Sarah pulled up her hair in a careless ponytail, shoved her dirty riding clothes in her bag and rushed out of the locker room. As soon as she finished training, she told Uma that she would be late for a dentist appointment if she did not hurry. Another lie. She wondered how many more of those she would have to come up with in the future. She had been seriously considering telling Abby and Erin about Hamdan, but Uma was out of the question. She did not want to put her in such an uncomfortable situation. It was all about protecting her rider friend, not that Sarah didn't trust her.
The truth was that it was Valentine's day and she still had a lot to do. Tom had helped her plan the perfect menu before leaving and she was really excited about cooking a real dinner for Hamdan, not just macaroni and cheese. Tom also helped her out with her outfit, but that had to be modified due to the bruise that was starting to turn green. It was not pretty and she did not want Hamdan glaring at it all night long. On top of grocery shopping, now she also had to come up with an outfit with sleeves that covered her arm.
Saeed Hilal was accomplice number two. The first time she went to Hamdan's home, Saeed was kind enough to hand her his card in case she needed anything, so she was able to get in touch with him without Hamdan knowing. They agreed on following the same routine they did whenever she visited, only this time it would be earlier and Hamdan would not be there. Saeed was in charge of dismissing the staff and was also helping her set up everything for a romantic dinner on the terrace.
In her mind she was going over everything she had to do as she walked to her car; going to the supermarket, go home and figure out what she was going to wear, packing, get to Hamdan's home, set everything up at the terrace with Saeed, start dinner, take a shower, get herself ready, put the last touches on dinner and wait for him. She thought of leaving a note with a candle on the table in the foyer, with a hint so he would go up to the terrace where she would be waiting. Hamdan had been trying to poke some information out of her, but she did not cave in. He had no idea what they were doing.
Can't wait to see his face!
Sarah opened the car door and threw her bag inside but before she could get herself in, someone called her name. She looked back and it was Hassan, who seemed to be leaving too with a backpack on his shoulder and car keys in his hand.
"Salem wants to see you." He informed her.
"No! Why?" She whined. "What did I do?"
"I think you're in trouble..." He warned lowering his voice.
Her eyes widened. "What?"
He beamed and waved dismissively. "Just kidding! He had this sullen look on his face, but if you think about it, that's how he looks all the time, so... I guess you're fine," he winked.
Sarah chuckled and thanked Hassan as she started heading down to Salem's office. He was pacing up and down in the office holding his phone to the ear and a piece of paper on the other hand. She waved at him through the glass door and he signaled her to come in. She quietly sat down and waited, moving her leg anxiously.
Please, make it quick.
Either Salem was listening to the person on the phone or no one was answering his call as he kept holding it but was not talking. He finally sighed in defeat and threw the phone on his desk as he leaned against it with his head hanging low. Her eyes went around not sure of what to do.
"Is... everything okay?" She asked with caution.
His head snapped back up. "What did you do, Sarah?"
A cold shiver went down her spine. She froze as if a bucket of icy water had just been poured over her, her breathing cut short.
"Wh--" She choked. "What do you mean?"
He stared at her for a moment. "It kills me but I have to fire you."
No, it was not a joke, she could see Salem was being serious, not to mention he was not the joking kind. Her mind frantically searched for a reason. Was it about Hamdan? It could not be.
"Why?" She breathed.
Salem unfolded the piece of paper that he was still holding and placed it in front of her. Sarah gasped when she saw the golden engraved sheet with the falcon government logo in the top middle part. Her eyes roamed the paper praying that it was not what she was thinking. Everything came crashing down over her when she found Sheikh Mohammed's signature at the bottom of the letter. Words left her and the only thing she could do was cover her face with both hands at the distress and embarrassment she was going through.
"Sarah, I don't think Hamdan knows about this. I've been trying to call him before talking to you, but I couldn't reach him," Salem's voice sounded distant but when her hands slid down her face, she realized he was on the same spot. "I hope you understand that I have no choice, I must follow this order," he added.
Her head was throbbing as she tried to grasp on the situation. Yes, maybe Hamdan did not know about it, but not only Sheikh Mohammed knew about what was happening between them, he was making sure she knew how much he despised it. Being treated with so much disdain by a man she not only admired, but was the father of the man she loved, was more than she could handle. She needed to leave before tears started pouring down.
"I'm so sorry, Salem. I'll go," she managed to utter.
"Listen," he stopped her before she could turn to the door. "I like you, you're a nice girl, excellent rider..."
Salem was not helping to restrain her eyes from weeping.
"I'm telling you this as a friend, please don't be foolish. Don't ruin your career."
She nodded, unable to look him in the eye. When she pushed the door, she stopped once more and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Thank you, Salem. For everything."
---
"Still nothing?" Ahmed asked.
