Hamdan came running down the stairs and went outside to wait on the driveway. As soon as the car stopped in front of him, he opened the door. His nerves lastly came to a rest when he saw Sarah lying on the back seat with a grin that split her lips.
"How do you like my new shoe?" She asked.
Hamdan crouched down to see the black splint on her foot on the far end of the seat, he looked down at her and she wiggled her eyebrows. He laughed at her buoyant attitude, she did not look like he had imagined at all.
He held her face between his hands and kissed her forehead. "You seem really animated for someone that just broke a foot."
Getting out of the passenger seat, Salem stood next to him. "Her meds really kicked in on the way here and now she thinks she's quite the comedian," he informed him, sounding grumpier than his usual self.
"I was just trying to make you smile, Salem! Is good for your soul," Sarah explained with excessive expressions. "Hamdan, what did the llama say when it got kicked out of the farm?"
"Don't answer that," Salem pleaded.
But that made Hamdan want to know even more. "What did the llama say?"
"Alpaca my bags!" She burst out laughing.
Salem growled.
Hamdan chuckled, looking up at his manager. "Come on, that's kind of funny."
It was not the joke, it was the fact that she was safe and sound that made him laugh.
"That's an awesome joke! You know who else is awesome?" Her arms flying around. "My doctor. Absolutely nothing hurts at the moment," her words were getting more slurry.
"You said only the best, so I asked the doctor what was the best he could do for her, and here you have it," Salem said, unamused.
Both men helped her out of the car and into the foyer, while Salem briefed on the doctor's orders. She was not supposed to put any weight on her foot for at least six weeks, she also needed to rest and keep it elevated until the swelling went down.
Hamdan held her by the waist while Salem went back to the car, he came back and left her medication, the bag she brought with herself to the race and a pair of crutches that she still needed to practice how to use. Hamdan thanked Salem and he quickly left before Sarah could finish another one of her jokes.
"When you told me that you would get on the back of a horse even if you had a broken leg, I thought you were talking figuratively," he said while Sarah wobbled around on one foot.
She found a steady spot and narrowed her eyes, taking one long look at him before speaking. "Why are you so handsome? Why? It's not fair," she took his cap off, threw it on the floor and ruffled his hair. "I love your hair, and I love— wait... what am I doing here? Why am I not home?" Her hands went down to hold onto his forearms.
"Because you're staying here with me."
"What? No!" She squirmed and pushed his hands away making him encircled his arms around her waist to not lose a hold of her.
"Why not?"
"Because you have that party to go to, to see Sheikha Fancy-pants," she took her tongue out while saying that name and her fists went over his chest.
"What? Who's Sheikha Fancy-pants?" He wondered if her medications were starting to affect her even more.
"I heard them, Hamdan. I bet she has perfectly manicured hands and Instagram worthy eyebrows. Look at my hands!" Her fingers were so close to his face that he had to tilt his head back. "I have rider hands!"
"That's because you are one. And your hands are beautiful but this is getting too confusing," he placed himself on her right side to help her walk. "Let's go, you should be lying down."
"No. I'm going home," she tried to spin around on her one good foot.
The moment he realized that the medication did not make her any less stubborn, he held her arm and turned her back around. In one quick motion, he squatted down and put her over his shoulder.
"We're going to the bedroom," he commanded, taking the stairs.
"Put me down!" She yelled, kicking her legs.
"Stop it! You're going to hurt yourself," he made a pause halfway into the staircase to adjust her body from falling off. "You're staying here until you get better."
She settled and loosen herself like a raggedy doll. "Is this how they taught you to treat a damsel in distress at Sandhurst?"
"Damsel in distress? A damsel in distress would be grateful about what I'm trying to do, but not you, no," he pushed the half-opened bedroom door with his foot. "You're fighting me every step of the way."
He sat her down on the bed and lifted her legs up, then she plopped on her back. He grabbed two pillows and placed them underneath her injured foot. Sitting on the edge of the bed next to her, he looked at her drowsy eyes; all her energy was draining off.
"Don't marry her, Hamdan," she begged him.
His confusion went up another level. "What are you talking about? Marry who?"
"Sheikha Fancy-pants. I'm sure she's a sheikha and she could be the queen of the world, but she will never love you like I do," her hand went up to caress his cheek and fell back on the bed.
"So..." He felt instantly guilty about the question that came up in his head, but he knew this was an opportunity he would probably never get again. "Who should I marry?"
"Me!" She replied immediately, lifting her head up and letting fall back onto the pillow with a sigh.
Maybe it was the medication or maybe she really felt that way about him. Either way, he decided to rejoice in the moment.
