Tiana arrived at the university quietly.
No announcement.
No excitement shared publicly.
Just a suitcase, a steady breath, and a heart determined not to look back.
Three days after Joshua returned to school, she stepped onto campus—alone. The buildings stood tall and unfamiliar, buzzing with life she was not yet part of. She took it in slowly, grounding herself in the present.
This place was hers now.
Stephen arrived later that day.
He spotted her near the hostel, laughing softly at something on her phone. For a moment, he thought his eyes were lying to him. He stopped walking.
"Tiana?" he called.
She turned.
The surprise on his face mirrored the calm on hers.
"Stephen," she said simply.
They stood there, suspended between questions and answers. Then she explained—about the admission, the silence, the choice to keep it private. She told him everything she had not told anyone else.
Stephen listened.
He didn't interrupt. Didn't judge. Didn't say I told you so. When she finished, he only nodded.
"I'm proud of you," he said.
That was all.
They became inseparable in the safest way—walking to lectures together, eating side by side, studying in comfortable silence. Stephen never crossed lines. Never asked for more than friendship. He respected her pain the way one respects something sacred.
Joshua noticed none of this.
He noticed only that Tiana had stopped replying.
Her phone buzzed often—missed calls, unread messages.
Are you okay?
Why aren't you replying me?
I know you're busy but at least say hi.
She read them all.
She replied to none.
One week later, fate intervened.
The cafeteria was loud that afternoon—voices overlapping, trays clattering, laughter spilling carelessly across tables. Tiana stood in line, scrolling through her phone, unaware.
Then she heard her name.
She looked up.
Joshua froze mid-step.
Shock flashed across his face—pure, unfiltered. As if he were staring at a ghost he believed belonged to the past.
"Tiana?"
Her heart skipped once. Just once. Then steadied.
"Joshua," she replied calmly.
"When did you—" he started, confused. "Why are you here?"
"I school here," she said.
The words landed between them like a quiet explosion.
He looked at her—really looked at her—for the first time in months. She was different. Straighter. Collected. Unavailable in a way he could feel but not explain.
"You didn't tell me," he said, almost accusing.
"You didn't ask," she replied.
Joshua laughed nervously. "You've been ignoring my messages."
"I've been busy," she said, echoing her old excuse—only this time, it was true.
Stephen appeared beside her then, holding two plates.
"Ready?" he asked gently.
Joshua noticed him.
Something dark passed through his eyes.
Tiana took the plate, nodded, and walked away without another word.
Joshua stood there, watching her leave—
realizing too late that the girl he thought would always wait
had already chosen herself.
And this time, she did not look back.