Episode 3
1094 Words
The morning after their first official date, Haliyah woke up smiling.
For a few blissful seconds, she couldn’t remember why.
Then she saw the sunflower resting in a glass cup on her study table.
She smiled all over again.
It still looked as bright as it had the day before, its golden petals stretching toward the morning sunlight filtering through the hostel curtains.
Her roommate peeked over from the top bunk.
“So…” she said with a teasing grin. “How was the date?”
Haliyah hugged her pillow.
“I don’t want to be dramatic…”
“You absolutely do.”
“…but it was perfect.”
“Perfect?”
“He remembered my favorite flower.”
Her roommate gasped.
“Oh, that’s dangerous.”
“What?”
“Men who remember little details? That’s how they steal hearts.”
Haliyah laughed, but deep down, she knew her roommate was right.
Samuel didn’t impress her with expensive gifts.
He paid attention.
And somehow, that meant more.
⸻
By noon, campus was buzzing again.
Students hurried from lecture to lecture while vendors called out from every corner.
Samuel was already waiting outside the faculty building, two meat pies in one hand and a chilled drink in the other.
“You skipped breakfast.”
“I was running late.”
“I knew it.”
“You sound proud.”
“I am.”
He handed her the food.
“You know me too well.”
“I’m still learning.”
As they walked toward the library, Haliyah’s phone vibrated.
Unknown Number.
She frowned.
“Everything okay?” Samuel asked.
“Probably spam.”
She ignored the call.
A minute later…
It rang again.
Then again.
Samuel noticed the worry crossing her face.
“You can answer it.”
She shook her head.
“If it’s important, they’ll text.”
The phone finally fell silent.
She slipped it back into her bag, convincing herself it wasn’t worth thinking about.
She was wrong.
⸻
That evening, while organizing her notes, curiosity got the better of her.
She opened her messages.
One unread text.
Unknown Number:
We need to talk.
Nothing else.
No name.
No explanation.
Just five words.
Her stomach tightened.
Who was it?
A wrong number?
Someone from secondary school?
An old classmate?
She locked her phone and placed it face down on the desk.
“No,” she whispered to herself.
“Not tonight.”
⸻
The next few days passed peacefully.
Almost.
Samuel and Haliyah settled into a rhythm that felt effortless.
They revised together every evening.
Competed over who could finish practice questions first.
Argued over which jollof rice on campus was the best.
“Yours is objectively wrong,” Samuel insisted.
“There is no objective answer.”
“There is.”
“There isn’t.”
“There absolutely is.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You know what?”
“What?”
“I don’t think we can be together anymore.”
He placed a hand dramatically over his chest.
“Over jollof?”
“Over terrible opinions.”
He laughed so hard students nearby turned to look at them.
Moments like these made everything else fade into the background.
Until Friday.
⸻
Haliyah had just finished a practical class when someone called her name.
“Haliyah?”
She turned.
A familiar face stood near the laboratory entrance.
It took her a moment to recognize him.
Tunde.
Someone she had known during her first semester.
They had once been close friends before life pulled them in different directions.
“Haliyah.”
“It’s been forever.”
She smiled politely.
“Tunde… wow.”
“You’ve changed.”
“I hope that’s a good thing.”
He nodded.
“You look happy.”
“I am.”
Something about the way he said those words made her uneasy.
He hesitated before speaking again.
“Can we talk?”
She remembered the mysterious message.
Her heartbeat quickened.
“Were you the one texting me?”
He nodded once.
“I’m sorry for calling so much.”
“What happened?”
“I just… needed to tell you something.”
She folded her arms.
“I’m listening.”
He looked down briefly before meeting her eyes.
“I used to like you.”
Silence.
“I know it’s random.”
“Haliyah, I’m not saying this because I expect anything.”
“I just needed to get it off my chest before graduation.”
She didn’t know what to say.
Before she could respond, another voice interrupted.
“Haliyah?”
She froze.
Samuel.
He had arrived earlier than usual to walk her back to the hostel.
His eyes moved from Haliyah…
…to Tunde…
…and back again.
Neither boy spoke.
For a few uncomfortable seconds, the world around them seemed to disappear.
Haliyah stepped forward immediately.
“Samuel.”
“This is Tunde.”
“We were just talking.”
Samuel offered a polite smile.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Tunde replied.
The conversation was civil.
Brief.
Awkward.
After Tunde left, Samuel remained unusually quiet.
“You okay?” Haliyah asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine.”
He forced a smile.
“I’m okay.”
But she knew.
She recognized that smile.
It was the kind people wore when they were trying not to admit they were hurting.
That evening, neither of them studied.
Neither of them laughed.
Instead, they sat on a bench overlooking the campus football field.
“I trust you,” Samuel said softly.
She looked at him.
“But sometimes…”
He paused.
“…I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“That one day someone better will come along.”
Her heart broke a little hearing those words.
She reached for his hand.
“There will always be someone richer.”
“Someone taller.”
“Someone funnier.”
“But there will never be another you.”
He looked at her, searching her face as if trying to decide whether to believe her.
“I chose you,” she continued.
“And every day I get the chance…”
She squeezed his hand.
“…I’ll choose you again.”
For the first time that evening, Samuel smiled.
A real smile.
The kind that reached his eyes.
Above them, the first stars began to appear.
Neither of them noticed that, from a distance, someone was watching the two of them walk away together.
And that someone had no intention of letting the past stay in the past…
- Writer
