickly got up and tried to run inside the mansion but much to her disappointment, she already got herself drenched in the way, thanks to the large perimeter of the garden.... She carefully walked into her room, trying to make sure not to make a noise at this hour of night and get everyone panicked.... She hated the overly attention when everyone treated her like a fragile bird....

He slowly walked behind her into the room... it was twice as big as their bedroom.... all white from top to bottom...the king size bed was full of cushions and pillows... the light baby pink curtains over the canopy from the ceiling very gently flared around the bed... before he could explore the rest of the area, his eyes fell on her almost bare back as he realized that her top was held intact literally by 2 strings only..... sweeping off all the hair over her right shoulder, Meerab wrapped a towel around the long traces to give it a light squeeze to absorb the moisture

She stopped at her task when she heard the tapping sound of his shoes on the white shiny marble floor behind her and immediately turned around to find herself face to face with him.... The sudden appearance skipped a beat in her heart when she almost lost her balance due to feeling weakness in her knees but was caught by him on time as he dropped the blazer on the floor and snaked his left arm around her waist while right hand caught her upper left arm .... both her hands were trapped between their torsos as she held onto the towel wrapped in her hair....

She was aesthetically gorgeous.... the rain droplets on her enchanted face were teasing him to the core as they made their way down from her traces towards forehead, then cheekbones, jawline, the curve of her neck, the joint between her neck and shoulder, collarbone .... could he ever get enough of this lady in his arms? .... her eyes were held by his intense gaze as she absorbed the seductive scent of his cologne ... then she slowly moved her gaze down as she took notes of the drenched shirt that was hugging his lean figure, revealing his desirable muscles .... 'God, he was for real... he was here, right infront of her, holding her in his arms' ....

She made an attempt to release herself from the grip only to feel it getting firmer around her.... 'there she goes again' trying to get away from him as he thought.... his bloody mind was alerting him to not screw up again and let her go while his poor heart refused to listen to the unfair mind.... but he needed to pace himself.... let her loose to get a full grip of her....

Despite sharing their moment of consummation, it still felt like a new emotion... the yearning for more exploration.... Her awkwardness around him, her consciousness of resisting the physical attraction between them was pulling him closer like a magnetic force.... He wanted to touch her again, feel her again, make love to her again, then again and again until he died.... He wanted to die inside her....

The creamy flesh was emitting its own light, illuminating the spark of her aromatic existence....but he needed to have a grip on himself before he took over her.... he needed to make sure she wanted him as much as he wanted her...she needed him and she trusted him.... he needed to know all of these when with a heavy heart, he decided to give in to his mind.... Meerab furrowed her brows as she felt his arms loosening, letting go of her yet again when she found herself grabbing the front left placket of his shirt with her right hand ....

"guilt?.... or regret?" She asked with tears glittering her eyes as she thought she had had enough and needed to reassure herself...

'Regret? hell no!'....he could never regret making love to her....if there was anything that was so right and perfect in its true sense in this world then that would be to make love to her... regret did not exist.... yes, it was the guilt perhaps...but at that very moment, he wanted to deny it as well...he owned the right to make love to her, non stop till eternity...cherish her, ravish her... until his last breath... damn it! he was not going to feel guilty about making love to her...

"Love" he murmured to his own surprise, not knowing whether it was a question to himself or answer to her query..... yes, it was his love for her that was preventing him to make love to her again...he knew he would not be able to stop himself, if, even a bare minimum part of him came in contact with her bare skin, he would completely loose it and he would grab her, grope her, kiss her, ravish her, crush her, mark her, make love to her, taste her, bite her, eat her...he never knew he had this animalistic side of him until then where he would get turned on at the mere sight of her and go insane just to have a taste and feel of her....

"Then make love to me, Murtasim.... until....I die..." dropping the towel, she wrapped her fingers around his neck as she tipped on her toes and paused at his lips, eyes flickering between his lips and eyes when she confessed with her heart loudly beating against his "make me crush in your arms..... let me die in your passion... please" and she closed the distance between them... 

PS: Please don't forget to like and drop feedback... I am suffering from a severe sore throat. Although tested Covid negative but my chest and throat are burning like hell... I will blame all the blunders in this chapter on my health... enjoy :) !