Chapter Five: The Silence He Left Behind
733 Words
For the next few weeks, Vanessa lived inside a kind of happiness she had never known before.
Not the loud happiness of clubs and flashing lights. Not the temporary excitement of attention.
This was quieter.
Softer.
The kind that slipped into ordinary moments and made them unforgettable.
Adrian became part of her routine so naturally that she didn’t even realize how attached she had become.
Morning texts. Late-night phone calls. Random walks after rainstorms. Shared meals from roadside vendors. Inside jokes nobody else would understand.
He loved her carefully.
Like someone handling a scar they didn’t want to reopen.
And Vanessa, despite all her fears, slowly allowed herself to rest inside that love.
One evening, they sat together on the rooftop of his building while Lagos glittered below them like restless stars. The city buzzed endlessly beneath the night sky danfo horns in the distance, music drifting from nearby streets, generators humming somewhere far below.
Vanessa rested against his chest quietly.
“You know what’s funny?” she murmured.
“What?”
“I used to think love would feel dramatic.”
Adrian smiled faintly. “And now?”
She tilted her head to look at him. “Now I think it feels peaceful.”
Something flickered in his expression then.
A sadness.
Small. Quick. Almost hidden.
But Vanessa noticed.
“You okay?” she asked softly.
“Yeah,” he answered too quickly.
She sat up slightly. “You sure?”
Adrian looked away toward the city lights. “Sometimes people don’t get to keep the things they love.”
Vanessa frowned immediately. “That’s a terrible thing to say.”
He chuckled quietly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
His gaze returned to her slowly, filled with something she couldn’t explain.
If she had understood that look properly, maybe she would’ve held onto him tighter.
Maybe she would’ve asked more questions.
Maybe things would’ve ended differently.
But she didn’t know.
And Adrian didn’t tell her.
Instead, he pulled her close again and kissed her forehead gently.
“I’m here,” he whispered.
And for that moment, she believed him completely.
Days passed.
Then one morning, Adrian stopped replying.
At first, Vanessa assumed he was sleeping.
Then busy.
Then angry.
But by evening, anxiety had already begun crawling beneath her skin.
Her calls went unanswered.
Messages delivered but ignored.
By midnight, she was pacing inside her room, checking her phone every few seconds.
The next day, she went to his apartment.
The gate was locked.
She knocked repeatedly until an elderly neighbor finally stepped outside.
“You’re looking for Adrian?” the woman asked.
Vanessa nodded quickly. “Yes. Do you know where he is?”
The woman hesitated strangely. “He moved out.”
Vanessa blinked. “What?”
“Very early this morning.”
Her chest tightened instantly. “No… no, that’s impossible.”
The woman gave a small shrug. “He left with bags. Haven’t seen him since.”
Vanessa felt the world tilt beneath her feet.
“That doesn’t make sense,” she whispered.
Because Adrian wouldn’t leave without telling her.
Would he?
Her hands trembled as she stepped away from the building.
She called again.
Still nothing.
Again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
Fear slowly turned into confusion. Then confusion into panic.
By the third day, she could barely sleep.
Every sound made her check her phone. Every unknown number made her heart race. Every passing figure on the street looked like him for half a second.
But Adrian was gone.
No explanation. No goodbye. No warning.
Just silence.
The kind that slowly drives a person insane.
Vanessa sat alone in her room that night staring at their old messages, rereading them until tears blurred her vision.
Had she done something wrong?
Did he stop loving her?
Was he lying the entire time?
None of it made sense.
And somehow, that hurt even more.
Because Adrian had loved her too sincerely to disappear cruelly.
Which meant one terrifying possibility remained:
Something had happened.
Vanessa curled into herself on the edge of her bed, clutching her phone tightly against her chest as though holding it close could somehow bring him back.
For the first time in years, the fearless girl everyone thought they knew finally broke apart completely.
And somewhere in the middle of that endless silence…
Adrian remained missing without
- Writer