"Straight to voice mail," Hamdan replied, clenching the phone in his hand.
He knew something was wrong when he saw all the missed calls from Salem, but he never imagined how bad things could be. After talking to Salem, he decided to skip lunch and immediately called Sarah, but her phone was off. It was then when his anger reached its peak and he decided to confront Sheikh Mohammed. Ahmed insisted on coming home with him after seeing how upset he was about the argument with their father. The brothers had spent the last three days together, on the Government Summit, that thankfully ended that day.
Hamdan rubbed his face with his hands as he walked up and down the terrace. Ahmed was sitting on one of the wicker couches resting the elbows on his knees.
"Why don't you sit down," his brother suggested.
"I can't! Salem said she left around nine, it's past five now... and I don't know where she is! She's not home..."
"How do you know?" Ahmed wondered.
"I sent Saeed and some people there," Hamdan stated casually while sending another unreceived message, begging her to tell him where she was.
"But come on... she's not really fired," Ahmed tried to comfort him, leaning against the backrest.
"No, but she doesn't know that. She's probably thinking... I don't know what she's thinking! But it's obviously not good because she doesn't want to talk to me," he glanced at the phone, less than three minutes had passed since he last tried to call but he tried again anyway. "And it's freaking Valentine's day!" He added scoffing.
"Did you have plans?"
"Yes... Well, she did. Saeed told me before leaving. She had planned this whole dinner, he was going to help her... sending the car over... getting everything ready..." He snatched the headscarf off his head and threw it on a couch, groaning in frustration.
Ahmed cleared his throat. "You know I'm on your side, right? But what did you expect to happen? He gave you a warning and you ignored him."
"I-- I froze. I didn't know what to do."
"And what did he say today?"
"That he was forced into taking action due to my lack of responsibility... What about all the things I do right, huh?" He shook his head. "It's ridiculous, you know? He talks about it as if the whole country would come crashing down if I don't follow the tradition," his arms flying all over the place.
"And what did you say?"
"How would you like to be Crown Prince?" Hamdan hinted.
Ahmed sat up straight. "No way, Hamdan! No, I don't want to."
"Maktoum was my first suggestion, anyway..."
"You really did that? Told him you would resign?"
Hamdan stopped walking with his head hanging low. "I didn't want to play that card, but I had no choice."
"And?" Ahmed inquired.
Hamdan exhaled and took a seat next to his younger brother. "I felt awful, he said he could not go through that again, crowning another prince," Hamdan closed his eyes at the memory. "You should've seen the look in his eyes."
He went from an all time high to an all time low. In a matter of hours he had somehow managed to hurt two of the people he loved the most. Telling his father that he would resign from being the Crown Prince was not easy, but it was not a lie. He did not want to choose, but if he was forced to, he was certain what his choice would be.
"But wait, so you're still Crown Prince? Right?"
"Yes, as long as he leaves her alone."
"I can't believe you did that, how could you defy him like that, Hamdan?"
"I'm not proud about it but I also tried to make things look different, as if I was more bothered about the intrusion than anything else, as if she was not that important to me. I didn't tell him I loved her or anything like that, to protect her. And he said it was fine, but that he would never approve of anything else happening between us."
"Kind of sounds like a good deal, for now."
"But what good does it make if she won't even take my calls?" He tried calling again. Straight to voicemail, again.
"Come on!" Ahmed put him in a headlock and messed up his hair. "You'll talk to her sooner or later and I'm sure she will understand."
"Get off!" Hamdan said with a soft chuckle at his brother's attempt to make him feel better.
"Hey! How come Maktoum was your first choice for Crown Prince, huh?" Ahmed nudged.
Hamdan furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought you didn't want to be—"
"No, I don't. But that doesn't mean it's not going to hurt if you don't pick me," Ahmed said with hands crossed over his chest.
"Shut up!" Hamdan replied, shoving a cushion on Ahmed's face.
They sat in silence watching the sunset after their laughs faded. Hamdan recalled the time he brought Sarah to the terrace, how they had their first kiss there, the first real kiss. How beautiful she looked that night under the moonlight.
I will protect you, was his promise that night.
Sarah was in a lot of pain at the moment, that was for sure, and it was all his fault. Not only had he broken his promise, he had failed to protect her from himself.
Hamdan always took pride in considering himself a man with no regrets, they seemed like such a waste, but there was one thing he was regretting and that was not telling her he loved her when he had the chance.
***
Because you guys asked for it, I changed a huge part of the idea I had for this chapter to include Ahmed in it :)
Needless to say, Hamdan and Sarah's Valentine's kind of sucked. Couldn't Sheikh Mohammed wait at least one day? No, because life is not fair :/ What do you think is going to happen next?
Thank you for reading!
XOXO,
Sophie.