My Emir ✅

Chapter 11- Dejá vù?

  

        Mariya could feel three pairs of eyes staring down at her as she sat at the dining table, eating supper with her family.
The Emir left for the palace with his sons,right after Saratu had left and Mariya has left them all on a cliff hanger with regards to her private meeting with Zayn. To her family, something about the meeting seemed a bit fishy.
   Her mother and brother had a whiff that Zayn's private talk with her had something to do with a marriage proposal and they needed to know more about the meeting from her however,she hasn't said a thing about the issue.

    Alhaji Farooq on the other hand,was told by Sultan Lawal that Zayn had come to Mariya with the intention of proposing to her. He wanted to keep the information at hand on the low until the supposed grudge between Mariya and Zayn is totally cleared up.Sultan Lawal only came along with Emraan to show their support towards the intended alliance. Considering Mariya and Hassan's terminated engagement,Sultan himself had to show up to make it known to the family,how eagerly they wanted Mariya to be a part of their family and that unlike Hassan,Zayn is going to get through the wedding process and strive hard to be a good partner to their daughter.

     "Are you two done starring at me?" Mariya finally looked up from her plate, questioning her mother and brother as she waved her spoon at them.

   "If my guess is right,he did propose to you, right?" Her mother asked, a bit eager.

Mariya hesitated a bit before answering the question that was posed to her.
"No. He didn't." She lied, making the smile her mother once sported, disappear slowly.

" She's lying." Alhaji Farooq pointed out." He did propose to her and judging from the circumstances,I don't think she gave him a positive reply."

" And what was your reply to his proposal?" Hajia Laura asked again but this time,a bit worried.

  Zayn is the very third suitor that Mariya has ever had,the first two weren't satisfactory however, Zayn seems to be just the right choice of suitor for her so she doesn't want Mariya to miss this chance with Zayn.
   He's next in line to the throne of the sultanate and someone like him in his prime,is going to have influential families presenting their daughters to him in the name of marriage yet he chose to come all the way to propose to Mariya in the comfort of her own home.

There's no way she's going to let her daughter swerve this kind of blessing.

" I told him I needed time to think it through and make a conscious decision." Mariya answered, recalling vividly how Zayn had fruitlessly tried to fake a contented smile in order to hide his discontentment when she told him she needed more time to think through the odds, to arrive at a decision.

" Mariya,I advise that it will be a hell of a decision if you reject the prince's proposal."Alhaji Farooq advised,his expressions,void of any joke.

" What do you mean,Abba?" Fareed scoffed." We can't trust that man to wife her up properly. We trusted Hassan the same way and see what happened. He had a girlfriend and..."

" Fareed,shut up!"His father snapped at him, making him pause mid-speech." Trusting Zayn is Mariya's decision to make and you've got no say in this. Am I clear?!" He yelled at Fareed.

    Fareed was ever ready to retort back at his father but  only one glance at Mariya who was mouthing inaudible words of plea to him, had him changing his mind. She's been with him for long enough to know that he would instinctively retort to his father's behavior in the same balanced joules of energy.

" Yes,Abba. I've heard you." Having considering the odds and deciding not to retort, Fareed spoke without looking at his father.

" I knew it was a disaster, seeing Fareed grow up with his father's anger issues." Hajia Laura stated with a knowing smile at she stared at the father-son duo who would make up their differences without an intended effort.