"I understand your majesty" Abdullah reluctantly agreed. As it is now, the king just told him that the girl's family has agreed upon the proposal but the wedding will happen in a month or so, to be honest, he wasn't paying attention to him.
Yes he gets it, he is the king but before he became a king, he was a father and still is. So why the hell was he seeking the prosperity of the kingdom instead of his son's happiness? He shouldn't forget just yet that he is the crowned prince and soon-to-be king. He can make his own decisions.
"As you say your majesty, your wish is my command". The king expected him to ask about the girl but all he got was a cold shoulder from his son. At first, he was dazed by his son's reaction but quickly collected himself and asked,
"Won't you ask about her?"
"Ask about who?" He pretended not to know. The king chuckled and shook his head then said,
"You are one of a kind crowned prince, in case you have hidden interest in knowing who she is, just let me know and I will gladly tell you okay?" Unknown to the king, the crowned prince had zero interest in knowing her whatsoever.
He hummed and excused himself then went straight to his secret hideout to have alone time.
Just when he was about ready to think that his life is so settled for him and there is are no hindrances, his majesty chose this as his special moment to ruin his little peace of mind. Not that he didn't have anything to worry about right now, but he also added to his list of top worries.
To say he hated the king would be an insult to the word called 'understatement'. Just like that, his mind wandered off to the lady he saw a few days ago, he remembered how she furrowed her brows at him looking so irritated, and subconsciously smiled.
For some reason he found her to be amusing after she called him off at the hospital the second time they met that day. Maybe they were destined to meet after all.
He grabbed a couple of books from the shelf and started reading just to pass time and unknowingly to him, he became engrossed in it so by the time he finished reading the first book, it was almost past midnight and he was already sleepy. He returned everything to its rightful place and snuck out of the room locking the door in that process.
"Where have you been?" A female voice asked. He turned around and saw the queen standing behind him with a weird look on her face.
"Your majesty?" He bowed
"Where are you coming from crown prince?" She asked again
"Oh, that!" He chuckled nervously, "I was just um.. strolling, yeah strolling. I was just strolling around, figured I haven't been here in quite a while now" He facepalmed himself for his silly excuse. Even a baby wearing a diaper would know that he was blatantly lying.
"Crown prince?" She warned
"Okay you got me," he said. "I was coming from somewhere else to cool off my mind, so I read some books and before I knew it, it was past my bedtime"
"Are you okay?"
"Please don't get me started now mother, I just took my mind off it don't remind me"
"Come with me" She grabbed his hand leading him to his quarters. By the time they arrived, his senses had already heightened with curiosity that he couldn't wait for her to take a breath.
"What is it, Mother? Why are you here? If you are here to tell me the woman I am marrying I guess you should just leave. I am not interested" he said dryly with a weak sigh seating down on his couch.
"I came to check up on you, how are you doing? I heard your marriage is about a month from now. How are you feeling?"
How did she think he felt at that moment? Being the crown also means bottling up your emotions and don't let them out no matter what, that is also a quality of a good king but to him, he feels constricted. He feels like his airways are blocked and he couldn't breathe properly. The anger he was feeling right that moment suddenly turned into hatred.
The only single thought running through his mind was, who the hell was she? And why the hell was she chosen to be his wife? Even though he had no intention of marrying early, he still wanted to at least choose his wife but even that too, he can't afford it because what? He is the damn crown prince. And he needs to think of the kingdom before anything else, as his father says. The kingdom comes first before anything else.
He smiled and said,
"I am alright, please don't worry about me, and take care of your health," he said. She shot him a strange look and said,
"Abdullah, no one is here at the moment, you can tell me how you feel I am still your mother. Before I became the queen, I was a mother and I still am, so don't hide your feelings from me it breaks my heart to see you this way" Hearing her confession made his heart weaver but he wasn't so weak to shed a single tear no matter what.
"Your majesty even though no one is here at the moment, I am still the crowned prince, and crying isn't my thing so let's just obey the king's order and everything will be fine. I don't want to get on the bad side of that king. Do you know how many people want to overthrow me and put their sons there instead? "
Realizing what he just said, he found reason in what the king ordered and now that he was thinking about it, he knows there is a possibility that if he didn't obey the king's orders, the court officials and the remaining wife of that king would find that as a reason to dethrone him.
"You don't have to worry about them my son, they are just decorating the palace and won't be a threat to you unless you refuse to get married. Getting married provides you with more allies than you think, and the woman you are marrying is from a very powerful household you have nothing to worry about"
"Who is she?" He finally asked. Scrolling through his phone screen and checking his emails.
"I don't know yet. All I know is that she is from a powerful household"
"Okay"
Sensing that he wasn't in the mood for any chitchat, she excused herself and went back to her quarters to have a good night's sleep and so did the crown prince.
~~~~~~
Three weeks after she was told she was getting married, Kulthum made it her second hobby to be isolating herself from her family.
At first, her brother wanted to go talk to her but being the cool guy that he was, decided to give her some space and air to breathe. Now she was sitting in her room laying on her bed and reading a novel shutting down everything and everyone around her mercilessly.
Not that her brother didn't try talking to her or something, he tried his best but that didn't end well for him and he gave up.
Leaving for work and coming back home as late as possible was her first hobby and on the weekends, she just hides in her room. She either cries or reads touching novels to alleviate her fears and anxiety.
Now thinking that she only has one more week to spend with her family brought tears to her eyes and the most painful thing was that, no matter how much she willed herself not to cry, she just ends up crying herself a river. She was exhausted but she can't stop herself no matter how must she tried.
"Kulthum?" She heard her name being called. She wiped her face before she responded to the call
"Yeah?" She sniffed
"Don't tell me you are crying again? What is wrong with you? Ever since you were told you were getting married you just locked yourself in your room and cry yourself to sleep, or go to work and come back late at night. I have almost forgotten what you look like anymore it's been a long since I last saw you. I have missed you even though we are in the same house and sleeping under the same roof
Please don't be like this, I can't see you destroy yourself by yourself and I do nothing about it. I am your brother for goodness sake please don't shut me off".
"Just leave me alone brother, I am not in the mood"