*Ali Pov*

I know hearing my words everyone will think the same thing. However, I just don't want two people to think in that way.

I stepped towards her, but saw Harsha running away towards the kids. I was about to move towards him, but Jhanvi stopped me and walked in his direction.

"Nicole!" I said, walking near her, but she is staring at Harsha and nowhere else.

"What is going on? Why is everyone serious?" we all heard a new voice and turned to see an elderly couple walking towards us.

"You guys returned two days early. Was the trip not good?" Mridula asked, walking towards them.

"We were just missing home." The man replied and glanced at me.

"You must have taken after your Mother. I can't much of your Father in you." He said looking directly at me.

"Excuse me?" I asked him, frowning and everyone looked confused.

"You know his Father?" someone asked and he nodded.

"You remember I was talking about my old classmate who is the king of a small island. It is his Father, I was talking about." He replied and Nipuna immediately walked towards him.

"You mean the rules which are very rigid and which scares you, Dad?" she asked and he rolled his eyes but nodded.

"Your wish is fulfilled, Nipuna. You finally get to meet the people from there." Dilip said and I saw that everyone is looking at me with interest except for Jay, Kalpana and her husband.

I don't know what is going on and I don't want to know too. I know Nicole has so many questions and I want to answer them. But how can I talk to her with all these people?

Now, everyone looking at me that I don't think I will have any chance until we leave for our rooms.

"How is your Father doing?" that man asked walking towards me.

"Even my family used to be royalty serving people instead of government, but my Father worked out to remove all that with my Grandfather. Does your Father have any plans for that?" his words made me concentrate on him completely this time.

"Actually, I need to talk to you, Sir." I said staring at him.

"Sure! Right now?" he asked and I gave him a nod immediately.

"Why don't you take some rest?" his wife asked him, but he waved her off and gestured me to follow him.

When we walked into his study, he closed the door and sat down in his chair. I followed his suit and started thinking how to talk about this matter with him.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?" he asked with a relaxed expression.

"You just said your Father and Grandfather worked to remove the monarchy. I am working on the same and I need a few suggestions so that I can be successful in it." I explained and he stared at me in shock.

"What is the reason for that? You seem to be sensible just for having the thought to remove your Father's rules. But why?" he asked, folding his arms.

"He doesn't deserve to have any more power. I need to make sure that happens before he can hurt anyone." I replied and he slowly nodded.

"You can achieve that, but it will take too much time. Maybe your son will be able to achieve that." His words definitely crunched the hope I felt after hearing his earlier words.

"However, you can still work on to hold the power in your hands and remove it from his." He added.

"I tried and finally succeeded in getting all the security and many officials to be on my side. But the council still hears him." I explained and he just nodded with a thoughtful look.

"You can work on that." Saying that he immediately explained the tactics they used and the way they can be convinced.

****

"Will you both stay here until tomorrow? It's already midnight." We both turned to see his Wife standing near the door.

"We will continue tomorrow." He said standing up.

"Thanks for your help, sir." I said, following him out.

"You must have gone through so many things because of your Father." He commented when we reached the dining area where only his wife and Mridula is present.

"He can't be called as a Father." I stated and he didn't talk about him anymore.

After having a silent dinner, I walked towards the other building, hoping Nicole is awake and not already asleep. Even though it is already late, I still knocked on her door but she didn't reply.

I can talk to her tomorrow and tell her what actually happened. I sighed, walking into my room and drifted off into sleep finally finding hope to fight my Father to the end.

"What?" I asked Jhanvi in shock.

"She got a call yesterday night, but she didn't say anything. Today early morning she left for the Kingdom because of work. It seems to be important so we didn't stop her. She didn't want to disturb you as she knows you stayed up until late." She explained again.

"That can't be." I mumbled, standing up and walked away from the dining area to call her.

"She must be travelling." Jay said when I couldn't reach her.

"She needs someone to take her from the airport to the Palace." I am worried what will she do.

