"Good evening everyone. My name is Haya Najaf. I am the daughter of Buredaan and the daughter in law of Maraaish."

She started off, feeling everyone's gaze on her. She knew that millions of people were watching her in this very moment.

It was the first time she would be giving any public speech after getting married. She knew that everyone had been waiting for her to step up and speak. She had been trending on social media for the past whole day. They knew she was the rebellious one and they expected a daring speech.

If it weren't for their confidence in her and her personal self assurance, she would have simply read from the speech she had seen get prepared in front of her. Until a night ago, her and Amir had kept on negotiating. They had been trying to find a middle ground.

Finally, Haya had made him agree to eradicating a law that felt oppressing to women and he had convinced her to cut all the lines where she was going to critisice men of his country and speak up about the most recent atrocity in Maraaish. A man had throttled his wife for going out of the house without taking his permission.

He had told her that he had already taken personal notice of the situation and domestic abuse had lowered to a very high level ever since he had taken charge. Haya knew that. She remembered seeing the appreciation for Amir on a global level because he was so passionate about this cause.

He had kissed her head and bid goodbye yesterday, leaving for his foreign trip way before her.

She looked ahead, finding her brother with a big smile on his face and Prince Hunain by his side, his face showing a look of utter appreciation.

"You might have seen me in the news for not being diplomatic enough, for saying things that I shouldn't say, for not being Royal enough, for wearing too many expensive shoes, for being obsessed with jewellery and new dresses, for always being present at parties and for causing scenes that don't suit someone like Princess Haya."

She heard a few chuckles and she laughed softly as well, folding her speech and putting it away. She didn't want to read from a piece of paper. She also knew that she wouldn't say anything that would cause trouble for her man.

"Despite all the scandals, controversies and the rumours, the one thing that I have always held on to is my father's words."

"My father always told me that one has to pave their own way and you can't dictate someone's life choices. He never said that you cannot dictate a man's life or a woman's life, he always said someone."

She mentioned, continuing.

"I have grown up in a society where I have never faced gender discrimination within my family. Although, when I grew up and started to look around in my country and in many other countries that I have travelled to, I found that there were differences between a man and a woman's way of living life."

"I accept the differences and I know that God has created us all very differently but it is also true that a woman gives birth to a man and yet is oppressed by a man."

She spoke up. She knew that her words would cause rage to many men so she tried to tweak her words, for Amir's sake.

"I would say not all men oppress women and it's true. We can't generalise but there's a majority of the male community that does look down upon women. It's done consciously or unconsciously, I really don't know."

"It is a very bitter truth to accept and it is also a harsh reality of life. But just because something is a reality, it does not mean that we can not try hard enough and change it."

She took a breath before going back at it again.

"When I got married this year, I decided that I was not going to be someone who had enough power and influence but made no use of it. Today, I stand here in front of you all and say that I am going to fight for the women in Maraaish. I am going to help them rise and I am going to stand by their side until they are fully aware of their rights."

"Every man and woman deserves a chance to live a life based on their own choice and no one can take that away."

She firmly said, smiling when she felt her brother raise an eye..impressed.

"If women want to work, they should work. If they want to study, they should study. If they want to travel, they should travel. No one but an adult woman has any right to protest or say anything about that." She declared, earning a huge round of applause.

She smiled when she noticed that women inside the large hall were applauding in encouragement and most men were doing so because they had to.

"I'm here to announce on behalf of Crown Prince Amir bin Abdullah that from today onwards, women in Maraaish will not need a male guardian to travel outside the country unless medical or federal assistance is required."

She announced, still surprised after all these days that women in Maraaish weren't even allowed to travel alone.

"I truly hope that we can make this world a better place for all the women as they deserve it the most. Thank you."

"Have a good evening."

She stopped speaking and moved back, heading nothing but applause for small while.

@Haya : it is such an honor to become the first woman to represent Maraaish at a global forum. This is just the start. We have a long way to go, inshallah

"No, you did well." Amir assured her of something she already knew.

Her husband was in Oman while she was in Newyork. Honestly, she didn't miss him right now and she was sure that he didn't either. She was finally working the way she wanted to and she didn't want to trade it for anything else.

"Infact, I got the news that you had folded up your speech. Nadia got extremely worried but I knew you would never betray my trust."

Nadia wasn't just working for Haya but she would inform Amir of every little thing. Haya knew she had to protest about that as well but right now, she only wanted to focus on herself.

