Meerasim Ki Dunya

Chapter 2. Murtasim

This part is Murtasim POV of the happenings of the previous part.

********************************

Six months since his father placed the turban of responsibilities on his head. Six months since he was declared the heir to the Khan family. Six months since he gave up on his dream of becoming a wildlife photographer.

And now he had even bigger responsibilities. The responsibility of being the family head. The responsibility of his sisters' dignities. He needed to be strong, for his mother, for his sisters. He couldn't break down to mourn the loss of a parent, the loss of his father.

---

A couple of months later, Murtasim was seated in his office going through a file of a land that the Maliks were claiming to be theirs. He opened his laptop to email his lawyer regarding the matter but the wallpaper took his breath away. It was a picture of his with Meerab that Marium had clicked for them on Meerab's seventeenth birthday. It was the day he had realised his actual feelings for Meerab.

Murtasim had wanted to talk to Baba Sahab to let them settle in London after they got married as he had zero interest in feudalism and had really liked living in London when he was there for his studies. He knew that Meerab also had a soft spot for him and just like him she didn't have any interest here either since she was a career oriented girl so she wouldn't reject his proposal and the idea of settling in London. He could've easily expanded the Khan business in London along side his passion of being an International Wildlife Photographer while his father and Uncle looked after the lands and the village.

But alas! Baba's health had taken a turn for worse and he had held a crowning ceremony for his son where he announced him to be the next heir of the Khan family. Murtasim had to give up on his dreams and unwillingly become Khan Murtasim Khan, the feudal lord.

His dream of becoming a photographer was long gone so was his dream of getting married to Meerab. She had a different kind of personality, something that didn't exist in the women of their family. She wasn't submissive like them, rather she had a brain of her own and did everything on her own will. There was no way Meerab could adjust to the Khandaani Riwayaat of his family so it seemed the best to distance himself from her.

As he gazed longingly at the picture, he remembered that her 18th birthday was quite near. He made a mental note to ask his mother about the dates of their stay and then stay at the village for that period of time. He knew he would have to face her some day but he didn't have the courage to do it now, he was way too vulnerable.

With a heavy heart, he changed the wallpaper of his laptop and set to work.

---

Two years later

Meerab's 20th Birthday was right around the corner. Even though he hadn't attended the last two birthdays, his brain reminded him of her birthday every year. He felt bad for distancing himself from her without any explanation, they had been best friends since childhood. Therefore, he decided to do the arrangements himself this time and maybe explain everything to her after her birthday.

A woman of his village had been allegedly sexually assaulted by Malik Zubair and he'd arrived back in Hyderabad to go over the matter with his Chacha Sahab.

When he arrived at the Khan Mansion, he saw the decorated garden and remembered that it had been Meerab's birthday that day. He had been so busy with everything that he'd completely forgotten that Waqas Chacha would be in Hyderabad. He decided to leave first thing in the morning not wanting to face Meerab while he was already in a bad mood due to Malik Zubair.

Murtasim was just roaming around the garden trying to plan his next action when a sweet voice called out to him.

"Murtasim." His breath hitched at the sound of her calling his name. It had been years since he had last heard her, seen her. He closed his eyes to even out his breathing. He wanted to dismiss her for the time being so he coldly wished her a happy birthday hoping she'd take queue and leave.

Her next sentence caught him off guard. Hell yeah they needed to talk but it was supposed to be a calm affair, not when he was so angry that he wanted to kill someone. Much to Murtasim's dismay, their talk started on a bad note and ended with shouts and tears. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Then she mentioned Haya. And without thinking he agreed that it was because of Haya that he was ending this friendship. He knew he broke her heart but at that instant he didn't care. He was aware of his anger issues and he took out all his frustration of Malik Zubair on Meerab. She spat at him and left in tears. He didn't care about her tears, all he could think was how dare she spat at him at the gaddi ka janasheen. His ego got the better of him that night, shattering their beautiful bond of friendship and love forever.

********************************