tum itnā jo muskurā rahe ho
kyā ġham hai jis ko chhupā rahe ho
āñkhoñ meñ namī hañsī laboñ par
kyā haal hai kyā dikhā rahe ho
~Kaifi Azmi

•••

Meher entered through the oak doors into tastefully done bedroom. A huge Morden art chandelier was fixed on the ceiling, 'what was this obsession with chandelier'she thought.

The entire room was in the combination of green and violet, a huge teak wood bed was in the centre, on the right was the floor to ceiling window covered with a sheer white curtain, a low lying diwan was placed next to the window.

She carefully walked inside, turning her neck to see if she had left marks in the marbled floor, thankfully she hadn't.

"Bibi bag." The voice startled Meher and a squealed left her lips.

"You scared me." She said turning around towards the maid.
"Gulnaz ?"

"Ji Bibi." The maid said looking at Meher from head to toe narrowing her eyes at her. "Aur koi kaam nahi hai toh mai ja rahi hu." She said haughtily and left. (If there is nothing for me to do I'm leaving.)

Meher stared at the place Gulnaz had been till a few seconds ago, receiving such a hostile behaviour from the maid made her think what else was in store for her ?

Meher dragged the suitcase inside the room. Taking it towards the door she had seen on the left side of the bed, she guessed it to be the walk in wardrobe just like the one she had in her old house.

Pushing the door of the walk-in wardrobe she hauled her bag inside and placed it in the middle opening it to remove a pair of clothes to change into.

Meher took her clothes and entered the adjoining bathroom, luxury dripped from every corner.

Meher quickly took a warm bath, her muscles felt cramped and taut after the almost 10 hour long car ride.

She changed into her mal cotton pastel pink dress and combed her hair to look the most presentable she could.

She stepped into the wardrobe and prayed and wished that her husband had decided to give her her own space and leave her alone for some time.

As Meher poked her head out of the door she inspecting the room for his presence. After confirming that she was the only one in the room she quickly made a dash for the bed and got under the cover, resting her head against the head board and closing her eyes.

The travelling and the emotional baggage she had carried for so long had taken a toll on her, she slipped further down the bed and closed her eyes. Exhaustion had caught on to her and pulled her along to the world of dreams.

•••

It was past midnight and Hooriya was pacing the length of the foyer, Arham wasn't home yet.

Hooriya kept repeatedly trying his phone but it went straight to voicemail.

"Allah let him be safe wherever he is." She prayed. She sat on the stairs waiting for him, her mind wouldn't be at peace till she knew he was home.

An hour passed, and then two, but there was no sign of Arham. His phone now was switched off, and worry and panic laced every fibre of Hooriya's body.

The rain hadn't stopped since morning. The clouds roared and the thunder bolts turn the dark sky bright. This was all she could take, Hooriya was about to call her mama and mami jaan, to inform them about Arham's absence, when the sound of a familiar car horn made let out a sign of relief.

Hooriya quickly unbolted the main door of the mansion and stood under the protection of the front porch from the rain waiting for Arham.

Arham parked his car in the middle of the driveway and struggled to get out of the car seat. His made his way to entrance of the house wobbling.

"Ho..hoor ? Meri jaan, why are you up so la..late." He slurred.

Hooriya caught hold of his shoulders and steadied him before his face could kiss the floor. His appearance was disheveled and he reeked of alcohol.

"What is this Arham ?" Hooriya whisper yelled, turning her face to the side to avoid the stench.

"Shhh." Arham hushed her. "Don't yell, if abbu wakes up Hoor, he'll come to know about us." He whispered nonsense burring his face in her hair.

"Arham." Hooriya called out to her softly. "Let's get you to bed okay ? Please Arham stay with me for some time, don't pass out please." She said bearing majority of his weight as she dragged him to the guest bedroom where she shift this morning.

"This isn't our room Hoori." Arham whined like a 8 year old.

"I know baby, but this is where we are going to stay for the night okay." She said making him sit on the chair. She bent down and removed his shoes and socks.

"Stay right here, I'll be back alright." Hooriya said and quickly made her way to the laundry room to get a fresh set of clothes for him as his bedroom was currently inaccessible to her, because Meher lived in there now as well.

She picked out his white shirt and cotton trousers, the one he wore to sleep and rushed back to the guest bedroom.

When Hooriya entered the bedroom, Arham was right where she had left him, although he had slept. With a lot of difficulty Hooriya changed his clothes and prodded him to the bed. She lay him down, coving him with the duvet.

"I'm so sorry my love." She said bending down to placed a kiss on his forehead.

Hooriya too got into the bed next to him and snuggled into him, savouring his warmth.
As soon as Arham felt her presence even in his subconsciousness, he wrapped his hand around her waist
and pulled her into himself.

Hooriya gave a small sad smile, how she wished life hadn't been so cruel to them.

•••

Harsh sunlight falling on her eyes woke Meher up, the soft warm bed hugged her in its embrace asking her to stay in a little longer.

Meher too wanted to sleep in a little but her plans got foiled when a series of knocks forced her to get out of bed.
Meher picked up her dupatta from the side table and draped it across her shoulder yawing as her feet moved towards the oak doors.

She carefully opened the brass latch and pulled in the doors to open them.

