Haya.

We had just landed home, landed as in literally landed and had not even got off the aircraft yet when my phone vibrated in my hand. My father was being escorted off the plane, I was just picking up my handbag when my phone shook in my hands. I saw Amir's name flash across the screen and my sullen mood instantly lightened up.

"Hello?" I picked up the phone call, smiling and thanking the flight attendant who had tended to my needs during the flight.

Cameras flashed as I stepped out, lowering my head as I heard Amir speak on the phone.

"Did you reach okay?" I heard him question. I walked off the stairs, getting into the car.

"I did." I affirmed, continuing. "I didn't expect your call."

Amir was quiet for a moment and I took that moment to gather myself, to gather my thoughts. He had called me so quick, as if I hadn't left his mind at all. The six hour flight from Maraaish to Buredaan was enough for him, he didn't even wait for me to get settled and rest, he just called, without any hesitation.

"I missed you the moment you left." He admitted, I couldn't help but chuckle out loud.

I missed you the moment you left.

Amir clearly had a way with his words.

You're making me sin, Haya.

I was ready to sin for you. Does that not show you the affect you have on me?

I missed you the moment you left.

"Did you really?" I asked him, feeling the car move as I talked to him.

"Yes. I did."

Amir affirmed.

He was expressing himself without any hesitancy, maybe my words had got to him.

I knew I had to ask about him about the morning, I hadn't talked to him about the situation in a proper manner and somehow, I wanted him to not think about it too much. Thinking would only lead to him questioning this entire thing. I didn't want that.

"When we were, you know....you said that I was making you sin. I can't get your words out of my mind." I said, hearing nothing but quiet on the other end.

For a moment, I thought Amir wasn't even there on the phone line but then I heard his sigh and I understood that he was finding the right words to say.

"I didn't want to stop myself, Haya. I didn't want you to stop. You were like a magical drug."

Like a magical drug.

I wanted to tell him that neither I nor him were magical drugs, we were just high on our feelings for one another. But I stopped myself.

"Some things happen for a reason, Amir. Don't think of it as wrong or right, just live in the moment." I tried to put him at ease.

"It's not that simple." Hs argued.

I let out a small chuckle.

"Maybe. But it's not that complicated either." I finished, seeing that I had reached home.

"I just arrived home. You can call me, you know." I informed him, ready to end the call.

"I know."

Amir replied, hanging up.

---

Even though Aaliya was literally the last person to judge anyone, her eyes were scanning me like a hawk. She looked at me like she had expected this from me, yet she hadn't expected this at all.

Aaliya knew me, she basically knew everything about me. We had even studied together, she knew my life and yet she wasn't the one to judge me.

She stood up, still looking at me.

"So basically you went on this dreamy date with a Crown Prince, danced in each other's eyes and then almost kissed him? That was your first official foreign tour?!" She exclaimed, half laughing and half serious.

The way she had put it, I felt like I hadn't done anything productive at all.

"Well, yeah." I murmured, chuckling.

"Haya. You really like him." She acknowledged what I already knew.

Ofcourse, I liked him. I liked him enough to think about a future with him. What future did I have over here anyway? My brother would become the King after my father, one day my father would get tired of seeing my pictures on every tabloid and ask me to make a choice about my future, I would probably have to get married to some rich businessman and spend my life as a trophy wife.

If I played my cards right, I could become someone for Amir, I could..okay, I couldn't go that far.

"Is it that obvious?" I played along, trying to find out more about what she thought.

"You haven't stopped smiling ever since I entered this room."

"Aaliya, you can't tell anyone right now."

"I won't. Tell me more." She wanted the details that were too private for me to share with anyone.

Aaliya had every practical detail of my experiences with certain things, yet.. I wanted to hide this one. The one that just involved an innocent conversation.

"There's nothing more to tell." I shrugged her off, she let out a sigh, knowing that I wouldn't really tell her anything if I didn't want to.

"Does he want a relationship?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask." I replied as a matter of fact.

He didn't exactly seem like the dating type.

"Then what was the point of that date?" Aaliya cross questioned me, I was not even sure if this was even a date.

"It wasn't exactly a date." I mumbled.

You actually bid your partner off with a parting kiss after your date, mine had just rushed out murmuring about how I was making him sin.

"It was exactly a date. Come on." Aaliya groaned, pushing for more information.

I stood up from my bed, entering my closet. She followed me as I picked up the dress that had just arrived. It was a shiny black and grey dress that had been custom made. It was for the party tonight.

"Amir is just so different. His morals and the way he thinks, I can not really predict things when it comes to him. He really likes me though." I added, looking at myself in the mirror as I put the dress against me.

