The Crown in the Storm ✔️

Morning should bring more clarity

We were all gathered in the foyer. And by all, I meant that my guards and Zaroon were there too. Izzy patted Salaar on the back and played with the car keys. I stood next to Rania as Salaar said his goodbyes.

"It was really nice of you to let me stay here Auntie," he said to Ammi.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, you'll always be welcome here..." Ammi answered.

He nodded and moved towards Rania. "Bye baby sis" she rolled her eyes but didn't correct him. He moved towards me and I smirked, waiting for whatever stupid thing he was going to say.

"It's a shame really"
"What is?" I asked, playing along.
"You... taken. You would have made an amazing guide" Hania coughed.
"Goodbye, Salaar. It was a pleasure meeting you"
"Oh, I hope so. Can't wait to see you again... bye beautiful" he said coming in for a hug. I stepped back and gave him a glare. He whipped his head to look at Zaroon, his eyes full of mischief.

"Okay... that's enough. Let's go before I have you physically removed." Izzy said dragging him out towards the car. Hania followed giving me a knowing smile and I smiled back. At least we were returning to our previous friendship. We turned away as the doors closed.

"How far is the airport from here?" Rania whispered. She glanced at Ammi Jaan, who was walking back towards her room.
"Around 40 minutes" I whispered back.
"Okay so we have an hour and twenty minutes to go and submit this..." she said handing me a document. It was Uncle EJ's bail application.

"What? Now? How will we... who gave this to you?"
"The lawyer..."
"And you didn't submit it this afternoon?"
"It wasn't ready this afternoon"
"We could have gone with Izzy, he could have dropped us"
"Uh... no. Because" her voice lowered even further. "We have a counter case against Hania's dad... to keep Naila's dad busy"

We stood whispering in the foyer, our guards forming a circle around us.

"Wouldn't that reflect badly on us?"
"It's a drug case... don't you want that closed? They conduct a raid tonight and get to keep half of the money... no leakage to the press"

I huffed. "This seems like a terrible idea" she nodded. "Fine. Who do we take? Because I don't know the roads of this city"
"Uh... I was hoping you would ask Zaroon"
"Why him? We could take Ahsan"
"That'll be more suspicious. Hussein will meet us there, do you really want everyone knowing about us? Do you really want to involve more people?"
"Fine"

I told Ahsan that I had an errand to run with his boss. He acquiesced to my request but not before I caught the amused glint in his eyes. Nice to see someone was having fun here.

I tracked down Zaroon in his office. Surprisingly, it was the first time I had been here. The office was plain and sparsely decorated, with papers placed in neat piles. Definitely an office of a military official. He was seated behind his desk, writing. Since the door was open, I knocked lightly and walked in. He looked up surprised and capped his pen.

"There's something we need to do. You'll have to drive" he frowned but caught the keys I threw towards him. I turned around and almost ran outside. I knew he was right behind me although I could feel him as if he was right beside me.

We reached the main doors and Zaroon went ahead to bring the car around. Rania stared at me.

"Well, that was quick. He didn't take much convincing, I gather?" I shrugged. We walked outside and waited. It didn't take him long and soon we were rushing towards the main police station.