Salam 🥳
I'm on a roll here right?????🥴🥴😬😬
Updating before Sunday???
Yep😁😁🎉🎉
And Hopefully Insha Allah it will be continuously so😁
Enjoy 🥴😁
And oh...forgive the time jump but it's necessary.😬
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3 months later
Karim entered the house to see Zaira feeding Samia as the latter spluttered the food all over her dress from her mouth.
Zaira frowned jokingly. She hadn't seen him yet.
"If you don't eat your food I'm gonna have to tell dada you were a bad baby today." Zaira nodded for more effect.
"Da-da?" Karim heard her say.
She loved to say that or maybe because that was the only thing she could say.
Samia pouted at Zaira and smiled later on when she saw Karim from afar.
"Da-da!" She screamed her heart out.
"Yes, dada. I'm going to tell him you've been a bad girl wasting all your food." Zaira said again.
Samia started bouncing up and down in her high chair and pointed behind Zaira.
"Da-da!" She shouted again.
Zaira turned to see Karim and smiled.
"Hey darling." She smiled
He smiled.
Okay pause.
Recap over the last 3 months.
After Karim had hugged her and thanked her for saving his life, everything changed and when we say everything, it means everything.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Zaira still hadn't acquired her citizenship and they rarely had visits from the office anymore and when Karim enquired about it they blamed it on some changes in government procedures or whatever.
Karim had started working at CaPeCo soon after the Basmah incident. He sent Samia to work for 2 weeks but in the 3rd week, he gave in to Zaira's request to let Samia stay home with the promise that if anything went wrong, he was given the right to hunt her down and kill her. So he did partially. He was so anxious that he had called his Aunt to check up on them constantly with the excuse that Zaira couldn't take care of a baby yet.
A week later though his anxiety left and he began to leave them with no supervision. Every weekend though, he'd go to the shooting range with his aunt who was like the best shooter in the world and he was gradually thought how to never miss a target. After that, his uncle would teach him to fight better and constantly very constantly too constantly -it was very annoying- that he'd be considered ready if he could pin his dad or his uncle down for 3 seconds.
Over the course of 3 months he was getting good at shooting but hell he couldn't even pin his uncle down for a millisecond without getting choked to death or something.
He understood the essence of fighting to protect. He understood all the stuff his dad thought now but he still wasn't ready if he couldn't pin his uncle down. That was basically unfair because he was a hitman. He was trained to kill for years and he had only been thought for 3 months.
Getting back to Zaira though, they had kissed multiple times, more than he could count and all were initiated by Zaira and broken off by Karim when Zaira was taking it too far. She wanted to be held and touched everywhere but Karim wasn't ready to go that far yet and call him a prude or whatever but he wasn't going to allow temptation to get the best of him. He was a growing man and he wasn't sure he had the willpower to stop anything from happening if it started.
The tension in the air when they were alone was enough to cause a storm. And that was why it wasn't advisable to leave a man and woman alone when they weren't married.
They normally went out on dinners, carnival; if they were anywhere in town around them, and anything they could think of.
For a month or more now, they'd started going out less and talking a lot more. She had told him that her family were actually dead so they never really talked about them. But she had a lot of questions to ask. And unnecessary questions at that.
"Your mother's birthday?"
"Your dad's birthday?"
Most were date oriented and some were just about him. His favorite color, food. Personal questions. Childhood stories and what not. Anything to get a conversation out of him.
Basically that was all that had happened the last three months.
And oh Basmah hadn't contacted him once since the incident. At times they'd meet each other at the children's hospital but that was all.
Presently...
"Salam mu Alaykum." Karim said.
"Ah fine. Sorry. Wa Alaykum Salam." She rolled her eyes and wiped Samia's mouth.
"How was work?" She asked again.
"Boring. I don't know what my parents are telling Anita but I end up getting less work every day. It's getting annoying." Karim sighed.
"You know your parents want you to come home right? They're just doing everything possible so you can come home soon." Zaira explained to him.
His parents had been clearly hinting to him every time they talked about him coming back home. He didn't want to go back yet. At least not now. His dad had previously thought maybe he didn't want to become king anymore. He had explained to his dad that he wanted to become king one day and help his people in any way he could but not now per say. Maybe when he was older. Like way older.
"Not now. Soon. But not now." Karim shrugged it off as he made his way to Samia to pick her up.
"I don't mind you know. I can forget about the whole...citizenship and move there...with you... and Samia..."
Her statement made him turn his attention to her.
"You'd forget about the citizenship? Everything you've done is for that and you'd just throw it away to come with me to the UAE?" Karim asked her.
"Well, citizenship is clearly of less value than being a princess..." She joked but Karim didn't take it in the same manner.
"So you'd go because of the position and fame?" Karim eyed her.
"Trust me. No. It was a joke. I'd be fine anywhere really. But if you could just think about it? Going home? At least for your parents."
"If I did return what shows I'd take you with me. You forget, whatever this is," He gestured between the two of them. "It wasn't built on truth and love."
"Whatever it was built on, this now, has broken the old foundations and making a new foundation. I'm not leaving you for anyone, sweetheart. Trust me on that."
"I see."
Karim kissed Samia on her head and put her down.
"I'm going to my room to shower." Karim informed her.
"Can I join?"
Karim chuckled.
"Everywhere, except..."
"Your room. I know I know. But the day I go into your room again, you wouldn't want me to leave."
"Dinner will be ready in about half an hour so hurry down." She added as she watched Karim head straight to his room.
"Isn't he one fine man? He's making everything harder by being so stiff you know." Zaira looked at Samia who was looking at her weirdly.
"Da-da." Samia smiled.
