The knocking on her door started at seven-thirty on a Tuesday morning.
Ava was still in her pajamas, coffee mug halfway to her lips, when she heard the sharp rap-rap-rap that could only mean one thing: her mother had decided to pay an unannounced visit. It was something Mama did occasionally—stopping by on her way to a church meeting or after shopping in the area, always with food or concerned questions about whether Ava was eating properly.
But it was Tuesday. Her mother never came on Tuesdays.
"Ava! I know you're there. Open the door."
The voice was sharp, urgent. Wrong.
Ava's stomach dropped. She set down her mug with trembling hands and moved toward the door, her mind racing. Has something happened? Was someone hurt? Her father?
She unlocked the door and pulled it open. Her mother stood in the hallway, dressed in her church auxiliary uniform—navy skirt and white blouse, the gold cross at her throat catching the fluorescent light. But it was her face that made Ava's blood run cold. Her mother's expression was a mixture of fury and something that looked almost like grief.
"Mama? What's wrong? Is Papa—"
"Let me in." Her mother pushed past her into the apartment, her handbag clutched, so tightly her knuckles were white.
Ava closed the door with a sense of impending doom. "Mama, you're scaring me. What happened?"
Her mother turned to face her, and that's when Ava saw what she was holding. Her phone. Not Ava's phone—her mother's phone. But on the screen was a photo that made Ava's entire world tilt sideways.
It was a picture of her and Liana. Kissing. In public, outside a restaurant in Melville, Liana's hand was on Ava's cheek, both of them smiling into the kiss like they were the only two people in the world.
Ava's mouth went dry. "Where did you get that?"
"Does it matter?" Her mother's voice shook. "Sister Nkosi's daughter saw you. Last weekend. She sent this to her mother, and her mother—" Her voice broke. "Her mother called me this morning to ask if I knew my daughter was living in sin."
The floor seemed to drop out from under Ava's feet. Sister Nkosi. A woman from their church, one of her mother's friends in the auxiliary. Which meant by now, half the congregation probably knew.
"Mama—"
"Don't." Her mother held up a hand, and Ava saw that she was crying. "Don't say anything yet. I need—I need you to tell me this is a mistake. That this woman is just a friend, that you were drunk, that it was a joke, that there's some explanation that makes sense."
Ava looked at her mother's face—at the desperate hope there, the need for this to be anything other than what it was. And she knew this was it. The moment she'd been running from for two years. The choice she'd been too afraid to make.
She could lie. Could say it was nothing, that the photo was taken out of context, that she'd been comforting a friend who was upset. Her mother wanted her to lie. Was practically begging her to lie.
But Ava was so tired of lying.
"I can't tell you that," Ava said quietly. "Because it's not true."
Her mother's face crumpled. She sank onto Ava's couch, the phone falling from her hand onto the cushions. "No. No, Ava, no."
"Mama—"
"How long?" Her mother looked up, tears streaming down her face. "How long has this been going on?"
"Two years."
The words seemed to physically wound her mother. She pressed a hand to her chest as if she couldn't breathe. "Two years. Two years you've been—" She couldn't even finish the sentence. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Liana. She's a graphic designer. She's—"
"I don't care what she does!" Her mother's voice rose, sharp and raw. "I care that my daughter has been living a lie for two years! That you've been lying to us, to your father, to everyone who loves you!"
"I know. I'm sorry, I—"
"Sorry?" Her mother laughed bitterly. "You're sorry? Ava, do you have any idea what you've done? Sister Nkosi called me at six this morning. Six o'clock! She was so pleased with herself, so eager to tell me that my daughter was seen kissing another woman in public, like some—like some—"
"Like something, Mama?" Ava's own anger was rising now, fueled by years of suppression. "Say it. Like something?"
Her mother's mouth opened and closed. Finally, she whispered, "Like someone who has turned her back on God."
The words hit Ava like a slap. "I haven't turned my back on God."
"Then how can you—" Her mother gestured wildly at the phone. "How can you do this? How can you be with a woman? It's unnatural, Ava. It's sin."
