The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Chapter 16: HEARTBREAK (II)
Weeks passed, but nothing ever really stayed still in our class. Nafisa hadn’t properly told us where things stood between her and Khalid. She avoided the topic with a kind of soft confidence that made it hard to question her too much. But she had said one thing clearly that he was leaving, and somehow, their relationship would survive it.
I didn’t believe their relationship would because I had overheard that conversation, the hesitation in Khalid’s voice and the silence that followed her question. But sometimes, the truth hurts more when you say it out loud and I know this very well because I’d been avoiding a certain truth about George.
“Good for you sha,” Desire said, with a small smile. “Khalid loves you. I’m sure the long-distance thing will work.”
Before Nafisa could respond, Desire leaned forward suddenly, her eyes sharp with curiosity as she asked. “Have any of you noticed Felix and Amira?”
She didn’t need to point, we already knew. Our eyes followed her subtle gesture to the corner of the class.
Felix was sitting comfortably on his chair, relaxed like nothing in the world could disturb him, while Amira sat on his desk, leaning slightly toward him, her voice low as they whispered to each other. Every now and then, she’d laugh softly, touching his arm like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“I noticed,” Nafisa said slowly. “They’ve been… too close lately.”
I nodded. “Since Cultural Day,” I added. “At first, I thought it was cruise. But now…”
Now it was something real. They walked together. Ate together. Sat together. Whispered constantly like the rest of us didn’t exist, but I didn’t say it out loud.
And somehow, nobody reacted anymore. No one had the energy to be shocked because it was Amira.
At this point, her relationships felt like outfits, something she could wear, remove, and replace without thinking too deeply about it.
And Felix?
Felix didn’t look like he cared about her past, he wasn’t the type that judged and that was the scary part. Because people like that… they fall the hardest. I wanted to warn him that it would only get his heartbroken but it wasn’t my place.
“Excuse me” Nafisa suddenly said as she noticed Khalid standing close to the door. I watched her and Khalid leave the class, holding hands. I sighed quietly but I’m in no position to judge her relationship status when mine was slightly crumbling even though I have tried to ignore it since I came back to Lagos.
“Hey.”
George’s voice came softly beside my ear, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked to my side and saw that Desire was no longer in the class, I didn’t even notice when she left my side.
“Hi,” I replied as I turned slightly and forced a smile, even though my mind was far from calm. So, he studied my face for a second longer than usual before pulling a chair closer and sitting beside me.
“Are you alright?” he asked gently. “Is it about your parents… or your siblings?”
The way he said it, so careful, cautious, it made something twist inside me. He was trying, really trying to be a great boyfriend but he was far from it and it hurt so bad that I might just be another phase.
I swallowed hard. I don’t want to say anything, in fact I didn’t believe any of the things I had been hearing. But this morning I saw an evidence that showed that those whispers, side comments might be true. And talking about it to him might make me sound insecure or worse, desperate.
So instead, I said something else, something safer.
“I just feel like nobody genuinely loves me,” I said quietly, my voice shaking despite my effort to stay composed. “And it hurts… because I don’t even know what to do to make my family love me.”
George shifted closer immediately. “You know I love you,” he said softly.
His words came easily and it hurt more than the sting I felt when I think about how my siblings treated me differently. So, before I could stop myself, my mouth dropped the bomb.
“I don’t know.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back, but it was too late.
Silence fell between us, heavy and uncomfortable. I noticed the change in his expression and it hit me instantly.
His face hardened. He wasn’t fully angry but he was definitely hurt and confused.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” he asked, his voice lower now. “What does that even mean, Zara?”
I didn’t answer.
Because how could I? Should I tell him I’ve been hearing things? Or that I have a picture of him and another girl living along his street, maybe I should just ask him directly if he’s cheating.
My throat tightened and I said nothing.
George stared at me for a few seconds longer, like he was waiting for something, anything that backed up my earlier statement but nothing came out from my mouth again. I wasn’t ready to lose this relationship.
He exhaled sharply, stood up, and walked away.
Just like that, he was out of the class. There was no attempt to make me talk, or maybe he was already tired of our relationship.
I sat there, frozen. Tears welled up in my eyes because that had never happened before. George was always the one who stayed to listen, he would softened every situation.
But now he left.
My chest tightened, and before I could stop it, the tears came. I quickly placed my head on my desk quietly so that nobody would notice and painfully the tears flowed down from my eyes as my heart broke into pieces.
Quick question?
Did Gideon truly break Zara’s heart? 😢
Thank you for reading this chapter😊