Scorched

Refusal

Mariam was dressed exceptionally heavy in anticipation of her would be groom and father in law. She knew nothing about them asides from the fact that the man she was to marry was Omar bin Khalid, the only son of the Sheikh, his father Khalid bin Aaban. Omar, as she was told by Parvina who had gathered information from the rumors circulating, had lived most of his life abroad, getting his Masters degree, bachelor's degree and Ph.D, but the rumors that went round boasted more of his fine looks and physique than of his intelligence.

She scoffed, such people were bound to be proud and arrogant. She knew that because he would not be the first of his kind to come for her hand in marriage, each one was prouder than the last man before him and absolutely none of them had impressed the King. Absolutely none of them had impressed her.

Being the only Saudi princess to His Highness King Jaan, it was of utmost importance that the man impressed the King and not just by the amount of wealth and affluence he controlled. Many had failed in such feat, bragging mostly of how much they owned and how many women they controlled. Mariam had felt disgusted at that, none of the men had the brains to impress, but if the rumors of Omar being as intelligent as he was handsome was true, she saw him excelling in that aspect. Then she would have to marry him. She cringed inwardly at the thought.

Despite the beautiful ornaments and make up she had on, she still had to put on the purple abaaya when coming into the presence of the men and she wondered what was the essence of the extra work, she felt they were just over doing it. After all, Omar and his father were not the one to be impressed, the King was. Her father was just as proud of her as she was proud of herself, her beauty came in second to her wits.

She eyed the purple abaaya which hung by the dressing mirror, the cloth would cover her head and the most part of her face, leaving only her eyes open. Saadiya had told her that she had charming eyes, one that would drown any man into a sea of lustful desires. She smirked at the thought of drowning this so called Omar in the largest sea of lustful desires with a single seductive glance, oh it would swell her pride. Thinking so, applied more kajal to the bottom of her eye lid.

"He's here Mariam! He's here!" Parvina ran into her room, too excited to slow down. Mariam and Saadiya turned to her direction, watching her race non stop all the way to the window.

"Who is here?" Saadiya asked, seemingly uninterested at first.

Parvina leaped over the dresses which laid scattered on the floor due to Mariam's multiple selection and lack of choice and made for the window to look at the tall handsome man who had just stepped out of the sleek black Mercedes with an older man who stepped out from the other side.

"Come see Saadiya! It's the groom, it's Omar!" Parvina called and made room by the window so Saadiya could join her. Saadiya ran excitedly to the window to take a look at the man set to marry her friend and whose looks had sparked off a train of rumors.

"I see three cars in the compound but they both stepped out from just one." Saadiya pointed out.

"Why did they choose to both ride in one though?" Parvina asked no one in particular still looking out the window.

"Where is he? Omar, where is he?" Saadiya asked.

"There. Lean out more, the handsome one wearing the dark suit. Isn't he sparkling Saadiya?"

Saadiya leaned out more to get a better look at Omar and immediately she squealed and started praising Omar's facial looks and body features.

"Mariam! What a lucky child you are!"

Mariam turned her full attention to Saadiya, eyes wide open. "What? What is it? What?!"

"The man! The Sheikh's son, Omar!"