Long chapter, sort of interesting since drama is kinda picking up.

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Amir.

She felt her shoulders tense as she saw him frown. He had not really expected his father to call, especially since he knew that he was to return in a few hours. It definitely was something important.

He stood up from his seat inside the aircraft, only smiling at his wife as he excused himself and found a more private space to talk to his father.

"Assalam u alaikum, yes father." He got straight to the point, knowing that there was something important to be discussed or else his father would never have called him at such a time.

He had the King ask for his health and if he was on the way back, Amir nodded even though his father couldn't see him and responded over the call.

"I am well, alhamdullilah. Just about to reach Maraaish."

His father asked if he was alone in a private space, Amir felt worried at the concern in his father's voice.

"Ofcourse, tell me."

"Amir, your wife."

Two words. Two words and Amir knew this was about Haya. It was either about the way she dressed or about some statement she might have given in some interview.

He patiently waited for his father to tell him what was it this time.

"I told you that you need to know more about her, I told you that you need to stop rushing, I told you that she won't fit in."

Amir knew all of that.

But all of the women that were supposed to fit in his culture and his life, they did not make his heart beat the way she did.

Amir knew that there might have been women who could have proven extra ordinary for his family, but Haya was Haya.

She wasn't just a spoiled Princess with a sense of justice and a cause that most deemed hopeless. She was also the woman who could make a man weak on his knees with just one look. She was also the woman who had compromised on most of the things she wanted for his sake. She was also the woman who loved him despite their opposite personalities.

"I can't force things upon anyone. She will change with time but she can't change who she is. When we got married, I knew who she was, who she is." He defended his wife.

Even though his father had not told him the reason, he kind of figured it out himself.

"She has to find her own path. I can't just tell her to do this and do that. It doesn't work that way."

He further said, the King asked him to stop defending his wife and understand the situation first.

Amir let out a sigh.

"It's not about defending, father. What she wears-"

Upon hearing that this call wasn't about Haya's dressing, he frowned. As far as he knew, there were no issues with the interview she had given.

"Then what is this about?" He asked, hearing the frustration in his father's voice.

"Two days of not working and you do not even know what's happening anymore. I have better things to do, Amir. I thought you would have known by now."

"Ofcourse, father. I know you have better things to do but you need to atleast tell me what happened."

He politely stated, hearing him ask another question over the line.

"No, Rizwan didn't get in touch with me. I missed his call and thought to meet him once I arrived back instead."

He grew even more worried when he heard his father talk about his assistant. What did Haya do?

"I can not talk about it over the phone. Visit me the moment you reach."

He didn't insist on knowing, since he knew the complications of talking over the phone sometimes.

"Alright, I'll come straight away. Yes." He affirmed, ending the phone call. 

"See you then, InshaAllah."

Amir arrived back on his seat, finding Haya's concerned gaze on him.

"Hey, what happened?" She enquired the moment he sat down, Amir shook his head.

"Nothing, Haya. Everything's fine."

He shrugged her off. He didn't know the exact situation yet and he wasn't ready to ask Haya whether she had done something or not because most of the times, she didn't even know if she had done something. 

"Are you sure?" She still asked, finding him a little stiff and worried.

Amir shook his head, not willing to lie.

"No, I'm not sure but hopefully I will be when we reach home." He told her, she put her hand on his arm.

"Tell me." She insisted because the way he looked at her, it just made her feel like she was somewhat involved and his father's call had something to do with her.

"Let me just know the whole story first and then I'll definitely tell you." Amir replied with a smile, Haya had no choice but to nod.

"Okay."

"We'll go to the Palace straight away. I have to meet with my father. You can spend some time with my family then." He suggested.

Haya was literally in no mood to meet his family. Not right now atleast. She needed to take a bath and just sleep.

"I'll be exhausted there, Amir. I'll go straight home and you go to the Palace." She replied, not bothering to hide the fact that she wasn't in the mood to go today.

Amir could've argued that he stayed with her family for two days and didn't feel exhausted but instead, he remained quiet.

"Fine, as you wish."

He mumbled. For now, he just wanted to know what was wrong.

"Assalamu alaikum,"

He greeted, the moment he reached his father's office. He came straight inside, without even meeting his mother since anxiety was crawling at him and the curiosity of what was going on nagged at him.

Still, he passed a smile to his father and sat down in front of him, only to find the King standing up and coming towards his son.

He picked up a glass of water from the trolley and handed it over to Amir.

Amir didn't remember the last time his father had done that for him.

"What is it?" He asked directly, knowing that it couldn't have been something good since his own father looked hesitant in talking about it.

"You have no idea who you married, Amir. This girl will be the cause of so many problems." He heard his father say.

He had been quite supportive of his marriage until two days ago. What had suddenly changed?

