I've usually written stories where my characters have parent issues lol so here I absolutely love the relationship Haya has with her father. It makes me happy.

Infact, I love her relationship with both her parents. Very open and expressive which is how ours should be with our parents as well :)

Golden is such a pure story to write sometimes, I really enjoy it :)

Hope you guys do as well.

Drop your votes and comments, tell me what you think.

____

Haya.

She knocked on the door once, poking her head inside the prayer room.. to find not only her father but also her husband. She had left her bad so sleepy that she had not even bothered to see whether Amir was asleep or not. Clearly, he wasn't.

He was prostrating on the ground while her father turned his head to look at his daughter, gesturing her to enter.

"Haya, come inside." She entered the the prayer room, engulfed by the scent of rich oud.

The smell in itself felt so much like home.

She had spent a lot of early mornings like these in this very room, only because it was the one hour of the day that her father wasn't busy and she had his undivided attention.

She smiled in greeting, waiting for Amir to end his prayer so she could walk towards the both of them.

It was quite surprising to see Amir here, merely because this room was her father's most personal area of the entire Palace.

No one was allowed to enter other than Haya and her mother, sometimes. Even her brothers hadn't stepped foot inside it, atleast not in their father's presence.

This is why Haya found it very shocking that Amir was right here, praying with her father.

As her husband finished his prayer, Haya took off her shoes and stepped foot on the carpet, sitting by her father's side while her gaze remained on Amir.

"Hey," She mumbled to him, finding him reciting something as his lips moved very gradually.

"Uh I didn't expect you here." She said to him, seeing only a smile in return as he murmured verses in his mouth.

"Amir and I prayed together." Her father responded, making Haya glance at the King with a pout on her face.

"I thought only I was allowed in the prayer room." She said to him, almost sounding jealous.

"And is there any difference between you two?" Her father asked back, Haya swallowed.

Yes.

She wanted to say.

Instead, she just smiled.

She kept quiet for a few moments, not exactly knowing what to say as she wanted to talk to her father and she also didn't want to show her insecurities in front of Amir.

"I will go get some sleep." He announced, standing up from his position.

Haya didn't stand, since her father was still sat on the floor and she didn't want to make him feel disrespected.

"You can stay." She said to him, still sitting on the floor even though she really didn't want him to stay, as bad as it sounded.

Amir shook his head at her.

"No. You deserve some private time with your father." He told her, turning his head towards the King.

"I will see you in the morning, InshaAllah."

Her father only nodded, agreeing.

"inshaAllah." He mumbled, bidding goodbye.

Haya watched him go away, turning herself to face her father completely.

"Dad, is that my painting?" Haya asked, staring at the opposite wall in utter awe as she saw the painting that she had made, hanging in a room that her father found the most pure, the most personal.

"Yes. You left it in the art room." Her father stated, staring at the painting himself.

The more Haya gazed at it, the more she found herself feeling at peace, there was this certain serenity in this room that she didn't find anywhere else. She knew it was because of the spirituality of this room, because even her father didn't feel like the King here.

"I used to look at it alot during the first week of you being gone. It reminded me that my daughter might fit in there."

She heard her father say and she understood him as well. He was the King but he was also a father and it worried him, seeing Haya in a place that she didn't understand.

"Amir was really amazed when he saw this too." Haya mentioned, remembering the first time she had shown him the painting and how he had reacted, in utter surprise.

"Are you happy?" Her father asked, Haya turned her face back to him.

"Do I look happy?"

"You look more at peace than I've seen you in a very long time." He told her, and honestly..Haya truly thought to herself and realized that it was somewhat true.

Amir gave her the stability and calm that she needed in her life.

"So you don't see change in me?"

She asked her father because he was the only person whose words would express the truth and he would never tell her something that wasn't right. Even if his words were bitter, they would be true and Haya needed that.

"What do you mean?" The King enquired.

"Mom keeps telling me that I'm changing, so does Aaliyah and I don't know, I don't think I've changed. Do you think I have?"

He could sense the panic in her voice, the slight fear of not being the person that she used to be.

"Haya, why do you talk about it as if it is a bad thing?"

"Because if I'm changing then it's because of him, I'm not doing it on a personal level."

She was not trying to change. She was not making an effort to be a different person then why were people telling her that she was changing anyway?

"No, Haya." Her father denied, continuing.

"As people, we change every day." She shook her head. She didn't believe in that.

"We evolve, dad. We don't change who we are."

