Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, there are only two chapters left in the story :/ I cant believe it went by so quickly! But I have two more stories planned for just right after (And sorry, Freddy isn't next!), so InshaAllah we have a long way to go :D Stay awesome!
“Mama! Baba!” Hana exclaimed as her parents appeared near baggage claim, and she ran forward, throwing herself at both of them, trying to hug them both at the same time.
“Salaam habibti!” her dad said with a laugh, patting her back, and her mom stepped back, putting her hands on her face.
“Look at you! You are too skinny, are you eating?” she asked in concern, and Hana laughed, kissing her mom on her cheek.
“There she is! Baby sister!”
“Hisham!” Hana cried, running towards him, and he picked her up in a hug, laughing as he set her back down. “It’s so good to see you! Ilham!” she exclaimed turning to hug her sister, and as she did, it put her in view of where Houssam was hugging his own family, and it made her stomach churn to think of what it meant that everyone was here.
“Hana habibti oh how much I miss you!” Ilham exclaimed, and Hana smiled, putting her hands on her sister’s stomach.
“How is the baby?!”
“She’s good Alhamdulillah! The children so wanted to be here. Layla sent a present for you, it’s a picture that she drew, remind me to give it to you.”
Hana laughed, hugging her sister again, before smiling as Houssam came over, and she rushed to say salaam to Umm Houssam, before hugging Yusra tightly.
“Yusra!”
“Hana!”
“Houssam!” Houssam exclaimed with a twinkle in his eye, and they all laughed.
“Salaam Amir!” Hana said with a smile, and Amir grinned at her.
“Walaikumasalaam! It’s nice to see you again. Kareem misses you a ton.”
“Aw I miss him too! How is Ayyoub?”
Amir and Yusra laughed.
“He is good. A handful, but good.” Yusra said, and Amir put an arm around her fondly.
“I hope between the two of them they won’t give my parents too much trouble!”
“I’m worried about mine too!” Ilham chimed in, and everyone laughed.
“Come you guys, let’s get your luggage, and go for dinner!” Houssam exclaimed eagerly tugging on his mother’s hand, and there was a hustle and bustle as they gathered around the luggage carousel, and once everyone had their bags, they made their way out to Houssam’s limo, where they went to the hotel. After they had checked in, they piled back into the car, and went to the restaurant Harold had taken them to when she first started the photo shoot for Houssam and Freddy.
They had a wonderful time catching up and laughing and talking, and it didn’t escape anyone’s notice how often Houssam and Hana exchanged glances and little smiles with each other. Everyone was in on the fact that Houssam was planning on proposing, except for Hana of course, and it seemed to just increase the joy of the night. As everyone had travelled long and were exhausted, they retired back to the hotel early, promising to meet for lunch before heading over to the stadium for the game.
***
“Love, are you really calling my mom again?” Amir asked with a sigh, and Yusra glared at him.
“Yes! I have to check on my babies!”
“You’ve been checking on them every hour!”
“Hey Yusra,” Ilham said leaning towards her cousin, “remember the first game we came to of Houssam’s when you were pregnant with Kareem? And you were making fun of me for calling Basma to check on my kids?”
“Yes.” Yusra grumbled,
“Well haha on you! Now you know how it feels!” she exclaimed smugly, and Hisham laughed.
“Like you aren’t secretly texting Basma right now!” he exclaimed, and she gave him a shove.
“I’m so nervous!” Hana exclaimed and when all four of them grinned widely at her, she squinted at them suspiciously.
“What?”
“We are just so happy that you are at your first basketball game.” Ilham said, dabbing at her eyes, and when Hana turned towards her mom questioningly, she just patted her hand.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Let’s welcome our home team, THE NEW YORK KNICKS!” the announcer bellowed into the microphone, and as Houssam, Freddy, and their teammates jogged out onto the court, half of the fans went crazy, and Hana was surprised to realize most of them were screaming Houssam’s name, or jersey number.
“And…THE BOSTON CELTICS!”
The other half of the stadium began to cheer, and Hana began to jiggle her leg up and down before crossing her legs. She was so nervous. It was one thing to watch him on television but to be up close, was a whole different story. Plus she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about if he was going to propose or not. The whole night at dinner, every time he started to speak or raised his glass or stood up, her heart would freak out, and she would think that he was going to do it. But then he would just start to tell a story, or take a drink, or reach for another piece of butter.
The suspense was killing her, and part of her wondered if maybe she and Ayah had gotten ahead of themselves. But at the same time, there was no denying the chemistry between them, how things had changed and gotten better. And when he looked at her. . .
She just knew.
By the time the whistle was blown for halftime, the Knicks were ahead by twenty points, and more than half of those shots had been made by Houssam.
He was amazing.
Once the teams had left the courts and headed for the locker rooms, the announcer they had been hearing all day stepped out into the middle of the courts.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” he said opening his arms widely. “While our players regroup and rehydrate, for your halftime delight, we have a special treat for you. Today, one lucky fan will be able to compete with Houssam Shaykh in a free throw competition!”
