The winter breeze chills the land and coats nature in its frost. In the Middle East, the winter is short but cold enough for us to don a sweater. That is what Sarah was doing. She pulled a navy wooly jacket over her abaya. Under, she was wearing a thick shirt and a thick pair of pants. Her abaya was contrastingly thin. But it was covering, nonetheless.

All Raffi National College usually hosts an annual event before the year ends where their students put on the show. This year, they chose a Career event and opened the doors of their college to everyone interested in attending. Ibrahim and Hasan invited Ishaaq and Ayyub to join them at this beneficial event. Of course, Ishaaq couldn't stop yapping about how excited he was to attend.

Because of their little brothers, Sarah and Sana were dragged to the event as well. There was the main event open to all, and another event for sisters only. Sarah and Sana were initially planning to attend the latter.

Sarah and Ishaaq were there already with their mother. They both looked around the college building, awestruck. This is where Sarah would be next year, In Sha Allah. The thought of it made her heartbeat rapidly. A new place. With new faces. New responsibilities. That was going to be quite a lot to get used to.

Ishaaq had a few years to get into college, so he was finding everything about the place exciting. You could see the stars in his eyes as he glanced around. Umm Ishaaq was taking her son to the main Career event where Ibrahim promised Ishaaq a surprise. Sarah then said her mother and brother farewell as she turned to walk to the place she decided to wait for Sana in – the sisters-only event.

There were a lot of people in the halls – it would be difficult to stay on track and know where you're going. Especially for someone like Sarah. She couldn't follow directions for the life of her. So, of course, she ended up in the campus area where students have their classes in. Whoops. Nope, she doesn't intend to be here.

She turned around to walk again and called Sana. There was only one place whose directions she was sure of – the main event hall.

"Hmm, sloth?" Sana asked from the other end.

Sarah smiled at the nickname, "I'm going to the main event, you'll find me there," she said.

"I'm guessing you got lost?" Sana held back a scoff.

Sarah downturned her lips (behind her Niqab), "Of course I did... let's just meet at the main hall entrance,"

"I'm already here with Maryam. Don't get lost on the way here, Sarah," Sana cautioned. Sarah nodded and cut the call.

Wow. A sea of people in front of her. Families, friend groups, students. She was alone, with no one, and... lost. Turns out, she has no idea where she is, and there's no question she has no idea where the main hall entrance is from where she stands. She grasps her green purse feeling lost and helpless.

(اللهُمَّ لا سَهْلَ إلا مَا جَعَلتَهُ سَهْلا وَ أنتَ تَجْعَلُ الحزْنَ إذا شِئْتَ سَهْلا)

O Allah! There is nothing easy except what You make easy, and You make the difficult easy if it be Your Will.

"This is closer to the lecture halls," Ibrahim started, "the main hall entrance is farther right."

Sarah looks behind her and at him, startled. He's quite tall. Oh right, that shouldn't matter. Lower your gaze, Sarah.

"Jazakallahu Khairan for the directions," she said simply.

"I'm headed that way too," he replied, walking in front of her without hearing her reply. Sarah followed behind him, keeping her distance. She recognized him immediately for the moment her gaze met his. She wondered if he recognized her. But that doesn't matter, at least he's helping her.

Little does she know he did recognize her. No one else wears a green purse like that. His little sister, Maryam, kept yapping about how much she wanted to see Sarah at this event, so it was good that she was headed to where Maryam would be.

"Maryam's waiting for you in the third row," he said, once they reached the main hall entrance.

"Alright, I'll meet her there," Sarah replied, surprised at this information. Does that mean he did recognize her? Odd. "Jazakallahu Khairan Katheeran,"

"Wa iyyaki," he said as he was farther right but beside her, before walking away to the stage in front.

Sarah cut through the crowd to the third row where she was greeted by Maryam's beaming smile. Sana was there too – apparently, Maryam was waiting for either of them at the entrance and came back when she saw Sana.

Ishaaq was in the front row with Ayyub and Hussein, anticipating the unraveling of the giant red curtains on stage. The projector cast a presentation on the red curtains, and Ishaaq was already excited to see the rest of the presentation.

Maryam, Sarah, and Sana were murmuring a conversation when the curtains unfurled revealing the big white screen where the presentation was visible. The lights dimmed, making the auditorium dark. It turned the focus of the audience to the bright, lit stage.

Ibrahim and Hasan were on stage as the hosts. Ibrahim gave a welcoming speech, summarizing the events and introducing the guest speakers of today. Hasan welcomed the guest speakers as they sat on the sofas on the stage to deliver their speech. Hasan and Ibrahim took turns asking the hosts questions about careers, and the hosts asked them to speak about why they chose their majors.

Throughout the presentation – Ishaaq was engrossed in it, committing Ibrahim's public speaker persona to memory since it is a rare sight to behold. He could imagine himself up there, and he hoped that day would be soon. Hussein was surprised his elder brother could talk on stage and Ayyub was only interested in what his elder brothers had to say.

Sarah and Sana were both surprised to see Ibrahim and Hasan as public speakers – so were their mothers. But it was a delightful surprise. Maryam was proud and kept whispering, "That's Akhi!" whenever Ibrahim spoke. If Sarah had any doubts about who Ibrahim was – they were all gone now since Maryam confirmed it.

