Coming Home (English Version)

25. Gum

"Yallah, Hamdan! What are you doing here?!" She questions with her mouth full.

"What's in your mouth?" I ask while walking towards her.

Her eyes as big as saucers. "Nothing." She lies barely moving her lips to speak.

"What's in your hands then?"

"Nothing! What are you even doing here?"

I stand right in front of her and cross my arms. "Excuse me? This place is mine."

She discreetly swallows whatever it was in her mouth. "Yeah, but you're never here this early!"

"What's in your hands?" I ask one more time, not letting myself get distracted with how adorable she looks with extra rosy cheeks and hiding sweets.

"I-- uh..." Her eyes looking around. "I wanted some gum!"

I can't suppress my laughter. "Gum, seriously?"

"Yeah!" I smile almost forming on her lips.

"Fine, let me see." I dare.

"No! Why-- Why do you even have all this candy here?"

"It's for the kids, when they are here I ask them if they have been good, if they are getting good grades and if they do then they can get some candy." I explain, relaxing my arms.

"Aw! That's so sweet!"

"Yeah, like the chocolates you're holding."

She puffs and lets her shoulders hang. "Fine, I'm guilty." Moving her hands to the front of her body, she presents me with stolen items. "But Hamdan, I'm so hungry all the time, it's insane! I'm eating twice the food I was eating before and at times I feel like I could eat all the food in the world and still be hungry!"

"Well yeah, you're using all this energy and building muscle, but you should be feeding that hunger with protein, not simple carbs." I take one candy bar and gently hit her head with it.

"Hey!" She complains, rubbing her forehead.

I go to open one of the cabinets to retrieve a bag and hand it over to her. "Here, you can take all you want."

She takes the bag and stares at the blue F3 logo engraved in it. "Really, Hamdan? Do you think there's any other royal out there with their own brand?"

"I wouldn't mind being the first." I admit.

She looks at me and tilts her head. "You're too much."

"Good, I'd rather be too much than too little." Taking her hand, I guide her back in front of the candy one more time and stand next to her. "So? What are you taking?" I spot my favorite dark chocolate and take a bar to drop in her bag. "This one is really good."

She puts the candy she had already taken in the bag as well and happily starts taking a whole bunch of different ones until she finally gets a hold of some coconut cookies and opens the package to eat them as if she was starving, closing her eyes she makes it seem like those are the best cookies she ever had. There's still something so carefree about her, even now that she's older and has an important desk job, she still manages to hold to this part of her that the rest of us seem to lose as we grow up, the capability of amazement of seemingly simple everyday stuff, like a piece of candy.

"These are the best cookies I ever had." She tells me.

I smirk and remove some crumbs from the corner of her mouth with my thumb, and there it is, that same old electric feeling I get whenever my skin comes in contact with hers. She stays still, staring at me while my hand lingers there, barely touching her face. Not leaving my trance, I lean in closer and let my lips fall down on hers. I can feel her fingers on the back of my head as our lips press against each other, but too soon she breaks away and looks down at the floor. I don't attempt anything else and my mouth moves up to her temple where I kiss her there one more time.