Too Little, Too Late

45

Gateway House at De Montfort University was tall, with glass windows that reflected the rays of the cool sun. Ayra took it all in, her hands in the pockets of the coat she'd worn over a black maxi dress.

She was tired; not as much as she'd been the previous night as at the time Adil and Ayman dropped her and Ibtihaj at the hotel, but tired all the same. However, she knew the earlier she got into everything, the earlier they could wrap up and move on, no matter how hard it would be.

Beside her, Ibtihaj stood quietly, knowing her best friend needed the silence more than anything. Ibtihaj's heart was heavy as she knew a lot of what they will uncover during the duration of the trip would hurt but it had to be done. Also, she was always ready to be a comic relief once the opportunity presented itself. A smile from Ayra would always be worth it, no matter how little the smile was.

The front door of the Gateway House was pulled open, getting both Ayra and Ibtihaj's attention, and out stepped a friendly looking female with a wide smile and orange dyed hair. She smiled wider when she spotted both Ayra and Ibtihaj and hurried over.

"Hi! Welcome to De Montfort!"

Ayra found herself smiling back. "Hi. Stace, right?"

Stace nodded. "Right. You're Ayra and you're Ibtihaj, right?"

Ibtihaj nodded. "We are."

"Thanks for agreeing to be our student tour guide." Ayra told her. "You have no idea how much you've eased our trip for us."

Stace laughed beautifully. "Oh it's alright. I'm always down for such once I'm free and also..." Her smile turned bashful. "I'm a big fan of your husband, Ayra. I admit that I didn't know you were married to the Ibrahim Fahad as at the time I accepted your request but when you sent your photo so I could recognise the both of you, I knew you looked familiar and so I did a little digging. I'm honoured."

Ayra's heart was once again battering. She kept the smile on her face, using a lot of strength. "Well, I'm honoured."

Stace grinned before turning to Ibtihaj who had a small – and fool proof insincere – smile on her face as she asked "Why don't we get started on the tour?"

Stace nodded, quite excitedly. "Of course. This way, please!"

The interior of the building was warm and Ayra was grateful. Stace shared with them that she was just starting as a fourth year Aeronautical Engineering student and that from time to time, she volunteered as a student tour to those who wished to visit the university. She explained to Ibtihaj and Ayra that Gateway House was not the only building that held the Faculty of Computing, Engineering, and Media. According to her, the faculty also used the Clephan Building and Courtyard Studios, the Leicester Media School – Bede Island, and Mills Studio.

As Stace continued with the history of the Gateway House which had been built in 1960, Ayra got distracted by the pictures on the walls. What seemed like faculty members and snapshots from different events stared back at her. At some point, the pictures changed to much younger faces and a particular one got Ayra's attention. She stopped right in front of it and asked "Who is this?"

Stace and Ibtihaj, who'd been walking two steps ahead, stopped and turned. Stace looked at the said picture and her face lit up, her smile ready to split it in two. "Oh, that's Engineer Abdulmanan Abubakar Harun. He's one of De Montfort's stars. He studied Aeronautical Engineering here and he's so good. He's also one of my distance lecturers and you have no idea just how loved he is around here."

Ayra simply stared at the photo of the man she didn't recognise. It was a portrait photo of him and while his smile was small, it was sincere and the warmth of it was captured perfectly. He was quite handsome too. She looked away, turning back to Stace. "What made him a star?"