As Houssam jogged backed out onto the court, the audience roared with applause, and Hana laughed with pleasure to see how adored he was.
“Now,” the man said approaching where a big container filled with half ticket stubs were standing, “I am going to pick one ticket at random, and whoever is sitting in that seat, it will be their lucky day!” as he began to rifle through the tickets, a drum roll rang throughout the stadium until he picked one out and held it up in the air for dramatic effect, before looking at it. “Would whoever is sitting in row A, seat fifteen, please come on down!?”
There was a murmur of excitement followed by a sigh of disappointment, as everyone checked their seat numbers.
“Oh my God! Hana! Hana that’s you!” Ilham squealed and Hana turned to her sister in disbelief.
“What? No it isn’t!”
“Yes it is!” Hisham exclaimed. “Look!” he said pointing towards the big screen, and Hana’s mouth dropped to see her face plastered on the jumbo screen.
“Come on down honey!” the announcer exclaimed, and when Hana still remained there shell shocked, he laughed. “It seems we have a shy one! Let’s all try to get her down here by a round of applause!”
As the fans began to stomp and whistle and clap and yell, Hisham gave Hana a push, and eventually she stood up, making her way down towards the courts in a daze. As she found herself next to Houssam, he grinned at her.
“What are the chances!?” he yelled over the noise, and she smiled nervously.
“I’m not really good at basketball.” She replied in a half shout, and he laughed, his eyes glimmering.
“You just have to make two shots. You can do it!”
“Now, what is your name hon?” the announcer asked, putting the microphone towards Hana.
“Hana.” She said, her voice echoing over the large arena.
“Well Hannah! The rules are very simple. Houssam is going to make two free throw shots. All you have to do, is match, or beat however many he makes, and you will win tickets to the Knicks for next season!” he exclaimed, and Hana’s eyes widened slightly. That would be a great gift for a true fan who wasn’t already on Houssam’s team.
“Houssam, maybe Hisham should come down and do this?” she whispered quietly to him, and he shook his head, bouncing the ball before shooting the ball. As it went through the net both times, the crowd cheered, and Hana nervously took the ball from him.
“You’re up!” he called cheerfully, and as she turned around towards the net, she swallowed deeply. She wasn’t even sure how you were supposed to hold the ball to throw it!
She dribbled it a few times like she had seen Houssam do it, before throwing it with all of her might, and to her surprise it went in.
The fans went wild.
“Beautiful shot Hannah! You just have to make this next one to win your prize!”
As she took the ball from Houssam again, he winked at her before smiling reassuringly, and she glanced up at her family, Hisham giving her a thumbs up, and Ilham and Yusra clasping hands excitedly.
She held the ball in her hands. Staring at the net. Calculating. She could do this. She could do this….
She threw the ball…
And missed.
A collective gasp went through the crowd at that, but suddenly they were on their feet screaming. Screaming so loudly, to the point where poor Hana almost fainted from surprise. Why were they screaming!? She had missed the shot! But they kept getting louder and louder until the noise was deafening, and she resisted the urge to put her hands over her ears.
“Houssam! Why are they scream…” she trailed off as she turned around.
For there before her.
Was Houssam.
On bended knee.
With a ring in his hand.
And a smile on his face.
They just stood like that, her eyes locked with his, until eventually the announcer stepped forward.
“Now this is a great surprise!” he said, looking around the crowd. “I think we should let her hear what he has to say! Don’t you?” as the audience roared again, he handed the microphone to Houssam.
As he took it a bit nervously, it dawned on Hana at that moment that this whole thing had been a set up to begin with. There probably wasn’t even a halftime show!
How romantic…
“As a lot of you may not know,” he began his deep voice vibrating across the loud stadium, which had suddenly fell silent, “I have been deeply in love for a very long time.”
At this the stadium exploded in whistles and shouts, and Houssam laughed before holding up his hand for silence again.
“I have been so deeply in love with this woman before me, that when she is near me, my heart feels as if it is on fire. I feel alive. I feel like nothing in the world can stop me with her by my side. I will spare all of you the details, but for a long time there were things that kept us apart. I wasn’t sure that we would be able to be together. But then God, in his infinite wisdom and plan, brought her back to me, and I never ever want to let her go again. Sometimes I get a big head being famous,” a chuckle travelled through the room at that, “but she keeps me humble. She reminds me that I don’t belong on a pedestal because of what I do for a living. But at the same time she has never made me feel that I couldn’t belong on one because of who I am. In my eyes, she is already the highest there is, and if she lets me, I will spend forever trying to join her up there.”
A collective ‘aw’ rang through the room, and Houssam turned his face up to Hana, who though she still looked a bit shell shocked, was crying.
“Abu Hisham, do I have your permission to ask your daughter to marry me?” he called into the microphone, and when a ‘yes’ was heard being yelled down from the family box everyone laughed again and Houssam held up the ring. “Hana? Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
It was as if the fans collectively sucked up all of the breath in the auditorium with their gasp of anticipation, and when Hana nodded, too overcome with tears to speak, there was no holding them back, and it was as if they were celebrating the championship win.
Which an hour later they did as well.