The Abuja gala shimmered with opulence. The banquet hall, bathed in gold and violet lighting, buzzed with executives, investors, and tech influencers. Waiters in crisp black uniforms moved between clusters of entrepreneurs, refilling glasses and passing hors d'oeuvres.
Mike adjusted his jacket, standing stiffly near a glass display of startup project pitches. His tablet demo was ready, his pitch memorized, his hands cold. But his thoughts weren't on investors. They were on Danika.
Back in Lagos, she sat on the rooftop of her apartment building, arms wrapped around her knees, eyes scanning the night sky. She had declined several client appointments that day. She needed quiet to think, to feel, to breathe.
The silence of the city above her was a strange comfort. She opened her phone and typed a message:
"You deserve this moment, Mike. I'm proud of you."
She hesitated, then added:
"Just don't forget why you started."
And pressed send.
Mike's phone buzzed mid-pitch prep. He glanced at her message, then closed his eyes. That familiar ache settled deep in his chest.
He remembered the pool party. The first time she smiled at him. Her hesitation when he asked to teach her to swim. The day she cried about her mother moving in. The night he swapped his iPhone for hers just so she'd have something better.
He looked around the room the laughter, the business cards, the clinking glasses and for a moment, none of it felt real.
Danika stared at her screen, waiting for a reply that didn't come.
Instead, she stood and walked inside, heart heavy with understanding. She wasn't angry. Not anymore. But she was tired.
Later, as she lay on her bed, her mother knocked gently and peeked in. "You've been quiet," she said.
"I'm just thinking," Danika replied.
"About him?"
Danika nodded.
Her mother sighed. "He's a good man. But you're a whole woman. Don't forget that."
The next morning, Mike walked out of the hotel ballroom with a firm handshake and a conditional investment proposal. He should've been elated.
But all he felt was the crushing space between his dream and his heart.