She told him what she had told her mother days ago. She didn't believe a person could change so easily, so quick. Change in someone's personality was very hard, a person couldn't change it's core.

She heard her father sigh and shake his head again.

"Look, daughter.."

"Everyone in this world has good parts and bad parts. With time, we change our habits according to where we live, we change our actions inspired by the people who are with us and we even change our entire personality sometimes."

He explained to her, seeing her quiet and listening to him attentively.

"It is not a bad thing at all." He murmured, staring at her further as he spoke again.

"I see a certain patience in you now that was never there before. Do you think being patient is a bad quality?" She didn't know how to to answer that.

She had always been told that she needed to have more patience and she had even tried to reach it on some level but she had failed since she could not control herself when it came to her feelings and emotions, specially when she felt really strongly about a cause or a matter.

But now, without even trying and without even noticing.. she had started to be more patient.

"No. I could do with a little bit of patience." She responded after thinking about it for a while.

"I see this calmness within you, this sense of hope and positivity and if Amir is inspiring that.. then you should love him even more."

She smiled upon listening to her father's words. She was not necessarily a negative person but yes, she focused more on the wrongs instead of the rights.

And yes, she loved her husband for who he was and how his personality was but she didn't know how much she had changed after him and it made her hesitant about things.

"I don't want to change in a way where I lose focus of who I am." She complained still.

The King shook his head at her.

"And you will not. You still have a purpose but it's okay if your purpose shapes up differently every single day. "

He always used such logical and intellectual words that Haya didn't know how to counter him with her thoughts.

She stayed silent. Her father sighed and questioned her instead.

"Don't you think he must have picked on your habits as well? Don't you think he must have got inspired too?"

He asked, Haya swallowed.

She really didn't.

She found Amir to be exactly the way he was. Then why was she picking up on his habits? Why was she changing as everyone pointed out?

"I don't. Is that bad?" She uttered.

"No." The King denied, watching her bite her lip.

She didn't look like the confident Haya the world knew, she looked like a confused daughter. She was only vulnerable like this in front of him and they both understood why Haya truly wanted to talk to her father so privately, why she needed some time with him.

"Haya, women in his country and women of his family need to get permission from their husbands and from the men of their family in almost every matter. Have you ever asked for his permission?"

She didn't remember asking for his permission even once. Infact, the only time he had shown slight displeasure about not knowing something was on the day of the interview, and even then..she remembered him handling it very well.

"No. I haven't." She told him, the King gave a knowing smile.

"Is that not change for you?"

"Yeah, I guess it is." She answered, still not convinced but her heart felt lighter.

"We change for the people that we love and it is not a bad thing." Her father assured her, standing up so he could walk around the room.

Haya stood up as well, staring at the painting she made as she heard the King speak.

"I changed when I married your mother, I changed when I had my first child and I changed the most when I had you."

She smiled. Her father always told her that her birth had created the most difference in his life.

"I started to believe in God when you were born, Haya. I truly believed that someone was responsible for a miracle because there was no way that the universe gave me a beautiful gift like you."

She smiled, her eyes shining bright as he heard her father's words. She didn't know any other person who could lift her spirits the way her father did.

She turned and grinned at him.

"Now you understand why I wanted to talk to you?" She asked instead, he nodded.

"This was the only thing bothering you?" She shook her head because she still had more to say and more to ask and more to hear.

"There's something else." Haya started off, her father gestured her to go on.

"I want to work, the way I worked here."

She trailed off, pouring her heart out.

"But I feel like it would be so unreasonable and so awkward if I ask Amir to give me some position. It wasn't that way here, I felt like I owned it all but it doesn't feel that way there."

She could not really accept Maraaish as her home and she didn't think she would ever be able to.

Buredaan felt like home, it's air felt like home, it's grass and it's sky felt like home, it's sunrise and sunset felt like home, it's nights felt like home, it's food felt like home, it's walls felt like home. Everything here felt like home.

Everything there felt just like another place, except for Amir.

He was the only person that felt like home and his scent was the only thing that felt like home.

"Sure, I get treated incredibly well but at the end of the day, his father is in charge and I don't know how I can muster up the courage to ask for something like this.."

She told him, the King frowned.

"You talked about this before the wedding, yes? And he promised that he would help you."

She nodded, giving him more information.

"Yeah, and we talked recently and he said that he will but,"

She hesitated for a moment, trying to find the right words to let out.

"Dad, I know this country very well.. it is my home and I know the people. how can I help the people of that country when I don't even know how they are like?"