"As it is work related, she must have planned something." Nipuna offered and gestured me to sit down.

"Harsha seems to be taking the news well than you." Jay commented and I glanced at Harsha to see him just playing with the other kids.

"They both had a long chat yesterday. I am sure he must be happy with that for now." Mridula said smiling.

Why are they acting like they didn't hear what happened yesterday? They must be angry at me, but they are behaving calmly. And Nicole just left, which is just driving me crazy.

"Shall we have another discussion after we finish breakfast?" Uncle asked and I stared at him before finally giving him a nod.

This is for Nicole too, and I know she will understand me if she just listen to my explanation. I didn't mean to hide the truth, but it was the only thing I could do to keep her safe.

****

"You packed your stuff?" Jhanvi asked, sitting beside me on the bench.

"Yes! One week passed in a blink." I said looking around.

"That's because you got stuck in that study room along with Abhivanth Uncle." She commented and we both fell into silence.

"You are still not able to reach her?" she asked after a few minutes.

"No! She is not taking calls when I call the other people at the Palace too." I replied trying to not show my worry.

"I am sure everything will be fine." she assured me.

"I wanted to ask, but I didn't know how to. Why are you and everyone behaving fine with me and even Harsha? If not for the absence of Nicole I would have thought all that never happened." I asked frowning at her.

"You can thank Nicole later for that." She replied, shrugging and I stared at her confused.

"After you left with Uncle, she sat us down and explained everything. She was adamant that you were really kidnapped and that you really lost your memory. She even showed some video which she shot of yours. She used some logics like why would everyone think you to be kidnapped if you were not. So, we all realized she wouldn't lie and accepted the truth. I don't know what actually happened and there is no need for that when I let go of my past but Harsha needs the answers. She even talked to him about all that alone that night." She explained.

"Why is she not picking up my calls?" I asked myself and she sighed.

"So, what actually happened? You can tell me if you want to." She asked glancing at me.

"I never meant to abandon you, Jhanvi. He tricked me into coming to the Palace and then... he got me chained in the dungeons and made it seem like I was kidnapped. He did that for eight years and all I know is that I have to come out. And the only thing I could do was dig myself out and I did just that. I guess all the stress caused me to damage myself and after I was released all I know is to still dig the places." I replied and she gasped in shock the moment she heard it was my Father who kidnapped me.

"I would have been lost in that world forever but she brought me out. After remembering everything I knew I should be with you and felt a little relief that she was not there with me at that moment and I need not hurt her. Somehow, everything turned out like this and I got another chance with her, but now..." I trailed off shaking my head.

"I am sorry." We both turned to see Harsha standing near to us and we didn't even realize.

"Why are you sorry?" I asked him, frowning and gestured him to walk towards us.

He sat between us and stayed silent for a long time and then finally opened his mouth saying the things which I never thought would be possible.

"I heard Mom and you talking at the hotel. I heard her crying and the way you hurt her. So, I hated you for hurting my Mom like that and was even angry at myself for hurting her." He explained.

Hearing his words is paining me more than anything. He is just a kid and he went through those emotions because we were not careful enough to see whether he was resting or awake.

"I am sorry, Harsha." I said holding his hand.

"Then why did you leave with him and not stayed back?" she asked, frowning after brushing her tears away.

"I thought I should become Prince so that I can punish him for hurting you when I can." He replied shrugging.

"But then I knew Grandpa was at fault for most part. However, I was still angry at you for lying that you were kidnapped." He added.

"Now, I heard that you were really kidnapped." He mumbled looking down.

"It's okay, Harsha! You didn't know and I should be apologizing to let you go through all this when you are just a kid." I said, assuring him.

"I should also apologize to you, Harsha. I was completely dependent on you and in the end thought about myself. I should have done something else to be with you. I should have stayed with Ali if that means I could be with you." Jhanvi said with complete guilt.

