Houssam slammed his bedroom door, and turned around and punched the wall angrily. He stared at the crack for a few seconds before spinning around and beginning to pace up and down his room. He was not usually a violent or angry person but its like she brought it out in him! He wasn’t even sure why he was mad!

So she had told him they couldn’t be friends.

Big deal right?

It wasn’t a new concept to Houssam. In fact he had grown up always knowing that you just don’t be friends with the opposite gender. But she was different. He wanted to know all about her. He craved her company. He loved it when she was around, and her smile was literally like a breath of fresh air.

That wasn’t something you felt for just a friend.

Was it possible that he…?

Nah.

Impossible.

He was with Kalthoum now. He couldn’t just come up all of a sudden with these feelings for someone else!

No it was just because he had gotten used to being around her and she had helped fill the emptiness inside, so now that she wasn’t there, it was painfully obvious. Kalthoum would fill the void soon enough, he just needed to spend more time with her. He was meeting her tonight after Maghrib, she would soothe his hurt feelings.

He began pacing again up and down the room, his agitation growing stronger by the minute, until he grabbed his gym bag. If he stayed in there any longer, Amir and Yusra would have a heck of a lot of holes in their walls.

He dashed downstairs, flying by a startled Yusra and began to lace up his sneakers.

“Where are you going?” Yusra asked in concern for her brother’s face was like that of a thundercloud.

“I need to work off some steam. I’ll be back at one.” He said this in Hana’s direction before yanking the door open so hard, the hinges made a groaning noise in protest. Sometimes he forgot his own strength.

“Houssam!” Yusra called after him, but he ignored her, tearing open his car door and getting inside. Before he had a chance to start the engine, Amir came out of the house, and towards his car

“Woah bro what’s wrong?!” he asked and Houssam angrily buckled his seatbelt before jamming the key in the ignition.

“Nothing. I just have to go.”

“Are you okay?” Amir asked gently, and Houssam sighed before putting his hands on the wheel.

“Hana and I got into a fight.”

Amir’s eyebrow raised.

“Uh when was this? Because when we left you guys like fifteen minutes ago you were one big happy family!”

Houssam snorted.

“We actually got into a fight a few weeks ago, but fixed it last night when she came. Well actually I thought we had fixed it, but as she so kindly pointed out, nothing has changed.”

“What was it about?” Amir asked curiously, for his brother was acting like someone who had been scorned by someone he loved.

Houssam hesitated for a second, not really sure he wanted to tell Amir what it was. Why? Because he knew his brother would take Hana’s side in this and he didn’t want to be reminded again that he was in the wrong.

“Um, she said we couldn’t be friends.”

Amir waited a beat of silence. 

“And?”

“And that’s it.”

“That’s it!?” Amir asked in astonishment. “Ya Allah you had me thinking the worst! Of course you can’t be friends! I don’t know why you are mad about this!”

“You wouldn’t understand.” Houssam grumbled, and Amir spread his hands out.

“Then explain it to me.”

“Look I gotta go before I wrench this steering wheel out of the car. I’ll see you later.” He said before putting the car in reverse, and driving down the driveway.

How could he explain it to Amir when he didn’t even understand it himself!?

***

Houssam stepped off of the treadmill, and jogged in place for a few seconds. He had ran for a whole hour without stopping at an incline of fifteen degrees which is the highest incline on the machine, and it hadn’t helped him in the slightest. He needed to hit something!

So he set out to the punching bags at the end of the room, and after the first swing, he was gone. Half hour later he grabbed the bag, wincing slightly as he glanced down at his hands. He had forgotten his gloves at home, so had done it barehanded and he had a few cuts on his right knuckles, and one of his fingers looked like it was dislocated, but he felt better.

Well a little bit. His heart was still aching for reasons beyond his comprehension.

As he went to his bag to pull out his towel and dab at his face, his phone began to ring, and as he saw it was Kalthoum, he stared at the screen for a few seconds, before pressing answer.

“Hello?”

“Salaam Houssam!” came her perky voice and although he had been trying to convince himself that she would be his savior, he grimaced.

“Hey Kalthoum.”

“How are you doing my Houssam?” she asked, and he rolled his eyes despite himself.

“I’m just,” he paused to punch the bag again, “great. What’s up?”

“What are you doing for dinner?”

“Um nothing.” He said sponging off his neck with his towel. As he turned around he noticed people around him staring and whispering, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to get swarmed now.

“Okay great! Ahmad and Laila are going out for dinner, and they said we can double date with them!”

“’Uh how are they going out together they aren’t married yet.”

“Actually they got married last week. It was a small ceremony in our dining room with her family and ours.”

“Oh wow.” Houssam said in surprise. He thought they could have gotten over the weirdness that Ahmad had proposed to Yusra in between when her and Amir were broken up, and at least would have invited them! “Alright yeah sounds good.”

“I can’t wait to see you.” She said in a low voice and he just stood there not really sure how to respond. She was laying it on pretty thick.

“Uh thanks.”

“Thanks? Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah yeah I’m fine. Look I’m at the gym now and I have to go shower so I can take over Kareem.”

“Mmm okay. I’ll see you later.” She said and as he hung up the phone he suddenly felt violated by the tone of her voice.

As he put the phone back in his bag, and slung it around his shoulder, he turned around to see at least ten people standing there with outstretched notepads.

“Um excuse me Mr. Shaykh, can we have your autograph?”

***

Hana paced up and down in the living room anxiously. It was now one forty five, and Houssam wasn’t back yet. Alhamdulillah class had been postponed until three so she still had some time to get there, but he didn’t know that. For all he knew she still had class at two, and now he had made her late. Was this his way of getting back at her!?

She couldn’t believe he was being so immature again!

She sat down on the couch, and pulled out her phone, sighing as she realized she had no texts or missed calls from him. He had been so angry when he had left the house earlier, but Amir had assured her that he always worked off steam when he went to the gym and he would be back within the hour. It had been almost five hours and he still wasn’t back.

Of course now she started to have scary thoughts. What if his car broke down? What if he got into an accident!? What if he was laying somewhere bleeding to death and no one would know!?

She waited another ten anxious minutes, and when she heard the front door open, and Houssam entered the room she physically had to stop herself from hitting him.

“What the hell Houssam!?” she exclaimed to the surprise of both of them. Hana was not a loud person, nor did she curse.

“What?” he asked and she put her hands on her hips.

“What!? WHAT!? You’ve been gone five hours, and now you are almost an hour late! You couldn’t even send me a text letting me know you were okay!?” she demanded, and to her annoyance, his lips twitched up in a smile.

“You were worried about me?”

“Well duh!” she exclaimed and he smiled bigger.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why!? I just told you?! Look is this your way of getting back at me!?” she asked, and instantly his smile was replaced by a scowl.

“No it wasn’t. I was swarmed with fans and then someone tipped off the paparazzi. I had to drive around for an hour so I could lose them. They don’t know where Amir and Yusra live, and I don’t want them to.”

“Oh,” she said, her heart still beating fast from how worried she had been about him. “Well you could have at least let me know you were okay!”

He shrugged.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry? Sorry!? That’s all you have to say?”

“What else is there to say? Why should you care anyway, I’m nothing to you remember?”

She just stared at him for a few seconds before grabbing her purse, and pulling on her shoes. Once she had stood back up, she looked him right in the face.

“Grow up Houssam.”