Hey Hana, I’m with Kareem at the park next to the Masjid. We got bored at home :)

Hana gave a smile as the text from Houssam came in, and as she had to pass the Masjid to get to Yusra and Amir’s house, she was only down the street from the park. Soon she was pulling into the parking lot, and was walking towards where Houssam stood next to Kareem, pushing him on the swing. As Hana approached them, Houssam looked up, and his face lit up.

“Hey! Salaam!” he exclaimed, and she smiled in return before dropping a kiss on Kareem’s head.

“Na!” Kareem exclaimed, bouncing up and down and pointing at Hana, and she laughed before looking up at Houssam.

“Walaikumasalaam.”

“How are you doing?”

“I’m good.” She tightened her hold on her purse strap, avoiding his gaze. “How are you?”

“I’m wonderful! Kareem and I were feeling cooped up in the house, so we decided to come have fun!”

Hana smiled as Kareem shrieked with laughter and she leaned against the swing pole.

“Well I’m here now, so I can take over if you have somewhere to go.”

“Not really,” he said with a shrug, “I’m meeting one of the brothers but not for another hour. Do you mind if I hang out here with you guys until it’s time?”

“No of course not.” She said, trying to sound convincing, though just the thought of having idle time to spend around him was a bit unnerving.

“Do you want to push him?” he asked, and her smile brightened.

“Can I?!”

“Of course.” He said with a laugh, and as she took his place, pushing Kareem, he folded his arms across his chest, watching them with a smile.

“So what was the most exciting moment of your career?” she asked and he laughed.

“You’re going to interview me here!?” he exclaimed and she smiled.

“Why not? We are just standing here.”

“Okay, okay. Um, my most exciting moment? Hmm, there are so many actually, my whole career has just been almost like a dream. I guess my first game was pretty unbelievable, the first time I won MVP. Getting my first paycheck was pretty epic!” he said with a laugh, and she smiled again. “The first time I was recognized on the street was pretty exciting.”

“What was the hardest?”

“Leaving here. Leaving everyone I loved and cared for.” He said immediately without even needing to think about it. “Sometimes I feel,” he hesitated, looking embarrassedly at his feet.

“What?” she asked gently.

“Lonely.” As soon as the word left Houssam’s mouth, he expected her to reply like everyone else he told. ‘What?! How can you be lonely!? You are always surrounded by people!’ But Hana just looked at him thoughtfully, before resuming pushing the baby.

“I can see that.”

His head jerked up in surprise.

“What?”

“I could see how you would feel lonely. Being away from familiar places and faces. Being around people who you aren’t sure if they only want to be around you because of your fame and wealth. It must be hard.” She said sympathetically, and he just stared at her in shock. He had never been able to have someone understand what he was going through, even though they had tried, and it was both a relief and unsettling to know that finally, someone did.

“Um, yeah that’s exactly how I feel.” He said giving a short laugh. “How did you know?”

She smiled.

“I tend to be able to know how others are feeling. I’m not sure how, but I always have been able to.”

“It’s because you’re so sensitive and sweet.”

An awkward silence fell over them, and to both of their relief, Kareem began to whine, and Hana pulled him out of the swing, and took him over to the slide. She stood at the bottom, and Houssam at the top, putting Kareem in place before letting him go so he slid into Hana’s arms, his excited laughter making both of them laugh as well. Soon Kareem began running towards the sandbox, and Hana laughed taking off after him, Houssam following behind them. As Hana sat down next to the baby, showing him how to build a sand castle, she was not unaware how close Houssam was. She stole a glance at him, partly relieved and partly disappointed that he was looking at his phone, but as if sensing that she was watching him, he looked up, flashing a smile at her. Before she could return it however, his eyes strayed to just over her head, and his face paled.

“Oh shoot!” He exclaimed, and before Hana realized what was going on, he had scooped up Kareem, and was looking anxiously over her head. She scrambled to her feet, trying to see what was wrong, but he quickly stepped in front of her, blocking her view “Walk.” He said and she looked at him in confusion.

