Twists Of Hearts (Living with the Prince )

Chapter 1 -The Hussains Palace

I took a deep breath, then let it out. Again and again. Just three days and I am already worn out. Look at me I am dying. I have been sitting on the armchair by the windows of the guest room for quite long now, looking at the weather outside. It is quite weird though.

Since my childhood I have never seen such a beautiful weather. The wind under the archway is howling, the rain splashing over the windows, the dense grey cloud filling the sky, hiding the bright sun's rays, lowering the temperature. I was lost in my thoughts when mist slowly crept into the landscape, engulfing the view that I had of the fountain in the garden. I find this weather awesome as I never came across such a weather since my childhood- except when I was abroad. The weather reminds me of Life and Death.

Life on Earth is like living in a guest room. Then Death, a sudden power cut, the Angel of Death just come and remove that spark which keeps the human body alive, the soul. It is said that for good people, the Angel of Death remove the spark as if removing a hair strand from a plate of flour. As for evil people, it is said that the Angel of Death remove it as if snatching a piece of cloth from a bush of thorns. Then the dark tomb awaits us, just like these dark clouds hiding the sun's light. Death is a reality.

Yes, I know about death and I know every soul shall taste death, but I never expected it now for my dad. Astaghfirullah.

Well, at the end I had to let everything in and get this straight...'My Dad is dead.'
By now, tears of sorrow were already streaming down my face. So I decided to let it all out. I cried out. Yes I'm a man, but what could I have done? Can't a man feel pain? Can't a man cry?

"Afaan! Yaa akhi, why are you screaming? Afaan it's high time you accept destiny. Allah is with you, with us.",Then came a deafening silence. Aasim my consoler was probably crying too. I turned and hugged him like he is the only one that remained for me. Well I'm nearly right until I remembered my mom, where was she? Hasn't she heard about our great loss?

That night, after Esha prayer at the palace mosque, my dad's brother, uncle Kareem, called us in his chamber. For the first time that night, it was raining so heavily in the Kingdom. Rain drops were splattering against the window pane. I knew exactly what he wanted to talk about. The throne. My father's throne, my late father's throne. I was looking over to see if Aasim was looking at me so I could break into another sob when my uncle finally spoke up.

"Afaan...Aasim" he said looking from me to my brother. "I know what you are feeling. You may not like to hear this but it's something you not only have to hear but also accept. And the sooner the better for yourself." he continued in his low mourning voice, sniffing once or twice after every sentence. "Afaan, you are elder to Aasim so this responsibility is yours now." Here we are,what I'm afraid to hear: "Afaan my dear, you are the next ruler of this kingdom."

He just told me. Of course I know. But I'm afraid.What if I cannot do this? What if I turned out to be an unjustful king? I need some answers right now, so I spoke up.

"Uncle, do you trust me with this kingdom? I mean, my dad has been ever justful to this kingdom. I don't want to destroy what he started. I don't want to wrong Islam. You know the penalty for injustice, don't you?"

"Afaan, we trust you. Your father trusts you with this. Aasim, please make him understand."

Aasim got up and made his way to me.

"Hey Mr Fan, you know I'm not gonna do a whole long speech on this but remember the promise you made to dad. Lion King Simba, Uther and Arthur in Merlin, you also said you wished you were...ok I don't want uncle to hear this one. So imagine you are in movies like that. Do you wanna disappoint the audience? This is reality Bro, these people depend on you. So yay or nay?"

"You still see me as a kid!" I shook my head in vanquishment. But believe me, that helped and I hugged him.

I could see uncle Kareem leaving, trying to hide his little laugh. That was when I realised I am supposed to be chasing Aasim and not hugging him. But the jerk was no where to be found.

"Aasim! You jerk!"

This is a short chapter telling you the current situation of the Hussains. The following chapters will hopefully be longer but updates may not be frequent. Thanks.