THE RIDE THAT DIDN'T COME WITH A KISS
1997 Words
Still sitting down on the bed lost in thoughts... taking deep breaths as if she was blinking..her phone buzzed
*Leo: You’ve texted him yet? He’s my cousin though. And I put in a good word for you… even though you pretend to work while at the shop lol*
Liana smiled.
The voice in her head went quiet.
She could breathe properly now.
After dinner, the girls went to their rooms.
Liana hummed on her bed. Phone in hand.
New message.
*Matthews Wears: Good evening Liana… Alright Leonard told me about you. He says you’re good.*
Reading it, Liana felt overwhelmed.
Not from fear.
From hope.
She didn’t count money alone tonight.
---
Morning came early. Too early.
The shop was still asleep when Liana arrived.
She unlocked the door. Broom in hand.
The metal screamed. Dust rose like old secrets.
She swept. Slow. Steady.
Like if she kept moving, the worry wouldn’t catch her.
_Monday was 4 sleeps away now._
Phone on the counter, face down.
She didn’t check it.
Checking meant hoping.
Hoping hurt more than being broke sometimes.
Buzz.
Once.
She didn’t move. Broom kept going.
Buzzed again.
She exhaled. Set the broom down. Wiped her palms on ankara.
Flipped the phone.
*Matthews Wears: Good morning Liana.*
*Matthews Wears: We’ll take 20 pieces. Send account details.*
The broom didn’t fall.
She did. Not literally. Her knees just remembered they were weak.
20 pieces.
She read it three times.
_Twenty pieces. That was Monday not looking like a wall anymore._
No “let me think about it.”
Just: _We’ll take._
Like he already trusted her hands.
Her throat closed. Not from crying. From relief.
The kind that comes quiet, like rain after harmattan.
*Liana: Good morning sir. Thank you sir.*
*Liana: Account details: 0123456789, Zenith Bank, Liana Oghenetegiri*
*Liana: I’ll have them ready. You won’t regret this.*
She hit send. Pressed her palm to her chest.
The shop door creaked. Ella walked in, yawning.
“You’re early. And smiling. That’s new.”
Liana picked the broom back up. Swept faster.
“Just morning breeze,” she said. Voice steady.
_Morning breeze. And a message that changed the weather in her chest._
Outside, Benin was waking up.
Inside, Liana was waking up too.
_4 sleeps to Monday. But tonight, she would sleep like someone who had a way._
_20 shirts._
Folded neatly. Wrapped in brown paper like a promise she made to herself.
Matthews’ driver collected them. Counted. Paid cash.
Liana took it behind the shop, away from Ella’s eyes.
Counted it once.
Counted it twice.
The money was real. Crisp. Hers.
Monday wasn’t scary anymore.
Before today, it was only Dad’s torn trousers and her younger ones’ school uniforms.
Patch here. Hem there. Practice.
Today was her first customer.
Her first, _“Madam, we’ll take 20 pieces.”_
She was walking home when the sky turned.
Benin sky doesn’t ask permission.
One minute sun.
Next minute charcoal.
The wind picked up. Keke drivers started shouting, rushing.
Then the first drop hit her nose.
Then ten more.
A black car slowed beside her.
The window rolled down.
*Leo: Liana? Hop in. Traffic is madness ahead and rain doesn’t negotiate.*
She hesitated for 2 seconds.
Then she opened the door.
Wet dress. Wet bag. Wet heart.
_He didn’t offer money. He offered shelter. That was his kind of help._
The car smelled like leather and faint cologne.
Safe.
She sat, clutching the empty delivery bag to her chest like armor.
The cash was folded inside. Not much.
But it was hers.
The sky grew dark.
Heavy rain poured down like heaven had been holding its breath and finally let go.
Wipers moved. Traffic didn’t.
Engine idled.
Rain drummed on the roof like fingers tapping, impatient.
Silence at first.
The kind that’s loud.
