The Bound Princess (Dark Romance)

Chapter 40

 
Hamza

We all had assembled to celebrate the betrothal of Adnan with his childhood sweetheart at a restaurant. Mostly, all of my cousins were present, including Mohammed and Alia.

  "When are you leaving for the US?" Zainab, my cousin, asked.

"Next week," I replied, cutting my steak into halves.

Mohammed's eyes snapped to me, who was sitting across from me at the table. 

"I wish Em had been here. She would be so happy for Adnan," Alia, Emma's sister, said with a sad smile.

She was nearly seven years younger than Emma, but Alia looked all grown up. Her caramel blonde hair and jade green eyes would leave any onlooker stunned. I avoided looking at her because her eyes would remind me of Emma and what I had lost.

"Hamza, will you meet Emma while you are in the US?" Mariam asked from the other end of the table.

"I haven't thought about it, but if I get spare time, I am thinking of paying her a visit," I answered Mariam.

"How is she, by the way?" Adnan asked Alia.

"She and Dawood are so in love. They couldn't stop making googly eyes at each other whenever I face time her. There is nothing she talks about other than him," Alia informed excitedly, gulping down her food.

I looked up at Alia with a jerk. It took some time for her words to register in my mind. Alia was saying something else, but I heard the words, 'she and Dawood are so in love.' I knew she was involved with Dawood even before I saw them at the club. Even though Emma denied having any relationship with Dawood, I couldn't forget how she allowed him to hold her so close and whisper all those things to her. The way air tension crackled around them like static. How his hands roamed over her body as if they were acquainted with it closely.

I felt someone watching me and then looked around to find Mohammed's scrutinizing gaze fixed on me. His face was devoid of expression, and his black eyes were assessing me silently. I gave him a curt nod, and he replied with one and diverted his gaze. Had he noticed my reaction to Alia's words?

"Did Emma send photographs from her honeymoon?" Zainab asked.

"She sent only a few pictures from her honeymoon, but there are a lot of photographs of her and Dawood at their penthouse. Emma said he is so amazing and considerate that he helps her with everything. I don't think she could have been happier with anyone else," Alia passed me an anxious glance at the end of her sentence.

Then she unlocked her phone, and the girls shoved their faces on the screen, looking at the photographs. They were commenting on each picture of how good Emma and Dawood looked together. I was trying hard to keep my emotions under control when all I wanted was to turn the table upside down.

"What have you thought?" Haitham, sitting beside me, leaned and whispered in my ear while everyone was busy seeing pictures of Emma.

"I haven't thought anything," I replied honestly.

I had thought of meeting Emma when I went to the US, but I hadn't thought about how I would ask her to come back to me. Now listening to Alia about how happy Emma was with Dawood, I was unsure if I should see her.

The hurt had lessened, but I still couldn't fathom that Emma had chosen Dawood over me.  Even after that, she dared to tell me that she loved me at her wedding.

"I didn't know you were a loser,"  Haitham taunted.

"It's not about winning or losing. She loves him," I said through gritted teeth trying to keep my anger in control.