My dearest Elena,

I did not want to offer my explanation on a piece of paper. I want to do that in person, so I can see your eyes when you understand why I hid that information from you. I will wait till you are ready to hear my side of the story. I don't know how much time you need but I am willing to give you as much as you need. Why am I writing this letter? I never wanted a communication barrier between us. You told me not to talk to you. I respect that, even if it kills me. Fortunately for me, you did not stop me from writing to you. I wanted to comfort you about Uncle Ehsan. I saw your heartbreak when he was being taken away. I know how important he is to you. How much you love him. Know that he is innocent and none of us will stop in our support for you.

I don't know how to end this, I never want our conversations to end. I miss you. I miss talking to you. God, there are times when I wonder about what you'll say or how you'll react when I tell you something. It doesn't come close to the reality of you.

Yours,

Zaroon.

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I clutched the letter to my heart. Rania was right, I was not ready to let him go. I never was and never will be. With the letter still in my hand and a smile on my face, I fell asleep.

A huge crowd was gathered outside the castle as we got ready to go to the city court. The stylist, Anni, fixed my hair and makeup and declared me good to go. I walked down the stairs to meet up with Ammi Jaan. Rania and Izzy were to stay at home.

"Will you be okay?" Izzy asked. Rania fixed my dupatta, her eyes anxious. At that moment, Hussein's message flashed across my screen.

"Hussein says they're ready to go and that Sameer is confident"

"Yeah, when I talked to him last night, he was pretty confident too," Rania said, moving away towards Ammi Jaan. Izzy raised an eyebrow. I shrugged. This would have to wait.

"Come on, hopefully, we're done before the Friday prayers. I have vowed special prayers if he gets released today" Ammi Jaan said. I nodded and we moved towards the cars.  After a lot of shouting and arguing, Feroze had managed to weasel his way out of this. He said that it was better for him to stay away from this case. He took his wife and kid, on our helicopter, for his campaign mission in the interior parts of the province. We only had four more days till the elections and no time to spare.

Zaroon and Ahsan were our designated guards for the day. I thanked Ahsan when he opened my door. I  avoided meeting Zaroon's eyes. He was keeping his distance. If I had not read the letter in the morning, I would have thought it was a hallucination. That's how distant he was. He sat in the passenger seat while Ahsan drove. We had aimed to keep this whole event as simple as possible. The whole theme had been normalcy.

We neared the courts and I could see that we would be fine. Rania's strategy had worked. There were no protestors just the media. The cameras were not allowed inside the court premises, so we had that to our advantage. We were directed to courtroom 1, where we were then told to get seated. Zaroon had come in with us and Ahsan waited outside. Hussein and Sameer were already there. I saw them huddled, whispering and talking with their heads together. We moved to our seats behind them. Hussein turned to look at me, a smile on his face.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Uh... the guy isn't here"

"What guy?"

"The guy Uncle Ehsan tried to bribe and his counsel," Hussein said.

"That's good, right? We'll get the bail accepted?" I asked Sameer. He looked at me calmly.

"Yes... but we'll need to see how this goes" I sat back, a bit shook by his words.

Ammi Jaan looked at me questioningly and I shrugged. Zaroon, who was seated beside me, had heard the whole conversation and his brow was furrowed. A moment later Uncle EJ was brought in and I sighed in relief. He was unharmed. Inspector Nasir was the one to bring him in. He gave us a wane smile as he directed Uncle EJ to sit with Sameer. No handcuffs... Thank God.

Hussein came to sit next to Ammi Jaan and started whispering in her ear. The anxiety from the coming events made me bounce my knee.

"All rise..." the cleric announced and we rose for the judge. An elderly man, close to Uncle EJ's ages walked to the podium in a dignified manner. He put on his glasses and read through the appeal.

"So we are here for Ehsan Gulzar Khan?" The Judge confirmed and the cleric nodded. "For the approval of a bail" we held our breath. "The charges?"

"Unlawful conduct and bribing a government officer"

"Where is the plaintiff?" silence echoed in the courtroom and the Judge wrote something down. "And the defendent?" Sameer and Uncle EJ stood up.

"Your Honour" the Judge nodded and gestured.

"Proceed"

"Good morning your honour, on behalf of my client the Defendant, myself, and my firm, I am compelled to make the following bail request on the record. Your honour, the plaintiff has not deemed this case worthy enough to make an appearance. Therefore, I ask the court to grant my client bail for the remainder of this case" Sameer's voice was clear and confident.

I held my breath and I felt Zaroon's hand cover my mine. My bouncing stopped and a calm descended over me. I curled my fingers around his. We sat there, waiting for the statement by the Judge.

"It seems to be pretty straight forward. The Plaintiff is not here to make his case." He raised his gavel. "Bail granted for the duration of this court case. Next date, on the 23rd of this month. Next case" All of us let out a collective sigh of relief.

"I guess Dad got to him," Hussein said as we stood up.

"I'll have to thank your dad" I muttered gratefully, my hand still in Zaroon's. I smiled at Uncle EJ and he smiled back, relieved. He was coming home with us. Sameer, Uncle EJ and Inspector Nasir went to get the relevant paperwork done, while we waited outside.

"Told you everything was going to be okay,"  Hussein said helping Ammi Jaan down the steps. I smiled and looked back at him.

"All thanks to you. You saved the day" He shrugged and looked at the ground.

"Rania isn't here?" Ammi Jaan rolled her eyes as a wide smile broke over her face.

"She decided it was better for her to control things from home" he nodded, his face clouded with disappointment. " By the way, you are invited to dinner tomorrow. You and your father, if he can make it" his face brightened and he accepted.

Sameer walked out with Uncle EJ, their heads together as they discussed something. He reached us and gave us all a bright smile. Uncle EJ moved and place his hand on my head. I closed my eyes. He was my second father. I could not lose him. He moved on and shook hands with Zaroon, also giving him a pat on his back.

"It's a pretty simple case. We'll be done in less than five hearings" Sameer replied to Ammi Jaan's inquiry. "For now, it's time to go home"

"Thank you, Sameer," I said going up to him. "You came and swooped in at the right time." He bowed his head. "At least let us have the pleasure of your company tomorrow, for dinner? Around 7?"

"It would be my honour," he said with a wide smile. He turned to go and shook hands with Zaroon. I stared at the gesture, perplexed. Turning back, I saw Uncle EJ and Ammi Jaan in the middle of a stare-off.

"Elena, I have called for another car. Zaroon and you can take that. Your Uncle and I need to have some words" 

I exchanged questioning glances with Hussein but kept my trepidation to myself. This would work out well. I needed some alone time with Zaroon too.

The car turned out to be driven by Aziz. There went any notion of privacy.

We zipped past the cameras and the flashes. Since court proceedings were public record, they would get their information from there. Rania had advised us to avoid making any statements. Aziz chattered all the way to the castle asking Zaroon about the military and the process of getting in etc etc. The front seat was occupied by a box. The box could not fit in the trunk, so Zaroon was seated with me in the back. Not that I was complaining.

I relaxed in the comfort of my car, listening to Zaroon's deep voice as he explained the different procedures. I looked out of the window. Uncle EJ was coming home. He would clear all of this up. I could not stay mad at Zaroon for much longer. He was no Feroze, I knew that. I could still remember the feeling of his hand on mine. The comfort he had provided. The way he was involved in my familial affairs. How he had chosen to go with us. It was getting harder and harder to ignore his place in my life.