"The breakfast is served, Hooriya Bibi is calling you down to join her." Gulnaz said looking straight at her.

"Good morning to you too Gul." Meher sassed, the maid's low-key rude behaviour towards her was pushing her buttons, she hadn't done anything wrong to be treated like that.

Gulnaz gave her another stern look, unresponsive to Meher's greeting. After standing there, staring at Meher for another couple of seconds she turned around and left.

"Ya Allah what place have you landed me in." Meher said closing the door and making her way towards the bathroom attached to the walk in wardrobe.

She took a quick shower and slipped into a beautiful blue linen dress, even after everything was taken away from her, Meher couldn't give up on the love for wearing beautiful clothes, she had preserved all her's and her Amma's old clothes and wore them altering them accordingly.

She lined her eyes with kohl and smeared some pink lipstick on her lips and used the same on her cheeks giving her a faint blush.

After securing her dupatta around her shoulders and combing her long chestnut hair she made her way down the stairs.

As she reached the bottom step she luckily found Gulnaz carrying fresh flowers to place them in the foyer.

"Sunno." She called out to her. "Dinning table.. I mean kitchen aur dining room kaha hai." (Where is the kitchen and dining room.)

"Baithak se left lena." Gulnaz said dryly and turned around in the direction she had come from, Meher was sure she had seen her roll her eyes. (Take a left from the inner sitting room)

Meher walked towards the beautiful inner sitting room which held the piano, she saw an entrance very cleverly made in the wall next to the water fountain, opening to a large dinning room with a table that could seat at least sixteen people, attached to a kitchen which looked as if it had been taken and reinstalled from a professional restaurant.

"Meher." A chirpy voice made her turn around, Hooriya stood there in a cream and green colour silk kurta.
"Good morning, I hope you slept well."

"I..I did thank you." She said with a small smile. Although Hooriya was the only person (out of the three she had met) she felt comfortable around in the house, but she still was a stranger to her.

"Common let eat." Hooriya said taking a seat on the chair. Meher too sat on the chair opposite to hers. A spread of food was placed on the table. A jug of juice, a kettle of tea, a bottle of milk, cookies, buns, breads with three different style of eggs, parathas and cereals.

Meher took some tea for herself and a stuffed paratha. Hooriya too opted for the same.

"Can't start my day without my cup of tea." Hooriya said and Meher smiled, she too needed a steaming cup of kadak chai to begin her day.

"Did you have a good night sleep ? It's often difficult to fall asleep in a different environment." Hooriya tried engaging Meher in a conversation.

"I did. The bed was soft and warm, I immediately fell asleep." Meher smiled at Hooriya appreciating her effort at making her comfortable.

Meher had been scared if she was to be honest, yesterday had been her wedding night and she knew enough to know what should have happened between her husband and herself. But Arham hadn't even bothered to come to their room, not that she cared.

"Mama and Mami jaan are still in Peshawar, they might stay there for another week." Hooriya informed Meher. "They wanted to..to be there for your ni..nikkah." Hooriya said trying her best to hide her pain and smile. "But Arham's Khala fell sick."

"That's alright." Meher said with a small smile. She wasn't enthusiastic either to meet people who had paid someone to marry  their son.

Meher wondered why would they pay such an huge amount for her to marry their son, had their son seen her somewhere and wanted to obsessively marry her, she crossed the probability as soon as it came in her mind as Arham had not spared her a single glance since their wedding.
Was it possible that nobody wanted to marry him ? But with looks like his and their wealth he would have had at least a hundred profiles to choose from. Was he impotent or mentally unstable ?

Her line of thoughts were interrupted as Hooriya began to talk.

"What did you do before the uhh nikkah, did you work or study ?" She asked.

"I was in my final year of degree." She replied with a sigh, finishing college had been the one dream she had always seen for herself.

"Oh! When are the exams ?" She asked.

"Three months from now." Meher informed her, playing with the food on her plate.

"I hope you have brought your books along ?" Hooriya said, Meher's neck snapped in her direction.
"Are you not planning to give your exams ?"

"I..I want to." Meher whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. She had given upon her dream and burnt them in pyre of her books.

"Good."

"Thank you." Meher mumbled.

"Hey, hey you don't have to thank me, we are family now Meher, we have each other's backs." Hooriya said extending her armover the table and kept her hand on Meher's reassuringly.  "Also education is given the utmost importance in our family." She said with a smile.

"Thank you." Meher said with a genuine smile. "Uhh.. what do you do ?" She asked hesitantly.

"I ? I am an interior designer." Hooriya replied with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Did you design this place ?" Meher asked inquisitively .

"I did." Hooriya nodded enthusiastically. "I designed this when I was in my second year, it was Nanu's Haveli, Mamu jaan wanted to keep its essence, but still wanted to modernise the place." She explained enthusiastically.

"The baithak was the inner aangan, we had to build some structure in the front but apart from that it's pretty much our old house." She smiled.
"Mamu and Ammi grew up in here and so did Arham and I, our summer vacations went into exploring a new corner every year." She laughed.

"This house holds a lot of history."

"It does. Arham's kids would too some day be running around this place." She said, her eyes had become wet but she quickly brushed away her tears before Meher could notice them.

AN: hi need feed back .. are the chapters going to slow ? I'm just trying to give an insight about their personalities.
Please vote !