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Reunion (Part I)

16

They landed in Amira four hours later. As they stood there waiting for their luggage, Jasmine felt a strange sense of homecoming. This had been her country for so many years. These people had been a part of her life once. Even the air smelled familiar. She watched absently as Armaan bent to retrieve her luggage from the baggage carousel and dumped it unceremoniously at her feet. That made her throw him a sharp look. He did not seem apologetic. Then he placed his bag nicely beside hers and picked up another one.

"There's no need to do that. I am perfectly capable of getting my own luggage, thank you," Alex hard voice said from behind them.

They both turned to look at him. He was frowning at Armaan as he reached out to take his bag from the Muslim guy's hands. "I don't need you to babysit me. This isn't my first time in Amira."

Armaan tried a smile. "Oh, so you're talking to me now?"

His brother narrowed his eyes at him but did not reply. Armaan picked up his bag, did not bother with a trolley and hauled it over his shoulder. "I hope they remember the time for our flight," he said. "I don't want to catch a taxi."

Alex let out a snort. "As if they would forget. Prince Armaan has landed in Amira. I'm surprised nobody's rolled out the red carpet yet," he muttered.

"Would you let it go already, brother? She doesn't want you. Get over it."

There was a heavy silence, as heavy a silence as it was possible to get in an airport, during which Alex and Armaan glared at each other and Jasmine stared at Armaan in shock. Trust him to just get straight to the point.

Then a sneer formed on Alex's face. "If I had any doubts, the two of you certainly cleared those during the flight. I could hear you all the way to the back. But then, it's not surprising considering how little control you have over your vocal cords."

Incredulous laughter escaped Armaan's mouth at his comments.

"Oh and for the record, I don't ever want you to call me your brother." With those parting words, Alex strolled away from them.

Jasmine took one look at Armaan's shocked expression and decided that she had had enough of becoming caught in the middle of these two. She followed Alex. He needed to learn a few home truths about the situation.

"You really need to stop treating him like this," she snapped at him. "I've always been aware of how you feel about me. The truth is, I just never felt the same and I never will. I'm sorry if this hurts you but you need to stop punishing Armaan over this. He cares about you, Alex. I know he does. He didn't act on his attraction towards me just to make you feel bad."

Alex was frowning at her. "You've grown quite fond of him in just a few weeks, huh?" he questioned tightly.

Jasmine sighed. "This isn't about me. It's about you and Armaan and how it sucks to see the two of you fighting. You've been best friends for so long. Don't throw it away over a girl. Please."

The smile Alex gave her was bittersweet. "It's not that simple, Jas. This isn't about two best friends fighting over a girl. Hell, there are thousands of such cases all over the world but life goes on. This is betrayal of the worst kind. This is my brother stealing the girl I told him I was in love with. This is unforgivable." His expression was bleak and he nodded at the question in her eyes. "Yes. I did fall for you. And yes, Armaan is my brother. We share the same blood. What would you do if you had a sibling who went behind your back this way?" He did not wait for her answer as he walked off, leaving her standing there, feeling shocked and uncertain.

What would she do? She would resent her sibling for the rest of her life. She would never be able to be happy for her. But only if the man who was stolen from her was someone she could never stop loving. At that moment, she was wishing with all her heart that Alex would stop loving her because it was the only way that he could forgive his brother.