Chapter 32 - Where She Stood

Chapter 32: Where She Stood

Aleem wasn’t nervous.
Not exactly.

But as he sat at the hawker centre table, watching Crystal argue with Ivan about chopstick etiquette and Isabelle pour water into cups like she was hosting royalty, he did feel a familiar tightness in his chest.

Hana was coming.

And for the first time, this wasn’t just “someone Aleem was seeing.”

This was someone who mattered.

They had talked about it a week earlier.

Over iced coffee and kaya toast.

She said, “You’ve met my people. It’s time I meet yours.”

Aleem had paused, chewing slowly.
“My people are… loud. Opinionated. The type who bring receipts.”

She smiled. “And I’m calm. Grounded. The type who listens first.”

He looked up, slightly sheepish. “I think they’ll love you.”

She reached across the table. “Then let me show them why you do.”

Now she was here.

Simple dress. No makeup. Hair tied up. That same calm in her eyes that always made Aleem feel like he could breathe again.

She greeted everyone with a small bow and a warm “Nice to meet you.”

Crystal stood up immediately. “You must be Hana. I’ve heard… enough to know you’re a miracle.”

Isabelle beamed. “Welcome to the chaos.”

Ivan just nodded in approval. “Glad you’re finally here.”

Aleem watched from the side.

No awkward pauses.
No overcompensating.
Just a quiet folding into the space — like she’d always belonged.

Halfway through dinner, Hana offered to share her grilled stingray with Aleem.

“Careful,” she said, teasing. “I only offer this to people I really like.”

Aleem smirked. “Then I must be doing something right.”

Across the table, Crystal raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Official already?”

Aleem blinked. Hana just smiled and shrugged.

“Let’s just say,” she said, eyes steady, “I’ve stopped looking elsewhere.”

And for the first time, Aleem didn’t panic at a line like that.

He just… nodded.

Later, when the night wind had cooled and everyone was leaving in different directions, Isabelle whispered to Aleem:

“She’s good for you.”

He looked over. “Yeah?”

“She doesn’t try to fix you. She just sits beside the version of you we all knew was always there.”

Aleem didn’t respond.
He didn’t have to.

Hana walked quietly beside him on the way back.

Then, softly:

“So… was that okay?”

Aleem looked at her — really looked.

“They didn’t just like you. They saw you.”

She bumped his shoulder gently. “And?”

He smiled. “Now you’re not just mine.”

She leaned into his side, content. “I never was. I just hadn’t arrived yet.”

That night, Aleem opened his notes app and typed:

Today wasn’t a turning point. It was a folding-in.
She stood with me — and my people saw her.
And for once, I didn’t feel like I was balancing two worlds.
They were already becoming one.