Echoes Of Loss

A Short Story of Love and Loss

The silence in the apartment was the kind that had actual weight to it. It settled into the soft velvet of the sectional sofa, wrapped around the dark mahogany side tables, and clung to the sheer, floor-to-ceiling curtains fluttering against the open balcony door.

Outside, the quiet hum of the traffic filtered in, but inside, the world felt completely frozen.

Tari sat on the edge of the rug, her knees pulled tight against her chest, staring blankly at the untouched glass of water on the glass coffee table. Her eyes were swollen and rimmed with a raw red that made her rich, mahogany skin look pale and drained. It had been two days since they buried Kene in Asaba, and two weeks since the telephone call that shattered everything, since the word accident ripped her world clean down the middle on the Benin-Ore expressway.

A quiet, barefoot step sounded on the hardwood behind her.

Zane set a steam-filled bowl of Indomie on the table next to the water, the rich aroma of red pepper and onions cutting through the sterile, air-conditioned chill of the apartment. He dropped heavily to the floor beside her, resting his back against the base of the couch. He looked utterly spent. His sharp Edo-Igbo features, usually so refined and composed, were drawn tight with an unspoken, heavy grief. His black suit trousers were still on, the white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

“You haven’t eaten since we got back from the airport, Tari,” Zane said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp.

Tari didn’t answer right away. She couldn’t. Every time she opened her mouth to speak, the lump in her throat felt like swallowing broken glass.

“I keep waiting for him to walk through that door,” she whispered finally, her voice cracking into the quiet room.

“I keep thinking he’s just late because of traffic. Like he’s going to barge in, complain about the heat, and ask why we’re sitting in the dark.”

Zane let out a breath that sounded like a ragged sigh, leaning his head back against the cushion.

“He loved dramatic entrances. Remember that trip to Enugu three years ago? He missed the bus, hired a whole taxi to chase us down the highway, and acted like he was the hero of an action movie when he caught up.”

A tiny, painful breath escaped Tari’s lips— half a laugh, half a sob.

“He called me five times that day just to make sure I saved him the window seat. He was so loud, Zane. How is the world this quiet when someone that loud is gone?”

Zane turned toward her, slowly reaching out to unclasp her small, white-knuckled fingers from her shins. His hand was warm, broad, and steady against her cold skin.

“I don’t know, Tari,” he said softly, his own eyes shining with unshed tears.

“I look at my phone and I still want to call him to ask what shirt I should wear or what project we’re bidding on next. He was my brother too. But we’re going to hold onto each other, okay? I promised him a long time ago I’d always look out for you.”

He reached out, turning her chin toward him with gentle pressure.

“Come on,” he murmured, his thumb catching a stray tear on her cheek.

“Eat a little bit for me, okay? Baby, please.”

The endearment slipped off his tongue as naturally as breathing. It was the name Kene had given her twenty years ago when she was born— seven full years after him. It was the name his best friend— Zane had picked up and echoed for the past decade every time he walked through the front gate of their family house, tossing a bag of plantain chips at her or teasing her about her oversized school uniform.

Hearing it now cut straight through the cold numbness in Tari’s chest. A choked sob broke from her lips, and before she could stop herself, she leaned forward, burying her face into the crook of Zane’s neck.

Zane didn’t hesitate for a second. His long arms wrapped around her slender frame, pulling her tight against his chest as his own shoulders heaved with quiet, silent tears. He rested his chin on the crown of her head, rocking her slowly in the dim light of the living room.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered into her braided hair, his hand smoothing down her back over and over again.

“I’m right here, Baby.”

Tari held on to his linen shirt like a lifeline, feeling the strong, rhythmic thud of his heart against her cheek.

In that dark room, enveloped in his scent of sandalwood, sweet sweat, and rain, a seed was planted deep, silent, and entirely unnoticed by the man holding her.

Two Years Later

“Tari, if you don’t grab those layout boards right now, we’re going to miss the entire pitch window,” Zane called out, adjusting the silver links of his wristwatch in the hallway mirror.

Tari stepped out of the guest room, clutching a fresh stack of architectural renderings. She paused in the hallway for a fraction of a second just to take him in.

At twenty-seven, Zane was breathtaking. Tall, broad-shouldered, with cut cheekbones, deep brown eyes, and an effortless, quiet authority that made people stop and look whenever he walked into a boardroom.

“I’ve been ready for ten minutes, Zane,” Tari said, smoothing down the front of her high-waisted, silk jumpsuit.

She was twenty-two now, working full-time as a junior designer at a firm in Lekki, and no longer the broken twenty-year-old girl who had slept on her late brother’s best friend’s living room couch for a month.

Over the past two years, her raw grief had settled into a quiet, manageable scar, but something else had sprouted in its place. Every time Zane smiled at her across the dinner table, every time he casually draped an arm over her shoulder at family gatherings, her heart hammered wildly against her ribs. She was hopelessly, entirely in love with him.

Zane turned around, his eyes scanning her outfit before he gave an approving, dimpled nod. He stepped closer, reaching out to playfully pinch her cheek.

“Look at you, all grown up and looking like a real partner. Let’s go, Baby.”

Tari’s breath hitched slightly, a familiar flutter rising in her throat. She tucked her hair behind her ear and followed him out to his car, locking the feeling deep inside where it had lived for two long years.

Later that evening, after securing the contract for a huge commercial project, Zane took her out to celebrate at an exclusive rooftop lounge. Tari sat beside him on a high leather barstool, sipping her hibiscus cocktail and listening to him laugh with the bartender.

She felt close to him— closer than anyone else was allowed to be. She was the one who knew how he took his coffee, the one who knew he couldn’t sleep without a fan on, the one who held his secret grief when Kene’s death anniversary rolled around.

Then the glass doors of the lounge swung open, and a tall, striking woman in a sleek beige suit walked in, her heels clicking smartly against the tiled floor.

“Zane!” the woman called out, her face lighting up with a warm, polished smile as she glided toward their table.

“Nkem,” Zane said, standing up instantly. He pulled the woman into his side, dropping a casual, familiar kiss on her cheek.

Tari’s stomach dropped into a cold, hollow abyss.

“Nkem, this is Tari,” Zane said smoothly, leaning back against the high table and gesturing toward Tari with a proud smile.

“Tari, this is Nkem. We’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks now.”

Nkem’s eyes brightened with polite interest.

“Oh! The junior designer you’re always talking about?”

“The very one,” Zane chuckled softly, placing a light, protective hand on the back of Tari’s chair.

“This is my late best friend’s little sister. Basically my baby sister.”

The words hung in the warm, humid evening air like a deliberate slap to the face.

Baby sister.

Tari felt the smile freeze completely on her lips, her pulse roaring in her ears. She stared at Zane’s easy, affectionate expression, realizing with a brutal, sickening clarity that while she had spent two years falling for the man who saved her, he still looked at her and only saw a child in need of keeping.

Hi babiesssss!!!!

It’s been a while I published something fictional. I’ve not been in the writing mood but I was able to whip this up after making major adjustments using AI.

How do we like it?

Ps: Let me know your thoughts on it so far and we might just have a new story. 😉