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

Chapter 47

“No. I refuse to let you have your life ruled by them. We are going to the store to pick out a cake and that’s final!”

Hana’s eyes widened in surprise at Ilham’s tone of voice, but didn’t say anything, and soon they were pulling into the parking lot of Albertson’s. To Hana’s surprise a few of the workers came out and started to help Ilham with Hana’s wheelchair before helping them inside.

“I called ahead.” Ilham explained, and Hana smiled gratefully.

“I don’t understand this. I’m not even famous!” She exclaimed as the press came tearing into the parking lot, and the workers who had helped them, stood in front of the doorway to block them from entering the store.

“Yes, but Houssam is. Yusra and Amir dealt with this a lot in the beginning of Houssam’s fame. It went away after a while. Don’t worry.”

“Maybe I should wear Niqab? No one would recognize me.” Hana mumbled, and Ilham laughed as she placed Mohammad into the cart.

“Hey it could work! If it gets worse, try it out!” she exclaimed, and Hana pushed after her towards the baked goods, smiling slightly.

Ilham had been right, it had done wonders to Hana’s mood to get out of the house, and even though she was constantly looking over her shoulder, she was having a good time.

“Now what kind of cake do you want to get?” Ilham asked, and Hana shrugged.

“You know birthdays aren’t a big deal to me.”

“Okay, Hamoudi, what kind of cake should we get for Amtu?” Ilham asked turning towards the little boy, and his eyes lit up.

“Chocolate!” he exclaimed, and they both laughed.

“Okay, chocolate frosting it is! Now to go get the ingredients for dinner!”

As Hana followed Ilham towards the produce, she paused in her tracks as she heard an uproar from outside, before Houssam appeared in the front doors of the store. When his gaze fell on her, he gave a large smile, and sauntered forward, pausing to snag a bouquet of yellow daisies from the flower center near the front doors.

“M’lady!” he exclaimed handing her the flowers, and she blushed slightly.

“You’re back!” she exclaimed and he grinned.

“That I am. I couldn’t stay away for long.” He paused to look her over. “Look at you all out and about! I was worried that they would have gotten to you and you would be hiding at home!”

Hana blushed deeper, not wanting to admit to him the truth.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I called Ilham because I wanted to surprise you at the house but I wasn’t sure if Hisham was home or not. When she said she was going to the store, I begged her to take you with her so I could come and see you!”

Here Hana stole a glance at her sister who gave her a large smile, before turning back towards Houssam.

“How was your trip?”

“As good as it could have been considering it was my Coach’s funeral. Man it was hard to see Mrs. Hoffman like that.” He said, putting a hand on his neck, and Hana resisted the urge to take his hand, her cheeks reddening as she remembered her dream.

“I’m so sorry.” She said, and he shrugged.

“It is what it is.”

“Hi Houssam.” Ilham said coming up to them, and he smiled before blowing kisses onto Hamoudi’s face. The child laughed loudly, causing customers who were passing by to smile at them, before their eyes widened as they recognized Houssam.