Dark coffee

Chapter Forty-two

Today

After my night at Estephania's, a full year went by without hearing from Darell.

During the first few months after his departure, I sent him multiple text messages, new friend requests on Instagram and Snapchat and tried to call him several times. However, he never accepted my invitations, answered my messages and picked up my calls. I even went to his university to look for him. I don't know how I thought I would find him by looking for him this way, but I didn't. After a few months, I simply gave up hope of ever hearing from him again and seeing him again. I tried the best I could to move on as he seemed to have done so well. However, it was extremely difficult. Day after day, he invaded my thoughts. I kept asking myself if he was okay, if he was thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him, if he was mad at me, if he was still alive, etc, etc. In addition to all this questioning, I prayed for him regularly. Putting him in my prayers made me realize how much he meant to me. In such a short period, Darell had managed to occupy a huge place in my life as no one else but my family members and the girls do. Because of all these feelings for him, I didn't date another man during this long period. I needed to devote myself to my well-being before launching into a new relationship or else it would have probably destroyed me even more than I was now.

About 4 months after Darell left, my mom started asking me about him and our relationship because she didn't see him at home anymore and didn't hear me talking about him like I used to. In the early days, whenever this question would surface, I would tell her that we were just too busy with school to see each other. I gave her this untruthful answer because it was too hard for me to tell her the truth. However, after a while, I got tired of the lies and decided to tell her the truth. I didn't like lying to her. Plus, she was really starting to worry about Darell not seeing him at home and I knew she loved him very much.

The day I told her everything, she told me a sentence that marked me forever:

"Indodakazi, when two people are meant to be together, no matter how many years and how long they have been apart, they will grow. Yes apart but then, they will find each other when they won't expect it. Love takes time, Dahila, just because it takes time or goes through storms doesn't mean it's over."

I sincerely hoped that this sentence from my mother, which comforted me greatly, was true and not just beautiful.

As for my family life, a few weeks the night at Estephania's, my parents, Malik and I, moved into the new house that Jamal had bought for them. As for the others, many things happened in their lives during this period as well.

Starting with Jamal, who thanks to his performance during his seasons with the Baltimore Ravens team, got noticed and exchanged for the price of one point eight million dollars by the New England Patriots, which is the NFL's highest-ranked and most successful team to date. Hakim, on the other hand, after his one-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens, left the NFL to focus on his promising modelling career, as his Ethiopian beauty did not go unnoticed by major modelling agencies. As for Lens, he became the assistant coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Jamal's former team. His career as a coach in the NLF allowed him to buy a luxury condo in Maryland. He also started dating a Cameroonian influencer on Instagram. Malik, on the other hand, became a boxer for the professional boxing federation. His relationship with Britanny is evolving day by day. He and Britanny plan to live together in a few months. They are currently visiting townhouses in London, Ontario. They have made several visits but are still looking. As for Soukvilay and Quincy, they moved in together in a beautiful loft downtown.

We are a Thursday morning in August. That morning, like every other morning, since I had started my second to last year of undergraduate studies, I took my car and went to the coffee shop on King Street. However, I went earlier than usual, so that I could go back home right after to pick a school project that I had forgotten and then go to my class in the afternoon. I had been officially licensed for about 6 months and Jamal had bought me a car a week ago for my 22nd birthday.  As it was hot and sunny this morning, I wore a sleeveless tight dress that came to my knee of a khaki green colour. My long weaves that came to the bottom of my breasts were wavy. Soukvilay was supposed to come with me, but she had failed me, since the hospital where she was recently hired as an emergency physician, even though she's still doing her internship there, called her to come to work.