Something Fairytale-ish

Something Mulan-ish Part IX

The walk back was a silent one. Harith didn't know how to act around Huriyah with his newfound feelings. All he knew was that he couldn't let her find out, not without letting her also find out that he knew of her true identity.

"Is something wrong Harith? You're too quiet," Huriyah asked him worriedly.

"I'm fine," he said, refusing to look at her. "I'm the one who should be worrying over you, not the other way around."

"Please, you're human too," Huriyah scoffed. "And I worry for you just as much as you worry for me."

Harith felt his heart race at her words. This wasn't good, he needed a distraction before his thoughts got carried away.

"Look, we're back," Huriyah said as they stepped out of the forest.

Harith sighed in relief. Finally, he thought.

...

The next day, Harith took Huriyah with him to his father's stall. Their visit was slowly coming to an end, and he wanted to spend as much time as possible with his father before he left. But he didn't want to leave Huriyah alone with her thoughts, so he dragged her with him.

"I'm fine Harith, I can take care of myself!" Huriyah protested for the umpteenth time as Harith dragged her to the stall.

"I know you can. But we're leaving in a few days and I want you to get enough of your old home so that you can return to Medinah without any regrets," he told her, concealing his true reasoning.

"Humpf. Fine," Huriyah sighed exasperatedly. She crossed her arms, scrunched her eyebrows into a slight frown, and pouted, clearly upset at not getting her way.

Harith chuckled. "Don't do that, childishness is not very becoming of you," he chastised her teasingly.

Before Huriyah could retort, a gasp came from behind her. Huriyah and Harith whipped around to come face to face with--

"Laylah?" Huriyah asked in disbelief as she stared at her old friend.

"Huriyah?" Laylah breathed out.

The two girls gazed at each other in shock until a child interrupted them.

"Mama, who's that man?" a little boy asked as he tugged on Laylah's sleeve. Laylah looked down at her son.

"Man...?" she asked confusedly. She then took in Huriyah's attire. "Huriyah, what's going on?" she asked.

Huriyah took a quick look at her surroundings. The place was too open, they needed to chat somewhere more secluded.

"Let's talk somewhere else," she told her friend as she turned to make her way out of the marketplace.

"Wait, I need to find someone to watch Hasan for me," Laylah said.

"I can keep watch over him while you two talk," Harith offered.

"Can you really? Thank you so much," Laylah said as she handed her son to Harith. She then turned to Huriyah.

"I know a place where we can talk," she told her before setting off.

Huriyah followed her. They stopped at a shack in an empty alley. Laylah scanned the area to make sure no one was watching before she ushered Huriyah in.

"Our old hangout spot!" Huriyah exclaimed in recognition.

"Yes. I still kept it up even after you left," Laylah said.

"This is where we used to talk all day long about everything," Huriyah reminisced.

"Exactly, so start talking. Why did you leave? What did you do afterwards?" Layalah demanded.