Scorched

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Omar stared out the window of the black Mercedes as it made its way through the streets of Jeddah, heading to the Sheikh's mansion. Frustration was evident on his face and anger was boiling in him towards his father who happened to be riding in the same car and chose to remain silent throughout the journey. Omar did the same, not uttering a single word, his mind went to Megan who rode in the car behind theirs along side Taheem.

The fact that she was in the same car with Taheem made him uneasy and he wondered what was going on in there. What conversation were they having if at all they were having any. He was sure they weren't, Taheem wasn't one to indulge freely in conversations, most especially if it happened to be with a stranger, much less someone he was to hate.

Omar had agreed to marry Mariam in exchange for Megan's safety and now he wasn't sure he should blindly trust his father, the man was unpredictable and had so many secrets surrounding him. Although the tinted windows made it a bit hard to see out the car, most especially with the sun gone from the sky, Omar still glanced back every now and then to ensure that the car was still behind and following them.

The car he rode in with his father was the first to pull up into the compound and stopped for them to get down. Omar, whose mind had been on Megan all through the journey, opened the door by his side to get down, he needed to make sure she hadn't been tortured on the way here.

"Omar," his father called as soon as he had one foot on the ground. Omar paused but didn't turn to him. "We will go visit the king and the princess tomorrow so you should go now and rest. You should get your mind prepared."

"I am not doing this for your sake."

"For who so ever sake you are doing this is not any concern of mine, as long as you will go through with it and without falter."

"Yes." Omar smirked. "All you want is for me to just go through with it, isn't it?"

"It is not so difficult Omar, you just need to calm down and see things the way that I do."

"I may be your son but we are different and I can not see things the way that you do. We do not look from the same perspective."

"You would have to look from mine."

"You really don't care, do you Sheikh Khalid?"

Khalid looked at his son closely. "I care for the choices you make. Your choices affect not just you. Your choices..."

"My choices..!" Omar raised his voice, interrupting him. "That is it exactly, they are my choices! So I should be the one to decide what is good for me and what is not!"

Sheikh Khalid sighed, it would be pointless for him to continue engaging Omar like this. "You should rest. Tomorrow we will go see the King and princess, get your mind prepared. That is all."

Omar shut his eyes tight and fisted his palm, sitting still to calm down. He heard the door to other side of the car click open and felt the weight lift off the car before the door clicked shut again and he released a deep sigh to calm himself. Yes, he needed to get his mind prepared and that rest was much needed.

The car Megan was in continued to drive past, heading towards the back of the mansion. Omar stood up from the car, watching it as it disappeared around the corner and in anger and frustration, he kicked the car's tyre before storming into the house, making his way upstairs to his room.

The door held when Omar slammed it shut but the force caused the chandelier to vibrate. He paced the large room, raking one hand through his hair as scattered thoughts flew through his mind. In eight days he was set to get married to his father's choice so he had less than eight days to come up with a counter plan.