Too Little, Too Late

08

On Thursday September 24, Ayra and Ibtihaj finished classes an hour after Asr. Glad neither of them drove, they booked a Ryde and waited. It didn't take long for the requested car to arrive and the best friends were more than happy to get into the backseat, letting out tired breaths.

"Thunder is supposed to strike those people who say that master's is easier than bachelors." Ibtihaj stated. "They're mad. All of them."

Ayra leaned her head against the cool window glass. "Tell me about it. I'm tired."

"Better no talk that one o. Wedding preparations begin next weekend so you and Ibrahim should better do and wrap up this your knowing each other stage so we can move forward and officially enter owambe season."

Although her eyes stayed closed, Ayra smiled. "Leave me alone, Ibty."

"You never see anything." Ibtihaj then sighed again and stretched. Once her arms were back down, she made herself very comfortable and shut her eyes. "Don't wake me up until we reach the gate of my house. I swear if you try yourself, your fiancé will pay money just to find your body."

Ayra chuckled. "Yes ma."

Silence descended but it was comfortable. A minute later, Ayra opened her eyes, leaned back in the seat, and stared at the places they leisurely drove past. Her mind went down the usual memory lane of how the month had been so far.

In the first week, she and Ibtihaj had returned to the University of Atlantica to get officially documented as master's students of the institution. It was no way similar to the documentation they'd done at undergraduate level and it wasn't because there were less documents requested and all of that. It was because Ayra was now publicly known as Ibrahim Fahad's fiancé and she went from being just another student to being someone that everyone wanted to talk to and worship. Even the staff members – many of them – were overly nice and Ibtihaj called it hypocrisy in broad daylight.

Her photos were often taken now and more than once a day someone posted it online and it went viral. The Fahads, just like they promised, had security measures in place for her and Ibtihaj so people knew better than to try and get too close. That didn't mean some people weren't intentionally stubborn simply because they wanted traffic on their sites and accounts.

She, Ibtihaj, and The Hexad Squad now spoke a lot and they had a group chat on every social media platform they were on. Ayra loved it so, so much and she looked forward to when they'd be free at the same time so they could hang out again. The highlight of the group messages were Ibtihaj and Tobi's bickers and Ayra would never say it out loud but she loved how Ibtihaj constantly gave Tobi a run for his money, bruising his ego time and time again while everyone else laughed and told him to leave her alone because she was clearly not interested.

Then there was her relationship was Ibrahim which was blooming beautifully. She was more in love with him than ever, something she didn't think was possible with how much she'd loved him in the last seven years of her life.

Thy hadn't seen themselves in person since the start of the month with how crazy their schedules had been but they'd stuck to their agreements of getting to know each other better through texts and calls. They texted more than they called though and Ayra did not mind it one bit.

It was so good to learn everything about him, both things she already knew and things she had no idea of; his birthday (December 31st), him being the only child because of his parents' choice to have just one kid, his weight, his height (he stood at five feet and eleven inches, having seven inches over her), his blood group (O-positive), his genotype (AA), the places he'd schooled at (Aomi Central, De Montfort University, and then the University of West London), his career (starting as a student intern at Aveva and then establishing The Hexad with the others), his lifestyle preferences (luxury at its finest), his admirable love for greeneries (he loved forests and getaway locations hidden between trees and vegetation), his favourite colour (shades of brown, particularly the darker tones), his favourite meals (he loved seafood dishes and did not have a favourite drink), and every other thing a person could think of.