I started studying people.
Every handshake.
Every smile.
Every person who suddenly greeted me differently or avoided my eyes.
My circle got smaller by the day.
I monitored friends of my friends, watching who looked uncomfortable around me, who whispered, who pretended they didn’t see me.
Paranoia?
Maybe.
But after discovering I was stabbed by two men, it felt like survival.
That morning, I slept at Rebecca’s place again.
She insisted.
She said it gave her peace knowing I was close.
She walked me home after sunrise—Olerato asleep in her arms, her tiny head resting on Rebecca’s chest.
We walked on the side of the road as taxis hooted, cars flew past, and the birds made their own kind of noise above us.
It was an ordinary morning… until it wasn’t.
I saw two guys ahead.
One sit
