Houssam sat in his car in the parking lot of the park, watching as his friends pushed their babies on the swings. They were so happy and content, laughing and talking, the little children having the time of their lives. It was a truly beautiful moment and one that Houssam was trying with all of his might not to be jealous of. He loved all of them for the sake of Allah swt, and he counted Mustafa and Hisham’s children like his own nieces and nephews along with Kareem; but he couldn’t help but feel sad.
He wanted that.
He wanted to be able to join them with his own baby in tow. When Amir had invited him to ‘daddy day’ he had accepted because he wanted to be with them, but now as he watched them move over to the benches for lunch, the older children joining them, the kids all clamoring for their father’s attention, he had half a mind to turn around and go home.
He had never been one who was obsessed with getting married. He knew he would eventually InshaAllah, but it was not at the top of his list. He had been much more focused on his career, and now he was wondering what he had to show for it. Sure he had six MVP pins, but what else? Money didn’t really hold an interest for him, he could survive on the salary of one game for about two years, and so the rest was just sitting in the bank. He had started college funds for all of his nieces and nephews, and Ilham and Hisham’s children and in all honestly, each of the fourteen children had a million dollars and it hadn’t even made a dent in his savings.
He didn’t care about the fame either. In fact it was a burden that he often wished he didn’t have to deal with. Even now he knew his time of being out in the open without being swarmed by paparazzi was limited, it had been two weeks since he had come back home, they would know he was here soon. So far he had been lucky and hadn’t really been recognized by fans outside of the Masjid. It had happened once or twice but nothing major.
What he loved was playing the game, that’s really why he stuck with it. But now as he watched Amir bend to fix Kareem’s bib, and the little boy gave his father a kiss, he felt that familiar pang come back. The one that was there when he had to watch Amir and Yusra together.
That pang that felt a little bit like a heartbreak.
But Houssam being Houssam, got out of his car, put a smile on his face, and approached where the group was sitting. Almost immediately choruses of ‘Amu Houssam!’ and one really loud bellowing of ‘MOO SAM’ rang out, and the children all abandoned their food to greet him. As he was descended upon by them he had to admit, it made him feel a little better.
“Salaam everyone!” he exclaimed, laughing as Kareem began to push Amir out of the way so that he could get a full view of his Uncle. He paused to shake hands with his friends before scooping up Kareem. And the baby immediately put his arms around his Uncle’s neck, and Houssam kissed his head before sitting down next to his dad. Amir gave him a half wistful and half amused smile.
“Well I see I come in second when Moo Sam gets here.”
Houssam laughed, and rubbed a hand over Kareem’s back.
“You think we should tell him that I am actually his Khalo Houssam and not his Amu?”
A laugh rang out at the table, and Amir shook his head.
“All the other kids call you Amu I think he thinks that is your name.”
“Amu Houssam Shaykh! Star of the Lakers! Has a nice ring to it!” Mustafa teased, and Houssam laughed loudly before shifting Kareem so he was sitting on his lap, and able to reach his juice.
“So how was lunch?” Amir asked, and Houssam shrugged.
“It was nice MashaAllah. Ahmad had to get back home, he has a big surgery tomorrow and expects to be in it all day, and Rami is defending in court tomorrow morning so he wanted to go over his notes.”
“Amu Houssam will you come play with me?!” Layla asked, putting her little hand in his, and he smiled at her before handing Kareem to his dad.
“Of course! Let’s go!” he allowed the little girl to lead him to the playground, and they played hide and seek, and tag for a little while before a group of young men came towards them. Houssam eyed them wearily, wondering what they wanted.
“Excuse me? You’re Hoozam Shayk right!?” one of them asked, and when Houssam nodded, an excited murmur went through the group, before the boy extended a notebook. “Can I have your autograph!?”
For the next twenty minutes, Houssam signed autographs and took pictures, and one little old lady even had him talk on the phone with her grandson who apparently was his biggest fan. Once the crowd of admirers finally let up, Houssam went back to the table with Layla in tow, and a few minutes later they got ready to leave.
“Hey bro do you want to go out for dinner tomorrow?” Amir asked, and Houssam nodded.
“Sounds good! Bros night out just like the old days!”
Amir smiled, wondering if Houssam would be angry when he realized why Amir wanted to go out with him.
***
“Amtu can I color?”
Hana looked up from her desk with a smile.
“Of course Lulu.” She said handing her niece a notebook and some crayons. Layla took it with a grin missing a tooth, she had lost it prematurely falling down the stairs, and went back to sit next to her brother who was playing furiously on his Gameboy. It was about an hour before Islamic Studies class, and as Dawud was in Hana’s class and Layla was in Miss Laila’s which was at the same time, she always took them with her. She had had to come in early because she hadn’t prepared for class as she had been too preoccupied with the newspaper. Alhamdulillah it was going well, and within the next week she would be ready to meet with her team. She had filled all the positions, Kalthoum covering youth groups, Hisham the Sahaba, Yusuf layouts, Amir had agreed to do the interfaith events as he was on the Masjid board and helped plan them, another of her friends, Yasmine, was doing guest Khateebs and other lecturers, she was going to split influential Muslims in history and today with Abdullah from Hisham’s Halaqah, and of course, she had Houssam doing current events.
Houssam.
She had tried most faithfully not to think about him for the past week, and she had done awesome! Okay she had done pretty well. FINE! She had done okay!
Okay, okay she had thought about him nonstop!
Sheesh.
But from this moment on, she would think of him in a total professional manner. He wasn’t Houssam Shaykh, the wonderfully amazing man that she was head over heels for, he was Houssam Shaykh, her big brother’s best friend, someone that was on her team for the newspaper, and someone that she would only see as a brother and a friend…
Suddenly Houssam dashed into the room, and hurriedly closed the door behind him, peering anxiously out the window of the door before quickly pushing the piece of paper back into place.
“Hana!” he exclaimed as he spun around and saw her standing there. “Do you have the key to lock this door!?”
She stood staring at him in astonishment, not able to find her voice.
“Amu Houssam!” Layla exclaimed, and as she dashed at him, he swung her up into his arms before walking towards Hana.
“Hana do you have the key!?” he asked again, and she cleared her throat.
“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.