"I just added a little bit of Haya in my speech but not too much." Haya joked, chuckling when she heard Amir laugh and hum in agreement.

"Yes, you did really well sweetheart. I'm very happy."

She smiled, glad that he felt this way.

"Well then I should tell you that I'm having dinner with Hunain." She told him, biting her lip when she felt his silence over the line.

"Not so happy now, are you?" She murmured, hearing him clear his throat.

"I'm not but you should enjoy your time. I don't mind." He tried but the distaste in his voice was evident.

"Yes, you do. But you're tolerating it for my sake and I love you for that." She admitted.

She couldn't blame him for not being okay with her friendship. But she couldn't simply stop being friends with him because it made Amir uncomfortable. She knew that the moment she started to base her friendships on his comfort or discomfort, she would start to lose perspective of her ownself.

"Where's the dinner?" Amir asked, Haya didn't want to lie one bit.

"At his house. There's going to be more people though, not just us. And I feel like it's better, we won't have to worry about things like privacy atleast." She added, telling him all that he needed to know to be at ease.

"Okay. Will Illyas accompany you?"

"Actually yes. He's invited as well. Him and Hunain are good friends too."

They were not exactly good friends, just mere aquaintances but she knew that her words would make Amir more comfortable.

Besides, she would get an opportunity to have a talk with her brother who was hell bent on avoiding her.

"Alright, talk to you later then."

"Have a good day." Haya wished.

"Thank you, baby."

Crown Prince Amir did not have many friends. He knew alot of people, he was the centre of attention at many events, alot of people would call him their friend with pride but Amir hardly confided in anyone.

Ever since childhood, Amir only considered one man his actual friend. Khalifa.

Khalifa was the son of the King's bestfriend. He wasn't a born Royal but his father was the only person in Maraaish who was honored with a Royal status due to his services for the country. The man had died a few years ago and Khalifa had taken his place instead.

It had been four years since the man had to move to Oman, to represent Maraaish in the country. He lived in Oman but was given the responsibility of handling the affairs of the middle east with Maraaish and while Khalifa excelled at it, he simply remained away from home.

He didn't visit much due to work and Amir couldn't visit either. The last time he had seen Khalifa was on the day of his wedding.

"I deserve all your anger Amir but wallahi, I was so caught up. Your father dropped me in this country four years ago and hasn't thought of bringing me back ever since." He said to the Crown Prince.

"That's because you're good at what you do. If only you had been extremely bad at it, you would be back home." Amir murmured, shaking his head.

"I actually like Oman now if I'm being honest."

"It suits you too. How's your kid?"

Khalifa got married to a woman from Oman three years ago. She was not from a very well known family. Infact, she was a teacher in a school which he had visited at that time. As she had shown him around, he had taken a liking to her. Khalifa asked her hand in marriage on their very next meeting.

Now, he had a son with her.

"He's just two and a half but even two nannies and his mother get tired of running after him. He's mischievous."

"Mashallah, someone is taking after you atleast." Amir appreciated, teasing him at the same time.

"I wish he would take after his mother. She's too quiet, totally calm."

"And how's she doing? Is she better now?"

His wife had fallen off the stairs a few months ago. She was in the hospital for five weeks. Atleast, that's what Khalifa had told him.

"Yes, alhamdullilah, she is. Although Aunty keeps calling me to ask about her every week. Give her my salam please."

Amir's mother treated him like her own son.

"I will."

"So Princess Haya, hmm? That's one decision of your life that you didn't ask my advise for."

Due to their busy schedules, they hadn't even discussed their personal lives before. Even when they would call each other, it would either be for the sake of work or to check up on one another.

Still, Khalifa was surprised when Amir told him he was getting married to Haya. Princess Haya at that.

"I didn't need to. I was very sure." Amir replied, he just nodded.

"Yes, love is like that. It makes a person totally blind. I would have advised you against it, you know."

"I know. That's another reason why I didn't ask you." The Crown Prince said, shaking his head.

"You don't want to know why?"

"Because we're different." Amir stated.

Everyone seemed to think that way. Amir and Haya also knew they were polar opposites but it didn't matter because their love was enough.

"No, that's not why. There's no doubt that you both are very different but I've seen the way she looked at you at the wedding. Your relationship will not suffer because you're different."

He heard his friend say, Amir merely frowned.

