Hana unlocked the front door of her apartment, tossed her keys on the counter, and let out an excited squeal before twirling around the living room. Oh my God she had seen Houssam! And he had looked amazing. And it hadn’t been awkward at all! She raised her hands to her face, which was flushed despite the cold New York air she had just been walking in, and she gave a smile.

She had been worried about how it would be seeing him again, after all it was practically a year since their last encounter at the Masjid. Ever since she had arrived in New York, she had been trying to figure out a way where she could see him. But short of calling him up, which would have been totally inappropriate, she couldn’t think of anything. So when Carol, her boss, had mentioned that they wanted to do a piece on Houssam’s charity work, but it would take a long time to get in since he didn’t usually do interviews beyond the monthly ones his manager arranged, she didn’t hesitate to mention that she knew him pretty well, and perhaps she could be the one to go to the stadium. To say her boss and colleagues had been surprised, and slightly impressed, was an understatement, and they had badgered her endlessly about him. Needless to say, when the time finally came for her to go to the game, she was a nervous wreck, especially when she found herself in front of the doors clutching her press badge. At first they had dismissed her right away saying ‘Mr. Shaykh’ didn’t do post-game interviews, but when Harold, Houssam’s manager, heard her name, he had ushered her in, a wide and slightly mischievous smile on his face.

Hana couldn’t help but wonder then what Houssam had said about her for her to get that kind of special treatment.

Oh but he had looked amazing! His hair had grown back down to his shoulders, which she loved. His smile was bright, his eyes were kind, and she had forgotten how truly beautiful he was. She had missed him. Every single inch of him.

“So I’m guessing by the way you are floating on air that you got to see him?”

Hana looked up with a sheepish smile as her roommate, Ayah, came into the room. Ayah was from Inland Empire, where Rashid and Eman lived, and had gotten into NYU for her master’s program. When Eman had heard the news that Hana had gotten a job with The New York times, she had set the two girls up, and they had become fast friends and confidantes.

“Yes I saw him,” Hana unpinned her Hijab, and twirled towards her friend, “I saw him, and he was beautiful, and I’m even more in love with him than I thought!”

Ayah laughed.

“Wow, only one time of seeing him and you are in love!?”

Hana shook her head.

“I never stopped loving him. Like I told you, we just needed some time apart.”

“And do you think you’ve been apart long enough?”

Had they been apart long enough? It had almost been a year. That was a long time. At first, Hana had been struggling really badly with how she was supposed to know that she was ready? How did they know that a sufficient amount of time had passed before they could ‘maturely’ be together?

But now she understood. At least from her end. He had already made his way in the world, had made a name for himself since he was twenty years old. If she had married him, she would just be that lady who was Houssam Shaykh’s wife. But now, she had paved her own road. She worked for a huge newspaper, had moved alone across the country, and was very successful MashaAllah. Now if she married him? She would be Hana Ismail, whose husband was Houssam Shaykh. They would be a power couple, both able to fend for themselves, but at the same time, rely on each other.

And she wanted to be with him so badly.

“I think so.”

“Well do you think he feels the same?”

Hana shrugged.

“I don’t know. I barely got to talk to him. We talked for like ten minutes, I got a quote, and then one of his teammates showed up and I left.”

Ayah plopped down on the couch, and frowned.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah well. He said he wants to catch up.”

“How are you guys going to do that?! It’s not like you can meet for coffee or something!” Ayah exclaimed and Hana groaned.

“I know! Otherwise I would have called him the second I came to the city! I don’t know what to do! Do you think Hisham would agree to fly out just for a coffee meeting?”

“Oh yes I’m sure your brother would get right on it!” Ayah said with a laugh, and Hana grinned. With the new baby on the way, her brother and sister were practically attached at the hip. He had even taken off a few months from work to help her with the children. She was only four months along, but with three other children it wasn’t easy.

Hana watched thoughtfully as her roommate got up and made a bowl of popcorn, taking a handful as she came back into the room.

“Did you have a hard time getting in?” Ayah asked, and Hana shook her head.

“Surprisingly no. At first when they heard I was from The New York Times they turned me away, but then one of the guys was like ‘wait what did you say your name was again?’ and when I told him he was like ‘oh come right in sweetheart!’ and he gave me like the VIP treatment.”

“Who was he?”

“Houssam’s manager. His name was Harold.”

“Ooh!” Ayah exclaimed teasingly. “That means Houssam has talked about you! Eee you two or SO getting married!” she squealed, and Hana laughed, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. They had been there since she had first saw him, and hadn’t stopped.

Just then the sound of Hana’s phone pierced the air, and as she looked at the screen she frowned to see an unknown number.

“Hello?”

“Hana? This is Harold. We met at the stadium today.”

“Uh. Yes of course. Hello Harold.” Hana said in a confused tone of voice. Why would Houssam’s manager be calling her?

