| Hawaaon Ke Paighaam | Messages Of The Wind

| The Haveli |

Note:

This chapter has multiple photo inspos therefore I have attached them all individually at the end of the chapter. The one in the header is a collage of all.
Video inspo is in the comments.

Milaad is a gathering where religious hymns/naat/nasheed are recited, dhikr is done and they are used for all kinds of purposes. The Khans are using a milaad start the wedding festivities in a positive way, with blessings, so that the events going forward go well.

Mujhe dekhke jab tum yun thandi aahein bharte ho
achay lagte ho
Mujhko jab lagta hai tum mujhpar hi marte ho
achay lagte ho...

Tum mein aey meherbaan
sari hai khoobiyan...

The humongous room practically buzzed. The high, decorated ceiling bounced the chatter back down to the room as interested murmurs merged with excited exclaims, which seamlessly fused with the low tones of pleasantries. The room contained about thirty members of one of Pakistan's most esteemed families; the Khan's. The occupants ranged from immediate to slightly distant family members, but all deemed close enough to arrive early and meet with the hosts before being taken to their arranged lodgings in the haveli. Slightly distant members would arrive just on the day of the events and were arranged to stay in the haveli next door, also owned by Murtasim Khan and currently being used as the staying place overnight wedding guests.

The man in question sat regally on of the brocade and velvet drawing room sofas, leaned back with one leg crossed over the other and an arm resting casually on the arm rest as he listened to his father in law speak about the running of his private law chambers. Humming in understanding, his finger moved over the pad of his thumb, as it always did when he was thinking about something. More often than not, it happened when he was either very deep in thought or outwardly paying attention to something complexly different to what his mind was focusing on.

And right then, though his thoughts did concern his father in law, his mind was most definitely not focusing on jurisprudence and the inner workings of Waqas Ahmed's law firm. His daughter, yes. His law firm, not so much. She'd ran off towards her room about thirty minutes ago, and he'd come into the drawing room to spend some time with the guests because he knew it would mean a lot to his mother that he did so.

That was all well and good until his mind had gone from absently waiting for her to now fixating on why the hell it was taking her so long. She'd either bumped into a nosy relative on the way here or she was burying herself in numerious kilos of fabrics and jewels to look like a Khan daughter in law; neither option he was too keen on. His eyes slid towards where the younger ladies of the family were gathered together with Mariyam. The dress code seemed to be the same; the usual kind of semi-formal clothes he'd grown up seeing on women in the family, the same hair, the usual little gold jewels on the younger lot and heavier ones on the older ladies, and rounded off with a little flip of the dupatta over the crown of the heads. It was like a uniform now.

His wife had never quite gotten the memo; neither now nor back when she hadnt been his wife. This was her first time entering a room in this haveli as his wife amongst guests though. She'd left the day after the nikkah and had only been back a handful of times on private visits with her parents on Eids. Truth be told, Murtasim himself didn't know what to expect from their time in Pakistan. It was unlike it had ever been. They were unlike they'd ever been. Not too long ago, they hadn't been able to stand in a room without one abruptly leaving and breaking the farce of normalny they'd weaved around themselves. That was before and after marriage, and in all instances, Murtasim had simmered whilst Meerab had blazed. They both hadn't been too happy, but as always, they'd expressed it very differently to one another, and to this day, he was mind blown that not a single family member had ever picked up on the tension between for more than half a decade.