NOT MY USUAL WORLD Novel Chapter 13

NOT MY USUAL WORLD
EPISODE 13
The café slowly returned to its normal rhythm, but for the three people standing near the counter, nothing felt normal anymore.
They stepped outside and sat at a small table near the café entrance.
Ronke finally wiped her tears, though her hands were still trembling.
Ekene watched the two of them quietly. he could feel the weight of the moment pressing heavily in the air.
Six years of silence had suddenly been broken in the most unexpected way.
Tobe shifted slightly, still holding the cup of coffee he had forgotten to drink. His eyes remained fixed on Ronke, as if he was afraid she might disappear again if he looked away for even a second.
For years he had imagined this moment in different ways.
Sometimes he imagined anger.
Sometimes silence.
Sometimes a cold indifference.
But he had never imagined tears.
Ronke finally found her voice, though it came out soft and uneven.
She asked how he could leave like that without saying anything to her.
The question carried pain that had been buried for years.
Tobe blinked in confusion.
He told her he lost his phone on his way to Anambra, but he had written to her.
More than once.
The words hung between them.
Ronke frowned slowly.
Written to her.
She shook her head gently.
She never received anything.
Not one letter.
Tobe felt the ground shift beneath him.
For years he had believed she had read those letters and simply chose to remain silent. That belief had been the only explanation that allowed him to finally move forward with his life.
But now she was sitting in front of him saying she had never seen them.
Ekene looked from one of them to the other, beginning to understand that something far deeper had happened between them years ago.
Tobe spoke slowly, his voice calmer now but heavy with memory.
He explained how everything had fallen apart in Lagos.
How the landlord forced them to leave.
How the mechanic space was closed to them.
How people suddenly stopped selling things to them.
Ronke’s eyes widened as she listened.
She had never known any of this.
She remembered the letter she had received that day.
She remembered rushing to find him.
And arriving too late.
But that had only been one letter.
She looked at him again, confused.
You said letters.
More than one.
Tobe nodded slowly.
He told her how he continued writing after reaching Anambra.
How he sent them again and again, hoping she would reply.
How he searched for her all over social media when he got a new phone, regretting every day that he had never memorized her number.
Ronke felt something cold settle in her chest.
She had never seen any of those letters.
Not one.
Ronke suddenly felt a wave of realization hit her like a storm.
Her father.
The powerful man who had never approved of Tobe.
The same man who had forced him out of Lagos.
The same man who controlled everything around her life at that time.
Slowly, painfully, the truth began forming in her mind.
Chief Adebayo had made sure those letters never reached her.
For a moment Ronke could not breathe.
Six years.
Six years believing Tobe abandoned her.
Six years believing he simply moved on without caring enough to come back.
And all along he had been writing to her.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Tears returned to her eyes again, but this time they carried a different kind of pain.
Tobe watched her quietly, still unaware of the storm of realization unfolding inside her mind.
Ekene placed a gentle hand on Ronke’s shoulder.
He did not say anything, but his presence grounded her enough to stand steady.
Tobe noticed the gesture again and forced himself to look away for a moment.
Life had moved on.
He knew that.
Six years was a long time.
People changed.
People built new lives.
When he finally looked back at Ronke, his voice was calm but careful.
Maybe everything happened the way it was supposed to happen.
Maybe life simply chose different paths for us.
Ronke looked at him quickly when she heard that.
Different paths.
The words felt heavy in the air between them.
Neither of them truly knew what those paths now looked like.
Then she asked how he ended up here.
Tobe sighed as he was about to explain, but her phone suddenly rang.
She looked at the screen and quickly answered.
The person on the line reminded her that it was time for her meeting.
She said she would be there soon and ended the call.
For a moment she looked frustrated, as if the world had chosen the worst possible time to interrupt.
She quickly brought out a pen and wrote down her number and office address.
She handed the paper to him and told him to call her.
She said she had an urgent meeting and asked him not to lose the number this time.
Then she asked where he was staying.
Tobe pointed toward the street behind them and said his apartment was not far from there.
He quickly wrote down the address and apartment number for her.
Ronke held his hands for a brief moment.
Her eyes searched his face as if she was trying to confirm that he was really standing there.
Then she pleaded with him not to disappear before she returned.
After that she hugged Ekene briefly and told him she would explain everything later.
That single sentence made something tighten inside Tobe’s chest.
Ekene then shook hands with Tobe politely before leaving with Ronke.
Tobe stood there watching her walk away.
His eyes followed her until she disappeared into the moving crowd of people.
For a moment he felt the sudden urge to run after her.
But she was already gone.
He slowly walked back to his apartment.
Once inside, he could not concentrate on anything.
He tried sitting down.
He tried unpacking the rest of his things.
Nothing worked.
He kept pacing around the room restlessly.
Six years.
Six years of believing he would never see her again.
And suddenly she had walked back into his life like nothing had changed.
He whispered a small prayer under his breath.
Then nearly two hours later, someone knocked on his front door.
Tobe walked slowly to the door.
His heart began to beat faster.
He opened it.
And there she was.
Ronke.
Standing right in front of him.
To be continued.