"What are you wearing, Haya?" The Queen questioned the moment she laid her eyes on her daughter.

Wearing a white full sleeved vintage blouse, paired with a green flowy skirt, it was not the best kind of look on Haya. Infact, knowing how much Haya was truly into fashion and trendy clothes, the Queen knew that Haya personally would never want to try out such clothes.

She looked modest in them, sure. Her father would have a feast if he saw his daughter in such clothes but for the Queen, she didn't exactly like her choice. It didn't suit her. It made her look somewhat different.

As Haya stared back at her mother, who was still staring at her clothes, she couldn't help but give her a bored look back.

"Clothes, mother." Haya replied to her mother's very surprised question of what she was wearing.

"Whose? Because they're clearly not yours." The Queen replied, letting her daughter see the distaste on her face.

"They're mine. I'm just trying to find a new fashion sense, that's all." She mumbled, feeling slightly conscious all of a sudden.

She didn't exactly know how the clothes looked on her but she knew that they didn't look too good since her mother had pointed her out like that.

"That's not fashion, my dear. That's disaster." Haya heard the woman say and she sighed, shaking her head.

"God.." She murmured, staring at herself through the large mirror in the hall.

She swallowed, turning back to her mother again.

"I was just thinking that I should wear a little different clothes these days, since the announcement for the marriage will be made soon."

Haya tried to explain and seeing the arched eye brow of her own mother, she knew that her words had sounded quite surprising to the both of them.

"Oh, and who gave you that idea?"

"No one." She murmured because nobody had really said anything but Amir's words had clung to her.

She didn't know why and how but his words mattered more than ever, they had a certain affect on her.

"Did Amir say something?" Her mother interrogated and Haya frowned, shaking her head.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because as far as I know you, you'd never willingly give up the clothes that you wear."

She shook her head once again, groaning a little.

"I am not giving them up, I'm just thinking of developing a new sense side by side." She explained or at least she tried but somehow, her mother knew.

The Queen knew that Haya was just so much taken by Amir and how different he was than the other men she knew, knowingly or unknowingly...she was only trying to please him.

She stood up and came towards her daughter, squeezing her daughter's shoulder gently.

"Haya, it's wonderful to be smitten with a man. But just remember that there's a difference between taking his advise or trying to change your personal perspective for his sake."

She said to her, smiling slightly as she tried to explain Haya that she didn't have to change herself for the sake of a man.

The King was a conservative man but she hadn't felt the need to change her self for his sake. Yes, she had compromised but she hadn't lost touch of her own personality. She wanted Haya to be a good person, she wanted her to develop some of Amir's traits but she didn't want Haya to transform herself completely.

"You're talking to Haya over here. Do you really think I'm that naive?" Haya responded, the Queen shook her head.

"You're not. But Amir is perfect in your eyes and subconsciously even, you just want to make him happy."  Before Haya could respond, her mother continued talking.

"Which is incredible, it's amazing. But I don't want you to wake up one day and regret everything because you feel like he changed you."

Okay, so Haya understood her mother's point of view. She did. The thought that her mother didn't want her to change was kind of heart warming.

"I understand what you're trying to say but I don't think I'm going to change for Amir. He likes me the way I am."

Haya said and while the Queen could have argued that point, she decided to let it go. She only smiled and pulled her hand away, mumbling.

"Good, that's good." She mumbled, Haya hummed sitting down as she continued talking.

"Aaliya will be coming today, we are going to have a talk with the designers for the engagement dress."

Even though she didn't know the date of the engagement yet, she knew that she had to start preparing or at least inform the people around her.

"I'm sorry?"

Seeing the confusion on her mother's face, Haya couldn't help but be confused too.

"What?"

"Engagement dress?" Her mother repeated and Haya frowned.

"Yes?"

"Haya, how do you not know? Or do you know something that I don't know?"

"I'm so confused right now." She replied, shaking her head and the Queen sighed, understanding that Haya didn't know about Yusuf's phone call with Amir.

"Yusuf called Amir to talk about the engagement plan and Amir said that he wasn't interested in an engagement. He said that on behalf of his father as well, he would like to have the nikah."

Haya couldn't help herself as the surprised look crossed her face. She didn't know about this and she didn't know how the hell Amir had not told her about this.

"What?! But we didn't even have a talk about this? And why did Yusuf even call Amir without telling me?" Haya ponderered out loud, feeling her nerves getting high.

"I have to call him." She said, a little fuming.

"Haya, calm." Her mother murmured, she narrowed her eyes.

"I am calm. I just need to ask him what the fuck he was thinking when he talked to my brother!" She exclaimed out loud, feeling the rise of her temper.

How did he just refuse without even asking of her personal will? What the actual fuck?

The Queen upon hearing her daughter curse out loud, gave her a disappointed look.

"Haya, be graceful please."

"Now isn't the time, mama." She replied, standing up.

As she stood up, her mother saw her clothes once again and shook her head.

"And please change your clothes. I can't look at you for one more second."

"Hello?"

She dialled without even thinking for once that Amir might have been at work and busy too. It just have been around three in the afternoon in Maraaish and while Haya particularly never called him during the day, she was quite angry to think about grace and class and all that shit.

"Yes?" He replied in such a low tone that Haya instantly knew he was busy.

Well, too fucking bad.

"You're at work?" She enquired.

"I am."

Amir affirmed.

"Well, get away for ten minutes or you'll hear me ramble and you won't even be able to say a word in your defense." Haya shot back and he didn't miss the rude tone, the tinges of anger that were surged in her voice.

"Why don't we reschedule this for the evening?" He suggested, staring at the minority rights minister and his team as he spoke over the phone.

