38

SASALAKHE KUBEKA

The door creaks open, and I look up from the kitchen counter just in time to see my daughter walk in. For a moment, I forget to breathe. Maybe it's the way the afternoon light hits her face, or maybe it's the fact that I haven't really looked at her ,properly looked at her ,in a long time.

She's… grown.

Light-skinned, her complexion glowing naturally even without makeup. Slim frame, delicate almost, like a girl who still has innocence lingering on her bones. Her eyes… those small, soft Chinese-shaped eyes I used to kiss when she was little ,they look different now. Not childish. Not unsure. But older. More knowing. And it hits me hard in the chest how much I've missed.