WE SYNCED BUT HE ISN'T MINE

Leo swiped _Baby ❤️_ to silent. Typed to Liana: “You get home safe?” In Benin City, the sun was bright, the sky was clear, and the hot air made the trees sway. You could hear the sounds of vehicles, children playing, and passersby walking with heavy feet in sweaty clothes. Their faces said it all: _“The sun is too hot.”_ Liana didn’t know about Baby. She smiled at his text. “Liana!” A voice called and pulled Liana from her thoughts. Liana looked at Jessica, who was standing with fabric in one hand and a measuring tape around her neck. “Yes?” Liana asked, looking tired. “I wanted to know what time it is,” Jessica replied as she placed the tape on the fabric. “Time?” Liana muttered, searching for her phone with her eyes. “Yeah, it’s just 24 minutes past 2,” Liana answered, her eyes still on the screen. “Ahhh, why does today feel so slow?” another girl cried out, holding her head and tapping her leg on the ground. This conversation was taking place inside Madam’s Chic and Bougie shop. Walls lined with Ankara. The sewing machine humming like it was tired too. As time dragged on, the hot sun turned soft and gold. The clear sky went darker, one shade at a time. The sun was setting now, and inside Madam’s Chic and Bougie shop, the girls were packing up. Chairs pushed in. Ankara folded. Everyone ready to escape the long, sweaty day. They said goodbye with tired smiles. That “we survived” kind of smile. Liana walked out, heading for the junction where Keke always parked. Halfway there, she took a deep breath and glanced at her phone screen. Her reflection stared back. She frowned. “I’m not looking good… I should’ve done my hair tomorrow. Or next tomorrow. Right now my brain is just tired.” She kept scrolling with one hand, then lifted the phone to her ear. A voice note from her sister. Liana smiled. It was dumb and funny. Exactly what she needed. Meanwhile, in the big house beside the busy road, a tall, dark man sat outside, eyes on his screen. When he stood up, his eyes lifted… and met hers. He smiled. The kind of smile that made the stress slide off your shoulders. Liana whispered to herself, “Wow. He’s handsome.” No expectations. Just eyes meeting, then she looked forward again. Then she heard it. A manly voice, calm and low: “Hey… good evening.” Liana looked up. It was him. She smiled back, warm and genuine. “Good evening.” He was already closer now. “You look good. I’m Leo. What’s yours?” Liana’s smile stayed, but her eyes stayed soft and friendly. He held out his hand for a handshake. She hesitated a second… then took it. Her palm was warm against his. “I’m Liana.” “Wow. A nice name… for a beautiful girl.” He was still smiling, still looking right at her. Liana got shy. She broke eye contact, cheeks warming. “I’d hate for this to end here,” he said, the corner of his lips lifting. He pulled out his phone and held it out to her. “Can I have your number?” Liana took the phone. Typed her number. Her thumb hovered over ‘save’ for half a second… then she handed it back. He glanced at the screen. Then looked up at her. “You walking far? Mind if I see you off?” “That’s nice,” she said, “but I’m just going to the next junction. To get a Keke (tricycle) home.” “Oh… alright then. If you say so.” Liana walked ahead. But inside her head, a small voice whispered: _You should be ashamed. Meeting a boy that is handsome looking like this. All rough and tired._ But she still smiled. While waiting for her ride, Liana’s phone buzzed. An unknown number. She tapped the message and read it to herself: _“You’ve gotten a ride yet?”_ She smiled. It was Leo. “No, not yet… I still have to wait a bit before I can get a Keke,” she typed back, a smile plastered across her beautiful face. Less than five minutes later, a yellow tricycle — a Keke — rattled to a stop. She hopped in. The ride home was twenty minutes. Twenty minutes spent with her thumbs flying, chatting with Leo. They swapped pictures. “He sure seems nice,” Liana muttered, her eyes softening at the screen. When she reached her stop, she slid her phone into her crossbody bag and started the walk home. The path knew her feet. She greeted neighbors along the way — tired but friendly smiles, soft _good evenings_ slipping from her lips. “Welcome… welcome…” the older men and women answered, eyes trailing after her. The walk wasn’t long, but it felt like a deep breath. Finally. Home. A long bath. Comfy clothes. She rolled her neck, trying to stretch the day out of her bones. She pushed open the gate and greeted her grandparents with a smile. “Dooh,” they called back, warm and familiar. “How was work?” “Umm, it was fine oo… just stressful,” she replied casually, slipping past them toward her flat. There, her three little sisters swarmed her, words tumbling out about school, teachers, fights, laughter. “Hey, Olivia,” Liana said, cutting in gently, “I just got back from work. Long, stressful day. Let me bathe first. You can tell me everything over dinner, yeah?” She disappeared into her flat. Deep