Twice Upon Qadr - A Shot At Love **EDITING**

Chapter 31

All NBA related trivia, including rough salary figures, has been researched, and is all true :)

"Do you have any other questions?"

Houssam stared at Coach Hoffman, his pulse racing, and his whole body tensed with anxiety. He was here. On the Lakers team. About to be drafted.

It was a dream come true. One that he feared he would wake up from any minute.

"I don't think so." He said his voice coming out a bit hoarse, and the Coach regarded him for a few seconds.

"Alright. There are eighty two games a season. Your starting salary will be sixty one thousand per game, and at your year contract negotiations you can move up to at least a hundred thousand, though with your talents, I am sure you could get around two million eight hundred thousand. After six years your paycheck goes up to insane amounts, like we are talking at least seven million per game, but we will get into that later."

After six years it went into insane amounts!?

Sixty one thousand per game was already an insane amount to Houssam! Imagine making more than two million per game! Seven million! Seven million dollars per game, times eighty two games...

Wow.

Houssam sat in his car, staring up at the Masjid, a small ball of anxiety in the pit of his stomach. He had just had his first meeting with Kalthoum, and in all honestly, he was feeling a bit, disappointed. It had been a tad bit awkward. It's not like she wasn't nice or anything. Because she was. But she was just a little bit, well, for lack of a better word, ditzy. He wasn't sure if she just wasn't bright to begin with, or if she was just nervous. Or maybe she thought he wanted her to be like that. Whatever the case may be, he had found it a little bit annoying.

He kept trying to remind himself that it had only been their first meeting, and that everyone had that awkwardness in the beginning. But then he remembered that Hisham and Ilham had gotten engaged right after their first meeting, and Yusra and Amir had been so comfortable around each other, that they started building a puzzle together!

But then again he couldn't compare his own experience to that of Amir and Yusra. They had had their own difficulties they had to endure before they could be together, and he wouldn't want to go through the pain they did.

He just hoped that maybe after a few meetings things would get better, and he would be able to open up to Kalthoum, and talk with her the way...

Well the way he could with Hana.

Speaking of Hana, he was on his way now to take over Kareem duty, and as it was the first time he was seeing her after their fight, it was sort of the main reason for his angst. Not a second had gone by since he had walked away from her that he didn't regret his words. She was the furthest thing from fake, she was kind and gentle and genuine from the way she spoke to her laugh.

She was beautiful inside and out and was such an amazing person that sometimes he was astonished that someone could be so big hearted. He had only said what he did, because she had hurt him so badly, even now her words were still floating around in his head painfully. 

This whole friendship or whatever the heck it is, is a joke.

You and I both know that once Yusra has finished her infusions, we would have nothing to do with each other.

Houssam wasn't usually a prideful person, he didn't hold a grudge, nor did he take to heart the things people said. But he was having a hard time swallowing his ego this time, and it was unsettling to say the least.