Hot Mic
"She runs a Somali diaspora podcast—stories of identity, belonging, and what home means. He's the guest who came to talk about his refugee parents and ended up talking about everything else. Including how he feels about her."
"Recording in three... two..."
I've interviewed dozens of guests on this podcast. Somali voices, diaspora stories, the things we don't talk about at family gatherings.
But Jamal is different.
He's supposed to talk about his parents' journey from Mogadishu. Instead, he keeps looking at me like I'm the story.
"Can we start over?"
He says this three times in the first hour.
"Why?"
"Because I keep getting distracted." He pulls off his headphones. "You're very distracting."
"I'm the host."
"You're beautiful." He says it simply. "I can't think about my parents' trauma when you're sitting two feet away."
We reschedule.
This time at a coffee shop. No microphones, no pressure.
"Tell me about them," I say. "Off the record."
He does. His parents' escape, their sacrifice, the corner shop they built from nothing.
"They'd like you," he says afterward.
"You don't know me."
"I know enough." He leans forward. "I know I want to know more."
We record the interview eventually.
It's beautiful. Raw. The kind of content that makes listeners cry in their cars.
"That was incredible," I say when we finish.
"You made it easy." He removes his headphones slowly. "You make everything easy."
"I just asked questions."
"You listened." He stands. "Do you want to get dinner? Off the record?"
Dinner becomes walking.
Walking becomes his flat. His flat becomes—
"Jamal—"
"I've been thinking about this since the first recording."
"The one we couldn't finish?"
"The one where I realized I wanted you more than airtime." He pushes into me. "You're still the best interview I've ever done."
We come together.
No microphones. No audience. Just us making sounds no one else will hear.
"This is—"
"Off the record," he gasps. "Just for us."
He becomes a regular guest.
On the podcast and in my life. Listeners love him. I love him more.
"We should do a couples episode," he says one day.
"We're not officially a couple."
"Then let's make it official." He pulls out a ring. "Marry me. On or off the record."
"Are you proposing on my podcast?"
"I'm proposing in our life." He smiles. "The podcast can cover it later."
I say yes.
Hot mic catches everything.