Zara || A Nigerian Lesbian

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢-𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛

𝚈𝙰𝚂𝙼𝙸𝙽
━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

"To be honest, I do not understand why you did what the hell you did." I did my best to say the words as calmly as possible, despite the wave of betrayal. How did she even know Zara?

"There is no need to get upset, please." My mother's voice laced with agony made me pause after I stood up, ready to leave. "I promise you if I did..."

"If?" The word came out harder than I intended, making her flinch. I couldn't hold on to my anger because my mother brought Zara to me. That was one thing I could not even do myself. Regardless, I was going to catch up with her and keep her from running off again.

But I knew my mother. She had a motive for everything she did. "I just want a chance..."

"To do what exactly?" I asked her the words pushing through my teeth. "To lie? To pretend like you did nothing?" My words became more problematic as the memories came flooding back. Behind closed doors, she didn't mind being real, even with my father. But when she was in public, she had to put on a show. The authentic version of her is someone I wanted nothing to do with. "I have to run after her."

She doesn't let go of my hand, still sitting down. "I can explain, Yas." It had been a while since I heard anyone call me by my nickname. Her words were like a whisper as she leaned across the table, forehead plastered with a deep crease while worry etched into her eyes, "Please, let me make this right. I need to speak with Zara."

I didn't even bother to respond to her request. I had already waited too long when it came to keeping my love life stable. If I did not go after her now, I might never see her again. Just the thought of her leaving Port Harcourt sends a shock through my chest. My pace quickened, as my body was fighting the urge to run in heels.

"Yasmin, please. I am trying to help!" My mother cried as I raced through the restaurant. By the time I got to the front door, I had spotted her by car—I had to run.

I ran as quickly as I could, stepping out in front of a car driving out of the parking lot. Shit. They stopped in time, but I didn't bother to apologize. They do not matter, so long as I could run to her. That was all that mattered.

Zara was busy staring at me over her shoulder as she tried to open the car. Don't you leave me, Zara, I prayed as I stared straight ahead at her. I briefly stopped to take my heels off and ran faster. Ignoring the beep of a horn and a lady, I brushed past to get to Zara.

"Zara!" I shouted at the top of my lungs that were burning from the chilly night and exertion. I could see the pain lingering in her dark brown eyes.

"Yasmin." She said my name as she closed the door and turned to face me fully. Her arms wrapped around herself, and she took two steps toward me by the time I stopped in front of her.

"Don't go, please." The words slipped from my lips before I could say anything else, taking her hands into mine. Staring into her eyes, I told her, "Don't leave." My heart was pumping fiery blood, hard and fast—my mind screaming, it's now or never.

"Did you know?" she asked in a whisper, and it took me a second to realize she was referring to my mother and the stunt she pulled earlier.

"I am still trying to understand why you were there."

"You didn't know?" she continued to question me as if I had any reason to lie to her.

"I did not have a clue at all that you knew my mother, let alone that she invested in your company."

She looked at me for a moment and then nodded her head, looking like she would turn around and get back into her car. Instead, she said to me, "That's all I needed to know."