The Crown in the Storm ✔️

Hello, is this hell?

The ball hit the wall. I groaned in frustration. There was no way out of this. Who did we trust enough to infiltrate that group? They had proved to be dangerous. Their propaganda was infectious and dangerous. It was attractive, inspirational and scary. Someone was pulling their strings, providing talking points. There was no way to find out who it was.

Uncle EJ had gone to do God knows what and I was stuck with Zaroon and my thoughts.

"Throwing it against the wall won't lead to a solution" Annoyed, I threw it at him. He caught it with one hand and gave me a smirk. "You have to calm down. Nothing has happened yet" His tone was at odds with his expression.

"Ha! That's surprising, considering the word that you used to describe me. What did you call me again? Yes, Princess. A lot of people subscribe to your ideas Major" I said, irritated by his calm demeanor.
His smirk got wider. "So you were eavesdropping"
"That's not the point, the point is people think we're entitled," I said, getting up from my seat.

"Which you are," he said, his eyes narrowing from annoyance.
"Yes, thank you for pointing out that I was born into this family. We all have problems and hurdles"
"Starving to death or having a problem choosing careers? I wonder what's worse" he countered moving towards me.
"I don't know... being responsible for those people? Having that expectation? Are all problems weighed the same now?"
"You know there's a difference"
"I also know we're not the monsters they're making us out to be" I replied, coming up to stand in front of him, my arms crossed. He didn't reply, his eyes on mine. "Are we?" I asked, trying to provoke him into answering my question. His eyes stayed fixed on mine, searching and probing. He opened his mouth to answer...

"Elena... oh sorry, am I interrupting something?" Hania burst into the room, her eyes shining with amusement. I stepped away from Zaroon and gestured for her to come in.
"Hey, how's married life treating you? Sorry about the other... stuff" I said giving her a brief hug.
"It's great! And yeah, I figured that came with the territory"
"Haha you're catching on"
"So I wanted to know if you were available for lunch today? I... we haven't had any time together, so" I considered her invitation. it would be nice to not think about all of this for a brief period of time. She looked very excited at the prospect.

"It might help ease your mind" Zaroon interjected. I glared at him. How did he know that?
"Give me time to think about it? Things are a little crazy right now..." her face fell and I regretted saying those words.
"I understand"
"Not that I don't want to..." I said waving my hands vaguely.
"No no, I get it... Izzy told me you would say that."
"Izzy said I would refuse?" A pang of hurt echoed through me.
"Yeah, he said you won't do anything until you chewed your nails off" I smiled at the description.
"He knows me too well"
"Yeah, it's scary," she said with an awkward giggle.
"I'm sure it's because he pays attention to everyone," I said trying to diffuse the awkwardness.
"Yeah... anyway, good luck with all of it," She said, exiting the room. I stared at the closed door, trying to figure out how to solve this situation.

"You should have accepted the invite"
I rubbed my forehead to avoid a future headache.
"I have to come up with a plan"
"She might be helpful"
"How? Her wedding pictures are splattered on page 6! She's a part of this family" he stared at me as I sat down on the armchair.
"You could..."
"I'm sorry but why are you advising me on this? Last time I checked, you hated me"
"I don't hate you..."
"You think we're useless"
"I've never said that"
"But you've thought about it... you were annoyed at me for a good chunk of the time we've known each other"

He sat down in front of me. "I was annoyed, I'll admit that. You've had everything your entire life and you ran away. Your mother had to deal with things alone, also..." he twinned his fingers together and then ran his hand through his hair. "I was annoyed that you didn't remember me"

I stared at him, my heart galloping a hundred miles a minute. He could not mean what I thought he meant.
"That's not fair, you didn't recognize me either"
"I didn't expect you to be there... you were gone all the other times I visited"
"And yet you wanted my help finding the library?" He gave me a strange look, his eyes boring deep into mine.

"Elena... oh, hi" Rania walked into the room, his eyes wide with shock. Did no one knock?
"Yes, please do come in," I said, relaxing in my chair. There was no reason for Rania to be shocked.
"Sorry, but I have an idea. What if you decided to talk to the people directly?"
"Wouldn't that make me... a faker?"
"Not if you do it with Ferozeuddin..." she looked at me, her filled with guilt. I stiffened.

"Was this Ammi Jaan's idea?" She pressed her lips together, her face betraying her true emotions.
"Wanted to give you a heads up, they're preparing an intervention"
"How did this flip... we had a vote 24 hours ago and now...?"
"It's politics baby, you know that" I sighed. I did know that. "Are you considering it?"

"Yeah, as much as it pains me to say it, Ferozeuddin maybe our best bet. We need to be invaluable to him. He needs to support us in this... Aziz said they're attracting young people with the promise of jobs and prosperity. He's the future PM, he can help us fix that."
"What do we offer him?"
"We offer him our support." The last thing that I wanted to do.
"Can we trust him?" Zaroon asked. My mind flashed back to when he had asked if I trusted him.

"We can't just run away!" I said my smile as bright as the sun. We stood between the columns, my hand in his, our heads joined together.
"I want to marry you, you want to marry me... we'll be back before they know it," he said, his eyes wide and honest. I looked into his beautiful eyes. They were on me. Always on me.
"Just... as soon as we sign, we come back. Right?" I double-checked. I didn't want to cut my family out of this. And to lie and run away...
"Of course. Don't you trust me? I love you."

"Elena?" Rania prompted me when I stayed quiet.

I looked at my hands. That was love. We were kids. This is politics. Real life. We're adults now. But... do people change? Will the inclusion of family provide collateral?

"I don't know" I whispered. Both of them looked at me, surprise on their faces. I ignored them picked up my phone. It had a text from Uncle EJ.

"Murad has regained consciousness" I read out loud.

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