"But it will suffer?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow.

If he wasn't curious about his friend's opinion before, he was now.

"Look," Khalifa leaned forward, taking a bite of his food and finishing it before he began to speak.

"The way we have been raised in our country as men, we cannot handle a woman as headstrong as her." He mentioned, continuing as he felt Amir's gaze on her.

"She is very desirable, Amir. She is your wife so there is no point in saying anything now but you know very well that she is the center of every man's gaze. There are countless who dream about her and-"

If this were any other man talking, Amir would have reacted very differently. He knew what Khalifa was trying to say so he kept on hearing without uttering a word.

"You are a Crown Prince. You are just as desirable and maybe even more but that is very normal for men like us. We are used to the attention being on us, not our women too."

He made Amir look at the whole picture with a very different perspective.

"I don't know about you but my ego wouldn't be able to handle such a thing."

Amir nodded, taking a sip. He didn't even want to think in this manner. He hadn't really thought about Haya being desirable to everyone and not just him. He still didn't want to.

"Then your ego is very small." Amir said, letting out a sigh.

"Maybe, but I know a part of you wants to keep her inside a room and never let her out." Khalifa murmured in a blunt way.

Amir didn't say a word as a response because he knew that Khalifa knew him better than most people. He couldn't lie in general, let alone lie to his closest friend.

"But she's going to want more and more and that might doom your relationship." He uttered, shaking his head.

"Inshallah, it won't." Amir replied, having full faith in his marriage.

"InshaAllah."

His friend truly hoped so too.

"What about you? You said you were ready to marry again."

Amir mentioned, diverting the topic towards his friend. Khalifa nodded, letting out a small groan.

"I did. But I changed my mind."

"Why?"

"I just mentioned it in front of my wife and she didn't stop me or even protest but the look in her eyes, it pierced my soul."

He admitted, shrugging.

"I felt like a criminal, like I was the worst man in the world for putting that look in her eye. I couldn't take it."

His mother had been insistent too. She wanted him to marry a girl from Maraaish and while he didn't necessarily think it was such a bad idea, one look at his wife's face and his whole mind had changed.

Amir shot him a smile, glad that he had changed his mind when his heart wasn't truly in it.

"Love hmm?" He joked.

"Love."

@DailyBuredaan : Princess Haya with Prince Hunain of Jordan at a dinner on Friday night.

"I almost forgot how extravagant you are." Haya acknowledged, finding atleast fifty people across the entire mansion.

There was food and drinks everywhere, an orchestra band played music on one end of the room where as an entire other end was lit up with candles.

"Ironic that I'm getting to hear these words from you. I always thought you were my greatest competition." Hunain replied, chuckling as the Princess took a few pictures of the beautiful sight in front of her.

"Oh no, I'm still extravagant. It's just that when I say dinner, I really mean dinner."

She replied.

He had invited her over for a simple dinner with friends. She should have realized what simple meant in his terms.

"I know Illyas is always wrapped around business but how is he not paying attention to any woman?" He pointed out all of a sudden as Prince Illyas conversated with a businessman from Jordan instead of the beautiful women that kept gawking at him.

"He's hung up on a girl and I'm trying my hardest to make him snap out of it." Haya said with a sigh, groaning as she saw him shoot a smile to another woman who had tried to make a conversation.

Her brother had politely excused himself out of it.

"Sometimes, you can't help but be hung up on someone that can never be yours." Hunain murmured, glancing at the Princess of Buredaan.

Haya cracked a smile.

"You're a Prince, Hunain." She reminded, he shrugged.

"You're a Princess, Haya." He said as a matter of fact, leading her to smack his shoulder.

"I'm not talking about facts. Some people aren't just destined to be yours."

They were Royals but they weren't invincible. They had privilege and money but fate wasn't in their hands. It never could be.

As he stared at Haya, she clicked her tongue and looked away.

"If you look at me like that, I'll start to believe that you're talking about me." She murmured, making him laugh.

"It would be the most cliche thing ever. I was talking generally."

"I get it." She uttered.

Amir had once told her that while we plan on many things, it's actually God who decides. She didn't really have any argument against his words because he was right.

"You always do." He said with a groan, taking a sip of his drink.

"Things have been fucked up back home, Haya. My brother has refused to marry the girl of my dad's choice. Now he's forcing me to do so."

Haya frowned, not expecting his father to be one of those who would impose their choice over their children.

