Too Little, Too Late

15

At 4:53AM, Ayra decided it was time to call someone who wasn't Ibrahim or the other members of the Hexad Squad.

She'd done it all; left countless messages and calls, gone into full blown panic, cried, surfed through news stations and gossip sites to be sure there had been no accident, and then prayed Tahajjud in that very living room because she was too scared of heading up to her room without him arriving first. She should have called someone from her family or his in the last hours but for some reason, she couldn't. She didn't understand it either but now, she was ready to call the first person that came to mind; Ibtihaj.

She was already pulling up her best friend's contact when the front door beeped with the familiar sound of the passcode being inputted. It echoed in the living space and she froze with her phone in both her hands. The door clicked open and very slowly, she turned in the direction of the foyer, her heart coming up to her throat and tears prickling her eyes. A moment later, a slightly dishevelled Ibrahim stepped into the living space, a very apologetic expression on his face. "Ayra..."

The other members of the squad stepped in behind him, all of them changed out of the outfits they'd worn to the reception and also looking as dishevelled as Ibrahim, especially Tobi. They all looked apologetic too. It hit Ayra at once; the relief that Ibrahim and the others were fine and then the fatigue from being awake since the previous morning, right before she'd gotten married. Unable to help it, she burst into tears and Ibrahim pulled her to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"I'm so sorry, Ayra." One hand moved up to cup the back of her head while his other arm stayed around her middle. "I'm really, really sorry."

Ayra let her phone fall, not caring if the screen broke or not, and then she grabbed fistfuls of his kaftan, crying harder. Ibrahim did not stop apologising, holding her against him until her sobs lessened and became tiny sniffles. When the relief faded away, it left blooming rage in its place and she pushed back, glaring at him.

"Where were you?!"

Ibrahim took a small step forward, trying to hold her again. "Ayra –"

"Do you have any idea how scared I was?! You told me you were on your way and then it was radio silence from you. Radio silence from all of you! I called, I texted, I left voicemails!" Her voice broke as the tears resurfaced. "How could you...? Ibrahim, do you have any idea just how scared I was?"

His hand fell back to his side. "I'm really sorry. We all are."

"Where were you, Ibrahim? Where were all of you?"

He shut his eyes for a brief moment and exhaled slowly. When she repeated her question, he sighed. "We were at Raven Isle."

Ayra had never been so confused. "W-what?"

Behind Ibrahim, Jalal stepped forward. "Something came up and we had to rush out of Aomi. We're really sorry, Ayra."

Ayra looked from him back to her husband who looked even more apologetic. Her brows were furrowed. "I...I don't understand. Why did you have to go all the way to the airport at such a late hour?"

Ibrahim sighed again, rubbing a hand over his face. "It's going to make us sound like the worst people."

Her hands balled into loose fists. "You do know you have to tell me, right?"

He nodded immediately. "I know." He sighed again. "There are a number of projects the company has worked on this year and in order to make time for our wedding, we did our best to wrap everything up by the start of this month. There's an app we're trying to launch at an international level rather than starting here in Atlantica and then expanding. With such a large scale launch, there are a lot of companies involved and the major stakeholders have to sign before we can push forward."