On the authority of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
Verily Allah has pardoned for me my ummah: their mistakes, their forgetfulness, and that which they have been forced to do under duress.
[Ibn Majah]
•••
She walked down the podium with her eyes casted downwards trying not look at the crowd gathered as she concentrated on her steps so she wouldn't walk and trip on her 6 inch heel. The crowd's cheer was deafening and she could vaguely hear her family's own with it.
She turned back one last time to where her family were seated and she raised up her certificate with a big smile, the hollering from the twins went up a beat and the clapping too. She watched how proud they were of her before she made her way back to her seat. She felt accomplished having finished with a 2nd class upper, all the troubles she had gone through finally looked to be worth it.
Because of how happy she was, she had managed not to yawn throughout all the boring speeches that were delivered. She was sitting next to one of her closest classmate and they kept entertaining each other by taking funny Snapchat videos.
She saw a Snapchat notification from Fahad and she quickly clicked on it and it was a video, the wifi was very slow in loading everything because of how many people were connected to it.
The video played and Fahad was making funny kissy faces on the camera before turning the back camera to where she was seated although her face wasn't shown as she was backing him, so they could only see her back view, he captioned the video with 'see my heart right there 😭😌❤️'.
A blush came to her face and before replying the snap she turned her face back to see him and it was like he had been looking at her all along trying to see her expression. He threw her a flying kiss and she scrunched her face looking at the rest of her family members who were seated next to him to see if anyone noticed what he had done but they all either had their attention on the podium where another boring speech was being made or on their phones.
She raised an eyebrow chuckling before turning back to type out a reply. He kept sending her funny videos with cute captions to which she kept laughing and blushing at that her friend had to ask her what was she watching. She shook her head saying nothing.
'Why is ya Fahad acting like an electrocuted fish and why are you busy laughing as if someone is pressing your mumu buttons?' Hadiza sent her a message, she threw her head back laughing before turning back again to look at her, she too was laughing.
'Oh damn! Didn't think we were that obvious 😂💔' She typed back a reply to her before deciding to focus back on, thankfully, the last speech of the day.
❧
Hadiza's body slammed into hers before she could realize or do anything and she barely managed to stay firm on the ground before hugging her back.
"Congrats bestfriend" she said after they had finished hugging both having a matching grin on their faces.
"Thank you"
Hadiza gave Hafsat too a hug only that with her she was being more careful even though she had since been discharged from the hospital and was now okay everyone around treated her as if she was fragile.
"Latest graduates in town" the twins teased walking up to them together with Fahad and Umar.
"It's not easy naww" Aysha smirked flipping her veil making them all to laugh.
"You were great up there" Fahad whispered to her coming close to her she had to raise up her head a bit to look at his face.
"Really, just for taking my certificate? It's not like I made a speech or anything" she whispered back, she had no idea why they were whispering.
"In my mind you might as well have, from the moment you had gone up that stage I was just seeing things in slow motion, like all of those cliche Indian movies you make me watch" he joked and she laughed, throwing her head back with mirth.
"Atleast they've taught you something good, see you're now more romantic since you started watching them" she teased him and he scrunched up his face.
"That's not true! I was always so romantic you probably just failed to notice" he argued and she simply shrugged trying to block back a puff of laughter.
"Wait.. so all those times I was trying to be romantic what did you think I was doing?" He asked looking slightly offended.
"I don't know, I thought you were being nice" she laughed.
"Nice, you girls like mixing signals, I don't know if you do that on purpose or not" he said drily shaking his head.
❧
The soft breeze that was blowing together with the slow song that was being performed lifted her mood more. Darkness was slowly enveloping the town and as the restaurant was an outdoor one it was more visible. Besides the clattering of their utensils their table was a quite one as everyone was busy enjoying their food. After the graduation earlier Abba decided to throw a small graduation dinner for them.
The dinner was wrapped up uneventful and they were all ready to go back to their hotel rooms to rest. They had all come in different cars, Mama and Abba in one, the twins and Hadiza in one, Hafsat and umar in one and Fahad and Aysha.
