Better Late Than Never

12

Her phone rang for the second time that particular morning and it made Ibtihaj bury her face in her pillow and let out a frustrated groan. Blindly reaching out, she grabbed the phone and then momentarily looked up to swipe right before she brought the device to her ear.

"Ayra, éjor, I already told you I'm not following you to the fabric market. Allow me to –"

A deep yet extremely familiar chuckle cut her off. "I'm not Ayra, Ibty. I should have known you'd still be asleep."

Ibtihaj, more awake than she'd been a minute earlier, raised her head and moved the phone away from her ear. Ayra's name didn't flash across her screen. Adil's contact name did; a capital A with a crown, red heart, and sparkle emojis. Blinking and trying to bring the fluttery feeling in her chest under control, she returned the phone to her ear. "Adil."

"Assalam Alaykum, sweetheart." His smile was evident in his voice. "You good?"

She sat up, sighing. "You already know there was an impromptu meeting yesterday evening and I ended up scrolling through TikTok until near midnight so I slept late. I made sure to text that Ayra that I'll be sleeping after Subhi o, but aunty decided to call me to try to convince me to come with her to the fabric market. Can you imagine?! Early mor-mor, aunty is telling me to come and follow her to market."

He laughed quietly on the other end of the line but she didn't miss it and it had her smiling prettily. The fluttering in her chest moved to her belly, doubling.

"So," He asked. "What did you tell her?"

"I gave her my signature line; shó wá alright ni? Then I told her to finish her morning walk and go and sleep. She's worked all week and she should be sleeping. I told her I'll murder her if she woke me up again this morning so when the phone rang, I thought she was trying to be unfortunate. Thank God she didn't try it."

"Am I being unfortunate now?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, you're not." She then cleared her throat. "Oga, why are you calling me when it is not even yet 8AM? Are you not also supposed to be sleeping? You that closed late yesterday."

"I actually tried to go back to sleep when we finished the Tajweed class we had after Fajr but I couldn't because my mind was busy so I got started on something else instead."

Her chest squeezed slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. I was thinking about you. All I wanted was to have breakfast with you so I decided to make that happen. I knew you'd be a little tired this morning and going out to a café would probably be the last thing you'd want to do so I made breakfast and brought it to you. That's what I've been doing since after Fajr."

Ibtihaj's lips parted with a small exhale while her chest squeezed nicely. Warmth then began to bloom in her heart, slowly seeping out to every other part of her. She drew her knees to her chest, a small smile gracing her lips. "Adil..."

"It's nothing much, Ibty. Like I always say, there's nothing much I wouldn't do for you...Now, should I wait outside your compound for a little longer or will you come down and let me in? I wanted to ring the doorbell but I don't want to stress your parents."

She let out a small laugh and pushed her duvet away. She put her bare feet on the cold floor and stood. "I'm on my way."

"Thank you."

She was still smiling. "You're welcome."

She hung up and went to the bathroom. As she'd brushed her teeth earlier before praying Fajr, she rinsed her mouth with mouthwash, splashed water on her face to wipe away every trace of sleep, and then ensured her bare face looked okay before she walked back into the room and grabbed the navy blue hijab she'd folded after praying.