Meerab knocked on their bedroom door.
It was almost midnight and she was getting tired. She knew Murtasim was getting ready for bed and usually he had one or two of his men assisting him.
But since the day he had brought her back, he had dismissed them all, saying his biwi will be with him now.
She knocked harder and put her ear to the door when she didn’t hear him answer. “Murtasim?” She called out softly.
She suddenly heard him let out a yell of pain.
“Are you alright?” she asked and she placed her ear against the door to listen for his answer. When there was silence her forehead wrinkled in worry.
She called out his name again this time more loudly. There was still no answer from inside the room, so she hesitated a little longer called out his name a final time and then decided to open the door.
She gently put her head through the door and peeked into the room.
The sight that met her, made her eyes widen in surprise as she stared at Murtasim.
Only one lamp was on in the bedroom and through the shadows she could see him by the bed, his face wrenched in pain and his body twisted with half his kurta raised over his head and his good arm. It seemed to have got stuck halfway over his body.
“Meerab?” He looked at her staring at him and immediately felt embarrassed.
“I knocked and called your name but I didn’t hear you reply” she replied gently.
“I was just trying to undress…but I’ve got stuck, its difficult with my arm in a sling” he said stuttering as he looked at her helplessly.
Meerab walked inside the room and immediately felt a blush rising in her cheeks.
A strange thought rose in her head and made her heart start to beat fast. She tried to ignore the fact that she could see his muscular arm and that his bare chest was slightly exposed but it was hard to move her gaze away.
She shook her head abruptly to remove the foreign thoughts from the depths of her brain and decided to concentrate on helping him instead.
“I can help you …you are injured after all, and… and… it’s because of me… I’m so sorry I made it worse!” she blurted out remembering the time she pushed him on the bed and made him shout in agony.
She suddenly couldn’t believe what just came out of her mouth and the realisation of what she was offering made her panic, but now it was too late to change her mind.
“Are you sure?” He asked with disbelief.
“ I thought you said we didn’t have that kind of relationship?” He spoke with a smirk and his eyebrows began to raise in a silent challenge.
“I’m only offering to help take off your clothes, like a nurse would, that’s all…. Don’t you dare to begin to think it is anything else!” she retorted, pointing her finger at him and narrowing her eyes in a scowl as a reminder of their boundaries.
Murtasim looked at her with a straight face and replied quietly “of course”.
Then as she walked closer to him he turned away slightly to hide the smile beaming on his face.
She looked at his kurta and started to remove it over his head and gently over his broken arm and manoeuvred it around the sling.
Her fingers trembled ever so slightly as she realised she was closer to his warm smooth skin than she imagined.
She took a deep breath and suddenly the scent from his bare chest made her startle.
She couldn’t help but be attracted to it.
It was a mix of ittar and a familiar smell that she recognised from when he had wrapped her in his shawl against himself when he rescued her from the kidnappers.
Whatever it was, it was making her heart beat faster and she began to feel dizzy. She had to fight herself from clutching onto his shoulders.
She took a step back and gulped.
Murtasim stared down at her to say thank you but his breath was catching and the words just wouldn’t come out.
He had realised how close she had been to him and had been holding his breath when her fingers brushed against his skin.
He suddenly looked away from her eyes steadied himself and thanked her. He pointed to his casual sleeping clothes laying on the bed.
“…it’s okay I can manage now” he whispered.
“Fine, okay I’ll just go out.” Meerab replied back trying not to look at him, her gaze averted knowing she wouldn’t stop staring if she glanced at him.
She had almost reached the door when she heard him once again groan.
She turned back and suddenly wished she hadn’t.
He was looking at her and it was clear from his eyes that he was pleading for help once again. The string from his shalwar had got knotted and his hand was struggling to untie it at the waist. His face winced as he tried to use his right hand to remove the knot but he couldn’t do it.
“Do you need help with your shalwar, too?” she asked in a matter of fact way.
Her voice was steady but her demeanour was anything but that. She kept a straight face and looked him in the eyes but unknown to him her heart was pounding fast in her chest.
She took a deep breath for courage and walked bravely up to him, and in a clinical way pulled on the knotted string.
Murtasim’s hand suddenly gripped hers tightly and she looked up.
“Meerab, Are you sure?” his breathing was speeding up and and there was a strange flicker in his eyes as he focused on her.
His gaze was just like the other day when she caught him brushing aside her hair whilst she was sleeping. She felt a blush rising on her cheeks.
“It will only take a moment”, she replied, looking straight down towards the string, trying to hide her nervousness. He let go of his grip and placed his right arm at his side.
She thought to herself she will try to be as quick as possible and leave straight away.
She took the string in her hands and using her nails started to work to set the knot free.
She could tell that he was looking down upon her and she could feel the warmth of his breath on the hair as she bowed her head not daring to look up.
She fiddled at the trouser string with her fingers and nails but the more she rushed the longer it seem to take.
Her cheeks were getting warmer as she noticed the proximity of her hands to Murtasims waist.
Suddenly the knot untied and she held the loose string in her hand. “It’s done” she said. But her voice cracked a little.
Without lifting her head up she stepped back swiftly and turned away as his shalwar began to loosen at the waist, and sprinted towards to the door.
“Thank you Meerub …” she heard him say as she opened the door. She tried not to look back but she couldn’t resist one more glance and as she turned to him she saw him smirking with a twinkle in his eyes “… see you in bed later!”, he added with a grin.
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