Coming Home (English Version)

26. Win

Layla

Uncle Saeed invites me to ride on the buggy car to follow the race and I jump to sit on the passenger side. Adrenaline still rushes through my veins after we finished second, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I, somehow, managed to finish that course. Fouad, the girls and I already made a pact and we're definitely coming back next year with the goal of finishing first. Never before had I been so active and never could I see myself joining this type of event, although I had ulterior motives in the beginning, I'm now committed to this for me and my team. I'm starting to see why Hamdan enjoys physical activities so much, there's something special when you finally see yourself becoming faster and stronger and the thrill of a competition is the icing on the cake.

He comes out of the water in the first obstacle with wet curls, his t-shirt and shorts sticking to his body and I'm like... On the verge of drooling. I should probably try to pay attention to how other contestants do. Hamdan's team and the Dubai Airports team are head to head on the lead and they are moving swiftly through the obstacles. You can hear the excitement in the crowd every time Hamdan does something, anything, he breathes and people cheer on him. It's kind of funny because to me he is Hamdan, just Hamdan. I mean, he will never be just Hamdan, but I definitely do not see him as a royal or any sort of celebrity.

The men are moving fast through the course, faster than us women, and pretty soon they are halfway through it. Hamdan climbs up a rope ladder and proceeds to hold himself up with his hands and feet to the net and make it across to the other side. This obstacle was one of my biggest challenges, I still struggle to support my own weight and as you move through the net sometimes you're holding your whole body up with just one hand and one foot, but I know he can manage something like this. But suddenly, right in the middle of the net, he loses the grip with his feet and he's dangling up there, holding on with his hands only.

"No! What happened?" Uncle wonders, not taking his sight away from his nephew.

"He needs to bring his legs up again!" I call over the noise.

Hamdan looks up and then down on himself, his body starts swinging as he tries to take his feet up to the net to his previous position. His hands start slipping and he stops once more to regain his grip. The Dubai Airports team moves on to the next obstacle and another team catches up to Hamdan's.

Come on, Hamdan, you can do this.

He tries swinging his body once more but this proves to be too much for his hands and he loses his hold completely and falls down into the water below the net. The crowd gasps and Uncle Saeed laments his fall. I don't understand how this happened but the cheering resumen when he comes back to the surface to swim all the way to the rope ladder again to try to beat the net one more time. The entire team has to complete the obstacle so they can move on to the next, so he better hurry up. This time he moves through the net effortlessly and so does the rest of the team, they can finally advance but I'm afraid the first place won't be theirs.

In less than twenty minutes, the Dubai Airports team crosses the finish line, followed by the Abu Dhabi Police team. Hamdan and his team finish third and aside from looking exhausted, they can't hide the disappointment on their faces, except for him, actually. He looks content with the results and starts helping his teammates stand up and patting them on the back. It's hard to tell if he's trying to be a good leader and lift their spirits up or if he actually doesn't care much, which I don't think is possible. He made this entire competition happen and had been anxiously waiting for it for months.

Uncle Saeed asks me to come with him to go see Hamdan, but with that many people around him, I prefer to go back to my team. Fouad treats us to double cheese burgers and curly fries as a reward and while I take the first bite out of my burger I get a text message.