Twice Upon Qadr - A Shot At Love **EDITING**

Chapter 12

“Yes, what’s going on?!”

Relief crossed his features.

“Oh Alhamdulillah! There are paparazzi swarming outside the Masjid, and a few of them came inside and almost saw me. I dashed into the first open room I came across, and Alhamdulillah for that because they were coming up the stairs right behind me! Can I have the key!?” he asked, and as she quickly handed him her key ring, he shifted Layla into his other arm, before rushing over and quickly locking the door from the outside, pulling it shut as the sound of voices were heard approaching. He put Layla down before leaning his head against the door, sighing deeply and looking up at Hana, giving her a crooked grin.

“Sorry to have ambushed you like that. You just don’t know how those monsters can be!”

“It’s no problem,” she said trying not to show how nervous she was to have him around, “how did they find you?”

He gave a shrug.

“I am not sure honestly, but I am surprised that it took them this long.” He flashed her another smile that made her knees weak. “But I had a good two weeks without them so Alhamdulillah!”

“Alhamdulillah.” Hana said softly.

“Amu Houssam look what I made!”

Houssam crouched down next to Layla, and Hana watched them, her heart beating fast. As he looked at the coloring page Layla extended towards him, he grinned and kissed her on her cheek, and while she knew it was silly, Hana suddenly found herself very jealous of her niece.

Suddenly the sound of the Pokémon theme song rang out in the room, and Hana laughed as Houssam pulled out his phone.

“I love Pokémon!” she exclaimed, and he grinned at her before putting the phone to his ear. Almost immediately she could tell that what he was hearing wasn’t making him happy for he scowled deeply before nodding a few times and after saying goodbye to whoever it was, he raked a hand through his hair in agitation.

“Well, I know how they found me.” He said irritably.

“How?” Hana asked.

“Apparently the car company I rented from leaked to the press not only that I was here, but the exact model of my car. So when they saw the car in the parking lot of the Masjid that is known to be my Masjid, they swarmed. Man this sucks! I’m gonna be stuck here unless I want to be attacked!”

He sat down heavily next to Dawud, towering over the little boy even though he was seated, and Hana sat back down at her desk, both of them trying to think of a solution.

“What if someone else takes your car? Then they will think they have made a mistake.” Hana suggested after a few moments, and he nodded slowly, before a smile lit up his face.

“That’s a great idea!”

“Yeah and then you can just use their car.”

“You’re brilliant!” he exclaimed, and her face flushed pink at his praise. “Now I just have to see whose car I can use. The press already know Amir is my brother in law so that won’t work.”

“You could use mine.” She offered, and he laughed.

“That is very kind of you, but I think if I try to fit in that little bug of yours I would get stuck!” he threw his head back and let out a loud laugh and she sat admiring him, a large smile on her face. “They aren’t really equipped for big guys like me.”

“What about Hisham? He comes for Maghrib, you could ask him!”

“That’s a great idea. You, are brilliant!” He exclaimed cheerfully, and to her chagrin she blushed, but thankfully he didn’t notice as he was too busy texting. A minute later, he put down his phone and the sudden knocking on the door startled them both.

“Ya Allah…” Houssam mumbled, and Hana quickly rose from her seat, and after peering outside the door, she let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s just Sheikh Saad.” As she opened the door, the Sheikh came inside, his eyes resting on Houssam.

“I have some good news and bad news. The good news is I managed to get them out of the Masjid, and the police will be here soon to escort them off of our property.”

“Alhamdulillah!” Houssam exclaimed. “What’s the bad news?!”

Sheikh Saad winced slightly.

“They know you are here.”

“How?!” Hana asked, and the Sheikh turned to look at her.

“Some of the youth didn’t know that Houssam was trying to keep it low key and when they came out of the Masjid they were asked about Houssam, and they couldn’t help but brag that they knew him.

Houssam let out a groan, and put a hand over his face.

“It was Hassan wasn’t it!? That little punk!”

The Sheikh smiled.

“He didn’t mean anything by it. He was just so excited to share with the world that he has known you his whole life.”

Houssam shook his head.

“So will you call me when they leave?”

Sheikh Saad nodded.

“Yes of course.” He turned towards Hana. “Do you still think we should do class?”

“There is still a little while before class, I think it will be fine if the police are on their way.”

The Sheikh nodded, and after admiring Layla’s drawing, he said his salaams and left, closing the door behind him. Houssam turned towards Hana, the crooked grin back.

“So looks like I am going to be stuck in here for a while. I’m all yours!”

Hana’s eyes widened.

“W…what?”

“Put me to work! What do you need me to do?! I could grade papers or help with a lesson plan or even…oh! Can I help with the newspaper!?

Hana smiled.

“Sure. I was going to send out an email tonight about our next meeting, but if you really wanted, you can use one of the computers and start an article on current events!”

Houssam’s grin widened even more. Ya Allah this man was always smiling!

“I love it!” he rose from his seat and soon was sitting down at the desk near Hana’s. “I have a ton of ideas!”

She smiled as he began typing away, and they sat for another half hour in companionable silence, and even though she taught class like she usually did, it was really hard for her to keep focused when he was sitting but a few feet away from her.