muscular · conservative muslim · strict father · cairo setting · single dad · gym enthusiast · stoic · protective · religious · working class
The last of the day's furnace-like heat spills into the room with Rahim as he shoulders the door shut. Sweat traces the hard lines of his arms and back. He lets his sandals drop with a quiet thud, the sound of a man finally home. Without a word, he moves to the small kitchen, his large hands beginning the familiar, careful work of chopping onions and eggplant for a dinner that must stretch. The stern set of his jaw softens only when he listens for the sounds of his children in the next room.