The Desert Prince and The Dreamer

Chapter 15

Lailah laid her prayer mat next to her Mom and joined her as the call for the subhi prayer sounded. Every day at dawn at the call of the Imam, they would get up to say a prayer. Today was Friday especially and it was a day off for her. They would go attend prayers at the mosque then will return home and do other things. The week had moved so fast after the black out incident. The next day the Sultan had sent her an order to stay home and she had been grateful for it, but the day after she had reported to work only to be met by a cool and collected Zayn. He had ignored her completely. All She had wanted to do was thank him, but every time she came in close proximity with him, he would find an excuse and would dissappear. Another day She had grown some balls and approached him in his office which had turned out completely different than how she had expected. Zayn had ordered her to never approach him especially in his office unless there were matters beyond their control, he had then accused her of wasting time instead of doing the work she was supposed to do. He hadn't given her a chance to talk and had ended by calling her a social climber that wanted to fit in and would do anything to be on top. Lailah had been confused by his animosity. Even after she had left his office that day she had kept thinking and wondering what had brought that on. She had then vowed to stay completely away realising that no matter who she was or what she became, She would never impress Zayn or even bring him to like her.

They finished their prayer and went on to do the house chores, her Mum went to make breakfast as Lailah went to take a shower. She came down later dressed in a green shariah with a niqab dangling in her hands. She sat on the table as her Mum served breakfast.

"Habibi, I need to find something to do or else I'm going to die of boredom." Lailah's mother said. Ever since they had moved and she gave her Job to Hamidah who was next to her in rank, She would sit home, fix a few clothes, sleep, eat and do nothing.

"What do you want to do Mum?" Lailah asked stuffing her mouth with her Mother's best cooked meatballs and scrambled eggs.

"Can you first finish your food before talking?" her mother rebuked, "How are you going to find a husband with these kind of table manners?"

"Despite what you think Mommy, I'm actually well behaved infront of other people." Lailah said with a grin making her Mom shake her head in disapproval. "But don't worry Mom, I don't plan on finding a husband yet. First I want to be super rich."

Ms. Latiffah muttered to herself in Arabic asking Allah to make her daughter see sense in her wild dreams. A knock sounded at the door and Ms. Latiffah went to answer it.

"Juma Kareem." Sapphire greeted excitedly inviting herself in. "Hello little sister." She said when She saw Lailah.

"Hello, but say little sister one more time, I'll forget that you're the Sultan's daughter and sister to the scariest man in all Arabia."

"Hmm, do you mean scary hot or just scary assassin?" Sapphire said making Lailah cringe.

"Oh please, your brother is not hot." Lailah said rolling her eyes. Sapphire laughed as she sat on the table and Ms. Latiffah made a plate for her. She sometimes came to eat breakfast here because she claimed the breakfast at home was boring or some other excuse. She was always full of excuses.

"I'm going to ignore that statement about my brother because I know what you think." Sapphire smirked at Lailah who blushed and stuffed her mouth to avoid talking. "So are we going together to the mosque?" Sapphire asked and Lailah nodded. They always went together because Sapphire also prefered to go with them than with the Queen.

One hour later, they sat in Lailah's car who drove them to the mosque.

Zayn got out of the car along with his Father, step-mother and brother. Sapphire, like always didn't heed their Father's warning to wait for them. The last four years before Lailah returned She would come with them, but now that She was back, Sapphire was back to being rebellious. Thank Allah in two months time She would get married and will be under her husband's care and protection. He looked around and his grey eyes clashed with big round green eyes. The owner had a niqab on and only her eyes were visible but he knew who he was looking at. They had a staring contest across the parking lot as neither planned to look away. He didn't know what that woman did to him but there's no way he would accept whatever these feelings thought they were.

Lailah was lost in the enchantment of the grey eyes that stared back at her across the parking lot. He looked so handsome in his white Jallabiyah and red and white keffiah nicely tied around his head. How would anyone be that handsome and wicked at the same time. Lailah remembered his insults last week and was planning to look away when Sapphire pulled her. "If you're done with the staring contest, can we go inside?" Lailah turned to look at her friend.

"It's him staring not me." She defended herself.

"He clearly likes you, I don't know what's taking him so long to make a move." Sapphire said almost to herself confused.

"You don't know what you're talking about." She said as they removed their shoes and entered the mosque from the Womens' side.

Zayn was the last member of his family to enter the mosque, when he did his father pierced him with a glare. It was that woman's fault, She had such bewitching eyes. He remembered last week when she had tried to thank him for his help. He had instead insulted her, calling her a social climber. He had probably said more than he had intended and his point had come across to her. She had understood that he wanted nothing to do with her, and whatever She had thought would happen between them, She better not entertain any thoughts. He knew he had hurt her he thought more about himself more than anyone else. He didn't want her friendship, She was trouble, just like She always caused his sister trouble since they were children. Also that week he had had enough issues to tackle. They had checked all the security system to search for any link connected to the black out incident and they had found nothing. There had been no suspicious activity or people that day. They had therefore concluded that whoever cut the wires was an insider and had had a mission in mind and all they had to do was wait and be vigilant. The security personnels had been extremely warned. The prayer commenced as the Imam led them through.

Later as the Sultan's family was heading to their car, they were stopped by Imam Sadiq who wanted to invite them at his house for lunch and claimed had an important topic to talk about. The Sultan accepted and their car followed Imam Sadiq's car to his home which was just a ten minutes drive from the mosque. They were all welcomed in honor as they entered the Imam's compound. He had several servants who seemed busy moving up and down and carrying out different tasks. Zayn looked around wondering what the Imam was going to talk to them about that was so important.