*Leo: Did you deliver them all?*
*Liana: Yes, sir. I counted twice. Even Matthews’ driver smiled.*
*Leo: “Sir” again? After I sent you to my cousin?*
*Liana: Old habit. Hard to break.*
*Leo: Try. For me.*
She looked at him.
His profile in the rain. Jaw tight. Eyes on the red brake lights ahead.
But his voice was soft. Like he was talking to something fragile.
*Liana: Try what?*
*Leo: Say my name without flinching. Like you know your hands are worth paying for.*
The car felt smaller.
The rain felt closer.
*Liana: Leo.*
She said it quietly. Like she was testing a new shirt size.
Like saying it out loud might make it real.
He exhaled and smiled without looking.
*Leo: See? Didn’t bite.*
They talked.
Not about money.
About things that don’t fit in budgets:
Patching Dad’s trousers at midnight with shaking hands.
The time his own car broke down in rain like this and he had to walk 2km.
How Benin smells like roasted corn and fear before WAEC.
And how silence feels different when you’re not alone in it.
_Intimacy isn’t always touch. Sometimes it’s being known without explaining._
Traffic moved one car length.
Then stopped again.
Liana turned to laugh at something he said.
He turned too.
Their faces were close.
Close enough to see rain on her lashes.
Close enough to see the gold flecks in his eyes.
Close enough for readers to scream _KISS HIM_ in their heads.
Her breath caught.
His eyes dropped to her lips for half a second.
Not hunger.
Recognition.
Like he was remembering something he wasn’t supposed to.
The air changed.
Warm. Heavy.
Like before lightning.
Then his phone lit up on the dashboard.
*Alexia ❤️ calling...*
The screen glowed between them.
Her name. A heart emoji.
Leo glanced at it. Picked it up.
His eyes stayed on the road. Not on Liana.
His voice was even. Careful.
*Leo: Hey. I’m stuck in this rain with traffic. Yes, I gave someone a ride...*
He kept talking.
About meetings. About dinner. About maybe.
Normal things.
Things that weren’t Liana.
He ended the call. Put the phone down.
Didn’t explain.
Didn’t apologize.
He looked back at the road. Hands steady on the wheel.
*Leo: See? Rain passes. Traffic moves. And first money? It teaches you discipline before it teaches you joy. Don’t spend it all on relief. Spend some on growth.*
Liana stared out the window.
Water ran down the glass like tears she didn’t shed.
_Close doesn’t mean yours._
_Near doesn’t mean now._
_And honor is quiet, but it holds._
The car moved.
30 minutes later, he stopped in front of her house.
*Leo: You did good today, Liana. Not just the delivery. You showed up for your own hands. That’s bigger than any order.*
She stepped out into the rain.
It wasn’t as cold anymore.
*Liana: Thank you, Leo. For the ride. And for… not making my first win feel small.*
He nodded.
The window rolled up.
The car drove into the rain. Red taillights disappearing.
Liana stood there.
Dripping.
Smiling.
With an ache in her chest.
Cash in her bag.
Alexia’s name still in her head.
_11:58pm. w******p. Rain on zinc roof._
*Leo: You’re still awake? Rain is loud tonight.*
*Liana: Rain always talks when my mind won’t rest. Today… my hands finally felt like they were worth something.*
*Leo: I could tell. Even Matthews texted me when he received it. He said your stitches don’t rush.*
Liana sat up on her bed.
She opened her bag and pulled out the cap she’d been working on for 2 days.
Navy base. Gold embroidery. “L.E.O” stitched small at the back.
Not “I love you Leo.”
Just his initials.
Her way of saying thank you without words.
She took a picture. Thumb hovered.
Sent it.
*Liana: I made you something. For the ride. For the cream. For treating me like a business, not pity.*
3 dots.
Long pause.
Her phone buzzed.
*Leo: Liana… it’s beautiful.*
*Leo: I can see the stitches. Tight. Patient. Like you.*
*Leo: But I can’t take it.*
Liana frowned.
