The Untamed Sheikh (a Fazza novel)

Chapter 5: Permanent Vacation

            "Come on, that Macho-Man bravado you got going on underneath...you're actually loveable."

            "Right, otherwise my mom would be just as loveable with me."

            We finally arrived at Sheikh Hamdan's palace. The moment my sister and I stepped out of the car, she kept eying the place with quite a bit of curiosity. She was bewitched by its grandiosity, its beauty, its lush gardens that were neatly decorated with flowers and even palm trees in certain areas, giving it that desert kingdom sort of feel. The palace was almost like a shining jewel that only got brighter whenever the sun shined on it.

            Hell, it felt like I was in Aladdin's palace. In Agrabah. Except, this version of Agrabah was Dubai.

            "Wow, I can't believe I am standing in an actual palace" she said the moment we walked in, only further revealing its luxuries. The place had guards in certain areas of the palace. Even I had to admit I was in awe.

            The walls were somewhat of a cream-colored white, decorated with gold designs and the floors were of marble with several Persian/Arab/Ottoman designs. There were also Persian rugs in several areas, as well as tables made of marble and holding grandiose bases of flowers, with all other areas decorated in gold. All and all, the palace had a very Arab/Ottoman feel, noticing the art on the walls with frames of Arabic calligraphy. I would not doubt it one bit if the calligraphy frames were excerpts of Sheikh Hamdan's poems.

            Entering the Majlis, we noticed other royals waiting for us. Present were Sheikh Ahmed, Sheikh Maktoum – who always looked serious, Sheikh Mansour, Sheikh Mohammed – the emir, and another boy who looked to be around my age, then realized it was Sheikh Khalil, another son of Sheikh Mohammed's from a Syrian woman. Sheikh Hamdan suddenly showed up, noticing my sister getting weak in the knees at just looking at him. She couldn't stop staring.

            While the majority of his family wore white Kandouras with either red checkered Ghutrahs or in some other color, Sheikh Hamdan wore a black Kandoura with a cream-colored Ghutrah and also had a Bisht over it.

            He looked at my mom, looking at her with a rather odd expression I did not expect him to look at her with. Now, more than ever, I had a feeling that my sister was probably right about her having some kind of romantic connection to him. What if she did date him before? And what could that spell for both my sister and me?

            But most importantly, what was this trip about?

            "Ok, you really think there's something romantic going on between these two?" I whispered to my sister.

            "I don't know...but it sure does look like that could very well be the case."

            "I hope it's just our imagination cause something smells funny and I'm not talking about actual fumes in the air!" I said in a wry tone.

            Sheikh Hamdan's brothers all spoke to my mom as if they knew her. All of them greeted her with a hug and a kiss on either cheek. Something was definitely going on here that I was for sure the last to know of.

            Then Sheikh Hamdan greeted her and the attention was shifted to both my sister and me. He came to us, then he stood in front of me, looking at me as if he was expecting something from me.

            Please stop looking at me! I thought to myself.

            His big brown eyes locked in with mines. It was odd, but he was looking at me as if he knew me better than I knew even myself.