After Maghrib, Sarah and her mother were ready to welcome the guests. Since the men and the women would be sitting in different rooms, Sarah and her mother dressed up fancy-nancy. They also had their Khimars at hand to serve the food later during dinner. Sarah's mother was a perfectionist when it came to putting the food in front of the guests, so she wanted to serve herself.

Ding Dong!

The doorbell woke the butterflies in Sarah's family's stomachs.

The guests were here!

Umm Ishaaq performed a last-minute inspection of the living room and once she decided everything was alright, she and Sarah went upstairs. As the coast was clear, Abu Ishaaq opened the door and let the family inside.

"Where's your mother, dear?" Umm Ibrahim asked Ishaaq as the fathers walked over to the living room. Ibrahim followed his father inside the living room.

"She's waiting for you upstairs, Aunty," Ishaaq gestured at the stairs that led upstairs. Umm Ibrahim nodded, and Maryam shyly nodded along with her mom. They both went upstairs to join Sarah and her mother.

Ishaaq then went to the living room and sat beside Ibrahim on the sofa. He looked at Ibrahim curiously, before striking a conversation with him. Ibrahim admired Ishaaq's extroverted energy, and quickly, they became friendly with each other.

"Haleema! How have you been? I missed you so much!" Umm Sarah exclaimed as she skipped over to hug her best friend.

"I've been good Alhamdulillah! I've missed you so much too, Asma!" Both mothers were wrapped in each other's loving embrace for quite a while. Sarah and Maryam chuckled at their mother's energy.

While the mothers settled down to talk in the master bedroom, Sarah invited Maryam into her room, who curiously followed her. She was astonished by Sarah's organized room. Filled shelves of books were next to her desk. A window in front her pastel-coloured bed and the left side of her wall was covered with an organized mess of sticky notes.

"Woah!" Maryam exclaimed as she darted around the room and admired everything about it. Sarah sat down on her chair in front of the table.

"Come, sit down," Sarah smiled as she tried to follow Maryam around her room with her eyes. Maryam sat down at the bedside, trying to read the sticky notes.

"I love your room!" Maryam complimented her room without hesitation. Sarah was glad to see that Maryam was comfortable in her room and enjoying her time.

"Jazakillahu Khairan," she said, expressing her gratitude. She pulled out some notebooks from her drawer. Maryam's eyes curiously followed Sarah's hand as she flipped through the pages of her journal.

"This is one of my many journals," Sarah explained.

Maryam was wonderstruck by Sarah's amazing handwriting and how she beautifully decorated every page with pretty pictures and cute stickers. "You're really good at this, sister!" she said, with stars in her eyes. Sarah giggled at her enthusiasm. Maryam and Sarah then exchanged compliments about each other's dresses and talked to each other about life, school, and the like.

The fathers were chatting away in the living room, so Ishaaq decided his room would be more entertaining for both himself and Ibrahim.

"You play football?" Ibrahim asked when he saw the football cleats beside Ishaaq's desk as he followed behind Ishaaq and entered his room.

Ishaaq immediately turned to face him, "Yeah! You too?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with eagerness.

Ibrahim nodded, "Yeah, me too!"

Ishaaq excitedly jumped up and down. "Are you any good at it?" he asked, challenging Ibrahim with his gaze.

"Of course," Ibrahim chuckled. Ishaaq wasn't going to believe that easily.

"I'll need to see that brother," he challenged. "Come to Raffi Park in the morning tomorrow, 7 AM!"

"Challenge accepted, Ishaaq, let's see what you got," Ibrahim smirked. Ishaaq chuckled at his confidence.

Both families settle down with their friends – newfound or long lost. The mothers were deep in conversation about how they lived twenty years apart, the fathers bonding over shared interests in business, the brothers bonding over football, and the sisters bonding over journaling. As they spend more time with each other, they realize they share more interests than they previously thought. Perhaps, it is because their souls have similar qualities. As the hadith narrated by Aaishah (رضي الله عنها) states:

"Souls are like recruited troops: Those who are like qualities are inclined to each other, but those who have dissimilar qualities, differ." – Sahih al-Bukhari 3336

Then comes the time to serve dinner.

While the men were outside in the garden, Sarah and her mother put on their khimars and head to the living room to serve. Sarah's mother assembled the dishes in the kitchen, while Sarah put the bowls and plates on the table. As Sarah returned to the kitchen to bring more dishes, Ibrahim came back inside the living room to get himself a glass of water.

Sarah noticed that someone was in the living room. She looked down and gracefully put the pot on the table then swiftly returned to the kitchen. Ibrahim noticed someone behind him, and as he saw Sarah, he quickly turned back to face the water dispenser. He let out a sigh of relief when she was gone, then he turned to the garden.

