HER NAME WAS SUNLIGHT

CHAPTER 1 — The Girl in the Photograph

Mara Eze was late.
Again.

Her phone buzzed with messages from her class group chat, but she ignored them, clutching her books as she hurried down the pavement. The sun was too bright, the air too warm, and somehow everything felt like it was working against her.

Her life was a list of things she needed to control.
Time.
Grades.
Reputation.
Feelings—especially feelings.

And today, all of them were slipping.

She marched forward, eyes fixed on the faculty building. She didn’t even notice the girl with the camera standing in the middle of the walkway.

Not until—

Click.

Mara stopped.

The girl lowered the camera, smiling like the sun itself had decided to take human form.

“Um… you just walked into my shot.”

Mara blinked. “You were taking a picture in the middle of the road?”

“It’s a walkway,” the girl corrected gently. “And you walked beautifully. Very dramatic. Very ‘main character rushing to class.’ I like it.”

Mara frowned. “Delete it.”

The girl tilted her head, her braids catching the sunlight. “Are you always this serious?”

“Are you always this intrusive?”

The girl laughed—warm, soft, disarming.
Mara hated how the sound slid under her skin like honey.

“Relax,” the girl said. “You looked nice. Softer than you think.”

Mara froze. Nobody talked to her like that.

Nobody saw her like that.

“I don’t have time for this,” Mara muttered and brushed past her, refusing to look back.

She didn’t see the girl raising the camera again.
She didn’t see the way her eyes softened with curiosity.

She didn’t see the moment that would change everything.


---

Two hours later, Mara’s phone wouldn’t stop vibrating.

At first she ignored it.
Then she checked the notifications… and her breath caught in her throat.

A photo.
Her photo.

Posted anonymously.

A candid shot of her mid-stride, sunlight hitting her face like it belonged there.

The caption read:
“Sometimes, a stranger walking past holds more stories than the whole city.”

And the comments—
Dozens of them—
were worse.

“Who is she?”
“She looks like she’s carrying worlds.”
“I want to know her story.”
“Beautiful.”

Mara’s heart pounded.
Heat crawled up her neck.

How dare someone post her face?
How dare strangers look at her like they understood anything?

She scrolled furiously, searching for the username behind the post.

And there it was.

@ZuriLens

The girl with the camera.
The girl with the sunlight smile.
The girl who said Mara looked “softer.”

Mara didn’t think.
She pressed message.

Her fingers trembled with anger—or something she didn’t want to name.

“Take the photo down. Now.”

Zuri replied immediately.

“Okay. I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Just like that?
No argument?
No excuses?

Mara stared at the screen, confused.

But before she could type anything else, another message appeared.

“You really do look beautiful in sunlight, though.”

Mara’s heartbeat stuttered.

For the first time in a long time…
she didn’t know how to breathe.

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