The month passed like the wind.
Ever since I told my father I wanted to propose to Rose daughter of the powerful Sparks Mining family he didn't hesitate. He supported the plan. He even helped me fabricate the official reports: bankruptcy notices, lost mining contracts, everything. The story was simple my father, once the CEO of Mopani Copper Mine, had lost it all and traveled to China to beg for investors.
It was the perfect illusion.
But Copperbelt wasn't a quiet place. There were eyes everywhere.
The Tokota Boys, Hundreds Niggas, Team Santana, 408 Empire these weren't just gangs. These were the underground kings of influence. Sparks Mining didn't just own gold they owned power, backing the strongest factions in all of Copperbelt. And when you tried to lie in their territory, you better make it believable.
I needed this lie to pass through even their investigations. I wanted the whole world to believe I was finished. So when Rose accepted my proposal, she'd prove her love was real and my friends would finally shut their mouths.
But Aamon just scoffed when I told him.
"Stop dreaming," he said, nodding toward the car parked by the shop. "There's your princess. Go say hello."
A sleek Mercedes-Benz had just pulled up. Rose was inside, laughing with Shanel her best friend. They looked like celebrities. Shining. Untouchable.
I fixed my shirt. Wore the cheapest, shabbiest clothes I could find. I wanted her to see me at my worst, to prove that love had nothing to do with money.
I walked toward the car, heart pounding.
"Rose," I said softly.
She looked at me like I was dirt. Like something she stepped on in the street.
The smile vanished from her face.
"Don't embarrass me," she said coldly. "I don't talk to losers."
I tried to explain, to greet her properly, to be seen.
But she cut me down like a blade.
"You're just as useless as your father," she spat. "Running to China, gambling the company, destroying everything your name stood for."
My throat closed. I opened the box, revealing the engagement ring I'd spent weeks picking out simple, beautiful, hers.
"It was just a prank," I said, eyes begging. "I didn't want to lose you over a lie. You mean everything to me"
She recoiled like I'd insulted her.
"You think I'd marry a broke man? You think I'd carry the children of a coward who fakes poverty to trap me in love?" She laughed, but there was no warmth. Only poison.
"If the Tokota Boys were here, they'd deal with you right now. You're making me dirty, just being near me."
And that was when it hit.
The pictures.
The cameras.
People in the crowd snapping photos, whispering, laughing "Isn't that the Mopani CEO's son?" "He just got rejected!" "She finished him like a thief!"
I turned my head.
Aamon and Frank my boys were hiding behind a toilet at the back of the shop, faces frozen.
My knees wanted to give in.
The shame was a physical thing hot, heavy, unbearable. I wanted to melt into the ground and disappear forever.
On social media, it exploded like fire.
The son of the mighty Mopani CEO humiliated in public.
Millions of views. Billions of comments.
Memes. Headlines. Videos of the ring falling from my hand.
I had everything planned.
I thought I was the smartest man in the room.
But I forgot one thing:
Some people don't love you. They love your crown.
And when you take it off, they throw you away.