Sure, she had plans to help the people regardless of their identity, race or religion but there was still a certain strangeness she felt.

"The same way that you have done things before. You study, you research, you make sure that you know what you're dealing with and you go from there."

He advised, continuing.

"And Amir is there to help you, I am sure he will give you a responsibility that you can take on."

She knew Amir had faith in her abilities but Amir also had someone to be answerable to.

"I don't want some behind the scenes job, I want people to know I am doing this for them. I want the world to know."

It was no secret to anyone in her family that she enjoyed being in the spotlight, she enjoyed been appreciated and praised, she enjoyed hosting galas and seminars, she enjoyed talking to the public, she enjoyed giving interviews and going on red carpets, she enjoyed seeing her face plastered on magazines about how glamorous she was, she enjoyed people talking about her on social media.

She doesn't think there was anything wrong or selfish about that, but she was not sure how Amir would feel about it.

"You're in the spotlight even when you don't want to be, Haya. No matter what you do, people will give attention."

She scrunched her face as she heard the word attention. It sounded like she was a teenager who needed attention to survive.

"I sound like an attention seeking self obsessed person, don't I?"

She whined, the King just laughed.

"No. You just sound like the Haya I know."

She sighed in relief.

Atleast someone was telling her that she was the same Haya.

"I am sure you will figure out what you want to do as time goes by. You don't need to worry about these things. You're intelligent enough." Her father shrugged off her worries.

"Your most intelligent child." She stated, her father pondered for a few moments before looking at his daughter.

"Yusuf is actually coming quite close to you." He told her, Haya knew he was teasing her but she still pouted and the King couldn't help as he embraced his daughter.

"But can he ever compare to my darling daughter? Never." He whispered, finding Haya chuckle in delight.

"Thank you, father." She said to him, he only shook his head and moved back.

"Now go, see if your husband is asleep. I don't want you to lack in your duties as a wife."

Oh yes.

She had to be a perfect wife too. Her father expected that from her.

He's getting all the sex he needs and more, Dad. I'm not lacking as a wife either.

She wanted to say but she was in a prayer room and this was the kind of statement that she usually gave to her mother so she kept her mouth shut and nodded.

"Fine, see you at breakfast."

@Haya : good morning from the land that I find the most beautiful in the entire world. Buredaan is not just a country, it's a feeling. It's a feeling of sacrifice of all those soldiers who have lost their lives for our sake, it's a feeling of love of the mothers who have lost their children for the sake of this land, it's a feeling of devotion and passion, it's a feeling of pain and grief, it's a feeling of life and love ❤️

"So you promise you won't hang up on your mother then?" Her mother asked with a laugh as she was saying goodbye to her family.

Haya rolled her eyes playfully.

"Do you really think I have the patience to listen to you for an hour, mother?" She shot back at her, chuckling as she saw Amir only observing her.

The Queen narrowed her eyes at her daughter.

"If I had the patience to bear ten hours of labor pain for you, then you can muster up the patience to talk to your mother as well."

She responded back.

Crown Prince Amir remained quiet and observed them. He often found so many resemblance between the two, not only by looks but also by the way they conducted themselves, the way the drew attention towards themselves, even the way they talked with a little bit of sass and playfulness.

There was also this pride and superiority that they reflected, they tried to hide it well but it was always there and he could notice it. The King was much more humble than the Queen, which made him realize that Haya was just the same as her mother at times.

"Noted." He heard his wife say, followed by the Queen's instruction..

"And don't act irrational, okay?"

She murmured to her, Haya groaned in slight annoyance.

"I am not a child, mummy. Chill out."

Amir didn't think he could ever tell his mother to chill out but he knew everyone had a different relationship with their parents.

"Haya," Her mother protested, Haya sighed.

"Fine, I'll be on my best behavior."

Amir hoped so too.

"These two days felt like you were never gone." The Queen said with a soft and gentle tone, her hand on her daughter's cheek.

"Are you going to get emotional and tell me that you will miss me?"

Haya asked with a fake laugh because even she knew she would miss her home and her family.

"Yes. I am." The Queen replied, pulling her daughter into a hug.

Haya hugged her back, feeling her mother's familiar warmth and scent that also felt too much like home.

"Visit soon."

"I will." She whispered, feeling her throat tighten as she felt emotional herself.

She didn't want to cry in front of Amir, she hadn't before.

"I'll miss you." Haya still whispered very softly, just near her mother's ear so only she would hear it.