“What?”

“Start walking. The paparazzi are right there and I don’t want them to photograph you.”

She tried to crane her head to see them but as Houssam was so huge she couldn’t see over his shoulder, which was a good thing since that meant they couldn’t see her either.

“Hana,” he said a bit impatiently, “walk.”

She began to walk, feeling the warmth of his body behind her, and it wasn’t long before they were hidden behind the brush of trees. As they came to a stop, he ran a hand through his hair, and peered anxiously through the tree limbs. He looked back at her, shifting Kareem onto his other hip.

“Okay so we have to get you out of here. Alhamdulillah I was too lazy to transfer the car seat into my own car and just took Yusra’s, otherwise they would have recognized my car. So take the keys and take Kareem home.”

“How are you going to get home?” she asked as she took the key ring and the baby from him.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll figure it out. My main concern is making sure you are safe.”

Lucky for her he was too busy glancing behind him again to see the deep blush that graced her face. Suddenly he turned back towards her.

“Okay they are on the other side of the park. Go! Go now!” he said motioning with his hands, and she hurriedly started speed walking to where Yusra’s car was parked against the curb. She was halfway there when all of a sudden she heard a shout, and her eyes widened as storm of people with cameras came rushing at her, their camera’s flashing.

“There she is!”

“Miss! Miss! Are you Hoozam Shayk’s girlfriend?! His wife!?”

“Miss look over here!”

“Is that your child with Mr. Shaykh!?”

“Smile sweetie!”

They were completely boxed in, and to her dismay Kareem burst into tears.

“Please just let us through.” She pleaded trying to comfort the baby and keep her footing, but they swarmed closer and there was no way for her to break free.

There she was, standing in the middle of a hoard of paparazzi, carrying a bawling child, and close to tears herself, when she felt hands come around her arms, and suddenly Houssam was behind her.

“Move.” He said in this scary voice to the reporters in front of them, and to her astonishment, they parted, and she immediately stepped forward. However they seemed to change their minds about letting them go for they were soon on their tail again but this time she wasn’t alone, for Houssam stood around her.

“Don’t stop. Just keep going.” He whispered in her ear and she listened, moving as fast as she could toward the blue car.

“Mr. Shaykh! Mr. Shaykh who is she?!”

“Is she your girlfriend!?”

Houssam ignored them, and once they had gotten to the car, he hurriedly put Kareem in his car seat, and Hana got into the front seat, starting the engine so she could drive off as soon as the baby was strapped in. Once he had closed the back door, Houssam came over and crouched in front of her.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently, his eyes moving over her face in concern. She nodded though she could feel the tears building up in her eyes. This was just too overwhelming.

“Yes.” She whispered, and he flinched as a tear escaped down her cheek.

“Give me your car keys. Once things calm down I’ll bring your car to the house.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t fit in my bug.” She said with a small smile as she dabbed at her eyes.

He laughed, and took the keys from her.

“For you, I’d try. Now go before they start pushing the car to get pictures of us together.” He said, and as if to prove his point, a reporter came barreling across the street, narrowly missing being flattened by a bread truck. “Go.” He said again, and she nodded, waiting until he had closed the door before tearing away from the curb.

***  

Houssam sat behind the wheel of Hana’s blue bug, silently cursing himself. Her tear stained face was fresh in his mind, and he couldn’t feel worse about the fact that he had gotten her in such a situation. He should have just stayed home. If he had stayed home with Kareem like planned, nothing like this would have happened and she wouldn’t have been ambushed by the vultures. Now, this time tomorrow, her picture would be all over the internet, with people speculating who she was, and he knew she would be humiliated. She didn’t enjoy attention, nor people staring at her, and now she was going to get both.