"My Father wouldn't have let you, Jhanvi. He was making preparations for my second marriage and that's what made me ask you for Divorce too, and I thought Harsha would definitely go with you, but didn't anticipate that man's plan." I said, not wishing for her to feel guilty after going through so much all these years.

"It's okay to take part of our own faults, Ali." She said, waving me off when I tried to explain more.

"But I am sorry." Harsha's words brought us back to realize he was apologizing even before.

"I can understand why you felt that way about me. I am glad that you know the truth now and we can still build our relationship." I said, assuring him.

"I talked to Nicole yesterday and I didn't trust her." He mumbled looking down.

"You can meet her later and talk to her." I said smiling.

"But... but I told her that I don't want to see her again. That I don't want her to be with you. I told her that I will never accept her as your girlfriend." He mumbled close to tears.

"Don't worry, Harsha! She knows you will be fine when you get to know the truth. You can even explain to her yourself and apologize to her. You shouldn't apologize to anyone of us." Jhanvi assured her, but my mind went numb.

I was feeling confused thinking about the reason why I am unable to contact her even though she is the one who made everyone understand me. Now, hearing Harsha, I know what went wrong.

"Ali? It will be like I said, right?" Jhanvi asked breaking my thoughts.

"Yes! I... I need to pack my stuff." I replied standing up.

"And I will explain to her, Harsha. Don't think about all this hard stuff anymore. I don't want to make you suffer because of me or anyone else." I added looking at him and he nodded.

"Ali!" I glanced back to see Jhanvi following me while Harsha is with the other kids.

"What is it?" I asked her frowning.

"Come with me!" saying that she took my hand and dragged me into the house before making me sit in the living room.

"Is something wrong?" Jay asked, walking towards us along with everyone.

She calmly explained everything to them only regarding Harsha's matter, and they all said the same thing Jhanvi said like Nicole will understand Harsha and everything will be fine.

"Even I thought the same, but I think the matter is not that simple from the way Ali is behaving. So, I wanted to ask him what is actually wrong." Jhanvi explained.

"It's just that... she was against her Mom when she re-married and suffered because of all that. So, she has her own thoughts about remarriages and her main worry was that Harsha will not accept her. It is very important to her and I don't know whether she will be able to fight her doubts or will go along with the past experiences." I mumbled frowning.

I am actually in surprise of myself for sharing my thoughts with them. Until now I was able to do it completely only with Nicole even though I started that with Jhanvi. But now I am actually talking about my problems with the people who were like strangers a week back.

"Hold on to her and do not let go. Now, Harsha is fine with everything and she just needs to know that." Someone from the group assured me and everyone followed that.

I thanked them and prepared for the journey to return back. I know I will meet them again in the future and if everything goes well then I can meet them for my wedding itself.

"Dad!" I opened my eyes to see Harsha looking at me.

"What is it?" I asked, hiding the surprise of hearing that word from him.

"Will you make Nicole stay for another week so that I can meet her when I come here after two weeks?" he asked earnestly.

"I will ask her." I replied, nodding and he sighed in relief before leaning back to sleep.

I decided to drop him directly at school before returning to the Palace so that he need not make the return journey without me.

I know I have to reach her the moment I return to the Palace. With that anticipation, I got into the flight after dropping Harsha but stopped short receiving a message from her.

"My work is finished and my boss is asking me to return immediately due to a problem in another project. I am sending this message after boarding the flight."

I stood on the same spot reading the message again and again. She is leaving? Why now when there is so much going on already?

"Your highness?" I glanced at the attendant to see her waiting for me to sit down.

I want to ask her to pass the message to the captain so that I can travel to Nicole's place. But then I remember what I have been doing this whole week and what needs to be done immediately before he has a chance to escape when I already sent the notice to him.

If I go now and get her back, then another problem will be waiting for us to get separated. It will be better to bring her back after removing all the problems.

It should be! With that thought I sat down and let them take me to the Palace itself and not Nicole's place. Wait for me, Nicole.