Too Little, Too Late

20

Ramadan began on April 12th and Ayra loved it because apart from the fact that it was her first Ramadan as Mrs Fahad, Ibrahim had less workload so he was at home more. What she didn't like, however, was that school got busier and she was the one who now spent long hours outside the house; leaving early in the morning after forcing herself up from the post-Sahur and Fajr nap, and then returning at least an hour after Asr.

Ibrahim made her feel better by being the sweetest person and it was impossible for her to not fall deeper in love with him. He took care of Sahurs and Iftars and on days when he couldn't, he took her out. He listened to her rant about how annoying school was being and he shared in her annoyance too until she couldn't help but start laughing. He helped her complete her dissertation and he ran hers and Ibtihaj's responses on his system, creating the inforgraphics they needed. He was perfect and Ayra revelled in it, glad she'd seen their first months as a phase when he was too busy and wasn't home a lot. They'd gone through the phase and she was estastic about it.

Eid-el-Fitr was in May and it fell on a Thursday, right after she and Ibtihaj rounded up their works and sent it for final editing and approval so they could make the last corrections and then proceed to get it printed and hard-bounded. Eid was lovely and Ayra had lots of fun with Ibrahim, both of them spending the first half of the day at Haven Estate with her family and Ibtihaj's before moving to the Fahad Mansion for the Eid dinner. After that, they headed to Jalal's villa in the Eastside district for a party that brought the young elites of Atlantica together with enough fun, music, food and drinks to go round more than twice.

When they returned home in the early hours of Friday morning, Ayra let herself get sated by Ibrahim and then they performed ghusl, prayed Fajr, and were asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows on Ibrahim's bed. They stayed indoors the entire weekend and she loved every second; he made sure of it.

Once the Eid bliss died, work and school resumed and slowly, both of them fell back into the phase Ayra was glad they'd come out of during Ramadan. On her end, her final exams and defence were around the corner. On his end, there was a new application idea and they – the Hexad squad – were more than excited to get started as it was proposed to help tourists and locals keep with the new recreational spots and activities in Atlantica with each state having its own version. So, both of them were out of the house in the early hours of the day and they didn't return until long after Asr was prayed; Ayra returning most of the time earlier than Ibrahim did.

Like she told herself the first time, she convinced herself once again that it was all a phase and she couldn't wait for them to be out of it.

For Ibtihaj, it was nice to see that Ayra was happy. She was still watchful of the squad but she'd let most of her guard down as they'd been on their best behaviour since the missed Bridgerton party. She still didn't like the fact that Ayra was the one who initiated conversations most of the time with Ibrahim but her best friend was happy and that made Ibtihaj happy. School stress kept them from hanging out as much as she would have loved so they could have their heart-to-hearts but she – Ibtihaj – knew they'd make up for it once they were done with everything and she honestly couldn't wait.

It wasn't long before May gave way for June, bringing along with it the final exams for the masters' students of the University of Atlantica. Coffee became Ayra's best friend. To keep herself awake once Ibrahim was home, she spoke to him about the most random things or made him her student so she could explain all she'd read. He never once complained and she always rewarded him with a sweet kiss. The papers were a lot of work and on the day they wrote the final paper, she was more than happy to hand over her booklet to the examiner and pull herself out of the examination hall to wait for her best friend who was still answering question number four.