He shifted slightly, trying to make sure his foot didn’t slip off of the brake. His legs were smashed under the dashboard, and his head was grazing the roof of the car, he was bending so he could see outside of the windshield. As the light turned green, he hit the gas, his anger coming back fresh as he thought of how scared she had looked. Not to mention how terrified Kareem had been. Poor baby. It wasn’t fair to any of Houssam’s friend and family that they had to get dragged into things.

Almost immediately upon him leaving the park, he had come to a decision. He had to go back home to LA before something like this or worse happened to someone else. Those people were heartless, and would do anything for a photograph that would get them a few bucks. He couldn’t risk it.

As he pulled into the driveway of Yusra and Amir’s house, he put the car in park before staring up at the house, feeling uneasy about seeing her again. In the heat of the moment he hadn’t realized it, but now as he was driving, it had occurred to him that he had been holding her arms, and he was completely mortified. Astagfirallah! To have slipped up so badly! He honestly hadn’t even been thinking, his only thought, was just to get her out of there. He hoped she wasn’t too mad at him.

Astagfirallah.

Though he had a key to the house, he rang the doorbell, who knew if she was wearing her scarf? As the door opened, and she came into view, his heart melted. Her eyes were still puffy as if she had still been crying, and his guilt came rushing back full force.

“Hana I’m so sorry. Wallah I’m so sorry.” He immediately exclaimed and she gave a slight smile.

“Salaam to you too!”

“”Oh. Salaam. Forgive me?” he pleaded.

“There is nothing to forgive Houssam. It’s not your fault.”

“No it is my fault. If I had just stayed home this wouldn’t have happened.”

“You can’t hide for the rest of your life.”

He shook his head.

“I’d rather have to hide then make you or anyone else go through that again.”

“Houssam, we understand. Unfortunately the paparazzi are a risk we have to be willing to deal with to be around you. And all of us wouldn’t hesitate even for a second to take that risk.” She said softly, and for a few seconds he just stared at her, his heartbeat accelerating in his chest.

“Thank you.” He whispered for suddenly he had found himself so emotional he couldn’t speak any louder.

She smiled and they stood in companionable silence for a few moments, before he cleared his throat.

“Um, these are for you.” He said pulling out a bouquet of white daisies from behind his back. Her eyes widened.

“Oh wow! What are they for?!” she asked, taking them from him and inhaling their scent.

“They are ‘I’m sorry you got attacked by vultures’ flowers.”

She laughed, and fingered one of them admiringly.

“How did you know daisies are my favorite flower?”

“Are they really?” he asked with a pleased smile. “I didn’t, I just saw them and they reminded me of you.”

“Thank you.” She said blushing slightly, and he turned his head embarrassed to the ground. He didn’t usually do things like this, even with Yusra or his mom he always felt weird doing things like that. But he felt so bad about what had happened at the park that he would have gotten Hana a car if he thought she would accept it. She had done him the honor of being his friend, and he repaid her like this.

“How is Kareem doing?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

“Alhamdulillah, I think the whole ordeal exhausted him. He fell asleep on the car ride home, and is still sleeping.”

“Habibi. I was worried that it would scar him for life.”

Hana laughed.

“No he will be okay.”

“It didn’t scar you for life did it?” he asked worriedly, and she smiled again, this time her face flushing slightly.

“I’m okay Houssam. Stop worrying!”

He ran a hand through his hair, and gave her that crooked smile.

“I’ll try. Do you mind if I get my car keys?”

“No of course not. Go ahead.” She said stepping aside to let him enter the house. She heard him entering the kitchen, and picking up his keys, and when he returned, he stood in front of her.

“Okay I’ll see you Wednesday?” he asked, and she nodded.

“Are we still on for the interview on Thursday before class?”

“Yeah InshaAllah. If you still want to.”

“Of course I do!”

“Okay,” he said with a smile, “salaam Hana.”

“Walaikumasalaam Houssam.”

He stepped outside the house, before turning back around.

“Um, I hate to tell you this but I want you to be prepared. Your picture is going to be plastered all over the internet tomorrow. Just a head’s up.”