"Houssam! Oh my god put a shirt on!" Yusra exclaimed as her brother came down the stairs the next morning dressed only in sweat pants.
Houssam glared at her, and reached for a box of cereal.
"Leave me alone." He grumbled, and she glanced anxiously at the stairs.
"Seriously, Hana could come down any minute put something on!"
"She's still here!?" he asked in astonishment, his fingers perched just in front of a box of Cocoa Puffs.
"Yes and so help me if she sees you like that I will kill you!"
"Hey she's seen me shirtless before!" he mumbled, reaching over for his sweatshirt that was hanging on the clothes tree, and pulling it on.
Yusra raised an eyebrow.
"Uh excuse me? When was this?"
"That one time the kids and I went swimming and she came."
"Well that was different. Still shouldn't have happened, but it was different." She said with a wave of her hand, and he glared at her before looking around the kitchen. "What's wrong?" she asked after he had just stood there for a minute or so.
"I feel the sudden urge to make cinnamon rolls."
"Oh I see. Hana gets cinnamon rolls but your pregnant sister has to eat half burnt toast!" she exclaimed, and he grinned sheepishly.
"You can have some! And hey it's not my fault Amir burned your toast again! Maybe he should stick to pouring cereal into bowls." He said with a laugh, and Yusra shook her head, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. Her poor husband tried so hard to help with the cooking but he could barely tell a teaspoon from a tablespoon!
Yusra watched as Houssam began to take out the flour and sugar and eggs, wondering why he wanted to impress Hana so badly.
"So what's up little brother?"
Houssam looked up from where he was beating the mix.
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't cooked since your dinner. Why all of a sudden do you have to make breakfast?"
He shrugged.
"I just wanted to."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because! Back off Yusra." He grumbled.
"Hey watch your tone with my wife!" Amir exclaimed as he came into the room holding Kareem.
"Moo Sam!" The baby shrieked extending his arms towards his Uncle, and Houssam laughed.
"Oh now he wants me. When it's three in the morning and all I want to do is sleep he hates the very sight of me!" he exclaimed grabbing the baby and starting to kiss him all over his face, causing Kareem to laugh.
At the sound of an upstairs bedroom opening, they all froze, and as Hana's footsteps sounded on the staircase, Yusra kicked her brother and took the baby, motioning him away from the kitchen doorway so they wouldn't make Hana feel awkward.
"Salaam everyone." She said as she came into the room, and the three of them looked up with a smile.
"Salaam Hana habibti! Did you sleep well?" Yusra asked, and Hana nodded.
"Oh very well. Thank you again for letting me stay." She said and Amir smiled, motioning towards the dining room table.
"Our pleasure! Please sit, Houssam is making breakfast!"
Hana placed her bag next to her chair on the floor, and looked up with a smile.
"Is he?" she asked in Houssam's direction, and his eyes skimmed over her face for a second before he turned away a bit uncomfortably.
"Uh yeah. I'm making cinnamon rolls."
"Oh those are my favorite!" Hana exclaimed, and Houssam smiled, but didn't say anything. Would could have been an awkward silence was broken by the baby.
"UM?!" Kareem demanded, and Amir laughed before placing his son in his high chair.
"What should I give him? Toast?" Amir asked Yusra, and she subtly pushed her plate away, exchanging an amused glance with her brother.
"Um, no I think that would be too much for him. Maybe just a jar of bananas and some of that Gerber baby cereal."
"Do you need help Houssam?" Hana asked, and he brushed away a lock of his hair before smiling at her.
"Can you roll?"
"How hard can it be to roll?" she asked, and both Yusra and Amir groaned.
"Don't get him started on it. It's takes skills to make it so precise! I hate making grape leaves around him!" Yusra exclaimed and Houssam put a hand on his hip glaring at her.
"Excuse me for trying to make things perfect!"
"Houssam, we don't care if it is perfect! We just want to eat before next year!" Amir said, and Houssam rolled his eyes at him before motioning Hana forward.