The mysterious young man from that day in the living room – was Ibrahim.

Sana frowned to herself when she heard Hasan's voice and stared at the ground. It was difficult for Sarah to make out her best friend's facial expressions through the darkness, but she understood her friend was annoyed. She kept in mind to talk to her friend about it later.

Maryam listened to the talk intently. Her eyes sparkled when her elder brother spoke up. When they were addressing the crowd and asking them questions, Ishaaq was the most eager one to answer. He went upstage and shared his dreams of the future and his career aspirations. When he came onstage, Maryam was blown away by how he looked under the bright stage light. It reminded her of how he looked at the park with the sunlight splattered on his face. She dropped her gaze to her fidgety hands.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Sarah asked, making Maryam jolt awake from her daze.

"I haven't thought about it... but anything to do with nature or design, maybe..." she explained. Sarah nodded.

"I didn't know what I wanted to be until last year," Sana tapped in. "You have plenty of time to decide," she smiled. But her Niqab hid it of course. Sarah and Maryam felt her warm smile through the soft words she spoke. "But this girl has a list of things she wants to be," Sana said, pointing at Sarah with her thumb. Maryam chuckled.

"What are the things you want to be, Ukhti?" she asked, eagerly. Sana smiled with her eyes.

"A teacher, writer, baker, maybe even a psychologist or an ornithologist!" Sarah listed.

Maryam's eyes widened with every profession Sarah listed. She admired Sarah's decisiveness.

Umm Ishaaq interrupted their conversation, "Girls, the speaker is going to continue the speech, so focus, okay?"

The girls nodded and focused on the rest of the presentation.

Hasan gave the closing speech – surprising everyone including his own mother. He spoke so well and confidently when he was usually quiet and reserved. Sana frowned as she looked up, looking equally surprised as her mother. Sarah was more focused on her best friend's expressions than Hasan's speech. Maryam was more focused on her brother smiling at Hasan on stage – even though the smile was too small for others to notice.

After the presentation, Maryam ran up to her brother to praise his hosting skills. Ishaaq beat her to it, and he was already gushing about how cool Ibrahim and Hasan were up there.

Sarah took this opportunity to drag Sana out of the main hall entrance and further into the college where there were fewer people.

"Hey, I have legs to walk on my own, sloth!" Sana complained as she was getting dragged by her friend. "Where are you taking me, anyway?"

"Did something happen between you and Hasan?" Sarah asked directly, her eyes boring into her best friend's. Sana blew out a breath.

"He just brings back some annoying memories," she explained, "like with the cats and some other things."

Sarah patted her friend's shoulder. "You can talk to me about it," she offered. She hadn't liked Hasan ever since he was being unreasonably rude and dismissive to Sana when they were ten and eleven years old. Before that, Sarah remembers Sana and Hasan as inseparable friends – separated only by cats. It was strange for Hasan to suddenly change his attitude toward Sana. Especially when she liked him back then.

But how could she continue to like him when he was being so rude and dismissive – avoiding her and walking away from her before she could even greet him. Sana took it as an advantage and kept her distance as well since they were both growing up. But she was still mad at him for handling things the way he had handled them. They don't talk anymore, but their memories remain intact. She misses the innocence of childhood and her childhood friend.

Sarah hugs her best friend, bringing her back to the present.

"Get off of me, shortie," she mumbled fondly. Sarah hugged her tighter. "You're killing me, munchkin!"

"Allah's plan is the best plan, Sana," Sarah said in between squeezes. "Trust in His plan and do your best to please Him and be worthy of His love and mercy," she looked up at her best friend. Her best friend hugged her back.

"That is what we should do – live life to the best of our abilities on the Straight Path that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) has guided us to," Sana agreed. "We're going to have to prove ourselves worthy of Jannah,"

"Yeah, that's what we're here for, to worship Allah alone to the best of our abilities," Sarah added, breaking away from the hug as she realized they were still in public. (Surat-udh-Dhariyat, Ayah 56)

"By the way I see you looking at the new guy weirdly," Sana narrowed her eyes. Sarah widened her eyes in confusion. She felt her cheeks heat up as she realized who her friend was referring to.

"No – I was just following Maryam's gaze when she told us about her brother –" she cut herself off realizing how dumb she sounded. "Is it that obvious?"

"Lower your gaze, Sarah..." Sana glared at her. "You're telling me to do my best to please Allah when you..." she sighed. Sarah looked down embarrassed.

"I'll do better... Jazakillahu Khairan for reminding me," Sarah felt grateful to have a friend who would pull her back to the Straight Path. Sana slaps Sarah on the head.

"And you're going to tell me whenever you need help," she commanded. Sarah smiled and nodded at her best friend.

"I will, Sana,"

Sana nodded and dragged her back to the main hall where Maryam, Ishaaq, and their mothers were looking for Sarah and Sana.

No matter how much they plan for the future, Allah's plan – the best plan will prevail.

"...And know that if the nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, they would not benefit you except with what Allah had already prescribed for you. And if they were to gather together to harm you with anything, they would not harm you except with what Allah had already prescribed against you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried."

~ Part of Hadith 19, 40 Hadith an-Nawawi