breath. Bag on the rack. Phone on the little shelf. Clothes off. Towel, soap, toiletries in hand. She stepped into the bathroom and stood under the shower. Cold water poured down — from the crown of her head to the arches of her feet. Outside the bathroom window, the dark sky leaked dull, tired light. Liana stood there for a long time. Eyes closed. Head tilted up. Water pounding her face. Then she felt it. Warm streams sliding down her cheeks. Tears. This happened most times. When the pressure built too high. When it felt like she was running in place while life sprinted ahead. Voices swarmed her head: _You’re not enough. You don’t get to complain — you haven’t done anything yet. You’re lagging behind… always behind…_ Then her mind would drift back to softer days. When she worried about less necessary things — what to do with free time, what to cook for dinner, what song to play next. Small things. Safe things. The bath took thirty minutes. She stepped out feeling clean, but heavy. To her closet. Body spray. Underarm spray. A soft nightwear that felt like a hug. She combed her thick, black, waist-length hair and tied it up with a scrunchie. Phone, charger, AirPods — she gathered them all. Before leaving her flat, her reflection caught her in the window glass. She paused. A faint smile touched her lips. _How did he ask for my number when I was looking like this?_ She shook her head, still smiling, and kept walking. --- After dinner and little funny chats with her sisters, Liana charged her phone and AirPods. But her mind kept looping back to Leo. Flashbacks of their encounter played like a quiet movie. A faint smile stayed pinned to her lips, waiting for time to hurry up so she could get back to her phone. She pulled out a piece of paper and started sketching clothing ideas swirling in her head. Eight attempts. Erase, redraw, erase again. Then — there it was. Exactly what she’d been seeing. She smiled and called her sisters over. “Come see.” They gasped, then hyped her up. Laughter flooded the sitting room. Soon they were swapping stories about years ago, about how her drawings went from “not bad” to “girl, you’re actually good.” The room was warm. The TV cast a soft, flickering glow across their faces. Old jokes, silly jokes, the kind only sisters understand, bounced between them. Time slipped by fast when you weren’t watching. It was 10 o’clock before anyone noticed. The girls gathered their things. Flicked off the switch. Unplugged the solar they’d been using to charge. Windows shut. Blinds drawn. Outside light on. They called out to Grandma, “Goodnight!” On the way to their flat, Grandma’s voice trailed after them: “Lock your door well before you sleep, oo!” Olivia, Megan, and Tasha peeled off to their own flat, still chatting, still laughing. “Sleep early. Don’t forget you all have school tomorrow,” Zara, the eldest, snapped, annoyance threading her voice. Zara and Liana walked to their flat. Zara headed straight for the bedroom. Liana collapsed onto the bed in the living room, phone already in hand. She unlocked it, heart tapping against her ribs, waiting. And there it was. A message from Leo. She opened the chat and chuckled. His message was sweet, flirty, light: _“How are you doing, beautiful?”_ Liana’s fingers flew across the screen, a huge smile splitting her face. They sank deeper into conversation. Piece by piece, they traded parts of themselves. Liana realized she was loving it — and questioned why she’d hesitated at first. The more they talked, the clearer Leo became: chill, straightforward, smart. Observant in a way that felt dangerous. Quietly confident. _“I noticed you took a while before shaking my hand,”_ he typed. _“And you’re beautiful, Liana.”_ She smiled, but something tightened in her chest. She couldn’t accept it. Not after seeing her reflection right after he approached her. _“Nah, don’t say that. I wasn’t looking that good. You saw how messy my hair was. Long day at the shop. I had that tired look.”_ Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder in deed he texted --- She was still smiling when the next message came. A selfie. *“This is me thinking about you”* She downloaded it. Leo. In his room. Black tee. That same smile from the road. Liana stared at it for a long time. Her thumb traced the screen. Her heart was doing that stupid fluttery thing again. She typed back, cheeks hot: *“You’re lying. You’re probably thinking about sleep”* Three dots. Then: *“Nah. Thinking about the girl who typed her number with tired hands but still smiled at me like that”* Liana laughed out loud. Alone in her room. Her sisters would’ve teased her if they heard. She was about to reply when another message popped in. *Leo: “So… can I call you tomorrow? After work?”* Liana bit her lip. *“Yeah. You can.”* She locked her phone and pressed it to her chest. Outside, the night was quiet. Inside, her heart was loud. She had no idea. No idea that the number she just gave out… was the number she wasn’t supposed to take. _To be continued..._