"This is an embarrassment and you of all people will be the most ashamed of this gets out."

He unbuttoned the first button of his shirt, loosening his collar as he felt constricted all of a sudden.

Why was his father saying all of this? What had Haya done?

"Tell me what is happening? You're scaring me now." He mumbled, not having the will to sit anymore.

He put the glass back on the table and stood up, finding his father's gaze on his assistant and closest confidant.

"Rizwan?" Amir called out his name, only to find him staring at the King..as if asking for permission.

King Abdullah nodded and gestured him to go on.

"Sir, I-" He hesitated, looking down as he didn't have the courage to look Amir in the eye.

"I was working in my office and as usual, I was checking your official emails..trying to find anything important so I could forward it to your personal mail and get it done."

He started off, Amir frowned finding nothing unusual so far.

"And there is obviously alot of spam so I hardly go through it, knowing there's not much important things there. Since I had free time on my hands, I started to go through a few emails."

Finally, Rizwan looked up at the Crown Prince and swallowed.

"I found a few pictures, Prince." He announced and Amir felt his heart beat faster than it's usual pace.

"Pictures?" Amir repeated, asking him to elaborate.

"I remember when we were trying to find out things about Princess Haya because you had mentioned your interest, I found that she visited Jordan a year ago to meet with the deputy Crown Prince."

He did not understand what pictures he found and why he was bringing up Jordan all of a sudden. The last thing he wanted was to find a connection between the two.

"She did? Was it official?" Amir asked, trying to keep his come posture calm.

He didn't want to panic. He wasn't even the kind of person who panicked. He usually dealt with things through patience.

"No, Prince Amir. It was very private and had I not dug deep, I wouldn't have even found out about it."

Rizwan replied, taking a deep breath as he thought about finding the right words to speak.

"Go on."

"I think that they might have met and-"

Amir took another deep breath, seeing how Rizwan stopped.

"And?" He asked, gesturing him to finish his sentence.

"I think something might have happened-"

Amir raised his eye at the man in front of him, repeating his words.

"You think something might have happened?" Rizwan nodded.

"I want you to be very careful about your words, Rizwan. You are talking about my wife." He sternly said, the man apologised even though he was only telling the truth.

"Ofcourse, I am sorry if my words are upsetting, Prince. I don't mean to offend you."

Amir didn't say anything back for a while as he simply shrunk back down on the chair and asked the man to continue speaking.

"Someone sent you the pictures of the time they spent together."

For a moment, he didn't know what to say or what to think. When Rizwan had mentioned the word pictures, his mind had instantly gone to the pictures that had once told him about. The pictures that was snapped by her ex boyfriend and how her mother had to intervene and solve the matter.

But this was not at all about that.

Did Haya know about the pictures? And if she did, why had she not told him? Why had she lied?

He knew that he couldn't form an opinion untill he took a look at the pictures, so he looked up again and asked the man to show him.

"I want to see."

"Yes, here."

The laptop was placed in front of his face with around ten pictures attached in an email.

The first one was from a party, a drink in his wife's hands as she stood by the Deputy Crown Prince of Jordan. He knew that Haya used to drink before so the picture seemed innocent enough, he moved onto the next.

The next few pictures were of Haya laughing and dancing with the man. His jaw clenched any felt a certain angle bubbling up inside of him.

Amir took two deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He didn't want to get angry. He needed to think properly and anger often clouded a man's judgement..

It wasn't until he reached the last two pictures that he saw what he was never supposed to see, what he didn't want to see and what made him want to sink to the ground as he thought about his father and a strange man seeing Haya's pictures. His wife's pictures.

He felt embarrassed and humiliated. He felt ashamed and angry.

She was pinned to a wall, her dress hanging off her body.. his hands all over her and his mouth attached to hers. Clearly, they didn't know that the picture was being snapped but Haya seemed so comfortable and so into the man, it angered Amir even more.

He knew who she was before he married her, but he just didn't want to see it and now, he somehow had.

He kept his gaze on the ground, closing the laptop and not even knowing what to say to his father.

After a few moments of utter silence, the Crown Prince swallowed and looked up at the King, still not staring at his eyes as he felt embarrassed.

He tilted his head to look at Rizwan.

"I need it gone, I don't want it to see the face of the internet, I don't want some snoopy journalist carrying a whiff of it. No one should know about this other than you, Rizwan."

He ordered, telling the man to get to the job.

"Yes, Prince. I'll get right on it." He assured, Amir nodded and asked the man to leave him and his father alone.

"Excuse us." He murmured.

"Amir.." His father trailed off the moment Rizwan left the room..

"Look at me, son." The Crown Prince looked up, knowing that he had to answer his father's questions too.

It was shameful for him, discussing such a thing with his father.

