6. Bittersweet

ZION'S P.O.V

It was just a coincidence.At least that was what he told himself, even though he didn’t believe in coincidences.

He couldn’t get the image of her out of his mind.The way she looked like she needed to say no. The tears she held back, and he hated that it was because of him.

Like she needed to run away from him as quickly as possible.

He hadn’t expected to find her there.
Why did he keep crossing paths with her?

He gripped the steering wheel as he drove back to his house, frustration building in his chest.

There were too many things he didn’t want to think about.

The way she looked.
The way the little she wore left almost nothing to the imagination.

A part of him was actually relieved she had left the beach.

He hated how it made him feel.

The only thing he could do in that moment was keep his eyes on her face.
Only he knew how hard it was not to let them wander.

Why would Leona dress like that?

Then he remembered something his sister once said about her.

And the accusation she made earlier replayed in his mind.

Are you stalking me.
Why would he do that?

Yet when he got home, he did exactly that.

He searched for her online.

And her pictures told him everything he didn’t want to know.

Bare backs.
Short dresses.
Places that made him uncomfortable.

After a few minutes he couldn’t look anymore.

He locked his phone and placed it face down on the table.

His chest tightened.

Not Leona too, he thought painfully.

                              *****
“How’s the Abu dabi work trip going?”
Mandla’s voice came through the phone later that evening.

Zion leaned back into his couch.

He and Mandla had known each other for years.

One of the few friendships Zion had deliberately chosen to nurture.
Instead of talking about his investments or the success of the summit, he found himself saying the one thing he hadn’t planned to say.

“I met Leona.”There was a pause.

“Lee?” Mandla said with amusement.

“As in the girl you never got over?”.Then he added quickly,

“Wait… you did get over her, right?”
Zion exhaled slowly.

“I don’t know, man,” he admitted. “I think I did. But when I saw her… I realized I might have just forced myself to move on.”

“It was the right thing to do,” Mandla reminded him.

“Maybe it still is,” Zion said quietly.

“She’s different.”

“Different how?” Mandla asked. “Good or bad?”

Zion thought about it.

“I don’t know,” he said finally. “Colder, I guess.”

Mandla already knew the answer. He kept tabs on people, and Leona wasn’t exactly unknown.

She had a presence online.

Pictures that spoke without words.

“It’s okay to let go, bro,” Mandla said calmly. “It was a childish love story. Things change.”

Zion didn’t respond immediately.

Mandla was engaged to Tinashe, and the two of them had always been an example to him that godly love existed.
Whenever Zion looked at them, he believed the scripture that said:

In God’s time, He makes everything beautiful.

Zion believed that.

He had built his life on that belief.

But the more he thought about Leona and the woman she had become, the more he wondered if this was something else entirely.

Maybe it was a test.

An ex is an ex for a reason, he reminded himself.

                            ******

He wished that thought had stayed firmly in his mind.

But it didn’t.

Because he kept seeing her at the summit.

During presentations.

At lunch breaks. In hallways.

Every time he saw her, he pretended they didn’t know each other.

She did the same.

It was the hardest thing he had done all week.

Not because of what he saw on the beach.

But because of what he was seeing now.

When Leona spoke about her work and her company, something about her changed.

She lit up a room when she smiled.
She carried herself with a quiet confidence that filled every space she entered.

Lee had always been quiet, but now she commanded rooms, and for those brief moments, she took his breath away.

It felt like being a teenager again.
Like having a crush on her every single day.

He had to constantly remind himself:
She’s not that girl anymore.

This was work.
This was simply the version of her people saw in professional spaces.

And yet, sometimes, their eyes met across crowded rooms. For a second time, it slowed.

Then, one of them would look away.
It means nothing, he told himself.
But it didn’t feel like nothing.

One night in his apartment, he sighed and whispered into the quiet room.

“Lord… why did the trial have to be her?”

                              *****
The final evening gala arrived.

And once again, she made him stop in his tracks.