"Why?"

"Something about a promise made years ago. He says we can fuck around and do whatever, we just need to have that woman's name attached to one of us."

It was so typical and cliche.

"That's so fucked up. She's not an object." Haya protested, he nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Neither am I."

"So you ran here." She nudged his shoulder.

Hunain let out a sigh, not even bothering to disagree. In a way, he actually had ran away for a while.

"Honestly, I just needed to see you. No matter how many friends I have, I connect to you easily because we're similar." He continued when he found the Princess quiet and intently listening to him.

"I wanted to go to Maraaish as well but father stopped me. Isn't it crazy? I'm from the most privileged family of my country and I have no freedom." He complained.

"You do have the freedom, you just don't have freedom to do everything. I can relate." Haya retorted, he raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.

"The marriage? I've heard it's a cage."

Was it?

Sometimes, she did feel trapped. She felt like she had to think of many things before actually doing them. But at the same time, everytime she looked at Amir..the difficulty felt so worth it. 

"It can be. It's a golden cage though." She added.

"He won't be too happy with you being here."

"No, he's fine with it. It's just that things are so different in his culture that it takes him time to get comfortable with it."

"You're trying as well. Your outfits say so."

He pointed towards her pants and shirt. And the black dress she had worn in the morning. It was already doing rounds on social media.

"I know right. Even your mother sent me a text the other day about my outfits."

"She adores you. You know how much she wanted me to propose to you."

Haya knew that. She had realised it quite soon because the Queen had started to develop a personal relationship with Haya.

"Yeah, I remember."

All of a sudden, it hit Haya.

She had put everything away in her subconscious so easily that she had completely forgot to even talk to Hunain about it.

She held his arm, speaking low.

"Listen, there's one thing I need to talk to you about. I don't want you to blurt out something in front of Amir." She whispered, continuing when Hunain frowned and gestured her to walk with him towards the garden.

Haya walked with him, swallowing.

"I know I told you that I told him everything but I didn't. I literally lied to his face and said that I never had an affair with you. I said that those pictures didn't mean anything and it was just a drunken mistake."

She finally admitted it out loud.

She hadn't even admitted it to herself.

When Amir had questioned her about the affair, she had blatantly lied to him. She had lied so confidently because no one knew about it. Not even Aaliyah.

"But you said that you wanted to be honest." Hunain reminded, she nodded and bit her lip..ready to explain.

"Okay so,"

"I know it sounds really idiotic but I was so nervous telling him about my first sort of love that you literally slipped my mind."

And it was true.

Besides, what she had with Hunain wasn't exactly an affair either. It was simply an arrangement.

"That's offensive, Haya." He mocked, she clicked her tongue.

"Hunain, things have always been so casual with you. We were in an open relationship but we were always friends first."

"And I don't even feel like I lied to him, you know. Because what can I even say about the relationship we had? We slept together whenever we met but we also flirted with other people? Seriously?" She exclaimed, he shrugged.

"Well, yeah. Now that I think about it."

"I didn't even admit it out loud to my own self that I had lied." She mentioned, he let out a laugh.

"You're quite good at lying, Haya. Remember when I came at your seminar and you told everyone you were taking me to some sceneric view when in reality we were making out?"

He reminded her of a year ago. Haya groaned. 

"I invited Amir before you, you know. His team never got back to me." She said, shaking her head and getting back to the point.

"Anyway, the point is to keep your mouth shut. No one knows about us."

"My brother knows a little bit." Hunain mentioned, Haya kind of knew that already.

He didn't know it was an affair but he knew a few things since he was the one who had seen their pictures together.

"I figured. Shahid also knows but he wouldn't ever say a word."

"How?"

"I sent him a few pictures of the view from your penthouse in Newyork. The next day, there were articles of Prince Hunain owning a 95 million dollar penthouse in Park Avenue. He joined the dots." Haya explained the story from two years ago.

"My mouth is sealed, trust me." He smiled and squeezed her shoulder.

"Good. Or I'll kill you." She threatened, he mock gasped.

"I'm scared to hand you a knife now." He put his hand on her shoulder and turned her around.

"What?" Haya looked at him, confused as she saw their group of friends gathered around through the glass wall.

She saw a white cake, smiling as Hunain whispered to her.

"Happy belated birthday, Haya." He wished.

"Hunain, you didn't have to."

"I wanted to."

---

Thoughts?