Chasing my ex husband

Here is your story - *CHASING MY EX-HUSBAND* --- PROLOGUE My name is Amara. I am 23, divorced, and standing outside the Supreme Court of Kenya in a red shirt that is not mine, holding a file that says "REPETITION OF DIVORCE PETITION NO. 412 OF 2024: Amara vs. Jaden." Inside that file is a lie. The truth is, I am not here to finalize my divorce. I am here to chase the man I divorced. CHAPTER 1: THE MISTAKE Jaden was my university sweetheart. We met in Chuka University, second year, Law class. He was the serious one - the one who highlighted every case, who wanted to be a Senior Counsel by 35. I was the dramatic one who wanted to be a legal aid crusader in heels. We married at 21. Too young. Everyone told us. My jomba said, "Amara, you are marrying hunger." My mother said nothing, she just cried. The first year was beautiful. The second year was rent, unpaid HELB loans, Jaden's mother calling me lazy, me calling Jaden a mummy's boy. Then the fight. The big fight. He said I was unserious. I said he was cold. He packed his bag. I said, "Go." He went. I filed for divorce out of pride. He didn't contest it. In 6 months, we were legally strangers. CHAPTER 2: ONE YEAR LATER I got a job as a clerk in a law firm in Chuka. I was fine. Until last month, when my boss, Wakili Mwangi, said, "Amara, we have a new associate joining. Jaden Otieno. From Nairobi. Harvard LLM. Very sharp." My ex-husband. In my office. Wearing a black suit that cost more than my 3 months salary. He looked at me and said, "Counsel Amara." Like I was anyone. That night I couldn't sleep. Not because I still loved him - or maybe because I did. Because for the first time since the divorce, I saw what I had thrown away. Not the man, but the _us_. The version of us that could have survived if I had just said "stay" instead of "go." So I made a decision. A crazy, undignified, very un-feminist decision. I was going to chase my ex-husband. CHAPTER 3: THE CHASE BEGINS Plan A: Be professional. I brought him coffee. He said thank you. I laughed at his jokes in the meeting. He didn't notice. Plan B: Jealousy. I started dating Kevin from Litigation. Kevin had a car. Jaden had a Mercedes. Kevin lost. Plan C: The truth. It was raining on a Thursday. We were the last two in the office, filing for the Milimani case. The power went out. Only the emergency light. "Jaden," I said. "Hmm?" "Why didn't you fight for us?" He stopped typing. For a long time he didn't speak. Then: "Because you told me to go, Amara. And I have obeyed every word you said since the day I met you, except that one time I should have disobeyed." I was crying. He was not. "You divorced me in 20 minutes," he said. "I have spent 365 days trying to un-divorce you in my head." CHAPTER 4: THE COMPLICATION Just when he started to soften - just when he started bringing me coffee too, just when he touched my hand while passing a file and we both froze - his fiancée arrived. Her name was Vanessa. 26, doctor, daughter of a judge. Perfect skin, perfect English. She brought lunch for him every day. "Babe" this, "babe" that. I was the ex-wife chasing. She was the future wife arriving. My jomba called me: "Amara, acha aibu. You are embarrassing us." But I had started this. I could not stop. I confronted Vanessa in the washroom. I expected a catfight. She said, "I know who you are. He talks about you in his sleep. He says your name when he is stressed. So chase him, girl. If you catch him, he was never mine." CHAPTER 5: THE COURT CASE Wakili Mwangi assigned us both to the same case - a divorce case. The irony. A woman who wanted to leave her husband because he was cheating. We were interviewing the client. The woman said, "My husband doesn't look at me anymore." Jaden looked at me. I looked at Jaden. That evening, we won the case. We went to celebrate. One drink became three. Three became us in his car, parked outside my bedsitter, not kissing, just breathing. "Amara, if we do this again, we will fail again," he said. "We are the same people." "Maybe," I said. "But maybe the same people can make a different choice this time." He kissed my forehead. "I have a hearing in Nairobi tomorrow. For 3 days. When I come back, if you are still sure you want to chase me... stop chasing. Just wait. I will come to you." CHAPTER 6: THE THREE DAYS Those three days were the longest of my life. Vanessa stopped coming. His office was empty. I checked his w******p last seen every 10 minutes. On day 2, I wrote him a long letter. On day 3, I tore it. On day 4, he didn't come back. His phone was off. Wakili Mwangi called me: "Jaden has been offered partnership in Nairobi. He is not returning." I had chased him, and he had run for real this time. I went home. I put on my white shirt. I sat on the stool where we used to sit when we had no chairs. And I accepted it. CHAPTER 7: THE RETURN At 6:12 PM, someone knocked. It was Jaden. Wet from rain. Holding the same file I had at the Supreme Court. "I went to withdraw our divorce," he said. "The registry said you can't withdraw after decree absolute. So I filed a new case." He knelt. Not with a ring. With a file. "Cause No. 413 of 2025: Jaden vs. Amara. Petition for remarriage." I laughed. Then I cried. Then I said yes. EPILOGUE: ONE YEAR LATER We remarried last week. Same jomba, who now calls Jaden "my son." Small garden wedding. No judge's daughter. No HELB loan stress - we both work. People ask, "Did you chase your ex-husband?" I say, "No. I chased my mistake. And I caught my lesson." The lesson? Sometimes divorce is not the end. Sometimes it is the break you need to grow up, so that when love comes back, you are actually ready to keep it. *THE END*