Sarah was no better. She stole a few glances at Ibrahim while he wasn't looking at her since his presence radiated a sense of brightness. A brightness that filled the room. Unignorable. She tried her best to focus on her task at hand, but her struggles were always defeated, as her eyes found her way back to the direction of Ibrahim. She didn't know who he was. He didn't know who she was. But something was drawing them both to each other. A distant connection.

"Ibrahim! Where did you disappear?" Ishaaq poked his head out of the doorway, pushing the curtains covering the back door away with his hands. Ibrahim chuckled at Ishaaq's playfulness.

"I was getting myself some water," he explained.

Ishaaq's eyes widened. "You should have told me!" Ishaaq lamented. "I would have gotten it for you, brother!" he pouted, sad that he couldn't serve his guest.

Ibrahim smiled warmly at Ishaaq, "I'll ask you for what I need next time, lil bro," he agreed. Ishaaq excitedly jumped into the house and hugged Ibrahim who was now holding an empty plastic glass of water. Ibrahim hugged Ishaaq back.

"Now that we have exchanged hugs, there's no way out of this friendship!" Ishaaq announced innocently. Ibrahim was amused by Ishaaq's friendly demeanour. He extended his hand for a fist bump once he broke away from the hug.

"Of course, Ishaaq!" Ibrahim fist-bumped Ishaaq to seal their friendship. Ishaaq was delighted to make a new friend. He pulled Ibrahim by the hand back into the garden where they talked about various things. Like best friends.

Meanwhile, Sarah was done serving the dishes. The men then served the food for themselves from the table while Sarah returned to her room where the women were seated.

"Sarah!" Maryam called as she held Sarah's journal in her hands. Sarah smiled.

"You're done reading that one already?" Sarah asked gleefully. Maryam opened the journal and flipped through it to find her favourite page.

"Yes, sister!" she exclaimed proudly. "These were my favourite pages!" She showed Sarah the blue patterned pages decorated with Sarah's handwriting, washi tapes and paper scraps.

Sarah observed the pages and chuckled softly at how star-eyed Maryam was while flipping through the journal. "I spent a lot of time on those pages especially," Sarah admitted, feeling bashful by the compliments she was receiving from Maryam.

"How many years do I have till I reach your level of mastery?" Maryam asked dramatically.

Sarah laughed softly at her energetic demeanour. "Five more years, till you're my age, little cutie," Sarah pinched Maryam's cheeks playfully.

Maryam receives enough cheek pinches from her family. "Not you too, Sarah!" Maryam complained, but her smile betrayed her.

The night was lovely, and once everyone's stomachs were filled, and Isha was performed, it was time for Ibrahim and his family to go back home.

"The dinner was fantastic," said Ibrahim's father to Sarah's father. They were standing at the doorway while Maryam, Sarah, and the bestie mothers were chatting away in the living room.

"Alhamdulillah, brother. How did you like it, Ibrahim?" smiled Sarah's father. Both father and son, Ishaaq, were looking at Ibrahim expectantly.

"It was delicious, Uncle, enough for me to drop by often," Ibrahim chuckled. Ishaaq pouted.

"So, you're going to visit us more often, but not for me?" he dramatically exclaimed, pretending to burst into tears any second. Ibrahim laughed. He hugged Ishaaq.

"Of course, for you too, but we'll meet more on the field," Ibrahim reminded. Ishaaq smiled ear to ear, excited to have a new player join his team. Or against him. It didn't matter to him, Ibrahim was an amazing elder brother, and he was excited to think of meeting him again.

Both the families were delighted at each other's acquaintance.

"Ibrahim! Don't forget to join us for football tomorrow morning!" reminded Ishaaq enthusiastically.

"Surely, Ishaaq, I'll see you tomorrow then, In Sha Allah!" Ibrahim replied with the same energy.

The fathers were happy that their sons were friends, and they exchanged friendly greetings once again before the guests had left the house. The mothers walked up to the front door, Maryam and Umm Ibrahim being the only ones following Ibrahim and Abu Ibrahim outside of the main door. Sarah waved goodbye at Maryam, who was now standing next to Ibrahim, and Ishaaq waved at Ibrahim. At this moment, Sarah and Ibrahim's eyes met for the first time, and they both immediately looked away.

As the families were separated by the door, Ibrahim's family returned home, which was a few steps away. While Sarah's family washed the dishes and cleaned the house.

That night, before succumbing to slumber after a tiring long day, Ibrahim and Sarah think back on their day, until their thoughts wander to the memories of their brief eye contact. They both were beautiful creations of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), who were, beyond their understanding, drawn to each other. They had no idea who the other was, neither their age, nor their past, nor anything about them. But the memory of each other's eyes remains crystal clear in their minds.