"Have you told your mother about this?" She enquired yet again, judging the dress as I turned to look at her.

She gave me her nod of approval. Even though I did not exactly need it, Aaliya was one of the only people who I let wide open in my life to the point that I could confide in her about anything.

"Not yet. She will find out anyway, she knew I was interested in him, she was the one who told me about father's visit to Maraaish in the first place." I answered her question, putting the dress back where it belonged.

"But Haya, you know what she thinks about you and men in general after, well..you know."

Yeah, I knew. My choices had made people question the way my mother had raised me. Ofcourse, I knew.

But talking about Amir, my mother had pushed me in that very direction. I did not think that she would oppose to it.

"But she was very sweet when it came to Amir, she didn't oppose to it." I put my thoughts into words, knowing that Aaliya was ready for a follow up question.

"But what about -"

I instantly jerked, feeling the phone vibrate in my hands.

Damn.

I really had done a number on this man.

"Ssh, it's him."

I shushed her, telling her to not utter a single word. Aaliya nodded, keeping her calm but not being able to bite back the huge grin that graced her face.

"Salam."

I heard Amir's voice, finding the same tenderness, the softness and the content that his voice held for me.

"Sounds like you are turning quite fond of me, Prince. Two calls in one day? I'm flattered." I teased, not willing to tell him directly about how happy I was that he called me yet again.

"I can hang up if you want." He said back, showing me that he was not the desperate type either.

I let out a chuckle and heard the grin in his voice as well.

"Hanging up would mean missing an opportunity of getting to know you better." I phrased my words just the way I deemed right, knowing that I had to play a middle ground here.

I could not openly flirt like a desperate woman and I could not just act friendly either. We had something special and we both knew it, yet I wanted him to think of me as someone prim and proper, someone worthy of his feelings.

He was such an ethical man that I had to walk on eggshells while talking to him. Besides, every human being put a certain facade in front of people, no one showed their genuine and true self to others.

"I think we covered that part really well." I heard Amir's response, as he continued speaking.

"I just wanted to thank you for your lovely social media posts about me and my country." He told me, as if I was a little girl who did not understand why he had called me.

There was an attraction between us, there was no point in denying that.

"No. You just wanted to hear my voice." Aaliya cocked an eyebrow at me and I winked at her, waiting to hear the Crown Prince's response.

"You're too confident of yourself." He stated. I couldn't deny that.

"But I am right. Aren't I?"

A few seconds later, I heard his sigh.

"You are. You have not left my mind all day." He agreed, telling me exactly what I wanted to hear.

Even though I had made him sin, made him question all the morals that he had, he still had me in his head, in his mind and I hoped that I was in his heart too.

"Good. I plan to stay there for a very long time." I whispered, not understanding why I did not want Aaliya to hear that part.

It felt like she was intruding.

"I will hang up now. I have some work."

I knew he didn't have work right now, it was just an excuse to hang up and calm himself down. He was a rational man, he didn't say things that he did not mean and I was making him say whatever thought he had in his head.

I did not insist that I wanted to talk more, instead I bid him goodbye.

"Okay. Goodbye, Amir."

I replied, the inner happiness radiating right on my face. Aaliya came near me, turning me around to face the mirror.

I looked at her, questioning her why she had done that. She gave me a small push, making me stand even closer to the mirror.

"See the shine in your eyes? It is because of him."

I looked into the mirror and saw my eyes, I saw the happiness that they held and wondered if I was falling for Amir more than I had planned to, more than I could afford.

I let out a soft sigh and turned around, smiling at my cousin. Aaliya sensed my confused mood and changed the direction of the conversation.

"Can we go together to Yaman's party? I don't want to go alone."

Yaman was getting engaged. Technically, he was planning to publicly propose to his girlfriend and had arranged an entire party for that.

"No date?" I teased Aaliya. She rolled her eyes.

"I have Princess Haya." She jutted her chin out, I let out a laugh.

"Come here at eight, okay?" She only nodded.

"See you."

Aaliya left me alone in the room, with my thoughts.

Amir.

Even thinking about him made my heart beat fast. The last time my heart had beat fast because of man, he had shattered my heart into a thousand pieces.

And I had done the same to his.

---

@Haya : helping the ministry redraft the bill for prevention of child labour. No more abuse of their rights.

@Haya : it's always lovely to meet the women who have spent their entire lives working to better the lives of the under privileged. Shaleena Hashmit is a proud humanitarian and deserves the utmost appreciation.

@RoyalInsights: Princess Haya of Buredaan spotted at the Buredaan Royal Hotel for the engagement party of Military Commander Yaman and Model turned Actress Fariha.

---

Thoughts?