Never Saw Me Coming Novels & Stories

Who needs all of this seating space? I'm brought out of my thoughts when I hear foot steps coming down the stairs, they seem to be in a hurry, and I know that they must be my father's. I quickly get up before I even see him and then....I do. I do see him. He's right there in front of me. He looks shocked by seeing me. He hadn't expected me to come here. We just stand frozen. Not doing anything. Not moving. Just looking at each other. I see his face is filled with awe. He looked really vulnerable like he might cry.

she said wearing a polite smile. “I-t’s yo-u, Oh My God!” He stammered. Amanda stood confused; she wondered what was on his mind. Then she realized, oh no, he had recognized her. “Of course it’s you from the series JUST ONE DATE!” He announced “I can’t believe this; Amanda Udoh is standing in front of my truck.” The young man couldn’t contain his excitement. Amanda wondered how he could recognize her. She thought the cap will do it best to hide her “Hush, calm down.” She pleaded covering her face more with her tennis cap.

My eyes moved to her and I could only stare, my lips worked but no words came out. “How come I didn't know you were coming? You can't just show up unannounced you know.” Liam continued, sighing and running his hand over his face in a bored manner. I was stunned. Excuse me? A switch flipped in my head and my tongue finally loosened.

I didn't know he would come, but then I should have known he couldn't have heard that I was in his company and not come to see me. He was on a call, the phone placed on one ear. And I looked away from him expecting that he would say something to me. However, he walked passed me without saying a word to me. He acted as if he didn't see me, as though I didn't exist which shocked the shit out of me. Wait what just happened?

We couldn't see the vehicle which is coming on the other way. All of a sudden I saw a lorry coming towards us. "PAAVAK......", I shouted and everything went blank....

A few hours later, with six books in my bag and a big cup of coffee in hand, I was a happy girl. Must be why I didn't see the car coming when I was crossing the street, I was so happy about the change in my mood that I was skipping on my way home, the last thing I saw was the headlight of the car coming straight for me and myself flaunting before landing hard on the street.

The one that nobody ever locks because everyone forgets it exists. I let myself in quietly. Not because I was trying to be quiet. Just because that's how people move when they're not thinking about it. The kitchen was empty. The living room was not. I saw them before they saw me, and the thing is, time didn't stop. That's what they don't tell you about moments like this. You don't get slow motion. You don't get a dramatic pause. You just get the terrible, immediate clarity of seeing something you can never unsee.

I had expected anger, the clean useful kind that had carried me through the first year, that had made it easy to sign papers and move boxes and build a whole new life without looking back. But it wasn’t anger I felt standing there in my kitchen. It was something smaller and more inconvenient than that. Something that felt a lot like being seen. And the part that scared me, the part I did not say out loud to my mother or to anyone else that night, was that I had missed it. Being seen. Even by him. Especially by him.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

another notification bloomed on the screen, this one a direct message. J: "I’m in the neighborhood. I saw your location ping. I’m driving a black sedan, plates ending in 442. I’m outside. Come down?" My heart did a jittery, nervous dance. It was impulsive—monumentally stupid, by any reasonable metric—but the sheer boldness of it was intoxicating. In a city where everything was a slow-burn of awkward small talk and ghosting, this felt like an action movie. It was a jolt of adrenaline that I desperately needed. I didn’t even bother to change. I just grabbed my jacket, checked my reflection in the hallway mirror—a pale, slightly disheveled figure—and locked the door.

Didn't look both ways. I never looked both ways. The car came out of nowhere. Tires screeched. Horns blared. I turned my head. Then everything went black.