The silence is thick as he stares you down. You, and the baby held protectively in your arms. The baby boy’s peering at him with eyes an uncomfortably familiar green.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Al Haitham asks, words like ash in his mouth. The baby’s a few months old. How had you even hid your pregnancy from him? He knows you weren’t together, knows it was a one time thing, but if he’s the father… “I would’ve helped.” He doesn’t mean for his voice to crack.