Mama and abba were the first to leave saying how they staying up late scene wasn't for them, followed by Hafsat and umar with the excuse that Hafsat had to rest and that she shouldn't be allowed out at night in the cold weather. The remaining of them were still seated on their seats sipping their remaining drinks while talking, Hadiza was telling them about how she almost got her hair burnt the last time she had gone to the hair saloon.
".. it was so infuriating" she fumed as if just being reminded of it was making her angry all over again.
Aysha closed her eyes for a bit barely suppressing back a yawn and Fahad having noticed that particular movement leaned in to ask her if she was tired.
"Kind of" she answered, she had been awake since early in the morning, when the sun had barely risen. Her nerves couldn't let her sleep so she had spent her morning packing some of her clothes in her suitcases to keep her busy before she had then gone to get ready for the graduation.
They excused themselves from the restaurant bidding the others goodbye. They were almost halfway to the restaurant when she sighted an ice cream shop which she forced them to stop at.
"This is a bad idea" he said rubbing his hands together due to the now cold weather. They were in the shop waiting for their ice creams which Fahad admitted was a bad idea because it looked like it was going to start raining any minute and taking cold in a cold weather was definitely not good.
"Don't worry, you know the remedy for a cold is with a cold. It's simple logic I'm telling you" she convinced jumping on her toes while waiting for the ice creams.
"I don't know where you heard that from but I shouldn't even bother arguing" he knew she would just win the argument because she had the talent of changing things to a way that'll suit her.
They quickly collected their ice creams and made their way back to their car, the rain was lightly drizzling so they quickly jogged back to their car. While they were driving the slight drizzle had turn into a very heavy rain that they could barely se where they were headed to do they packed by the roadside, as many others did too, waiting for the rain to subside.
The radio station they were listening to were playing 'thinking out loud by Ed Sheeran' and she increased the volume saying it was one of her favorite songs.
When your legs don't work like they used to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?
The rain didn't look like it was stopping anytime soon so she brought her seat down so she could easily slip to the back seat where it was more comfortable, Fahad seeing what she had done he too brought down his seat and got back to seat next to her. They sat at the back and although the car heater was doing a good job at keeping them warm, they were doing a better job with the way they were cuddled together sharing each other's warmth.
And, darling, I will be loving you 'till we're 70
And, baby, my heart could still fall as hard at 23
"You know.." he said while eating Aysha's ice cream that she had fed him, ".. even though this guy's songs are cliche and cringe-worthy, I've to give it to him, he knows how to say them words right"
'Cause, honey, your soul could ever grow old, it's evergreen
And, baby, your smile's forever in my mind and memory
"Wait what? How can you call his songs cringe-worthy? Do you not know nice songs now?" She asked looking slightly offended, Ed Sheeran was her all time favorite artist.
That, baby, now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the lights of a thousand stars
"But they are, the only thing he usually talks about is just love and the cliche type even, there's more to life than that you know. But on the bright side it does remind me of our first dance" he said.
"Ohhh the good memories" She sighed digging into his ice cream having already finished hers.
Maybe we found love right where we are
"Am I being a hypocrite if I say this song is totally getting me in my feelings?" He whispered to her, the distance between them thinning.
Kiss me under the lights of a thousand stars
Oh, darling, place your head on my beating heart
"Oh is it?" She whispered back her voice slightly shaking, him being so close to her was tampering with her senses.
He nodded his head, "or should I just show you?" He asked.
But baby we found love right where we are
Whatever she was going to say was caught in her throat as he leaned in closer than ever.
And baby we found love right where we are
•••
THE END
ALHAMDULILLAH
Wayyo 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Tears of joy
It's over! Finally! No more asking for updates and no more silly excuses from me again. Shikenan, chapter closed.
I seriously feel accomplished Allah, I never thought I could finish up a book fah.
This is me rn, it's 3: 00 am and I denied myself sleep today just to finish this up, God! I'm so freaking sleepy my eyes are closing. And for God's sake it's on eid! So in the spirit of eid, EID MUBARAK YALL! 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾
So me I've giving you your eid gift saura kuma na ga nawa nima 😂😂
Let me go and catch some sleep sef before I have to wake up, which is in 4 hours or so. Allah sarki ni 😂😭💔
If I find myself dozing off tomorrow Allah I'm blaming you guys 😂😂😂😭
Oh! And this awesome cover was actually done by frostyella thank you! I like it so much.