*Chapter 1 - Cold Tea*---I waited for 3 hours. The tea in front of me was already cold. He said "I'm coming, Amira." That was 7pm. Now it's 10:14pm and he is online, posting Layla on his status.The cafe guy already looked at me with pity. I told him, "He is coming, he is just stuck in traffic." But we both knew there was no traffic in Kaduna by 10pm.My phone buzzed. It was not Fahad. It was Sadiya.Sadiya: "Amira, where are you?"Me: "At Cafe Z, waiting for Fahad."Sadiya: "Amira... don't be angry at me. Check this."She sent a picture.My heart stopped.It was Fahad. At a birthday party. His hand was around Layla's waist. Layla was wearing the same perfume he once said he hated. And he was smiling. The kind of smile he never gave me in public.I stared at the picture. My eyes became hot. I thought maybe it's old picture. But I checked the time - Layla posted it 10 minutes ago. With caption "My man ❤️"My man.I stood up. My legs were shaking. I left the tea and ran outside. Kaduna night wind hit my face but I didn't feel cold. I felt stupid.Three months. I gave that boy three months of my heart. I rejected other guys for him. I prayed for him. And he was calling another girl "my man"?Tears started coming, but I wiped them. I won't cry for him. I won't."Amira?"I turned.It was Zayd. The new guy who owns the bookstore beside my house. He was holding two books.He looked at my face and frowned. "Are you okay? You have been here since 7pm. I saw you when I passed."I tried to smile. "I'm fine."He didn't believe me. He brought out tissue. "Your eyes. They say you are not fine."And for some reason, that small kindness broke me. I started crying right there on the road.Zayd didn't ask too much. He just said, "Come, let me drop you home. It's late for a girl to be outside crying because of a boy who doesn't know her worth."I looked at him. Then I looked at my phone again. Fahad was still online.I entered Zayd's car.But I didn't know, Fahad was actually coming to the cafe that night. And when he saw my cold tea on the table... everything was about to change.---"To be continued... Will Amira forgive Fahad?"

*CHAPTER 2: The Bookstore Boy*The bell above the bookstore door chimed.I didn't want to be here. Sadiya forced me. "You need to stop crying in your room, Amira. Come out, air will help you."But the air wasn't helping. My eyes were still swollen from last night. Fahad's last message was still on my phone screen. "I'm sorry, Amira. It's not you. It's just... Layla understands me more."Understand him more? I understood him for two years. I knew how he liked his tea with no sugar, how he hated loud music, how he wanted to become an engineer in Abuja. And now another girl understands him more?"Amira, look at this," Sadiya called from the romance section, holding up a book with a half-naked man on the cover. "This is how your Zayd will look."I rolled my eyes. "I don't want any Zayd.""You say that now," she laughed.And then I bumped into someone. Hard. Books fell from my hands and his hands, scattering on the floor."I'm so sorry!" I said quickly, bending down."It's okay, it's my fault," a deep voice replied.I looked up. And for a second, I forgot how to breathe.He was tall. Not Fahad tall - taller. He wore a simple white kaftan, but it looked expensive. His beard was trimmed neatly, his eyes were calm and kind. He wasn't trying to be handsome. He just was.He picked up my book and handed it to me. Our fingers touched briefly."Glow Up Guide?" He read the title Sadiya had forced into my hands and smiled a little. "Good choice."My cheeks burned. "It's not mine. My friend's.""Ah, the friend with the loud laugh?" He glanced at Sadiya who was now pretending to be very interested in a shelf.I couldn't help but laugh for the first time in three days. "Yes, that one.""I'm Zayd," he said. "This is my store.""Your store? I thought the owner was an old man.""He was my father. He traveled. So now it's me."Sadiya appeared beside us like magic. "Your store? Masha Allah! So you own all these books? Are you single?""SADIYA!" I wanted the ground to swallow me.Zayd laughed. It was a nice laugh. Warm. Not like Fahad's laugh which was always a bit mocking."I am single, yes," he answered Sadiya but his eyes were on me. "Are you... Amira? From the cafe across? I have seen you there."My heart dropped. That cafe. The cafe where Fahad left me with cold tea."Yes," I whispered. "I used to go there.""Not anymore?""No. Not anymore."He seemed to understand. He didn't ask more. He just said, "We have better tea here. Free, for people who love books. No cold tea, I promise. Always hot."Something in his voice made me feel seen. Not pitied. Seen.Sadiya pushed me forward. "We will take the tea! Amira loves tea!"And that's how I ended up sitting in the corner of Zayd's Bookstore, with hot tea that was actually hot, with a boy I just met who didn't know my story but didn't need to.My phone buzzed. A message from Fahad.I looked at it. Then I switched off my phone.For the first time in three days, I didn't cry when I saw his name.Outside, the rain started. Inside, Zayd was telling Sadiya about how he came back from the UK to manage his father's business, and Sadiya was asking him how much he earns.And I sat there, holding my hot tea, feeling something small and strange.It wasn't love. It was too early for love.It was the beginning of a glow up.*To be continued...*What do you think of Zayd? Should Amira give him a chance? Comment below!---