"Did you know about this?" Amir shook his head.

"I know that she is friends with alot of people, including the Royals from Jordan." He responded, remembering how Haya had got the deputy Crown Prince for her summit.

"And is this what friends do? Is this what a respectable woman would do? Is this the kind of woman you married, Amir?"

Ofcourse.

He married Haya and he chose her. Anything wrong would mean him getting blamed and bashed for it.

Amir sighed.

"Father,"

He tried to tell him that Haya was different now, that her past didn't matter but if the past would catch up like this..then it would matter too.

"Do not defend this sin, Amir." He heard his father say, the frown lines on his face evident that he was upset about the situation.

Amir swallowed, nodding.

"I am sorry that you felt embarrassed because of me." He apologized instead, knowing that his father had never dealt with something like that before.

Even with Adil, no matter how spoiled and different he was..he was very careful.

"It wasn't because of you." The King mentioned, reminding him that this was because of his wife.

"She is a part of me, father."

The way he said it, with such vulnerability and almost exhaustion..the King couldn't help but sympathize with his son.

He loved a woman so different from him and now he had to suffer with the consequences.

"I am letting it go this time. I will not utter a word about this to her, or to King Najaf but I won't remain silent next time."

He said, knowing that it was best to let it go this time..for the sake of his son.

"I know. Thank you."

Amir stood up from his chair, smiling at his father even though his heart felt heavy and he didn't know what to ask Haya or what to tell her.

Amir saw the way his father stood up and patted his son's shoulder.

"I know you love her and I know she has a good heart but she holds your honor and respect. Do not let her shatter what you've created after years." He murmured, staring at his son's very tired face.

Amir sighed.

"She won't shatter anything, father. I trust her."

And he did trust Haya.

He just didn't trust her past.

When he reached home, he tried to calm himself down even further. He did not want to lash out at his wife, but he knew that the embarrassment he had faced today..it would cater to his mood and it might cause an argument that he didn't want to have.

If it were up to him, he wouldn't even be telling her about all of this but he needed to know so he would be more careful in the future.

He understood that she is not obligated to tell him about every man that had been in her life and she had already told him about the one man that she did love before him or atleast  thought she loved.

But, those pictures indicated that there was someone else in her life just less than a year before she had met him. And not just any normal person but a Royal being.

A Royal being that he had even invited to his wedding. Ofcourse, the man hadn't been able to come due to state duties but now Amir really wondered if state duties were the real reason he wasn't able to come to the wedding.

He entered the house, almost praying that he wouldn't have to face her today..just so he could get a few hours of sleep and then talk to her with a much clear mind.

It seemed like Haya had different plans than that. She was already perched up on a chair in the living hall, reading a book when she felt him arrive.

Amir stopped in his tracks as he laid his eyes on Haya. She was in a plain shirt and pants underneath but he had seen her in a very short dress just a few hours ago in those pictures.

It was a dress that didn't even reach her knees, infact..it fell on her shoulders revealing them too. It was a dress that he didn't think she would wear over here and yet she had very comfortable worn it there.

As she felt his blank stare on her, it only confirmed her thoughts that something was wrong and it was related to her.

She greeted him without standing up and put her book on the table, waiting for him to come towards her.

After a few more seconds, the Crown Prince moved in her direction but still made no move to sit as he stood above her.

Haya looked up at him, her facial expression more serious than before as she saw the look on his face.

"What did your father say?" She asked directly, ready to freaking break something if this was about the dress she wore at her brother's engagement party.

She had already seen a few articles, most of them from the international Media which highlighted how Princess Haya had married everything that she was against and how she had no intention of changing herself.

It also said that she was trying to stir up controversy in the country as her free and liberating thoughts would not be welcomed well by most of of the people of Maraaish.

As if that was not enough, she also managed to to read a few headlines that wrote about the hypocrisy of the Royals of Maraaish.

She was still okay with all of it, she had read worse things about herself and besides, there were some really amazing articles too.

But the look on Amir's face, it made her worry. If they were already getting to him, what would happen in the future?

Amir swallowed, not even knowing where to start. He knew that he needed answers in while his blood boiled everytime he remembered the pictures, he wanted to ask the question that mattered the most to him.

"Did you have an affair with Prince Hunain?"

His question caught her off guard and she frowned for a moment, not even knowing where this was coming from.

"Where is this coming from?"

She asked back, not answering his question which made him feel more frustrated.

"Haya, I have asked you a question and I deserve the answer to that first."

The Prince stated, his voice low but firm.

Haya crossed her arms and frowned, knowing that it would be hard to explain all of it to him. He hadn't even dated someone before her, how was she supposed to explain this to him?

"I am willing to give you all the answers you need but first you need to tell me what is going on." She tried but Amir only shook his head.

"Yes or no, Haya?"