"Yes. Da-da. So innocent." Zaira sighed.
**
"You said you were close to your grandmother?" Zaira asked after she swallowed the food in her mouth.
"She saw my dad in me so probably that's why we were so close. But even though we were close I wasn't so broken like my dad. And that's a lot coming from someone who clearly didn't like her for a long time."
"I'm not so sure. You can't say he didn't like her. After all she was still his mother. I'm sure they just didn't see eye to eye that's all, on his matters." Zaira shrugged nonchalantly.
"And you know that because?" Karim arched a brow.
What shows they never saw eye to eye? Karim knew that but how did she?
"Your dad's book? Very informative I tell you." Zaira smiled.
"Okay."
"How did she die?" She asked again forgetting all about her food.
"I think I was 17 then? Yeah. A plane crash. It was ruled as an accident but the black box was never found so no one really knows. My dad thinks otherwise so he's very cautious when we go outside the country on our planes. He grounded all our planes for almost a year and a half." Karim told her.
They had to use commercial flights throughout that time
"That's sad. Where were a former king and queen going anyway?" Zaira wondered as she took a sip from her glass.
"A gala. It was being hosted in France that year. Normally, we went with my parents. By we, I mean my siblings and I." Karim chewed on his food and swallowed before continuing. "But we couldn't go because the twins caught a cold and dad caught it too. Dad is always a mess when he gets a cold. And since he couldn't go, mom said we all had to stay home. My grandparents decided to go in place of us and unfortunately they died before getting there." Karim sighed.
Zaira looked so concentrated on the story like her life depended on understanding each word.
"So you guys would have all died if your dad hadn't gotten sick? Saved by a cold?"
"Um. I guess?"
"Your dad was pretty glad then."
"He wasn't. He had lost his biological parents in a moment and he could have lost his whole family and his life if we went in stead. No one talks about that anymore. He basically ran away from grieving. We don't deal with grief in my family very well. Everyone tends to ran away from it. And my dad did. Didn't see him for a while. Only my mom did and when I or Habiba asked, she'd just say that's how he dealt with things. The possibility of losing us too made everything worse. He got over it though."
"Your family is...
"Weird?..." Karim chuckled.
"Unique."
"Thank you for the story. Excuse me. I'll be right back." She stood up.
"Sure. Go ahead." Karim's gaze fell on her half eaten food and her sudden need to be excused caught his attention.
She walked away from the table and disappeared upstairs into her room.
Karim picked up his phone and turned it on. Technology.
He put his AirPods from his pocket in his ears and listened to today's personal podcast. This was getting interesting just by the day.
A few minutes later he heard her footsteps coming down the stairs. He turned off his phone and put it down. She smiled and took her seat.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine don't worry. Just felt a little nauseous." She smiled apologetically.
"Okay."
"Where were we?"
"My grandparents."
"Yeah. I don't like talking about dead people you know. Let's talk about something else."
"Like?"
"Tell me about your dad."
"I thought you'd know that. From your intensive read on his biography." Karim pursed his lips.
"I want it from the source. The book can't tell me everything."
Karim only sighed and exhaled.
"Well dad, he's just dad. Strict yet caring." Karim cut himself short and yawned. He wasn't going to talk about his father.
"You know what, I'm very tired and I really want to go to bed. We can talk about my dad later." Karim stood up.
Zaira stood up quickly to stop him.
"But, but, the food hasn't even digested yet and it's so early. Even Samia is still awake I'm sure. We can talk about him now..."
"Now? Why are you in a rush to know about my dad? You seem way too interested in anything involving him. Is there something you want to know? Something you want to find out?" Karim took a step closer to her.
She instinctively stepped back.
"What do you mean? No...no... it's just...just...I don't know I just like getting you to talk about him. You look so proud to be his son and you have this glow to your face whenever you talk about him. I just wanted to see that."
Zaira's face fell as she looked at her feet and fiddled with her fingers.
Karim chuckled lightly and held up her face with his hand.
"I'm proud to be his son. But that doesn't mean I'd like it that the woman I call my wife only likes to hear about him. Especially when you've talked about getting together with him. As you said, we're building a new foundation. I'm just hoping the whole thing doesn't come down on us." Karim brushed her cheeks with his thumbs.
"I'm sorry." She sniffed.
"No need to apologize. You had good intentions." Karim brought her closer and hugged her.
He kissed her forehead making her smile.
"You initiated a kiss today."
"I know." Karim nodded as he let her go.
"I'm going to Samia's room and then go to bed. Good night." Karim turned from her and walked into Samia's room.
When he got there, she was wide awake playing with some of her toys in her crib.
"Da-da." She wheezed.
"Yes honey. How's the prettiest girl in all the universes combined?" Karim picked her up from her crib.
"Da-da."
"I'll take that as an 'I'm fine'" He smiled.
"Hang in there, my darling. We'll go back home very soon. I just need to get answers to my questions and tie off all loose ends. But don't worry, I'll make sure you're always safe. No one will hurt you today, tomorrow or whenever. Even if I'm dead, I make sure you're always protected by our family. I promised your mother and I'll promise you the same thing every day. I'll protect you no matter what it takes. Whatever it takes. For Shams and for you. With my life if I have to. Even if you're not mine."
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Ummmmm okayy ummmmm🙂...so I know some of y'all had a hunch about this but fear not. This is just one small secret🌚💔
Anyways there's another chapter right after this. I told you I'm on a roll.🥴🔥
I don't even know if the book will be long or shot but it'll be more than 30 chapters I assure you.🌚
I hope you liked it though 🤕🤕🤕
I try💔🌝
Comments🙂❤️
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Ciao🥴