Score |
103
Joe Ink
Student @ University of Abuja
Student @ University of Abuja
When You Stopped Looking
<p> When You Stopped Looking</p><p><br/></p><p>The rain had become Tobi's closest companion. Every evening after work, he sat alone at a small bus stop, watching couples laugh while pretending he didn't notice them. Two years earlier, he had lost the woman he planned to marry not because she died, but because poverty forced them apart. Since then, he had buried his heart beneath silence.</p><p><br/></p><p>One evening, an elderly woman carrying heavy groceries slipped on the wet road. Before anyone moved, Tobi rushed to help her. She insisted he walk her home.</p><p><br/></p><p>There, he met her granddaughter, Maya.</p><p><br/></p><p>Maya smiled, but her eyes carried the same sadness Tobi saw in the mirror every morning. She had spent years caring for her grandmother after losing both parents, putting everyone else's happiness before her own.</p><p>Their friendship grew quietly. They shared roasted corn after work, argued over music, laughed at terrible jokes, and learned each other's hidden scars. Neither called it love. They were simply two broken people making each other's days lighter.</p><p><br/></p><p>Then everything changed.</p><p><br/></p><p>Maya's grandmother fell seriously ill. Hospital bills piled up, and Maya prepared to sell the small tailoring shop that kept them alive. Without hesitation, Tobi emptied the savings he had spent years building for his own future.</p><p><br/></p><p>I'll figure tomorrow out later," he said.</p><p><br/></p><p>The grandmother survived.</p><p><br/></p><p>Weeks later, Maya discovered that Tobi had been skipping meals just to recover financially. She confronted him with tears in her eyes.</p><p><br/></p><p>Why didn't you tell me?</p><p><br/></p><p>Because loving someone shouldn't feel like a debt.</p><p><br/></p><p>For the first time in years, someone chose her without asking for anything in return.</p><p><br/></p><p>Months later, the same bus stop where Tobi once hid from the world became the place where Maya reached for his hand.</p><p><br/></p><p>You know, she whispered, smiling through happy tears, we weren't waiting for the right person.</p><p><br/></p><p>We were healing until we could recognize them.</p><p><br/></p><p>As the rain began to fall again, neither of them ran.</p><p><br/></p><p>Some storms don't separate hearts.</p><p><br/></p><p>Some storms bring them home.</p><p><br/></p><p> *Moral* : Real love doesn't always arrive when life is perfect; sometimes it finds two wounded hearts and teaches them how to heal together.</p>
|
13
Other insights from Joe Ink
Contributor Points
Points-to-Coupons
Referral Earning
Insights for you.
Dear African Parents,
Every "African parent" disapproves of suicide. "Why take his life over something so lit...
346 views
66 upvotes
73 comments
SOMETHING MUST KILL A MAN
Something must kill a man! That's what Emeka thought to himself that afternoon, outside...
202 views
36 upvotes
34 comments
UNTAMED WORDS
They came with fire, but feared our flame,taught us silence, then gave it a name.Stole ...
375 views
31 upvotes
26 comments
BREAST IRONING
Ever heard of the breast ironing practice? well, I am from Cameroon and we have strong ...
1899 views
34 upvotes
38 comments
My Greatest fear
My Greatest FearMy greatest fear isn’t death ,it’s the inability to write.I have a wild...
388 views
27 upvotes
27 comments
Divide The National Moi Moi
While embarking on my beauty stroll this evening, I pondered what I would write about. ...
967 views
19 upvotes
20 comments
Hotel Rwanda 🇷🇼 part 1 Nomshu
Hotel Rwanda: Part 1 – How I Ended Up in the MadnessOkay, so you know how life sometime...
101 views
23 upvotes
23 comments
Do You Know Anarchy? I'll Tell You!
Anarchy was a black teenage girl, enslaved in Alabama. She became one of the most exper...
514 views
13 upvotes
22 comments
THE CAT IN THE WATER
There is something unusual about watching a cat slowly get used to water.Not because th...
242 views
21 upvotes
26 comments
BROKEN BUT BEAUTIFUL
Picture this: JSS 1, grade 5, minding my business, when I get hit with the plot twist o...
136 views
22 upvotes
20 comments
