I apologize for the chapter title beforehand.

...

Winter passed in the blink of an eye.

Farrah spent her days without change. She focused on work, spent time at home, and once in a while spoke to two of her best friends. The controversies regarding her broken engagement simmered down as people lost interest and moved on to something else; however, the extent of the damage on the relationship between the two parties became irreparable.

On New Year's eve, Farrah stood on the roof top with Rani and watched their sky illuminate with fireworks as they welcomed another year.

On one weekend, Dahlia arranged for them to meet up for brunch. Farrah had not left the house, except for work, after all the drama transpired; and she welcomed the change. Along with Layla, the three went to a local restaurant and spent time over Eggs Benedict, French Toast and orange juice served in champagne flutes. They strolled by the street afterwards, lazily gazing at the windows of the boutiques and chatting.

Farrah eyed a midnight blue top. The Spring flowers were already budding, and the new collections being displayed showed it. The girls went inside the store at her request and they were greeted by the sweet girl of the fancy boutique. Her friends found some unconventional places to seat on and Farrah put on the linen top .

She checked herself out in the full length mirror. It didn't look half bad, and she knew it would look adorable with the silver ankle boots collecting dust at some corner of her closet.

Farrah decided to try on a few more items. She grabbed some more tops, skirts and pants and proceeded to the trial room. She made sure all of them were long and flowy - as much as she loved fashion, modestly wasn't something she compromised on.

Farrah always made sure her attires were decent and covering, even though she did not put on the headscarf. Yet. She had tried, its just something she couldn't bring herself to do. Farrah spent a lot of time blaming her parents, the society and even the bullies at school for making it tough for her to wear hijab, but deep down inside she knew it was herself that was preventing her from doing it. She just had to buckle down and make the change. Farrah made a mental note to add wearing hijab to her list of things she wanted to accomplish by this year.

She tried the selected clothes and her friends started pointing to each guy that entered the store and call them each other's husbands.

"That guy in the yellow shirt will be your next husband, Layla. Ha ha ha..." Dahlia gasped for breath.

"No, check out that old man. Maybe if we ask nicely he'll agree to become your sugar daddy!"

"Okay, okay. Fari has to marry the next guy that enters," Dahlia said, moving to the edge of her seat with excitement.

"No, wait," Layla spoke, eyes glinting. "She's only allowed to spend one night with him and then she has to leave him for his younger brother."

A little boy ran through the gates, immediately. His mother followed, holding - whom they could only guess was - his few months old younger brother.

Her friends were in tears. Even Farrah found herself chuckling at their silliness.

"If that's your type, you should have just told us," Layla gasped between sniggers. "Maybe Zinnia will agree to accept your hand for Mohammed."

"Excusez-moi, ladies," Dahlia said as her phone started vibrating. "Malika's calling."

Just the mention of the name turned Farrah's heart to lead and dropped it to her stomach. Dahlia slid down from the tabletop she was sitting on and walked away whilst speaking on her phone. Farrah took a deep breath to relieve the sudden weight on her chest and continued with what she was doing. Dahlia returned to her place a couple minutes later.

"How is she?" Farrah asked, eyes still on the mirror.

The glee on Dahlia's eyes muted as well. "Good," she said. "Malika's doing well."

"Have you guys spoken at all since," Layla paused. "You know," she added.

She swallowed and shook her head, that numb pain in her chest aching again.

"We haven't seen much of her either," Dahlia told her. "She's spending a lot of time with her family."

Farrah nodded, dropping her gaze on the floor. "I assumed."

There was a heavy silence surrounding the girls after that. Farrah knew it was time to draw an end to her shopping spree. There were still a pile of clothes for her to try on, but she didn't want to anymore. She decided to pay for the ones she had already picked and start for home.

"By the way, that is a really cute top on you," Dahlia told her before she could head to the trial room again.

Her lips widened into a smile once more. Farrah looked into the mirror again and glanced at the dusty pink top with rosettes near the bottom trim. Her eyes shined with appreciation. "You think so?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Girl, I'm jealous," Layla piped in. "Wish I could fill it half as much as you are."

The girls started giggling again and Farrah rolled her eyes at the comment. However, her cheeks turned slightly red. She couldn't recall the last time she had even tried to make an effort to look nice. Even as this winter passed by, all her coats and boots were stocked up with all her cold clothes as she passed the entire month on only two knitted sweaters. It wasn't like her at all. Farrah loved fashion. She loved playing with patterns, mixing up colors and styling accessories. So to be suddenly complimented, it felt nice.

This was the first time in months she had dressed up, and felt a rush of gratitude towards her friends for getting her out of the house.

With a grin on her face, Farrah went back to the trial room.

A couple days later, Farrah was going through her gallery in her phone when she came across some photos she had taken in Rashid's class.

Farrah did try to stay discreet and quiet most of the time. However, on some occasions she couldn't help but take out her phone secretly to capture some truly spectacular moment. Like the time this guy had fallen asleep in class and Rashid stood behind him to take a selfie with him, or that one time this girl this girl laughed so hard water came out of her nose.

There were some heart-warming moments too. The entire class listening to their teacher with rapt attention. And then that one time they cut a cake in class because someone was craving cake. She went through them with eyes filled with fondness.

The pictures were too nice to not share with everyone. So she reached out to a girl from the class on Facebook and emailed them to her. Within a couple hours, the student uploaded the photos on her timeline and tagged everyone.

Her notifications were buzzing with reactions and comments. Farrah beamed as she went through them. Her eyes halted on message left by Rashid.

Let's take a moment to thank Miss. Farrah for taking these photos. It is for her we have these beautiful memories to cherish for life now. We should all be glad she had chosen to stay with us for so long. I think we would all agree that without her presence, the class wouldn't be the same.

I would also like to take this opportunity to officially say goodbye to you all. As a lot of you know, I'm leaving soon. For those of you who you don't, I will no longer be taking your classes.

These past months were so much fun. It was a pleasure to get to know all of you. I hope you'll remember this old man with fondness and forgive him for not letting you leave class five minutes early. I was merely doing my job. Miss you all already.

Farrah felt a pang in her chest as she finished his message. Somehow, with time, those classes had become the highlight of her days. However, only a part of her was disappointed she wouldn't get to attend his classes again, another part of her was genuinely upset that she wouldn't get to hear him speak again.

...

Hi guys, we're nearing the end of the book. Just one more chapter and the Epilogue remaining!

I'll post again on Monday, in shaa Allah, saying goodbye to some of the characters once and for all! But we'll say 'hello, ji' to some of them, and a few new ones, again soon.

Until then, if you guys have any questions for me regarding this book/characters/relationships feel free to send them to me (except for queries about the prequel/sequel and the Fate of F&S, because they'll all be clarified by the end of this book)! I'll try to add an FAQ chapter if needed.

XO.