"It's love."
"It's an abomination!"
The word hung in the air between them, ugly and final. Ava felt something inside her crack, some part of her that had still been hoping her mother might understand, might choose her daughter over doctrine.
"Is that really what you think of me?" Ava asked, her voice breaking. "That I'm an abomination?"
Her mother covered her face with her hands. "I think you're confused. I think this woman has confused you, has led you astray. But it's not too late, Ava. We can fix this. The pastor can help you. There are programs, counseling—"
"I don't need to be fixed!" The words exploded out of Ava. "There's nothing wrong with me! I love her, Mama. I love Liana. I'm in love with her. This is who I am."
"No." Her mother stood up, shaking her head vehemently. "No, this is not who you are. You are my daughter. You are a good Christian woman. You are someone who respects her family and her culture and her faith. This—" She pointed at the phone again. "This is not you."
"Then who am I, Mama? Tell me. Because the person you just described? I've been pretending to be her for twenty-six years, and I'm exhausted."
Her mother stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I'm gay, Mama. I'm a lesbian. I've always been this way, I just didn't know how to tell you. I didn't know how to tell anyone."
The words felt both terrifying and liberating. Two years of silence, broken in a single moment. Ava waited for the sky to fall, for the ground to open up, for something catastrophic to happen.
Instead, her mother just looked at her with such profound sadness that it hurt more than anger would have.
"Your father," her mother said finally. "Your father cannot know about this."
"Mama—"
"He doesn't know, Ava. It would kill him. Do you understand? It would break his heart."
"So what am I supposed to do? Keep lying? Keep hiding?"
Her mother walked to the window, her back to Ava. When she spoke, her voice was cold and mechanical, as if she'd shut down some vital part of herself. "You will end this relationship. You will stop seeing this woman. And you will agree to meet Thabo Mthembu properly."
Ava's heart stuttered. "What?"
"The dinner we discussed. This Saturday. You will come, and you will be respectful and open-minded. Thabo is a good man. He comes from a good family. He can give you a proper life."
"I don't want a life with Thabo! I don't even know Thabo!"
"Then you will get to know him." Her mother turned around, and her face was set like stone. "Ava, listen to me very carefully. That photo is already spreading through the church. By Sunday, everyone will know. But if you end this thing with that woman, if you show that you're willing to pursue a proper relationship with a man, then we can manage this. We can say you were confused, that you've seen the error of your ways, that you're committed to living righteously."
"You want me to lie," Ava said flatly.
"I want you to come home. To who you really are."
"This is who I really am!"
"No!" Her mother's composure finally shattered. "No, it is not! I know my daughter. I raised you. I know what's in your heart. And this—this thing with this woman—it's a phase, it's confusion, it's—"
"It's love, Mama." Ava was crying now too. "Why can't you hear that? I love her. I love Liana. And she loves me. Isn't that what matters? Isn't love supposed to be what matters?"
"Not this kind of love." Her mother picked up her handbag, her movements jerky and mechanical. "Not love that destroys families and ruins reputations and spits in the face of everything we believe in."
"So that's it? You're choosing your reputation over your daughter?"
Her mother's face was wet with tears, but her voice was steady. "I'm choosing to save my daughter from making the biggest mistake of her life. And if you can't see that right now, if you're too blinded by whatever spell this woman has cast on you, then I pray you'll see it eventually."
She moved toward the door, then paused with her hand on the handle. "The dinner is this Saturday at six. Your father is expecting you. If you don't come, if you continue down this path, then—" Her voice caught. "Then I don't know what will happen, Ava. But it won't be good."
"Is that a threat?"
"It's a warning. From a mother who loves her daughter and doesn't want to see her throw her entire life away."
Then she was gone, the door closing behind her with a soft click that somehow sounded louder than a slam.
Ava stood frozen in the middle of her apartment, her mind struggling to process what had just happened. Her secret was out. Her mother knew. Half the church knew. And instead of understanding, instead of acceptance, she'd gotten an ultimatum: Choose Liana or choose your family.