“I hope I didn’t call at an inconvenient time?”

“Not at all.” She shrugged at her roommate who was waving her hands in the air excitedly. “How can I help you?”

 “I have a job offer for you.”

***

Houssam stared at the tabletop, ignoring the sounds of his managing team laughing and talking, his mind filled entirely of Hana. Since the second he had stepped into the press conference room she had not left his thoughts, and he felt like he was gliding on air.

She had looked amazing, and the surprise of seeing her there probably was the best part. The fact that he wasn’t expecting it was like a gift from Allah. A wonderful amazing gift that was taken away too soon because stupid Freddy had to interrupt…

“Will you stop with your daydreaming! You almost knocked your soda all over me!” Freddy complained, and Houssam pushed his glass away from his friend.

“Sorry.”

“Can’t stop thinking about her huh?” Freddy asked with a grin, crossing his arms over his chest, and Houssam groaned.

“Not even a little bit. Seeing her set my heart on fire!”

Freddy snorted.

“Why don’t you just ask her out?”

“Nah you know we don’t do that.”

“Oh yeah,” Freddy paused to take a sip of his drink, “so let me get this straight. You love her more than life itself, she obviously likes you from the way she was blushing being next to you, yet you aren’t together because you felt like you needed more time to grow into yourselves.”

“Correct,”

“And it’s been a year, and all of a sudden she is here living in New York, she has a pretty impressive job, you are as mature as you will ever be,” he laughed as Houssam shoved him, “what is keeping you apart now?”

“Well I just found out she is in New York like an hour ago. You can’t expect me to propose right awayl.”

“Why not?!”

“Well for one I don’t have a ring!” Houssam joked, and Freddy laughed. “Plus I’d have to ask her dad’s permission first.”

Freddy’s eyebrow raised.

“Well that’s very chivalrous of you man!”

“It’s actually part of our religion. You have to approach her father.”

“Wow. That’s kinda cool actually.” He smiled. “I like that.”

“Well you know, women have a huge status in Islam, and it’s to protect her from someone taking advantage of her.”

“That’s awesome man. So you think you’re going to go ask her dad?”

Houssam ran a hand through his hair.

“I want to gage her reaction first. See if there is anything to rekindle.”

“Rekindle? Man her face was cherry red, and you said your heart was on fire! Seems like the fire is burning pretty strongly!”

Houssam laughed.

“I guess. I just don’t know how I am going to spend more time with her. It’s not like I can ask her out for dinner or something.”

“Attention everyone! Attention everyone please!” Harold exclaimed standing up and tapping on his glass. As the table fell silent, Harold cleared his throat. “Alright we are here tonight to celebrate another awesome win for our favorite team!”

“GOOO KNICKS!” the table exploded, and Harold laughed.

“And here is to our stars, our two heroes, our two boys! Houssam and Freddy!” Harold exclaimed raising his glass into the air.

“To Houssam and Freddy!” everyone yelled.

“Now let’s eat!” Harold said before sitting back down, and they all began to dig into their meals. Halfway through the meal, Joanna, their public relations representative tapped on her glass for attention.

“Now, as all of you know, there is only one month left of the season before the championship game, and we want to up the sponsorship! So the marketing and PR teams have decided that we need to really play up the friendship between Fred and Houssam.”

“What do you mean?” Freddy asked taking a sip of his soda.

“We want to do a few magazine layouts showcasing their friendship on and off the courts! So we would need photoshoots, interviews, publicity outings.”

Both Freddy and Houssam groaned.

“Do we have to get best friends forever bracelets?” Houssam scoffed, and Freddy laughed loudly.

“Yeah and we should go to the spa for manicures and pedicures! Matching nail polish!” he added, and Houssam snorted.

Joanna glared at them.

“Stop it both of you! This is a good thing! Harold, tell them to stop!”

“Behave boys.” Harold said over a mouthful of chips and salsa, and Houssam and Freddy exchanged glances before Houssam sighed.

“I don’t want to do a photoshoot.”

“Me neither.” Freddy added, and Harold raised a chip in their direction.

“You are going to do it. I got you an amazing photographer.”

“You could have gotten us the most famous photographer in the world, and I still won’t do it!” Houssam said stubbornly, and Harold grinned.

“Even if the photographer worked for The New York Times?”

Houssam froze, his fork halfway to his mouth.

“What?”

“But if you really don’t want to I understand!” Harold said with a sigh. “We will just have to forget it!”

“Wait! Harold! Who is it!?” Houssam demanded, and Harold shook his head.

“No, I know that it isn’t worth it!”

“WHO IS IT HAROLD!?”

“Your little lady.”

“Ooh! Go Harold!” Freddy crowed, and Houssam felt a huge grin light up his face. “Hey Shaykh! Better get your ring ready!”