Salaam everyone! So I have been having a lot of people ask me how Hana could have such a best friend like Kalthoum. The reality of the situation is that sometimes you have people in your life who you consider really close to you, but it takes a certain situation to realize how toxic they are. Something that opens your eyes to their true character and for those two, it happened to be Houssam. Sometimes you fix it and still remain friends, and other times you have to know when to let them go.
And AHHHHHHHHHHHHH number six in Spiritual! We are getting up there! Number one InshaAllah! Thank you so much to everyone for your support!
“Are there any other questions before we end the meeting?”
Hana was sitting at the head of the table in the library, leading the meeting for the newspaper committee, and everyone had shown up Alhamdulillah. Well it would have been Alhamdulillah if Houssam hadn’t chosen the seat across from her and had tried to catch her eye the whole meeting. And it would have been Alhamdulillah if Kalthoum hadn’t noticed this and was scowling at Hana the whole time.
Needless to say it was a meeting she wanted over as soon as possible, so when Kalthoum raised her hand she had to resist the urge to groan in annoyance.
“Yes Kalthoum?”
“When will the article on Influential Muslims in American History and Today be released?” she said this with a flirtatious look in Houssam’s direction, who grinned at her, causing Hana to stifle an eye roll. So much for keeping the Tarauf process a secret until you get engaged. They were being so obvious, that even Kareem would have been able to pick up on it!
“Um, as I said in the previous meeting, we have divided the sections into groups, and every two weeks we will be focusing on a different group.”
“Okay but when will it be released?”
“I believe Br. Abdullah is doing it on Malcolm X for this issue right?” she asked turning in his direction, and the brother nodded shyly. Hana had been surprised that he wanted to work on the newspaper, because of all of the people in Hisham’s Halaqah he was the quietest and the one who got embarrassed most easily when all attention was on him. Even now his face was turning red.
“Yes InshaAllah it’s going to be a five part series.” He whispered and Hana nodded.
“There you go.”
Kalthoum gave a huff of impatience, but didn’t say anything, and while Hana knew exactly what she wanted to know, she wasn’t going to indulge her especially in front of Hisham and Amir and all of the others.
“So if there are no other questions, I think we should call this meeting to an end.” She paused, looking around the room, and when no one responded, she motioned towards Amir. “Brother Amir, can you end the meeting for us?”
“Of course. Bismillah…” After Amir recited Surah al Asr, and led them through the closing Du’aa, everyone began to talk amongst themselves as they put away their notebooks and papers, and started heading towards the door.
“Habibti are you okay?” Hisham asked as he came up behind Hana, and she shot an alarmed look around the room before looking back at her brother.
“I’ll be fine Hisham. Don’t worry about it.” She said in a low voice.
He leaned against the bookshelf, crossing his arms.
“You’re my little sister. Of course I have to worry.” He said, his volume matching hers.
“Thanks big bro, but if I need you, I’ll let you know. InshaAllah I will be okay.” She said giving him a reassuring smile, and he pulled her into a hug, kissing her on her head before patting her back, and turning towards Amir who was waiting in the doorway. The two of them waved at her before leaving the room, and as she turned around she stifled a scream as she almost collided right into Houssam’s chest.
“Oh.” She exclaimed in surprise, forgetting for a moment that she was mad at him. But two seconds later she remembered when he handed her a couple of papers.
“Here.” He said roughly. “You requested the answers to your questions. And as you couldn’t email me without having witnesses present, I figured you would want the same when I gave you the answers. So, there.” He said motioning towards the papers she held in her grasp.
She started to form the words ‘thank you’ when she glanced down at the page, and her eyes narrowed. He had answered every single question with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, regardless of if it made sense. For example one of the questions was ‘what was one thing you would advise the youth about following their dreams?’ and his answer had been ‘yes’.
“Houssam, what the heck is this?” she demanded, and he raised an eyebrow.
“Oh now you want to talk do you? Well now I don’t want to talk to you!” he exclaimed and he sounded so childish that she actually let out a laugh.
“Wow okay then.”
“What?”
“If you’re going to act immature then maybe we should just forget the entire thing.”
“Well fine then!” he exclaimed, and she rolled her eyes.
“Okay then.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Just then, to Hana’s annoyance, Kalthoum came over.
“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” she asked and it didn’t go unnoticed by Hana the tone of suspicion in her voice.
“Yeah, just discussing the article.” Houssam replied, and his gaze flashed momentarily towards Hana before he looked away.