The Queen pulled back, finding her daughter's eyes a little red..a sign that she was ready to cry.

"Now who is getting emotional?" She enquired, seeing her daughter's face.

"Ugh, please. It's the wind." She replied, clearing her throat so she would feel better.

Amir knew it wasn't the wind. She was sad to leave her family and he honestly understood why. Life here was quite different than Maraaish. He had only realised it properly because be had stayed as a family member this time.

He saw Haya turn after hearing some footsteps and seeing her father. Amir only stood there, alongside Crown Prince Yusuf.

"Dad," She embraced her father as he arrived.

"I'm just a phone call away, Haya."

"I know." Haya nodded, only mocking her brother as she looked at Amir..telling him that she was ready to leave.

Still, as she was about to leave..she hugged her brother and told him to not fuck up the country with a laugh. Yusuf only rolled his eyes but told his sister to take care and not annoy her husband.

Amir found herself leaning towards the King as he embraced him in his usual traditional manner.

"It's been an honor, your majesty." He bid him farewell as Haya heard her father smile at her husband.

"Thank you for coming, Prince Amir. It was a pleasure to have you with us."

"Yes, Prince Amir. I know how precious your time is. It's an honor that you could join us." Yusuf added, embracing the Crown Prince.

The Prince smiled gratefully in return, glancing at his wife.

"Of course. Haya wouldn't have let me hear the end of it if I didn't attend the engagement party." He joked, hearing the others laugh.

Surprisingly, Haya didn't tease him back.

"You alright, baby?" Amir questioned as he held out his hand for her to hold, since she was in her heels and just about to step on the stairs of the aircraft.

He stopped to stare at her as Haya nodded and held his hand with a smile.

The world could fade away and she would still be okay if he was the one holding her hand through it all.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said convincingly but he still asked her again, understanding that she was leaving her home and they hadn't been married for too long so she still wasn't used to it.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. In the middle of making sure if she was alright or not, his attention went back to the fact that she wasn't wearing her blue jacket anymore.

"You took off the jacket?" He asked casually, knowing how possessive Haya was about her clothing and freedom to wear what she wanted to wear.

"I don't feel chilly anymore." She responded, Amir nodded.

"I think it looked really good on you."

Haya smirked, hearing his compliment.

"Really?"

"Oh yes."

Since she was wearing a sleevless shirt, Amir traced his hand along her arm and found it cold.

"There's goosebumps on your skin and you say that you're not chilly." He remarked, Haya just shrugged.

She would change once she reached Maraaish, since she knew how she had to dress over there but she didn't think it mattered right now. She wanted to be comfortable.

"I am not." She denied, Amir put his hand on her cheek, cupping it.

"My baby," He used his favourite endearment on her, continuing.

"You will get sick. Wear the jacket." He lightly suggested, Haya laughed at his way of trying.

"Or maybe you want me to wear it so your men don't see my sleeveless dress, hmm?" She teased him, telling him that she did understand his game.

Amir didn't deny it, instead she smiled lovingly at her.

"Would it be so bad to admit that I am a possessive man?" Amir asked, Haya chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, extremely." She replied, the Crown Prince nodded.

"Okay." He mumbled, Haya rolled her eyes.

What even was this man and why did she love him so fucking much!

"But I'll wear it, I don't want you to pout in the flight." She grumbled, looking back at her assistant who was holding onto her blue vintage jacket.

She gestured her to come closer and hand it over, wearing it as she found her husband helping her.

Even though the Crown Prince wasn't big on PDA, he still kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you." He whispered, Haya shot him a playful look.

"You owe me again." She reminded him, holding onto his hand as they started to walk upstairs.

"How will I ever repay you?" Amir shot back, Haya laughed out loud.

"Well, I can think of a few things." She naughtily suggested, the Crown Prince cleared his throat and just entered the aircraft.

She leaned into his ear, whispering.

"Beautiful, pleasurable things." She uttered, breathing air into his air before moving her head back.

Amir swallowed, his eyes on her.

She could almost hear him muttering astaghfurullah in his head.

She found it cute how he always got a little shy whenever she flirted with him in public.

Haya only laughed again as the Crown Prince got greeted by his team and he managed to greet them back, even with his slightly red cheeks.

All was well till then, but the Crown Prince received a phone call from his father and his mood became dull.

Haya didn't know the reason for it but she definitely knew it had something to do with her.

Thoughts?

Also, any ideas about what Amir's call with his father was all about?