Still ,it was love
815 Words
It was unplanned.
A chilly afternoon in June. Thandi was at a bookstore café, sipping tea and flipping through a poetry collection when she heard his voice behind her.
“Thandi?”
She froze.
Slowly, she turned—and there he was.
Collen.
Same eyes. Same calm tone.
But there was something different now. In both of them.
She offered a polite smile. “Hey.”
He walked closer, hesitant. “Didn’t think I’d run into you.”
“Neither did I,” she said, heartbeat steady. “But I’m okay with it.”
---
They sat down.
It wasn’t awkward. Just unfamiliar. Like meeting an old song you once loved, unsure if you remembered the words—but wanting to hum along anyway.
Collen looked at her carefully. “You look… happy.”
“I am,” Thandi replied. And she meant it.
He nodded. “I messed things up.”
She didn’t rush to comfort or correct him.
“I was angry,” he continued. “At you. At myself. At the fact that love wasn’t as easy as I thought it’d be. But blocking you… disappearing… I handled it wrong. I know that now.”
Thandi looked at him, her voice calm. “You hurt me, Collen. And I let my fears control me too. I wasn’t ready for the love I wanted so badly.”
They both sat in that truth for a while.
Then Collen said something she didn’t expect:
> “I never stopped caring. I just didn’t know how to show up without all my flaws ruining it again.”
She breathed in slowly. “I never stopped caring either. But I had to stop chasing. I had to become someone I liked—whether or not you ever came back.”
And that was the difference now.
---
Over the next few weeks, they spoke more. Slowly. Honestly.
No pretending. No rushing.
Thandi asked questions—not to accuse, but to understand.
Collen listened—not to defend, but to truly hear.
They laughed again.
They fought differently—softly, with patience.
They held hands like it meant something.
Because now, it did.
---
Thandi still had insecurities.
Collen still had his walls.
But this time, they faced them together.
She no longer needed constant reassurance—because she had learned to reassure herself.
And he no longer ran when things felt heavy—because he had finally decided to stay.
Not because love was perfect.
But because it was worth choosing.
---
One evening, lying next to him, Thandi whispered:
> “I used to think love was supposed to fix me. But now I know… it’s meant to grow with me.”
Collen kissed her forehead. “And I’m ready to grow with you.”
They didn’t promise forever.
They promised effort.
And for two people who had once broken each other…
That was enough.
Thandi could see it in his eyes—the hesitation. The quiet distance he was trying to hide behind calm words and small smiles.
He loved her.
But he was scared.
Scared that history would repeat itself.
And for the first time, she understood.
It wasn’t just about what he had done.
It was about what she had carried—what she had projected from her past onto their present.
And now, she was at a crossroads: keep protecting her wounds… or protect their love.
---
That night, Thandi stood in front of her bathroom mirror, staring at the reflection of a woman who had come so far.
She whispered to herself:
> “You can’t keep waiting to be perfectly healed before letting love in. Sometimes, healing is loving. Fully. Freely.”
She reached for her phone—and instead of a silent battle with her pride, she texted Collen:
> “I want us to work. I’m not perfect, but I’m learning. I won’t let fear make decisions for me anymore. You’re worth trying for. We are.”
---
He replied minutes later.
> “I’ve been waiting to hear that. I love you too, Thandi. Always have.”
And that was the moment everything shifted.
---
They didn’t go back to how things were before.
They built something new—something slower, softer, stronger.
Thandi learned to breathe before reacting.
To speak from the now, not from the past.
Collen learned to stay when things felt overwhelming.
To reassure, not retreat.
They laughed more. They loved louder. They gave each other space to fall—but also a hand to rise.
---
Because love wasn’t about finding someone who completed you.
It was about choosing someone, day after day, who helped you become whole on your own—then stood beside you anyway.
And Thandi?
She chose him.
And more importantly, she chose herself too.
That’s how she knew this time—this love—was real.
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