RUNNING

Chapter Twenty Five

"We plan, Allah plans but Allah is the Best of planners."

"Dring! Dring!! Dring."
It was the alarm sound that wakes both Maraya and Afnan, maraya made her way to the bathroom to perform ablution while Afnan remain on bed to recite the remembrance for waking up. After spending the early hours of their day praying and arranging for the days' lecture, they both set out to their lecture hall.

Time has brought the two together and they both realise how beautiful friendship can be if it is for the sake of Allah, as every act and thought makes you a better person than you are not just spiritual but moral and physical too.
Knowing more about Allah makes you feel good in yourself, knowing His love, His Mercy, His Forgiveness and absolute power over all and everything gives your heart joy because you always trust His decision as the best. 'Being a finalist' is a priceless gift, you feel on top of the world, for some students it was a pure bliss, for others it comes with mixed feelings, but on almost everybody's mind, there is always a question of "what next?", Maraya also have this question in mind, knowing the state of nation, she knows she will stay some months at home after graduation before commencing her National Youth Service, she has decided to use the time in enrolling in an Islamic school in order to learn more about her religion.
For Afnan, she plans her wedding to a month after her graduation which will give her a minimum time to prepare emotionally and physically. She can't deny being happy having to marry her long time prince charming but she is still a bit anxious as she knows marriage is not always a bed of roses and it takes a lot of sacrifices and Allah mercy to sustain a long life marriage.
"Thinking about the wedding again?" Maraya snaps her finger to bring her friend back to reality as they awaits the arrival of their lecturer.
She smiles back, she knows her friend is aware of her recent changes in behaviors and why. She can't believe she has been so obvious this days as her wedding date moves closer, in less than two months she will become Mrs. ....
"You wouldn't?" She asked Maraya.
"Well unlike you I don't have any guy to crush on or keep me smiling alone like a teenager in love." She answers back, not that she has not been in a relationship before but she has never experience what her friend always expressed of her love for Abubakar, she wondered if her past relationships were based on love or mere attraction and passing of time.
"Don't worry, you will understand when you meet him."
"Him?" She smiles a little loud to avoid others attentions to them. "I don't think there will be any he in my life soon".
"How sure are you about that?"
"Well, we are not living in a magical world where ones life can change completely in a blink of an eyes. Everything takes time to work in our world."
"You are not wrong about that but when Allah intend something to happen, it only takes a moment of 'Be', and it is."
"And what makes you think the next command in my life is wedding?"
"I never said that," she argued "I am just saying there may be someone out there who is willing to go to the moon and back for you, someone who just want to love you simply for the sake of Allah and walk the path of Jannah with you."
Maraya watch her friend intently and a part of her wish there is really that someone but considering the company she had been till recently and people she has around she doubt if that is a reality.
"I wish there is that someone too." She said absentmindedly.
"Maybe there is" Afnan answered with a wide grin and her friend wondered if she is hiding something from her or she is going to tell her more when the lecturer strode into the class and put an end to their conversation.
The rest of the day went uneventful, Maraya could not recollect about their earlier conversation as they retire to bed and Afnan was glad as she was not really planning to reveal her mothers' plan earlier than necessary. She knows she will be informed when the time is right, she only hoped Maraya feels the same way for her brother as he felt for her. Not that she was expecting though, but she could not deny how happy she was when she learn from her mother that her brother is interested in getting married to her friend.
She still remembered it all as if the conversation is like yesterday.