CHAPTER THIRTEEN- The Last Visit
376 Words
They met by accident,
Or maybe it only felt accidental because neither of them had the courage to plan it.
The café sat across from the courthouse neutral ground. Too public for drama,
Tosin saw her first.
Kemi stood near the counter, reading the menu without really seeing it. Her hair was shorter now. No heels, no sharp suits, She looked smaller, softer, like someone who had stopped performing strength.
For a moment, he considered leaving,
Memory was easier at a distance.
but she turned,
their eyes met,
not shock, just
Recognition.
The kind shared by survivors.
“Kemi,” he said.
“Tosin.”
No titles , no explanations,
They sat opposite each other with a careful space between their chairs, like strangers negotiating boundaries.
The silence wasn’t awkward.
It was respectful.
“How are you?” she asked.
It sounded genuine, not polite.
“I’m learning,” he said. “You?”
She gave a small smile. “Same.”
Coffee arrived. Neither of them touched it.
Up close, he noticed faint lines near her eyes. She noticed the tiredness in his posture. Life had marked them both.
“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly.
The words fell out, unpolished.
“For everything. For not protecting you. For choosing fear.”
He studied her,
Months ago, that apology would have shattered him.
Now it simply settled.
“I know,” he said.
“I thought loving you was enough to justify it,” she continued. “It wasn’t.”
“No,” he agreed gently. “It wasn’t.”
Not cruel. Not bitter.
Just true.
They spoke for a while after that not about the affair, not about the scandal.
About small things.
Work,
Sleep,
therapy,
Ordinary topics.
It felt strange, how normal they could be when the fire had burned out.
At the door, she paused.
“We were bad for each other,” she said.
“Yes.”
“But we weren’t evil.”
He shook his head. “Just human.”
For a second, she looked like she might hug him.
She didn’t.
Instead, she nodded once and walked away into the afternoon crowd.
Tosin watched until she disappeared.
Not with regret, hope,
just acceptance,
Some people were chapters.
Not endings.
- Writer