Leona wore an army-green dress. Her hair was pulled into a long ponytail. He knew it was extensions.

But she still looked beautiful.
Her makeup was bold.
Confident.

Like the woman she had become.

He couldn’t help but laugh softly at the difference between the girl he remembered and the woman standing a few tables away.

The Leona he knew had been painfully shy.

She hated wearing her hair down.
And now it was rare to see her without makeup.

Not that he was complaining.

She looked stunning.

But it was new.

Back then, she had been afraid of boys.
Now she stood laughing freely as someone beside her said something that clearly amused her.

The sight irritated him more than it should have.

Especially because she had rejected him days earlier.
Yet here she was, laughing easily with another man.

The Leona he remembered had always hidden how intelligent she was.
Her brilliance only showed in her report cards.

But now she knew exactly what she carried.There was no doubt about it.

Whenever she stepped into a room, she was a force.

So for the rest of the evening, he tried not to look at her.

But he failed.

And what angered him the most—though he knew he had no right to feel that way—was seeing her leave the event with the same man.

That was the moment he finally sighed in frustration.

“Lord… why have us cross paths again if I’m only meant to be a shadow in her life?”

Silence.

“I don’t like this,” he muttered.

Still silence.

At least he wouldn’t have to worry about seeing her again once the summit ended.

LEONA'S P.O.V

After that day, Zion seemed to be everywhere.

They both pretended not to know each other, and honestly, that was for the best.

It was better not to reopen something that had once broken her heart.
Still, she couldn’t ignore the man he had become.

Whenever she was sure he wasn’t looking, she studied him carefully.

This would be over soon, she reminded herself.

He lived here.

Once the summit ended, they would return to their separate lives.

Yet somehow, her eyes kept finding him in every room.

Sometimes, she caught him staring, too.

Zion, unlike her, didn’t keep to himself.
People naturally gravitated toward him.

Men.
Women.
Especially women.

She doubted he even noticed.

She had tried to look him up online, but he had no personal social media.

Only his company had a page.

And judging from what she saw, he was doing incredibly well.

She had never imagined him working in this field.

Back then, she thought he would become a doctor.

He always seemed like someone who wanted to save the world.

Yet somehow, even now, it still felt like he was doing exactly that.

Some things never change, she thought with a small smile.

On the last night of the summit, she wondered if he might talk to her again.
But she knew Zion.

After she said no, he would never force the issue.

Andrew— the man sitting beside her at the table — turned out to be surprisingly good company.

He worked in Qatar and had the easy humor of someone used to meet new people.

He made her laugh more than once that evening.

“Are you actually going to talk to him?” Andrew suddenly asked.

She blinked in confusion.
“Who?”

“Zion Lungu,” he said casually. “I noticed you looking at him.”
Leona sighed.

“No.”
The firmness in her voice made Andrew raise an eyebrow.

“Trouble in paradise?”

“Not really,” she said. “We knew each other a long time ago. It’s just strange seeing each other again after all these years.”

“So… long-lost lovers?” he teased.

She gave him a look before bursting into laughter.

“You’re making it sound like I cast a spell on him or something.”

“But why waste the opportunity?” Andrew asked.

“You’re both single. You’re young. What could possibly go wrong?”

Leona glanced across the room at Zion.
The question lingered in her mind.
What could possibly go wrong?
“We live in different worlds,” she said finally, finishing the rest of her champagne.

Andrew walked her to her car afterward.

They exchanged numbers.
He thought she was great company.
She thought he was funny.

Maybe they’d hang out if he ever visited her city, and that night, she felt strangely proud of herself.

Proud that she had held her ground.
Proud that she had simply laughed with Andrew and called it a night.Tomorrow,  she would board a flight home, and she could pretend meeting Zion again had never happened.

Hi guys, writing on two platforms hasn't really been the easiest when both apps glitch every now and then, so that's why our update is late

Share your thoughts with me on today's update, though.

What do you think happened to them?

What do you think will happen next?

Team Leona or Zion?

Till next time
Unathi 🤍