He asked again.

Haya sighed, telling him the truth.

"No." She denied.

He looked at her in surprise. As far as he remembered, she had not lied to him about important things before and today she had.

"Liar." Amir mumbled as an accusation, Haya scowled hating the word she had just heard.

"Did I just hear you call me a liar?" Haya retorted, her voice getting louder than him.

Amir didn't want to argue but there was no way that they would get out of this mess without having an argument.

"Yes, Haya. I did."

She hated the way he said it, almost mockingly. Haya stood up from the seat, done with this attitude already.

She didn't lie to him, she just had to know what brought this up so she could explain the entire story.

"How dare you?"

The Crown Prince did not remember a single time when somebody had asked him that question.

How dare you?

It sounded arrogant and ill mannered. His anger surfaced and he glared at his wife.

"How dare I? How dare you, Haya? How dare you lie to me about having an affair with a prince before me?" He shot back at her, trying to calm himself down but how could he?

Amir hated liars. How could she lie to him like that?"

"How dare you embarrass me in front of my father? Do you even know how it felt seeing your half naked pictures that my father and my assistant had already seen?"

Haya felt the ground beneath her shake.

What?

"I wanted the earth to swallow me when I had to look at your pictures! When I had to see you kissing him!"

She had never heard his voice gets so loud as it did in that moment. She swallowed, so confused and literally shocked.

She didn't say a word and the look on her face was enough to make him understand that she definitely didn't have any idea about such pictures.

Of course, she didn't.

He breathed a few times through his nose, feeling a little more calm.

"When I married you, I told you that it didn't matter to me what you did in your past."

"I married you for the way you were honest to me about not being a virgin. I married you you because I loved it so much that you came out clean about your past at dinner that night."

He swallowed the bile down his throat.

"I didn't care who you were with before me. I still don't care. What I do care about is you hiding it from me."

She could have yelled at him for the way he had talked to her. God knows she wanted to.

But right now, she had to prioritize. She needed to know the entire story so she could try to fix it.

She did the same as her husband. She breathed through her nose for a few seconds to feel better and then stared at him..

"Can you tell me the whole story first? I need to know everything."

So Amir did.

He told her everything, the call he received from his father, what happened at the office, all of it.

Haya wasn't unfazed. This was shocking and surprising but she knew she was mature enough to handle such situations.

"First, I didn't lie to you. I didn't have an affair with Hunain. He's a friend, a good friend you can say." She started off, catching him stare at her attentively.

"We met at the Dubai expo a few years ago and since we both found it very boring, we started talk to each other and you know.. gave each other company."

"After that, we met at a few events but mostly we chatted over the phone. A phone call every two weeks maybe.."

She told him.

"A year ago, he invited me to his birthday party and I went there. it was not a big event, it was very small and only had a few close friends."

"We had fun, we danced, we had a few drinks.." She hesitated, knowing this wasn't how his world was.

"I understand that this wasn't your world and it isn't, but until a few months ago.. this was every party that I went to. You drink a couple drinks, you dance around, you have fun with your friends."

He nodded in understanding. He understood because his brother's life was pretty much the same.

"Anyway, after the party ended.. he accompanied me to the place I was staying in. It was a hotel so they booked the entire floor for me so I would have security and privacy."

He narrated the story to him and he listened attentively.

"We were both drunk and I can't tell you I wasn't into him that night because I was. We kissed. We could have done more but we didn't."

She mumbled, swallowing.

"I didn't want to ruin the friendship, I gave the cliche excuse but the real reason was that I didn't want him to think I was just some one night stand."

Amir didn't even know how he had the courage to listen to all of it because hearing about his wife's previous hook ups wasn't exactly nice upon the ears.

"It wasn't an affair, Amir. Not at all. The next morning, we laughed about it and we decided that nobody will ever know what happened. I didn't even tell Aaliya. I didn't think it was a big deal, I didn't even have it in my head."

She elaborated, continuing.

"I don't understand how those pictures were taken but I will talk to Hunain and ask him to find out who was allowed on the floor that day. I clearly remember the cameras being off."

She finally finished, staring at Amir.

"My team's working on it, don't worry." He assured her with a shrug but she knew his heart wasn't in it.

"Okay. Amir..I-" He gave her a tight smile and interrupted before she could even finish her sentence.

"I'm exhausted, I should sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

Haya frowned.

"But it's only seven. What about dinner?"

He shook his head, telling her that he didn't want to eat. He just wanted to sleep.

"And I didn't mean to call you a liar." He somewhat apologised, making her feel even worse.

He looked so tired and she wanted to blame herself for it.

She sighed and nodded, knowing that he needed some space for now. As she saw Amir leave, she picked up her book again..literally not in the mood to even yell at someone to feel better.

___

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