“Can I do anything?” She asked, looking at him adoringly, and Hana had to resist rolling her eyes again. She hated that she was so annoyed with someone who was supposed to be her best friend, but in all honesty, Kalthoum was changing, and it was not for the better.
‘”No thanks honey.” Houssam replied with a smile at Kalthoum, and this time Hana felt her stomach churn.
Honey?
Honey…
Alright she had to get out of there.
Like now.
“Okay I’m going to go.” She said, and before giving either one a chance to answer, she had dashed out of the room.
***
“Hey man thanks for letting me sleep over. I couldn’t even drive past Mama and Baba’s let alone go inside, it was so swamped with paparazzi!”
Amir frowned, and sat down next to his brother, taking the controller that Houssam handed to him.
“It’s a good thing they are out of town. I don’t think Mama would do well handling that. How long are they gone for?”
“Until next week, Baba needed to get new exam chairs for his office so Mama went with him because she didn’t want to be away from him.”
“Aw that’s sweet!” Amir exclaimed, and Houssam rolled his eyes.
“They are almost as gross as you and Yusra.”
“Oh shut up Houssam .I bet you and Kalthoum will be just as romantic with each other.” To his surprise, Houssam frowned slightly, before clearing his throat.
“Uh, yeah. InshaAllah.”
Amir raised an eyebrow.
“Everything okay with you guys?”
“Yeah, yeah it’s great. It’s just,” he hesitated, pausing to push Amir off of the track in the Mario game they were playing on the Wii.
“Well that was evil. I’m on your team!” Amir protested, and Houssam laughed. Once Amir had gotten his car back on the track, he turned to look at Houssam. “It’s just what?”
“She isn’t very smart.”
Amir raised another eyebrow, remembering what Yusra said about her being silly.
“Are you sure she isn’t just nervous?”
“Well I don’t know she might be. Just whenever I try to talk about something serious she will give a vague answer before starting to talk about my houses or cars or something like that.”
Amir frowned again.
“Does she not understand what you are saying or does she just want to talk about your possessions?”
Houssam made a face.
“What are you saying?”
“Maybe she is blinded by your wealth like you are with her looks.”
“I’m not blinded by her looks.” Houssam scowled, and Amir shook his head.
“Okay. Whatever you say. Just be careful. The last thing you want to do is enter into a marriage where you aren’t happy.”
Houssam was silent staring at the screen, and Amir kept his mouth shut, letting him think over whatever was running through his mind. After a few minutes though he couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“So good news! After this week you don’t have to watch Kareem anymore!”
Houssam’s mouth dropped.
“What?! But Yusra still has over a month of infusions left!”
Amir shrugged.
“Yeah well she is going to take a pill instead.”
“Why didn’t she take a pill to begin with?”
“The infusion is faster and stronger. But now she can’t be taking such strong medicine for such a long period of time it isn’t safe for the...” he trailed off hesitating for a second, and Houssam stared at him blankly for a moment before his face broke out in a smile.
“OH MY GOD! Is there going to be another Houssam running around in nine months InshaAllah?!” he yelled, and Amir laughed.
“In seven months InshaAllah. Yusra is going to kill me she wanted to be the one to tell you!”
“Oh my God this is amazing! I had hoped and prayed for this!” he exclaimed, and in typical Houssam fashion, he jumped up and began to dance the debkah across the living room. Amir laughed.
“You prayed for this!?”
“Well duh! How am I going to build my own basketball team, the Houssamsters, if you don’t supply me with more nephews and nieces?!”
Amir snorted.
“The Houssamsters? Seriously? It sounds like the hamsters.”
“Oh great. Thanks for ruining it! I spent a whole week thinking of the perfect name!” he scowled, and Amir laughed.
“Well I am glad you are happy about this.”
“Of course I am! Mabrook!”
“Barak Allahu Feek! I am feeling over the moon I can’t even tell you. Just when I feel like I can’t love your sister even more than I already do, she gives me news like this!”
“Aw how nauseatingly sweet!” Houssam exclaimed plopping back down on the couch. “But come on bro, Kareem isn’t even a year and a half yet!”
“Shut up!” Amir exclaimed, and Houssam began to laugh as his brother turned red.
“Haha, you make it too easy Amir!”
“You shouldn’t be teasing me about this stuff!” he scowled, and Houssam let out a chuckle before reaching for his controller again.
The two played in silence for a few minutes before Yusra came into the room, and once seeing her, Amir put down his controller.
“Hello love.” He said, though when he went to bend for a kiss he paused, looking into her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Something feels weird Amir. And not good weird.”