Living Royalty

3. Not happening, dude!

Samaah's P.O.V

Saamih, Samiha, mum and I all walked behind dad, who was leading the way as per the instructions given to us by the worker. I was mesmerised by this amazing mansion. It was a four storey building, and the most beautiful one I've ever laid my eyes on, and the biggest so far. I mean, who lives in a house with 81 rooms, excluding restrooms and bathrooms?

"Wrong turn, Habib!" My mum said to dad, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Oops, he said the second left right? I took the first left. Alright, let's go back," dad said.

Man! This place was like a maze! I don't even know how in the world we are going to adjust here. I was so used to my tiny three bedroom house, where Samiha and I shared a room. And now I'll probably have to share a bedroom with one of these two boys, in one of these 26 bedrooms. The thought made my stomach flip and I discarded it right away. Don't get ahead of yourself Samaah! I thought.

We finally reached the door that said 'LOUNGE 3' after a long and confusing journey through the hallways. Dad heaved a sigh of relief and slowly opened the heavy looking door. The sight that met my eyes knocked my breath away for a second. This lounge was...beyond beautiful. I mean, I didn't have the right words to describe it. It was huge. Very huge. Then I remembered, the lounges are numbered according to their sizes, so if this is lounge 3, it is one of the biggest lounges that are there. There was a huge crimson coloured pure leather sofa set, and another cream coloured pure leather sofa set. The sofa sets nicely complemented the cream and crimson swirls on the wallpaper. It looked beautiful. I noticed the rugs that lay on the ground. They looked overly expensive, but I was relieved that they were not animal skin rugs. I knew that normally rich people liked animal skin items, but I was glad that these particular rich people were principled, Alhamdulillah. There was a huge coffee table in between the sofas. It was lovely. I continued admiring the lounge, and my eyes fell to a small picture, barely visible to anyone. It was kept in the huge cabinet and many items surrounded it. It was framed, so atleast I could notice it that way. I walked to the picture and peeked at it. I saw a large group of people. A woman and a man, each holding a baby, and some other men and women, along with a group of 4 girls and 6 boys kneeling on the ground in front of the adults. I shrugged, not recognising anyone in the picture.

"Samaah! Sit down now! Stop prying about," Saamih teased.

"Ha-ha big bro. You're so funny, aren't you?" I said, sarcastically, albeit taking a seat on one of those sofas. I sank into the comfortable seat and sighed contentedly. This was pure comfort.

The door opened and I straightened my posture, noticing Samiha doing the same. I quickly ran my finger through my hijab to tuck in any strands of visible hair. Then, I looked at the door, and in came a tall man, over six feet, with jet black hair,  but a few grey strands here and there. His face was slightly wrinkled, and I assumed he would be about 60 years old. Yet he seemed to be holding up strong. I looked at his face and realised that he must have been very handsome back in his days. Following behind him was another man, slightly shorter than him. About 5'11". He had dark brown hair and beautiful dark eyes. He was slightly built. I wouldn't say very muscular, but quite. He had a dark beautiful trimmed beard. In a two word description, I would call him stunningly handsome. As I continued to look at his face, he looked oddly familiar but I couldn't remember him that well. I then snapped out of my trance and muttered 'Astaghfirullah'. I'm supposed to lower my gaze, not ogle shamelessly at some strange dude. I looked down immediately and mentally slapped myself. Of course he'd be familiar wouldn't he? He went to the same school as you! I thought to myself.

"Assalamualeikum, Mr. Ashraf. Nice to see you here. I'm so sorry to keep you waiting!" The older man greeted.

"Wa'alaykumsalaam, Mr. Hamid. No problem at all. You have a beautiful place!" Dad replied.

"This is my son, Asif. Asif, Mr. Ashraf and his family," Mr. Hamid said.

The boy greeted dad and Saamih politely, and then looked in mine and Samiha's direction. His cold gaze didn't go unnoticed by either of us, and Samiha grasped my hand tightly. I squeezed her hand back, comfortingly. He immediately looked away with a frown. He didn't seem too happy about this. Well, he's not the only unhappy one here, and I hope he realises that! I thought.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Ashraf. My other son, Arif is not here yet. I didn't know he was going to call his friends over or I wouldn't have let him. But I've told our workers to call him. He'll be here soon. I'm just so sorry," Mr. Hamid said.

"It's okay, brother. Don't worry. We'll wait," dad replied.

A couple of minutes later, the door opened again, and in came another man, completely identical to the previous young man. Not even a single feature of his was different from the other man. I figured this must be Arif, since the previous one was Asif. Back in school, I could never tell them apart. And I wouldn't have been able to do so here if Asif hadn't come here before Arif.

Clearly, Asif and Arif were identical twins. They always wore the same clothes also, and I knew they did it purposely, to make life difficult for people. They were both Samiha's age, who was a year older than me, so they were in her class throughout the two years of A levels. I only got to know them for one year, when I was in year 12, the first year of A levels and they were in year 13, the second and last year of A levels. I was 23 years old, so they were 24, like Samiha.

"Assalamualeikum," Arif greeted out, looking at the men.

"Wa'alaykumsalaam," they all replied simultaneously.

"Arif, meet Mr. Ashraf and his family," Mr. Hamid said.

He shook hands with dad and my brother, and turned around to look and me and Samiha briefly. He gave us that same cold and hard gaze given to us by his twin a little while earlier, then looked away. I let out a shaky breath. Do these twins really think we're very happy with this alliance? Do they think by giving us those cold looks, we can just disappear from here? We didn't want to be here in the first place! We're doing this for our parents. If they think they can intimidate us, I got three words for them, not happening, dude!

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Done with 3 chapters. Story going strong so far, I hope. And I hope you guys like it. Please vote and comment, and I hope you continue reading as I continue updating.

If you have any suggestions, let me know. What do you think of Asif and Arif so far?