Destined To Be Yours

Prologue

Madeeha was rehearsing her speech for one last time when she heard the audience, especially the girls go crazy.

“No wonder he is called the Prince of hearts.” Arshi whistled showing her interest in the crown prince as he walked in the grand auditorium. The side curtains of the backstage kept blocking her view but unlike her, the rejected beauty had some other thoughts—Madeeha rolled her eyes and grinned, “he is late though.”

Of all the people, Arshi knew it best why Madeeha hated him yet she raised her brows, “Oh madam, just because you aren’t marrying him doesn’t make him any lesser hot.”

“How does that justify him being late?” Madeeha folded her arms walking away. The red curtains remained drawn while the glamorously decorated auditorium went insane with Prince Ruman's presence.

It didn’t take much time for Madeeha's turn to come to get on the stage and mesmerize the world.

“Go on, it’s finally your chance,” Arshi said taking Madeeha into a bone-crushing hug. As if she was going on war, the mellow-dramatic best friend even shed a few tears.

“Hey, it’s just a 7 minutes speech, calm down.” Madeeha patted her back. “For you, it must be 7 minutes, for me, it’s been 7 years.” Arshi let her go, “Hope to be by your side, fighting another war someday soon. Go on now, all the best.”

Arshi pushed Madeeha through the curtains and she made her entry almost stumbling and cursing her. The view was as grand as it could get, the crown prince sitting in the front row along with his brothers, while everyone hooted and called her, her highness, future queen and other names the newspaper articles had blessed her with earlier.

She took a deep breath and allowed some mystical power to bless her as she held her head high and gave the best smile dominating all the lights falling over and walked to the centre of the stage.

“Well, that’s how you rule it, don’t you?” she spoke in the mike giving Ruman goosebumps and filling everyone with energy. “What's up, St. Stephen's!”

The crowd was on top of their voice and she was just the right person to hold them together. Ironically, Ruman was getting nostalgic.

“I know, I know, I need to introduce myself but do I need to after knowing that my efforts of memorizing my speech have just got wasted because of few newspaper articles who mentioned, I'm supposed to be the future wife of his highness, the crown prince.” She bowed down and smiled at him.

Ahaan elbowed his brother a little trying to tease him while Ruman continued to have mixed emotions about this.

“To be honest people, it’s not true.” She hushed making everyone glare at her in shock, “Well, I came here prepared for you all with a 7-minute speech that was bound to tell you the reasons of success but let me tell you a story I read somewhere online recently in an article about a young girl. She was someone who was played by destiny just like most of us. Although, her case was a little extreme. So, it says, 7 years ago, she was in an accident where she lost her grandparents and her lovely face and memories. Her life became a mess and she couldn't rise from those ashes. Luckily, she coped up and started to study again. After hustling for 7 years, she scored the highest marks she could get and her hustle finally paid off when she was chosen as the Crown Princess-to-be. Yes, the headlines read, ‘97% scorer Madeeha Zafar's hustle ends with securing Crown Princess title.’ And trust me, I was the most thunderstruck person.” She laughed a little while everyone had their faces turned a little paler.

“In my entire life,” she paused, “I had never read such a stupid story, my dear friends.” She laughed out loud finally releasing the tension and everybody followed her but not Ruman.

“So, just because I'm 26, the world created stories that have no heads nor tails. I am just a normal girl who took a break from life due to my reasons and the world claims the opposite of it. I mean why dramatize it, people? So, I did become his highness's fiancée but unlucky me, I'm not capable enough to hold the title and it took me a lot of efforts to get free from it. Although, even I don’t know what exactly happened, I'm free from it.” She smiled but turning to Ruman, finally mumbled, "Rejected to be precise."

Ruman finally blinked for the first time making her uncomfortable, he uttered something in Ahaan's ears and was about to leave when Madeeha started speaking again.

“I feel free not because I had any grudges towards the royal family or his highness, but because I don’t feel marriages should be used politically. Mirajgarh deserves a queen who looks after it as her child and clearly, I'm not the right choice.” She crinkled her nose making people believe in her even more.

“So what we learn today, is to know our reality and our worth. My worth is enough to be an influencer but to be a Queen is something I can never dream.” She smiled again, “not that I'm telling you to not take big steps, but just that I am telling you to take small steps. Maybe in 4-5 years from now, I might be a deserving candidate who would have the heart to get married and serve this kingdom but not today. So know your reality and your today and then decide your situation based on the moment. Live in today, and believe in what your heart says you can.”

She took a deep breath again before letting it slip finally, “Be the best version of yourself every day but never forget that tomorrow you’ve to be better.”

Her speech had definitely left people awestruck, some felt sympathy and some felt she was just trying to gain attention but there was someone who wanted to add something to what she said.

“Anyone who knows the burden of responsibility is capable enough to take it,” Ruman said before turning his mike off and leaving everyone in shock.

Although he was sure, Madeeha was the one.

(It's still under editing, avoid the grammar and language error)