"But Futaim loves her..." Sarah continued. "And your sisters love her and your mom... You have to go to the party, so she can get you back..." She yawned.
Everything fell into place. He knew who Sheikha Fancy-pants was and why Futaim had been insisting so much about him coming to this dinner party. It was not the first time his sisters tried to set up him up like that, but one thing was for sure, Aisha was out of his life and she was not coming back in.
His mood crumbled once he dwelled on what had happened. He could not understand why these things kept happening to Sarah, it was as if the world was trying to beat her down and he was powerless against it. His only hope was that whatever she heard, it would not affect her as much as his father's dismissal.
Sarah's eyelids seemed to be getting heavier and heavier so he leaned in and kissed her forehead.
"Sleep. You must be exhausted," he whispered.
"I thought I was already dreaming..." She trailed off before blinking one last time.
Hamdan took her only shoe off and covered her with a blanket that he grabbed from the closet. He remained standing next to her, gazing. How could this girl just burst into his life and take over everything? With the touch of Midas, she made better all that came in contact with her and now, nothing seemed to make much sense without her. She had him wrapped around her finger and he did not mind. He was hers, only hers and he had never felt such joy.
He sat on the couch and started checking his mail. After a while, he found himself pretty tired as well, taking one last glance at Sarah, he lay back and drifted away quickly. He slept for about an hour until he heard the ringing of his phone as it came from half way across the world. The sound got closer and closer, pulling him until he opened his eyes and looked at it. It was a call from the front gate. Hamdan answered lazily.
"Sir, Sheikha Futaim is here to see you."
He jumped up and felt very awake all of the sudden. "What? Is she alone?"
"Apparently, sir. Just the driver."
Futaim was crossing the line of annoyance when he found out what her plans were. She had she been bombarding him with texts and calls and now she was dropping by. Sarah was still fast asleep as he hurried himself to the door. To his luck, he remembered that all of Sarah's stuff were still on the foyer, he rushed back downstairs, grabbed everything and threw it inside the majli. As he closed the majli's door, Futaim crossed the main one.
"Hello big brother!" She greeted when she saw him, arms opened and a big smile on her red lips.
"What do you want Futaim?" He questioned, not moving one inch closer to her.
Her arms dropped down to her sides. "I only wanted to say hi. What's with the hostility?" She took her sunglasses off to disclose her furrowed brows and placed the designer handbag on the table.
"I'm not going. Especially now that I know what you're up to," he accused her.
Futaim gasped and walked up to him. "What are you talking about?"
Not only was she a bad liar, she was twelve years younger than Hamdan. It was cute that she thought she could fool him. Hamdan knew something was off the moment she insisted on him going to the party, Sarah only filled in the details. Sort off.
"Really, Futaim? Aisha?"
"What? She might go too... what's so wrong with that?" She waved her hand dismissively.
Hamdan scoffed. "Is she bringing that guy? What was his name?"
"Hamdan, she's a great girl and you know it," her hand was going up and down on his arm. "Our families have been friends for generations! That was a mistake."
"No, she was the mistake. I learned my lesson and moved on."
There were no hard feelings for Aisha. A couple of months after they broke things up, she came around, and even though he heard what she had to say, he made himself clear that he no longer wanted the same thing. Despite that, she kept orbiting around and he didn't really mind, until Sarah came along. From that point on he found Aisha's presence rather irritating.
Futaim flipped her long hair back and folded her arms. "I just want to see you happy."
"And you figured she makes me happy?" He angled his head to one side.
"Well, you seemed like—"
Hamdan cut her off. "Turns out, I had no idea. That's over. I'm not coming to your party, I want to rest and be alone and you should go."
He normally was not as harsh with his sisters, but apparently that was what it would take for her to understand as Futaim's expression changed from shock to defeat. There was that, and also the fact that Sarah was sleeping upstairs, he needed his little sister out of there as soon as possible.
"Okay, okay. Listen, I'm sorry," she apologized, shrugging. "I thought I was doing a good deed."
Hamdan exhaled relieved and put his arm around her shoulder, motioning her to the door. "It's fine. Just drop it, please," he grabbed her bag and handed it over to her. "And don't stop by unannounced, you know I hate that."
He hugged her good-bye and watched her car drive away. Back in the majli, he picked up all of Sarah's belongings and went to his bedroom. He was dropping everything on the couch when a small whine coming from the bed made him turn his head.
***
Thank you so much for patiently waiting for this chapter. I hope to not abandon you guys for so long ever again!
Vote and comment if you enjoyed this!
XOXO,
Sophie.