Before love Broke Me

Chapter two

It was really him, slowly my body was negotiating with my mind, asking if this was something I really wanted to face. For a split second, I considered pretending I hadn’t heard anything at all but it was too late, I stood there, frozen, my heart beating loud enough to drown out the choir behind me. I remember wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole, because suddenly, hiding didn’t feel possible anymore, there he stood, Up close, he looked even more unreal. Taller than I imagined, shoulders broad, posture relaxed, like he belonged anywhere he stood. His face was calm, not intrusive, not demanding, not curious, his eyes held something steady, something that made you feel seen without feeling exposed. I wondered how long he had been standing there, how much he had noticed, and whether he knew he had just disrupted everything I thought was safe.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

Oh heavens! His voice was calm, too calm, It was firm, but not harsh, the calmness in his voice had me wondering a lot, It wrapped around the space between us and settled somewhere deep in my chest. I swallowed, suddenly aware of how close he was, how warm the air felt, how my thoughts had scattered the moment he spoke, I tried to respond. I really did.

“Uh… no,” I said, then paused, then ruined it. “Yes. I mean no, you’re not. I wasn’t…”

I stopped, embarrassed by my own confusion. My mouth kept betraying me.

He smiled.

Not a wide smile, Just a small one, like he found my nervousness endearing rather than inconvenient. That made it worse. I could feel heat creeping into my face, and I hated that he could probably see it.

“I’m Donald, Donald Adams he said, extending his hand slightly, not forcing it, just offering, I looked at his hand for a second longer than necessary before taking it. His grip was gentle, warm. Grounding.

“I’m Imara, Imara stones I said quickly, then softer, like I was tasting my own name. “Imara.”Repeating it felt strange, but beautiful. Like I was introducing myself to myself again, quite funny.

“I saw you singing,” he said, letting go of my hand. “You looked… lost. In a good way.”

I laughed before I could stop myself, A genuine laugh, light and surprising. I hadn’t laughed like that in a long time not without guarding it. It slipped out naturally, and for once, I didn’t care.

“I get carried away sometimes,” I said. “Music does that to me.” He nodded, like that made perfect sense, like there was nothing odd about being fully consumed by something you loved, we stood there talking, the space between us comfortable and unforced, the choir continued behind us, voices rising and falling, but it felt distant, like background noise to something more important, time slowed, stretched again and softened, it was beautiful, I was so full of joy, something I have not felt for so long.

We spoke about simple things at first. About the choir, about how new I was, about how long he had been coming here. The conversation flowed easily, effortlessly, like we weren’t strangers at all. There were no awkward pauses, no need to impress. Just words finding their place.

When he asked what I did, I told him about writing. About how words were the only way I knew how to survive my thoughts. He listened, really listened, like my answers mattered. When I mentioned singing, his eyes lit up slightly.

“I work with music,” he said casually. “Produce too but I mostly sing, music is beautiful, it has a way of calming my mind down”

It made sense immediately, his voice already sounded like it belonged to melodies, to quiet studios, to late nights chasing sounds that felt like emotions, I told him that, and he laughed, a low sound that stayed with me longer than it should have, as we talked, I became aware of how close we were standing, Not touching. Just close enough to feel his presence without being overwhelmed by it, close enough to feel safe, that was what startled me the most the safety, I have always been so particular about safety when it came to an individual or relationships in general , this, it was beautiful and scary at the same time.

He began to tell me things then, not surface-level things, not things you shared with someone you had just met, he spoke about pressure, about expectations, about carrying weight he never spoke about, I didn’t ask him to go that deep, he just did like something in him trusted something in me, and I just listened.

At some point, the music stopped, the seminar was over, chairs shifted, voices faded and People began to move around us, greeting each other, packing up, stepping back into their lives. But I barely noticed. My mind had locked itself away from the room, from the noise, from everything that wasn’t the beautiful human standing in front of me. The world could have ended quietly right there, and I wouldn’t have known. All I saw was him, His expressions, the way his lips curved when he smiled, the steadiness in his eyes, everything else blurred into insignificance, people passed us, Someone laughed nearby, a door opened somewhere. None of it registered. I was fully present in a moment I didn’t want to escape.

When he finally glanced around, it felt like he was reluctantly returning from the same place I had been stuck in, I knew it, it was recognizable.

“Looks like we lost track of time,” he said softly.

I nodded, though I wasn’t ready to acknowledge it. I wasn’t ready to leave the bubble we had created so effortlessly.

We began to walk slowly toward the exit, not side by side yet, just close enough to know neither of us wanted the moment to end. The night air greeted us as the doors opened, cool and gentle against my skin, I felt it then a quiet certainty settling into my chest. The same feeling from earlier, returning stronger and it made me uncomfortable.

Some moments don’t naturally introduce themselves, they arrive quietly, look harmless, and still manage to change everything and as I stood there with him, the world waiting patiently beyond us, I had no idea how far this moment was about to carry me but it was something I was willing and eager to find out, because the energy I felt was beginning to consume me in a good way and I was curious to know the end, I just kept staring at his beautiful eyes…