Chapter 1 – The Beginning We Never Noticed
The first thing everyone knew about Ivie Asemota and Mide Akanbi was that they were inseparable.
Not lovers. Not siblings. Just… two people whose names rolled off tongues together like a habit.
At birthdays, weddings, and even Sunday brunches, someone would always whisper,
> "You see those two? Just give it time. They'll end up together."
But ten years later, time was still giving, and Ivie was still waiting for something that never came.
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It was a Saturday morning, and Lagos was already awake — buses honking, vendors shouting, and the scent of freshly fried akara floating through the streets. Ivie sat on her balcony, cradling a cup of coffee, her laptop open beside her. She was halfway through editing a brand campaign when her phone buzzed.
Mide ❤️ flashed across her screen.
She didn't even need to check the message.
He was the only person who texted her this early, always with something random.
> Mide: "If you could only eat one Nigerian meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?"
Ivie: "Definitely not beans."
Mide: "You hate beans because you haven't eaten mine."
Ivie: "That's not how this friendship works, Mide."
Mide: "Everything I do works, Ivie."
She rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips.
Typical Mide — cocky, charming, and impossible to stay mad at.
They'd met in their first year at UNILAG. She was the sarcastic literature student who loved solitude; he was the computer engineering student who made friends effortlessly. Somehow, he decided she was his person, and he'd never left since.
Now, years later, they lived twenty minutes apart in Lagos, worked in completely different worlds, yet talked every day — sometimes about nothing, sometimes about everything.
---
That morning, Mide called instead of texting.
"Good morning, madam ad agency," he said, his voice warm through the phone. "Are you busy saving Nigeria's marketing industry again?"
"I'm busy saving my sanity from your nonsense," Ivie replied, smiling despite herself. "What do you want?"
"I need a plus one for a friend's engagement party tonight. You in?"
"I'm working, Mide."
"Since when do you work on Saturdays?"
"Since I have bills to pay."
He laughed softly. "I'll send the address. There'll be small chops."
That was how he always got her — food and laughter.
---
That evening, Ivie wore a simple black dress, the one she reserved for events she didn't want to attend but had to. When she walked into the hall, the first person she saw was Mide — tall, confident, wearing that mischievous grin that always made people forgive him before he even said anything.
He waved her over like she was his safe place in a crowd.
"See? I told you you'd look good in black," he said as she joined him.
"I wore black because I'm mourning my peace of mind," she shot back.
He laughed, loud and unbothered. "That's why I like you, Ivie. You always come with attitude."
"You like a lot of people, Mide," she teased. "Don't flatter me."
He paused for a second — just a second — before saying, "Not like this."
The words hung between them, unplanned and too heavy for the laughter around them.
Before Ivie could respond, someone called his name.
"Mide! Baby!"
A beautiful woman in a gold gown walked toward them, smiling. Mide's hand dropped from Ivie's waist as he turned.
"Ivie," he said quietly, "meet Tomi."
The air shifted.
The crowd faded.
And for the first time in years, Ivie realized she wasn't ready for the kind of change that came with that name.
---
That night, as she rode home alone in a Bolt, Ivie stared at her reflection in the window.
She wasn't sure what she was feeling — maybe jealousy, maybe confusion.
All she knew was that something small and fragile inside her had cracked.
And that was the beginning of the things they would never say.
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