The amber tendrils swirled lazily in his cup, bleeding from the tea bag like color on wet paper. He watched, fixed in place, as the color claimed the water inch by inch, transforming the clear liquid into something rich and warm. Just like her, he thought. Just like how Aanuoluwakiishi had colored his world, one day at a time.
She had been like that tea – gentle yet steady, spreading warmth through everything she touched. The way she'd leave little notes in his coat pockets, how she'd hum off-key while folding laundry, or writing, or shopping... literally every single time she was lost in thought. Her habit of dancing in the kitchen while waiting for the kettle to boil. Each memory a drop of color seeping into his life.
His mind wandered to the past, to the moment when he first met her. Before Kiishi, he had lived a colorless life – waking up each morning, going to work, coming home to bury himself in papers, then finally sleeping, knowing something was missing. The train had been part of his daily routine, where he would lose himself in market numbers on his phone, letting them pull him away from the world. Nothing could usually shake him from that focus. Nothing until she sang.
Her voice came from just behind him, not perfect but somehow perfect for him. The warmth of her breath touched his ear, and when he turned to look, there she was – the most beautiful person he had ever seen. She was clearly in a rush, with tired eyes and her locs falling in tangles round her face. Despite all of this, as he looked into her eyes, she struck him as profoundly beautiful, she had taken that moment to sing. As their eyes met, she gave him a bright smile, and he saw the small gap between her teeth, just like his mother back in Nigeria. She glowed with warmth, filled with the brightest colors that seemed to flow from an endless pool inside her, spilling into the world around her – into his world.
Those chance meetings on the train grew into something planned. They both started making sure to catch the 6:45 AM train on weekdays, and so it began – the first hint of color in his life, something to look forward to... someone. Because of her, he found himself smiling more, dreaming bigger, having deeper talks, and making more friends. The world around him wasn't as gray as he had once thought, all because she was now part of it. But then, the universe seems to hate colors, and Aanuoluwakiishi's soul just had to be the brightest, most diverse array of colors that ever was.
The spoon clinked against the cup as his hand began to shake. Three years. Three years since that summer day when the sky had been so perfectly blue it seemed painted. That morning had started like any other, with Kiishi waking him up by singing in the shower – her voice bouncing off the tiles, filling their home with music even before the sun had fully risen. She had been so excited about going to the beach, practically dancing as she packed their lunch.
Kiishi had worn that old sun hat, the one with the frayed edges she refused to throw away. "It has character," she'd always say, laughing when he told her to get a new one. She'd paired it with a yellow sundress that made her skin glow like honey in the morning light. Even now, he could remember how she'd twirled in front of him, the dress floating around her like sunshine made fabric. "How do I look?" she'd asked, though she must have known she was beautiful. She always was.
They'd spent the morning chasing each other through the shallow waves, her laughter carrying across the beach like music. She'd buried him in sand, decorating him with seashells and declaring him "King of the Beach" while others at the beach smiled. They shared their lunch under the shade of their umbrella, It was a perfect day.
As the sun began to go lower, and evening began to draw near, she'd pulled him toward the water again. "Come on," she'd said, her eyes sparkling with that mischief he'd grown to love so much. "One last swim before we go." He'd pretended to resist, but they both knew he'd follow her anywhere. The water had been cool against their skin as they swam past where the waves break. She was the better swimmer – she was the one who had taught him to swim even when he swore he hated water and would never try. "Water is life," she'd told him during those lessons, her patience never wearing thin as he struggled. "It's like love – you just have to trust it to hold you."
They stayed close, holding hands as they floated over the waves. He remembered her smile, bright against the sparkle of the sea. She was perfect. She told him about her sun hat, that she stole it from home when she was resuming college, and so it reminded her of home. "Everything beautiful should have a bit of home in it," she'd said, squeezing his hand.
The shadow had appeared without warning. At first, he thought it was just a darker patch of water, maybe from clouds above. Kiishi had seen it too, her grip getting tighter on his hand as they began to swim toward shore. The first pass came fast – a dark mass breaking the surface between them, pulling their hands apart.
The next few moments played in his mind like a series of cruel pictures: Kiishi's eyes wide with fear, the thrashing of water, her scream cut short as she was pulled under. He had reached for her, his fingers barely touching hers for one last precious second before she disappeared.
The rescue team had to pull him back to shore. He fought them the whole way, even as the water around him began to turn red, spreading out in patterns like the tea in his cup. The color had diffused through the blue waters with awful grace, each swirl mocking the gentle woman who'd loved to paint with watercolors in their sunny kitchen.
He set down his spoon with shaking fingers. The tea was just right "Made like a perfect gentleman" she'd always say – Aanuoluwakiishi had always known exactly how long to wait. How long it took for the tea to be perfect. He couldn't remember the last time he'd made a proper cup of tea before today. The routine had been hers, and like so many things, he'd lost it when he lost her.
But today, watching the colors swirl and diffuse in his cup, he finally let himself remember. Not just the end, but all of it – the warmth, the love, the light she had brought to his world. He allowed the tears that came too, allowed them to salt his earth. Like tea diffusing through water, she had changed his life completely, forever, and even now, the color remained.