*Liana: Why? Is it ugly?*
*Leo: Because it’s not ugly. Because it’s you.*
*Leo: If I collect gifts from you, then one day I’ll expect them. Then I’ll start owing you. And I never want to owe the woman whose hands are trying to stand.*
Liana smiled a little. Leo was definitely something else.
*Liana: So my thank you isn’t allowed?*
*Leo: Your thank you is allowed. Say it. Then use that same energy to sew 20 more caps for your own customers.*
She stared at the photo.
Finger hovered over “delete.”
Didn’t delete it.
*Liana: Okay. Thank you, Leo. For today. For seeing me.*
*Leo: Goodnight, Liana. Don’t sew tired. Your hands are your capital.*
She set the phone down.
Pressed the cap to her chest for 3 seconds.
Then folded it and put it back in her bag.
Like nothing happened.
---
_The Next Day. 2:14pm at Madam Chic and Bougie._
She counted the cash twice.
Then paid Madam C and B first. All of it. No balance.
Jessica looked up, scissors in hand. Eyes sharp.
*Jessica: Omo, you’re rich now o! Paying people off like CBN.*
*Liana: _laughs_ No. I’m responsible now.*
Hope tied her measuring tape and leaned on the table, watching too closely.
*Hope: Having rich parents hits different sha. You won’t have to stress for anything.*
Liana smiled. Kept her back straight. Kept her voice light.
*Liana: If only they knew…*
Inside, her chest tightened.
_If only they knew I have no parents._
_If only they knew I cried over ₦500 transport last month._
_If only they knew this “rich” feeling is just me refusing to fall apart in front of people._
But she didn’t say any of that.
She folded the receipt neatly instead.
Strong on the outside. Breaking in quiet places only she could feel.
Her phone buzzed.
*Leo: You paid your boss with your head high. Pay yourself the same respect.*
She didn’t reply immediately.
She looked at the cap in her bag instead.
Ran her thumb over “L.E.O.”
Then she had an idea.
Chin up. Smile on.
*Liana: Yh, I did…*
---
_6:47pm. Benin sky went dark fast, like someone pulled a curtain._
Then the rain.
Not the gentle kind from last night.
This one came down like it had an agenda.
Liana was under the shop awning, water splashing her ankles.
*Liana: Hi Leo, good evening. It’s raining like God wants to wash the whole of Benin at once.*
*Leo: Stay inside. Don’t come out.*
*Liana: Too late. I’m already soaked. Can I… can I hide in your compound till it reduces? Just 10 minutes?*
3 dots.
*Leo: Gate is open. Don’t run. You’ll fall.*
She ran anyway.
When she got to his compound, she was dripping.
Hair stuck to her face.
And she wore that sly smile.
The one women get when they’ve planned mischief to hide their softness.
Leo stood under the veranda shade, arms folded.
*Leo: Why are you smiling like that? You look like you stole my chicken.*
*Liana: Me? Steal? God forbid.*
*Liana: I’m just happy the rain remembered my address. It usually misses me.*
*Leo: Liar. That smile has a plan.*
*Liana: Plan? The only plan I have is to not catch cold and get an idea on what to sew, with the fabric I paid for today. See? I’m a responsible adult.*
He raised one brow. Didn’t believe her.
Outside: Keke drivers shouting “small market 4 hundred!”
Umbrellas went up like mushrooms.
Children ran barefoot, tongues out catching rain.
Cold air slipped under the veranda.
Liana shivered once.
Then turned to face him.
The cap was behind her back. Navy + gold. “L.E.O” stitched small.
*Liana: What?*
*Leo: You’re staring.*
*Liana: Me? I’m just… admiring the rain. It’s very… wet.*
She smiled. Too wide. Too innocent.
Her excuse was lame...
*Liana: There’s something I want to whisper to you.*
*Leo: Then whisper. I’m listening.*
He leaned closer. Ear tilted. Rain in the background.
- Writer