"Okay so they key is to make sure you've used enough flour. If it's too sticky or moist, then it sticks together all wrong and won't roll right. Okay?"
"Got it." Hana said with a smile as she pushed up her sleeves. He passed her a rolled out piece of dough with cinnamon and sugar in the middle and as she began to roll it, she was acutely aware that he was scrutinizing her every move. Once she had finished, she held it up for him to inspect and he grinned.
"See! This is how you roll something! You see that Yusra!" he demanded shoving it in his sister's face, and she laughed before pushing his arm away.
"Yes, yes Hana is amazing we all know that. Just make the rest before we have to leave for the hospital!" she exclaimed, and Hana and Houssam set out to finish them.
Side by side.
Once they had finished two trays, Houssam put them in the oven, and looked over at Hana with a smile.
"Well done partner!" he exclaimed and she laughed.
"Why thank you. You weren't so bad yourself."
"What!? I wasn't so bad myself!? Are you kidding!? I'm like King Cinnamon!" he bellowed, and they all laughed, everyone except for Yusra missing the way Houssam was watching Hana fondly.
Interesting.
Once he caught his sister looking at him with a raised eyebrow, he hurriedly turned back around, his ears turning red.
"Okay so um, we need to make the frosting. It's very simple so you don't have to help if you don't want to." He said to Hana, and she shook her head.
"No I do! I learned a new recipe and can't wait to try it out myself!"
Houssam smiled.
"Well in that case I'll let you do it, and just tell you what to do." He said stepping aside so she could come in front of the bowl.
***
Hana stood in front of the mixing bowl, every fiber of her being aware that Houssam was right behind her. She hadn't planned on forgiving him. She hadn't planned on making cinnamon rolls with him, let alone having fun while doing it.
It just happened.
"Okay first take a cup of confectioner's sugar." He ordered, and when she just stared at him blankly, he gave a snort. "Powdered sugar Hana."
"Oh," she said a bit embarrassedly, "sorry about that."
"Don't apologize, not everyone has my vast superior knowledge of cooking terms!" he boasted, and Yusra groaned from where she sat spooning bananas into Kareem's mouth.
"Houssam, say MashaAllah before you get hit by a stray basketball and forget everything!"
Houssam scowled in her direction before turning back around.
"MashaAllah." He mumbled. "Now! Add half a cup of milk, but slowly because you don't want to make the sugar too liquid."
"Don't you have to add butter to make it officially frosting?" Amir asked, and Houssam shook his head.
"Not for cinnamon rolls. You want it to pour over the top and edges!"
"Wow that sounds amazing." Hana said, and Houssam smiled at her.
"They smell pretty good too! InshaAllah they should be done in fifteen minutes. Can I get you some milk or something before that?" he asked and she shook her head, her cheeks reddening slightly at his attentions.
"Maybe just some water would be good." She said, and he nodded, quickly filling a glass, and handing it to her. She took it from him with a smile, and took a seat next to Yusra, patting Kareem's head. The baby looked at her briefly before turning back to fighting with his mother over the spoon.
"I remember when Hamoudi went through that he has to feed himself stage." Hana said with a laugh, and Yusra sighed.
"Seriously it's so annoying. He's pretty strong MashaAllah." She grumbled as she wrestled it out of his grip.
"He gets it from me!" Houssam bragged, and Amir looked up from his paper.
"Uh hello!?"
"Hi!" Houssam replied, and Amir rolled his eyes.
"I am his father, shouldn't he get his strength from me?!"
"Bro talk to me when you can bench press four hundred pounds. And that's just when I had a broken ankle!" he exclaimed.
"Seriously has the word MashaAllah just fallen out of your vocabulary!?" Yusra exclaimed, and Houssam laughed.
"MashaAllah TabarakAllahu La Illaha illa Allah!" he said with a wink in Hana's direction which caused her to blush again, Alhamdulillah unnoticed by Houssam.
