With hearts, Destined.

Chapter 18

"Should I still drive around or should I take us back to the hotel?" Ali asked Karim.

Karim checked his watch.

"Just drive around for a few minutes and then let's go back." Karim replied, looking out the window intently.

He'd linger his gaze on anyone who he saw just to see if the person could be Z.

Ali continued to drive slowly and made sure the car never sped past any pedestrian.

He was looking outside his own window when he turned his attention back on the road only to see a ball rolling towards the car and a young woman running after it.

Ali stepped on the brake abruptly, causing both him and Karim to jerk forward.
Since the car wasn't moving fast and they were wearing seatbelts, nothing serious happened.

"What was that?" Karim asked in confusion.

He looked at the young lady who stood frozen in her spot. Probably shocked at the fact that she almost got knocked down by a car.

"Is she okay?" Karim asked Ali as he stared at the frozen lady.

"I don't know. I'll go and check though. Please stay here, your highness." Ali reversed the car a bit and parked it by the side of the road.

He got off the car and walked to the young woman in the middle of the straight.

"Excuse me? Are you okay?" He called out, analyzing the woman for any injuries.

He was positive the car didn't even touch her. But who knew.

The woman snapped out of her frozen state and looked around frantically before settling her eyes on Ali.
He gave her an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you coming."

Ali apologized.
Not because he was at fault but because it seemed she was the only one a bit affected by their almost accident.

If anything though, she was at fault for running right in front of a car. She was lucky they weren't driving at even an average speed.

The woman looked at him in confusion.

Oh he forgot. They didn't really speak English in Aracruz.

"Você fala inglès?" Ali asked if she could speak English.

The woman still just stared.

Didn't she speak Portuguese as well?

"Hello?" Ali nudged her a little.

She inhaled loudly.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I-I just got hit by a car. Oh my God..."

So she spoke English.
That was better.

"Miss, please calm down. Nothing happened. You're alright..." Ali tried to calm her down.

She shook her head.

"I almost died. What if I died? What if the other people died? We could have all died. How? How?"

Ali was about to say something when he heard footsteps approaching him.

Karim was as stubborn as they came. He never really listened to Ali.
Ali sighed.
Aziz did warn him. If you expected them to listen to anything, then you were living a fairytale. Because they wouldn't.
At least, Karim hadn't told him to sit at the backseat as he drived.
Aziz had told him the king had made him do that to feel how it was to have someone drive you around.
Hopefully his son was a bit different.