Better Late Than Never

15

Following the finalisation of every design to be launched at the branch's opening, the work pace at Ayneese – within and outside Atlantica – picked up. For the branches in Europe, they focused on rebranding and selling out already existing pieces while working on creating room and a buzz for the upcoming collections.

For the new headquarters there in Aomi, they did everything; arrangement of the showroom in line with Ayman and Aneesa's vision board, production trials and errors to see how the designs looked in real life and what needed to be changed, meetings upon meetings to decide costs, promotional strategies and also the brand's corporate social responsibility where they'd give back to the Atlantican society, and then charity drives that they wanted to engage in and the masjids and organisations they wanted to partner with. There were shopping trips too and lots of delivery days that left so many employees excited to no ends.

For Ayra, she loved that she got to work everywhere with Ayman; with the production team, with the works team, with consumer service, with finance, with the fashion team that would deal with customised orders following the launch, with the marketing and promotion team, with human resource...She worked with every team and everyone, and it was the best thing.

Also, there was the fact that with every day that passed, she got better at her job and better at understanding Ayman's work dynamics which had them moving together in a sync that got perfect with each improvement she made.

Each time she moved and did something before he could even ask for it, he gave her a small, proud smile of his which she never failed to return with a bright one of hers. When he did tell her – with the loveliest words – that she was doing extremely well, her heart did swell and she smiled for the longest time; sometimes walking with a bounce in her step or with the most beautiful aura around her.

For Ayman, each passing day with her beside him got better. Each day gave him a chance to learn something new; the tea flavours she drank most, the way she loved her coffees on the days she took them, the cookie brands she reached out for first each time she visited the tea room, the way she liked her snacks, the fonts she loved to type with and the patterns of her emails which told him everything about how she felt while writing it or how important the issue was, the way her tone over the phone told him what call was crucial and what call she could handle...all of it. Every little detail, he committed to memory; adding to his ever growing mental library which had her name written in capital letters on the door.

Outside work, they lived their lives as best as they could; both of them surrounded by family members who looked forward to getting Adil and Ibtihaj officially together. For Ayman, it always felt nice to see Adil finally settling and being happy. For Ayra, although Ibtihaj kept surprising them all with how soft and nervous she turned out to be, it was nice to know that her friend was going to be fine and joined with the best man she could ever have.

The last day of January was a Monday and most of them in the Bello and Adeola families took the day off from work to honour the introduction and engagement of their children. On Omar Bello drive, Ayman found himself being dragged away from the mosque after Fajr by none other than Adil who needed help with "picking out something to wear" while paying no attention to the fact that it was also his birthday.

In Haven Estate, once they'd finished praying and supplicating, Salama and Ayra left Muhsin to get some more sleep and made their way over to the Adeola home, their hands together swinging between the both of them. Salama's smile was beautiful; a mirror of her daughter's. She sighed softly. "In Shaa Allah today's going to be a good day."

Ayra smiled a little wider, her dimples as deep as ever. "In Shaa Allah."

"And are we feeling better than we did yesterday?"