The four of them sat in companionable silence, and Hana couldn't help but think how much she was enjoying herself. She had been sure she was going to feel awkward, that's why it had taken her longer than usual to get out of bed. But it wasn't awkward, even with Houssam there. It was like she was sitting with her own family, and she liked it. She liked it a lot.
Probably more than she should.
The sound of the timer caused Houssam to jump out of his seat excitedly, and Hana followed him, watching as he removed the trays.
"Aw look at how beautifully rolled they are, MASHAALLAH!" he shouted in his sister's direction, and she laughed.
"Bravo Houssam! Bravo!" she called, and he rolled his eyes at Hana, causing her to giggle.
Yes giggle...
What was going on here?!
"Alright come and get it!" Houssam called, and once everyone had taken their fill, Houssam handed Hana her plate and put two on there.
"Oh no that's too much. I can barely finish one!" she protested, and he waved his hand.
"Oh please, you're too skinny. You should eat ten of these!" he exclaimed, and she blushed. People were always commenting on her thin appearance and it really bothered her, because it's not like she didn't eat! She did!
Being this close to him, in fact, this whole morning was not good for her feelings for him, and if it wasn't her turn to watch Kareem this morning, she would have ran away the second she had woken up.
As she sat back down at the table, Yusra gave her a knowing glance, and she quickly turned her gaze down to her plate, suddenly feeling like she was going to cry. Houssam took the seat across from her, his plate filled with five cinnamon rolls, before he raised his glass of milk in her direction, and began to eat. The rest of them did the same, and it was quiet in the dining room. Twenty minutes later Amir rose to go get dressed, and Yusra did the same, and Houssam, Hana and Kareem were left alone.
"So did you get my email?" he asked after another five minutes of silence, and she cleared her throat before nodding.
"Yeah I did. Thank you."
"Don't thank me, I should have done it to begin with. I just was being immature about it."
"I'm sorry I said that." She said her face turning red, and he shrugged.
"It was true though. I was." He hesitated, his fork in the air. "I was really hurt when you stopped talking to me. I'm just glad that we fixed it now."
She sat staring at her plate for a few seconds, her eyes clouded with tears before she looked up at him. He started in surprise to see the tears, but before he could say anything she was speaking.
"Houssam, I appreciate you apologizing and I am sorry too. But I'm sorry for letting my anger get away from me. I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you. What I said hasn't changed." She said softly, and his mouth dropped open in shock.
"W...what?!" he asked in astonishment, and she winced slightly. "Are you saying you are going to not talk to me still!?"
"Unless it's out of necessity then no. It's just like any of the other brothers, I don't speak to them unless I have to."
"But, but I'm not like any other brother!" he exclaimed and she felt her eyes prickling again.
"Why?" she asked softly.
"B...because!" he sputtered. "We're friends!"
"No Houssam. We can't be." She whispered, and he stood up so abruptly from his seat that even Kareem turned to look at him.
He stood above her, his hands and jaw both clenched tightly.
"I don't understand?" he spat out, and she stood as well, looking up at him.
"It's just not right. You wouldn't just go be friends with any other girl would you?"
"I'm friends with Kalthoum!" he exclaimed, and she winced internally.
"You're potentially engaged to her. You should be friends. As for me," she gave a shrug, "We are nothing to each other. It's not right."
"I'm nothing to you?" he asked softly, and she felt the familiar rush across her heart.
Oh he was so much to her.
So much more than she could ever admit to anyone.
"Houssam."
That was it. That was all she said and he turned his back on her and left the room, and soon she heard a door slamming from upstairs, and Hana sat heavily at the table, the tears coming in rushes. Soon she felt a little hand on her Hijab, and she looked up at the baby who was rubbing her head comfortingly.
"Moo Sam?" he asked, and she gave him a kiss.
Moo Sam was mad at her right now.
Again.