Haytham was happy to be home. His mother was being extra nice. It was clear they had missed each other.

They sat near the fireplace talking about random things. Both of them had something they had to say to the other but non knew how to. It's been more than six years since his father passed away. They hardly talked about him but he was always in their duas.

Haytham was worried about his mother. She was looking weak and her eyes were not as bright as they used to be. It's either she is sick or was not taking good care of herself. He wanted to tell her she will be fine and that she meant the world to him. He didn't know how to. He was afraid he would get emotional and make his beautiful mother cry.

Haytham's mother was worried. His son didn't  want to settle down. He was running after an illusion. She always prayed that he finds his Aliyah. Even she was dying to meet this girl who had tie her son's heart on a leash.

******†*****†********†********†*****
A few days before officially starting work, Aliyah sat in Amina's living room. They were watching a movie. Sumayah was asleep so the house was silent. Amina's mother hardly spoke. She could only speak Arabic. She walked into the room and wished them goodnight. Amina told her that her father was out of town.

Amina had showed Aliyah a lot of cool places in the city. She seemed excited to show her around.

"This movie is boring." Aliyah complained.

"No, it's -" Amina was interrupted by her phone ringing. She looked at the ID caller and looked suddenly worried. She moved from the sofa and picked up the call.

"Shit!" Aliyah heard her cursing. She hanged up and put on her hijab. Without saying a word to Aliyah she ran outside. Aliyah took her hijab and ran after her.

Aliyah watched from a distance as Amina hugged a tall beautiful girl who had her hair  up in a pony tail. The girl was crying and saying something to Amina who looked furious.

"What's wrong?" Aliyah said in a concerned tone.

"Who is she?" The girl asked in a not-so-friendly tone.

"Come on, let's get you out of these clothes." Amina said and they walked past her. Amina mouthed her a sorry and Aliyah nodded. She understood, they need some time alone. The girl had bruises on her neck and arm. Whatever happened to her was bad.

Aliyah decided to give Isabelle a call. She was already missing her and it was barely a week. Aliyah made Isabelle promise that she would come as soon as possible. Isabelle had studied photography and she was good at it. Aliyah insisted that she comes to LA. It offers more opportunities compared to New York.

Isabelle agreed. She promised to move in with Aliyah at the end of the month. She had to, after all Aliyah is the only family she had.

******†*****†******†*****
The man was angry at himself for taking his anger out on his house help. How could  he? After all she had done for that family? His heart crumbled. His anger was turning him into a monster. He deserves no mercy. He should be punished. He felt like he deserved only the bad things in this life. That's why he was always punishing himself. That is why he agreed to be a kindergarten teacher. He did it as a punishment for every time he looks at those kids, he sees his failure as a brother. He sees his little Najma. He sees the sister he couldn't protect.

Every night he prays to Allah to forgive him for his rudeness and terrible acts toward his house help. For some reasons she is the one that always gets his wrath. That night as he cried in his sijdah, he didn't ask Allah for forgiveness. He asked Allah to make him a better man. He asked Allah to protect all the refugees out there who are trying to make it through like he was nineteen years ago.