The auditorium is full, but the energy is hushed students leaning in, not for drama, but for depth. Japhet and Mwiitu stand side by side at the podium, co-teaching a seminar titled "Embodied Knowing: Love, Ethics, and the Intellect."
After the lecture, they walk through the garden behind the humanities building. Mwiitu takes Japhet's hand, their fingers interlacing like muscle memory.
"We've changed," she says.
Japhet nods. "We've grown. Not apart. Just inward."
They sit beneath the baobab tree, now older, fuller. Mwiitu leans into Japhet's shoulder.
"I used to love you for your mind," she says. "Now I love you for your stillness. For the way you hold space without needing to fill it."
Japhet kisses her temple, slow and reverent.
"And I love you for your clarity. For the way you name things I didn't know I was feeling."
They don't speak for a while. They don't need to. Their love is no longer a question. It's a practice.
YOU ARE READING
Think Me Open
RomanceMwiitu is a rising star in nursing research, known for her clinical precision and her unorthodox theories on trauma and community healing. Japhet is a philosophy lecturer brilliant, reclusive, and infamous for dismantling students' arguments with su...
