With hearts, Destined.

Chapter 10

"Why Nick?" Karim asked out of the blue before Habiba left his room. She had brought Samia to him and she had quickly run off to jump on his bed whiles hers remained intact in her room.

She slept in Karim's room most of the times but she had her own room too since she was old enough now.

Habiba turned.

"What do you mean, why Nick?"

"Just what it means. Why Nick? I mean you're beautiful, ergo not as much as me, but you're close."

They both laughed.

"Plus. You're a princess for God's sake. You're smart. You're strong and independent too. So why Nick? You could have anyone else but you chose Nick. He's basically the polar opposite of you." Karim said to her.

Habiba sighed and walked back to him.

"Why Nick? I don't know myself. It's just him. He's just plain Nick, carefree, jovial, not so funny though and that's what I like about him."

"There are a lot of carefree and jovial men on Earth."

"Nick's special."

"How special?"

"The first time I met Nick was when dad and I went to the US to look for you and mom. Nick didn't think it was possible dad gave birth to me since I was old and he knew dad didn't have another child right after you. I got feisty and asked him if he had a problem with me being adopted and he was quick to deny."

"The adults made the two of us go away by asking Nick to show me around. I only went because dad wanted me to, then."

"You like him because he showed you around his house?" Karim raised a brow.

"Really? No! It's what he said to me then."

"He said I was special. Lucky and very fortunate. He said I was better than a good luck charm. Said he'd be happy to take me along everywhere because I had good fortune."

"Why?"

"There were fourteen other kids that day, Karim, when dad came to our orphanage's fundraiser. 14 other kids who had better drawings than whatever I did that's sitting in dad's room." Habiba shivered.

Karim chuckled.

"I still think that horse has a gene mutation."

"It was horrible, Karim. But that stubborn man still bought it for a million times it's worth. He noticed me, out of all the other kids. Fine. I had the pet name of his wife but I didn't have her face or her voice or anything but he took one good look at me, one short conversation and decided to adopt me."

"I'd never felt really special about it but Nick made me realize how special I was. He made being adopted not sound so foreign. He told me how being adopted meant you could have two sets of parents. When I told him I was left at the orphanage and my actual parents were still alive, he smiled and tapped my head. And he went, 'The only thing you should thank them for, was for leaving you there. They made you find Uncle Tawfiq. And you should know Uncle Tawfiq loves me. Which means he loves you even way more. Like this big.'" Habiba imitated how Nick described the largeness with his arms.

"And then he went, 'And when Uncle Tawfiq gets on your nerves, you can send all your anger to the crazy people who left you. You can curse at them all you want. Because how could anyone leave someone as pretty as you. If Karim were alive, he'd have the prettiest sister.' Then he went on to tell me more about you and all you two did together as kids."

"I don't know if he was just saying it so I wouldn't attack him but he made me feel good."

Karim smiled at her.