ACCIDENTALLY YOURS

FRIDAY – THE DAY AFTER

Maya didn’t speak much that morning.

Leo made eggs. Toasted bread. Even poured her tea the way she liked, less sugar, more milk. She sat across from him, legs folded under her, wearing nothing but his oversized hoodie and a silence he couldn’t decode.

“Say something,” he murmured.

She took a bite of toast. Chewed slowly. “You want the truth or something soft?”

Leo blinked. “Always the truth.”

She set the toast down. Looked him dead in the eye.

“I don’t know if I can ever unsee what I saw. Unfeel what I felt.”

He leaned forward. “I love you, Maya.”

“Do you?” she asked. “Or do you just want to win?”

Leo flinched like she slapped him.

She stood, kissed his forehead, and walked to the shower.

And in that silence, he knew, he wasn’t just losing her. He had already started.

SAME DAY – 2:47 P.M. – MAYA’S PHONE BUZZES

ZARIAH: Can we talk? I swear, no drama.

MAYA stared at the message for ten minutes.

She didn’t reply.

Not immediately.

But she didn’t delete it either.

Instead, she grabbed her headphones, wore sunglasses, tied her braids up, and walked out. No direction. Just movement.

Because sitting still made her feel like a loaded gun in the wrong hands.

LATER – A RANDOM COFFEE SPOT, KILIMANI

They sat opposite each other. Maya, guarded. Zariah, open but unreadable.

Zariah stirred her iced coffee. “I didn’t know he was your Leo. If I had, I’d have told you from day one.”

Maya didn’t blink. “You kissed him last week.”

Zariah nodded. “I did. But not because I wanted him back. Because I wanted to feel like I mattered to someone again.”

Maya bit the inside of her cheek.

Zariah leaned in. “He doesn’t love me. I can say that with my chest. But you? The way he looked at you? I’ve never seen him that unguarded. Not even when we were happy.”

Silence.

Then Maya asked the question she didn’t know she’d been holding.

“Was he good to you?”

Zariah smiled softly. “He was… intense. Loyal in public, confused in private. Gave me his body, but not his soul. I think he saved that part for you.”

SAME NIGHT – LEO’S PLACE

He waited.

Paced.

Checked his phone. Opened Instagram. Closed it. Opened it again. No new post. No story. No reply to his texts.

He stared at her name in the chat.

MAYA🖤: Typing…

Then nothing.

A knock at the door made him jump.

He opened it.

But it wasn’t Maya.

It was DANIEL, the marketing exec Maya had once called a “walking temptation with a business plan and perfect teeth.”

“Leo,” Daniel said casually, walking in. “Didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

Leo narrowed his eyes. “What do you want?”

Daniel smirked. “I came to return Maya’s notebook. She left it in my car yesterday.”

Leo stiffened. “You’ve been seeing her?”

Daniel raised a brow. “Not the way you think. Yet.”

Leo’s jaw tightened. “Leave.”

Daniel stepped forward, close enough to whisper. “You had your chance. If you break her again, I’ll be the one picking up the pieces… and this time, I won’t hand them back.”

Leo slammed the door shut behind him.

He didn’t sleep that night.

SATURDAY MORNING – MAYA’S APARTMENT

The doorbell rang.

She opened it slowly.

It was Zariah.

With pancakes. And peace.

Maya blinked. “Seriously?”

Zariah smiled. “They’re chocolate chip. I figured if we’re going to mourn the same man, we might as well eat while we do it.”

Maya shook her head, laughing through her exhaustion. “I’m not sure if I want to punch you or hug you.”

Zariah shrugged. “Do both. Then pass the syrup.”

And just like that, somewhere between heartbreak and breakfast, a strange sisterhood was born.

SUNDAY – MAYA GETS AN OFFER

An email.

From BLOSSOM MAGAZINE.

Subject: Your Column Proposal “Accidentally Yours”

They wanted to publish her serialized version of her love and loss journey.

Anonymous, of course. Raw. Real. And vulnerable.

They called it: “the voice of every Nairobi woman who's ever loved recklessly.”

And they were offering her the chance to travel. Write. Escape.

Maya stared at the screen.

The cursor blinked, just like her heart had all week.

Was it time to choose herself?

Or time to fight for what her heart already knew?