"Why don't you talk to me right away because I am pissed?" Haya suggested back.

The Crown Prince stared ahead, knowing that he had to talk to Haya because she hadn't ever done this before and maybe something was truly wrong that had made her angry.

He stood up from his seat, excusing himself from the conference Hall.

"Excuse me." The Crown Prince muttered, entering his personal space in a matter of few minutes.

"Behaving like a wife already Princess?" He teased to reduce the tension that existed over the phone call but Haya clearly was not in the mood.

"I don't know about me but you clearly are behaving like a husband, Amir."

She responded, rolling her eyes and for once, she was glad that he could not see her as she talked to him.

"You'll need to be more specific, Haya." He said back curtly, ready to hear what was the issue because he could not deal with not knowing what was wrong.

"My brother called you."

Haya started off, Amir couldn't  remember anything unpleasant that might have happened during the phone call with Buredaan's Crown Prince.

"He did. What about it?" He enquired, Haya didn't like the fact that he still sounded clueless about the entire thing.

"He asked about the engagement and you said you wanted to have the nikah straight away. I don't remember us having any discussion of this sort."

She elaborated why she was mad in the first place. 

"I do." Amir mumbled without any hesitancy.

He couldn't believe that she was even surprised that he had said no to an engagement. Did she not know him?

"Enlighten me please."

"When I told you that I wanted to marry you, I also told you that the reason behind it was the fact that I didn't want a haram relationship. Why would I do an engagement party when I very well know that it's haram?"

Haya didn't like that Amir always sounded so calculative and prepared with logic and all kinds of words to prove his points right.

"But you straight away refused without even consulting me. I wanted an engagement, Amir." She further insisted, not willing to fall prey to his bunch of logics even though they did kind of make sense.

"Did you ever tell me that, Haya?"

Okay, so she didn't. But he didn't either.

"The same way you never told me you didn't want it." She used his own words to get back at him, Amir wanted to chuckle at the smartness.

"I clearly always said I didn't want to form a haram relationship. In what dictionary of yours is an engagement halal compared to a nikah?"

She clicked her tongue in slight annoyance. This haram, halal, the barriers in between, it was all always charming when it came to Amir. Today, it just annoyed her.

"An engagement is a public declaration of a future marriage. Maybe your thoughts of halal and haram are different from mine."

She pondered out loud, Amir hummed in agreement.

For Haya, everything was flexible in religion.

For Amir, everything couldn't be flexible. It wouldn't be a true faith if there was flexibility.

"Yes, they are. And you accepted that from the very first day. Did you not?"

He reminded her, she swallowed. 

"Amir." She took his name like she still wanted to complain.

"Haya." He took her name like it was still fresh and beautiful and just so lovely.

"You can't expect me to not want for an engagement party. I'm royalty for fucks sake." She cursed because well, she wanted to.

"Royals don't curse." Amir reminded her.

A bunch of lies. Royals cursed more than anyone in the world.

"Yes, they do." She replied with a small chuckle, hearing Amir's sigh.

He remained quiet for a few seconds and she could hear the silence. Haya already knew he was trying to find the right words to say.

"Haya, I deeply understand that you have people you want me to meet, you have friends and family. I get that. I do too." He continued after another small pause.

"And I know that you want a grand celebration, I'm going to give you that. But I can not agree to an engagement."

He simply said, even though a part of him was begging to compromise, asking him to let go of this for once because it would make Haya happy.

"I have a grand reception planned after the nikah. I promise you that people will remember it for days." He further added, continuing.

"And I want you to remember that I'm only doing it for you, because I know that you want that from me."

"Don't guilt trip me. You're not doing me any favour, don't be that person." Haya shot back quickly, because she didn't want him to do it for her and then remind her of it every single day.

Amir wanted to hang up for a moment. Instead, he swallowed and calmed himself down.

"It surprises me that you would even think of me as that person." He stated, following it up with further details.

"The nikah reception will be for you, Haya. I have it in my mind. It won't be like our wedding reception, it will be like the engagement party you want."

Haya arched her eyebrows in surprise.  

"If you had all that in mind, why did you not tell me?" She asked, Amir let out a small laugh.

"You never asked." He said smartly.

"I have always wanted an engagement party." She still tried one last time because well, she was stubborn and wanted things to go her way only.

"I assure you the moment you sign those nikah papers, I'll slide a ring across your finger." Amir replied in the most Amir way possible.

She shook her head.

"I was fuming when I called you, now I'm just confused because all my logics fail when I talk to you." She admitted, Amir knew how that felt like.

Every bone in his body was asking him to comply with her wishes, to tell her that an engagement party would be nice for him too.

"You cloud my judgement too." He told her, Haya smiled not saying anything to that.

She fell silent and didn't hear him say anything for a minute too.

"Haya, if you still really want an engagement party, I'll not disappoint you. I want you to be happy." He found himself saying and he didn't even know why he had said that to her so casually.

Haya felt herself relax, her nerves calmed down. Her perfect Prince charming.

"No, Amir. I want to be with you. A party is just a party, right?" She didn't want him to do something he didn't believe in.

"Okay."

"I'll recheck everything with you before confirming it from now on. Alright?" He assured.

"Okay. Thank you, Amir."

"Can I go back now Princess?" He teased her once again, this time..Haya was quite in the mood to tease him herself.

"And if I ask you to stay?" She asked playfully, Amir smiled.

"Then I will stay, Haya." He breathed out.

She didn't know how such simple words could cause her cheeks to burn so damn hard.

@Haya : and you stay..

___

Late night update but hey we're all quarantined so whatever lol.

Emjoyyy!!!

Stay home. Stay safe.