The late afternoon was the best time in the palace, that's what Nefertari discovered after staying almost 3 weeks here. There was no wind, the sky was clear of any clouds with the sun up high in the sky, making her forget her homesickness for a while.
She missed the desert sands, the golden color that was covering almost everything, with the view of Cheops the largest pyramid out in the horizon, with its peak shining brightly under the blazing sunlight during summer mornings.
Even though she liked it here because of all the new friends that she made, she still missed her home.
"Should we go visit the palace's lake sometime?" Joon Wo said trying to avoid eye contact with her, whenever he did the remainder of the embarrassment that he felt that time came crashing down on him, especially that look on her face at that time.
"You have a LAKE!" she said turning her head to look at him with the are-you-serious-look all over her round face.
He nodded, "Yes, but it's a little further inside," he said pointing at the location of the lake.
"Don't you have one too? Back there in Egypt, I mean."
"No, we don't. Well, not in the palace at least" she said, "But I've never been there before."
"Why didn't you ever visit it?" he asked
"I'm not allowed to leave the palace," she said, "without Papa at least."
Papa… that word lingered inside his head for a while. She has a close relationship with her father he thought thinking back to see if there was ever a time where he was as half as close as her to his father but sadly there wasn't. He doubted that his father even knows when he was born.
"But why…"
"Hey, who is that?" she cut him off before he could finish his words, pointing ahead of them.
Following her finger, he found a young boy, probably the same age as them by looking at his height.
At first, he thought that it was one of his brothers, but he took a closer look at his clothes, he wasn't one of them so he figured that he must be one of the guests.
"I think he is lost." he pointed out.
"Oh, how do you know that?"
"That was exactly how you look when you get lost." he chuckled as he remembered the countless times that they all went in search of her as she got lost while playing, or when she was left behind as she was admiring something when they weren't looking at her.
"H-hey that's n-not true" she yelled at him but he just kept chuckling and called out to that boy. "Excuse me," he said catching his attention, "can we help you?"
The boy turned and looked at him, what a pretty boy was the first thing that came to his mind. He was right actually; the boy was indeed pretty.
He was a redhead with bright orange-red hair with deep green eyes that glitter like diamonds whenever the sun rays found their way to his eyes.
The boy looked at them with the what-are-you-saying look, and then in a split second, it was replaced with the now-I-understand-you look.
Joon Wo and Tari just looked at each other and then back at the boy waiting for a reply.
"S-sorry, I'm not good at Korean" he smiled weakly. He was right his Korean was really bad they were barely able to make out the words. "I-I'm kind of lost." he rubbed the back of his head in frustration.
Joon Wo raised one eyebrow at Tari as if he is telling her told you so, which she just shrugged it off with rolling her eyes.
"Where are you heading to? We can help you" Tari said, making her words as clear as possible for him to understand.
"I was with my father," he said, "but I got left behind."
"Oh, don't worry," Joon Wo said, "we will find him. Who is your father? It will be easier if we know him."
"My father is the first prince of Persia, prince Javid."
It took them a moment to process the words, once they were able to make up a sentence both their jaws dropped and looked at each other asking the same question, did we hear that correctly?
The little boy was looking back and forth between them wondering if they understood what he said.
When they both realized that what they heard was right they looked back at him, to be honest, they both felt that they met this person before but not knowing where or how it never came across their simple minds that he was going to be Javid's son.
Like what are the odds of this to happen?!
"What's your name," Nefertari asked when she felt that this simple introduction to help a person in need was taking longer than it should.
"Ashkan," he said with a grin displayed on his slightly freckled face. "And you?"
"I'm Joon Wo and she is Nefer…" even after all this time calling her by her name required a tremendous amount of strength…which he obviously didn't have.
"Nefertari" she smiled at the Ashkan and then turned to glare at Joon Wo telling him that she will not let this slide unnoticed.
"L-let's go," he said changing the subject quickly before she digs a hole in him by her glare. "I know where we can find him"
They started walking taking turns in the hallways, they had every right to get lost here. It's a maze.
It took longer than what Joon Wo expected to find the chambers of Ashkan's father. The walk was quiet, almost getting awkward, but now and then one of them would throw a question to break the silence.
"You've been here for 3 weeks already but this is the first time I see you around here," Nefertari asked curiously, thinking that they could've met at least once during this time.
"To be honest…" he hesitated, questioning if it is okay for him to tell them, "My father told me to stay low during this visit. So, most of the time I was in my room."
"For 3 weeks!" Tari exclaimed, "You didn't even take a look around" she questioned wondering how he held himself from walking all over the place to have a look at a completely new environment from the one that he was born and raised in.
"It's not that bad" he smiled rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm sure there is a reason why he asked me to do this so I just listen to him."
Somehow this reminded Tari of herself when she wouldn't understand her father's request but go along with it knowing that there must be a reason behind it. She smiled weakly at the thought.
"I kind of understand you," she said, "sometimes my father tells me not to do things without ever telling me why despite me dying to do it, but in the end, I just go along with him." She felt that she had to tell him that he is not alone, that they should trust their fathers knowing that they would never mean them any harm. Because that was what she always told herself.
I should trust him she always thought.
Meanwhile, Joon Wo was quietly leading them replaying their words over in his head thinking of his father.
He smirked looking at the ground I guess I'm not his son then he whispered under his breath.
"I think this is it," he said as he took one last turn before stopping.
"I think so too," Ashkan said as he scanned the place feeling true that it's familiar to him, "Thank you…" before he could finish the chamber's room slid open, revealing the one and only…
Prince Javid.
Taking another close look at Javid, he was indeed Ashkan's father. The resemblance was as clear as the sun, orange-red hair, green eyes. The only difference between them was the freckles that Ashkan has.
Javid took a moment to get what was happening, and then he saw his son smiling weakly at him, clearly scared that he was going to get scolded because he didn't listen to him and stay in his room, which broke his heart a little, the fact that his son feared him always made him uncomfortable. But it was the only way to protect him from the dangers that lay in every corner.
I won't lose him too, the only thing I've left he promised himself that no matter what he would keep his son safe.
Despite that fact that he didn't love his wife, he didn't hate her either, all he had for her was respect because she was a good woman, but no matter what he did, he couldn't get himself to love her. As if he lost his heart at the moment his old beloved closed her eyes for eternity.