Her phone was buzzing. Texts coming in rapid-fire. She picked it up with numb fingers and saw messages from numbers she didn't recognize. Screenshots of the photo. Questions. Accusations. Gossip spreads like wildfire through the church network.
"Is this really you?"
"Your poor parents."
"I'm praying for your sister."
"This is disgusting."
"Have you lost your mind?"
Ava dropped the phone as if it had burned her. She felt like she couldn't breathe, like the walls of her small apartment were closing in. This was her worst nightmare made real—not just her parents knowing, but everyone knowing. Being exposed, judged, discussed in whispered conversations and prayer circles.
She needed to call Liana. I needed to hear her voice, and needed to be reminded why this was worth it.
But her hands were shaking too hard to dial.
Instead, she sank to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, making herself as small as possible. And she cried—for the mother who couldn't accept her, for the life she'd just lost, for the impossible choice she now had to make.
Because her mother had made it clear: it was Liana or her family.
She couldn't have both.
---
An hour later, Ava finally managed to call Liana. Her voice came through bright and cheerful, clearly in the middle of a good morning.
"Hey, beautiful. I wasn't expecting to hear from you until—Ava? Are you okay? What's wrong?"
And Ava told her everything. About the photo, about her mother's visit, about the ultimatum. With every word, she felt Liana's silence growing heavier on the other end of the line.
When she finished, there was a long pause. Then Liana said quietly, "So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know."
"Ava—"
"I don't know, Liana! My mother just—she looked at me like I was a stranger. Like I was something disgusting. And my father doesn't even know yet, and when he finds out—" Her voice broke. "When he finds out, it's going to be so much worse."
"So you're considering it," Liana said, her voice flat. "You're actually considering breaking up with me to make them happy."
"I didn't say that—"
"You didn't have to. I can hear it in your voice." Liana laughed, but there was no humor in it. "God, I'm so stupid. I actually thought—when you said this morning was bad, I thought maybe this was it. Maybe this was the thing that would finally push you to choose yourself. To choose us. But you're still thinking about going to that dinner, aren't you?"
"Liana, please—"
"Answer me. Are you thinking about meeting Thabo?"
Ava closed her eyes. "I don't want to. But what if there's a way to—to manage this? To keep everyone in my life? If I just go to dinner, if I can buy some time—"
"Time for what?" Liana's voice was sharp now, cutting. "Time to convince them to accept me? Ava, they will never accept me. They will never accept us. You heard your mother. She called our love an abomination."
"She's in shock. She needs time to—"
"To what? To come around? To suddenly decide that her daughter being gay is fine after all?" Liana's laugh was bitter. "That's not how this works. I know. I lived it. And I can tell you right now that if you go to that dinner, if you meet that man, if you try to play both sides—you will lose me."
The words hit Ava like ice water. "What?"
"I can't do this anymore, Ava. I can't keep being your secret, your shame, your dirty little problem that needs to be managed. If you go to that dinner, we're done."
"That's not fair—"
"Fair?" Liana's voice rose. "You want to talk about fair? I've spent two years loving you while you hid me away. Two years being patient while you figure yourself out. Two years waiting for you to choose me. And now, when you actually have to make that choice, you're still hedging. You're still looking for a way to not lose your family's approval. So no, Ava, I'm not being unfair. I'm being honest. I deserve someone who will fight for me. And if you're not willing to be that person, then I deserve to know now."
Ava felt like her chest was being crushed. "I love you."
"I know you do. But apparently you love them more."
"Liana, please—"
"I have to go. I have a client meeting." Liana's voice is thick with tears now. "Call me when you've made your decision. Really made it. Not when you're still trying to figure out how to have everything. Because you can't, Ava. You have to choose."
The line went dead.
Ava sat on her apartment floor, surrounded by the wreckage of her carefully constructed double life, and realized that she'd finally run out of time.
The universe had intervened, just like she'd been waiting for.
And now she had to live with the consequences.