His Hafizah and her Hafiz

Night

Hawa POV: 

Teaching the girls the entire day was exhausting. I had my niqab on for the entire day, and being in the room with two men was unimaginablely suffocating. Here in the Prayer Hall, it meant life again and freedom with no niqab which was snatched away quickly as soon as Huzaifah entered.

Huzaifah's help was awarding, without him, I couldn't have tested all these students with my utter patience. I was already stressed out. However, his teaching style was something I really didn't appreciate-- it really got on my nerves. He was way too soft on the students, especially Safoora. Was there something between them or did he have a thing for her?

He departedas soon as Sister Abida came in a hurry and started apologizing for her lateness. She was already late and my school was probably over by now. 

"It was nice working with you, Hawa!" Huzaifah shot me a geniune smile, before out through the door.

 I smiled back. "Yup, we did make a great team."

As soon as he left, class resumed again. Evening fell, and the sky darken to an azure blue night.  I was done reading my dour (revision) to Sister Abida. With fatigue I curtly stretched my arms with a yawn feeling sleep driven.

"Pretty good Hawa, I'm impressed." Sr. Abida grinned, closing my Quran gently and handing it to me.  "By the way, Thanks for filling up for me today!"

"It was no problem!" I replied, smiling honestly. I loved teaching the Quran, in fact I wanted to be a hifz teacher in the future just like Sr. Abida.

I leaned back against the walls of the vast prayer room listening to the girls memorized their sabaq loudly for the next day with my arms holding my knees. Everyone was too concentrated to notice the clock tick away with speed promising a closer minute to adulthood. 

"You guys are dismissed for today." Sister Abida yelled after Maghrib Salah and instantly everyone left the class without another reminder. I yawned and slid on my niqab. I was so tired!

I hung my backpack over my shoulders and waited for the cylindrical elevator to come down. Our dorm was in the fifth floor and I was in no mood in taking the stairs. I tiredly leaned against the walls, waiting for the elevator to open any minute.

 All the hifz girls were standing there forming a small crowd, they were also waiting for the elevator to open any moment ready to carry each one of them upstairs to their rooms.

"What's up, girl?" Safoora squealed, dashing towards me and putting her arms around my shoulder. "Man, you look so tired. I'm so sorry about Huzaifah, I know he bores people to death." Did this girl have an off switch? Why didn't she ever get tired?

"You know Huzaifah?" I asked with curiousity, narrowing my eyes to look at her closely. 

"No I don't." She replied horrified, looking around. "Let's take the stairs. By the time we reach our dorm, it'll be morning." She joked, dragging me up the stair by the arm. The stairs were known as 'old fashioned' these days. If the elevators didn't have a huge crowd in front of it, I would've gotten on it. Right now, the stair seemed like the only best option.

"Sure." I replied, knowing she was only trying to divert the topic. Safoora was never interested in boys, heck she couldn't even bear to talk about them before feigning a look of vomiting. What was she up to now?

"So, why did you throw paper balls at him?" I asked. 

"At who?" She asked innocently.

"You know who, stop acting like you don't even know who I am even talking about." I deadpanned.