Chapter 1: The Night Lagos Never Sleeps
Lagos glittered like a woman dressed to seduce.
From the windows of his SUV, Tife Gbadamosi watched the city blaze beneath the night sky. The roads were alive with movement despite the late hour. Streetlights reflected on car roofs, hawkers weaved through traffic with impossible confidence, and the distant glow of Lekki shimmered like a promise or a warning.
"You're thinking too much."
Tife glanced sideways at Divine, who was grinning from the passenger seat.
"That's because one of us has sense."
Divine laughed.
"You're just upset because I'm getting married before you."
"Nobody is upset."
"You're thirty, single to stupor and very much successful."
"I'm aware.". “Where exactly is this conversation going?"
Divine's grin widened.
"You need a woman and JESUS in your life."
Tife groaned.
"God help me."
"See? Even God agrees with me."
Before Tife could respond, their driver pulled up in front of one of Lagos' most exclusive clubs.
Luxury cars lined the entrance. Security personnel stood at attention.
The music was already loud enough to be felt through the vehicle doors.
Tife sighed.
"I still don't know why you will not attend your own bachelor’s party."
"That is because I am getting married tomorrow and you are not."
Tife got down while the vehicle zoomed off while Divine replied, “the driver will come back for you, please, don’t get too drunk.”
Immediately, the energy of the city swallowed him from the music, laughter, lights, and smoke. The club was packed.
Inside, wealthy businessmen sat beside influencers. Politicians mingled with celebrities. Champagne bottles sparkled beneath neon lights while expensive perfumes floated through the air.
It was peak Lagos.
Tife went to meet the groom’s men to their reserved section and for the first hour, he behaved well, smiled, laughed, and drank so many shots.
His phone buzzed.
A message from his mother.
“Don't forget church on Sunday, go early, it is Divine’s thanksgiving. Please behave yourself.”
A smile tugged at his lips.
Even from another part of the city, his mother somehow managed to monitor his life.
He typed a quick reply.
“I won't.”
Across the room, Pelumi Awopegba wished she were somewhere else whilst the pounding music made her head ache, the flashing lights irritated her eyes and every minute she spent in that club made her skin crawl so badly but she had no choice because life only cared about money.
Her fingers tightened around her glass as she stared at the message on her phone.
“Outstanding Rent; Service Charge doubled, No pay within the next one month, eviction- Caretaker.”
Every month, Pelumi was forced to make choices she never imagined making.
She locked her phone and slipped it into her purse.
No tears, not here, not tonight. Money must be made; bills must be paid.
A loud burst of laughter erupted nearby.
Pelumi glanced around the room.
People spent more money in a single night than her family would see in months.
The unfairness of it all nearly made her laugh, instead, she took another sip of her drink, then she felt it, that strange sensation of being watched.
Slowly, she lifted her gaze.
A man sat several tables away. Tall, handsome, well dressed and his attention fixed on her not in the usual way nor the hungry look for sex she was used to but something quite different.
Finally, their eyes met, for a second before she slowly looked away.
Tife couldn't explain why he kept noticing her because there were dozens of other women in the club but still, his eyes kept drifting to her or maybe because she looked real and he noticed the sadness in her eyes.
"What are you staring at?" Ben, one of the groom’s men that he has been friends with asked.
Tife looked away too quickly.
"Nothing."
Ben followed his gaze.
Then laughed.
"Oh."
"What?"
"Nothing."
The smug look on Ben's face was enough to make Tife roll his eyes.
"Mind your business."
"Our guy’s wedding is tomorrow. Everybody's business is my business."
Tife ignored him.
But even as conversations continued around him, his attention remained divided while part of him kept searching for her as though some invisible thread connected them.
Finally, the unexpected encounter happened by accident.
At least that's what both of them would later tell themselves.
Pelumi had just collected another drink when someone crashed into her shoulder.
The glass slipped.
Her breath caught.
Before it could hit the floor, another hand caught it effortlessly.
Strong fingers wrapped around the stem.
She looked up.
The handsome stranger.
His smile appeared immediately.
"You know," he said, "most people use glasses for drinking, not throwing."
Pelumi blinked then laughed. At least, someone made me laugh today.
His smile widened.
"There it is."
"There what is?"
"Your smile."
Pelumi rolled her eyes.
"That was terrible."
"I know."
She hated that he was right.
"Thank you for saving my drink."
"You're welcome."
For a moment neither moved, the music faded in the background, then the crowd disappeared slowly and everyone else in the room stopped mattering.
"I'm Tife."
His hand stretched toward her but she hesitated at first before placing her hand in his.
"Oluwabepelumi, but you can call me Pelumi."
The moment their fingers touched, something shifted.
Hours passed, it felt like they knew each other for so long, they talked about food, jobs, traffic, stories, except the family.
Tife never mentioned the loneliness that followed success likewise, Pelumi did not mention the debt she owes or life after the club.
When they finally stepped outside, dawn was beginning to approach and the air felt cooler while Tife looked straight into her beautiful eyes.
"I feel like you're hiding something."
Pelumi laughed softly.
"Everyone in Lagos is hiding something."
"Fair point."
"What about you?"
"I'm an open book."
She snorted.
"No man who says that is ever an open book."
He laughed.
She smiled.
For a brief moment, neither spoke and the silence, quite uncomfortable and dangerous especially the ones that make strangers have unprotected sex.
Pelumi knew she should walk away and how badly this could end.
But for the first time in months, she didn't want to think about consequences.
She wanted one night, when Tife stepped closer, her body became stiff, she couldn’t just move away.
The next morning, before the city fully awakened, Pelumi slipped quietly from the hotel room while Tife slept peacefully, very much unaware.
For a long moment, she simply stood there looking at him with regret twisted inside her chest not because she regretted the night but she knew there could never be another one especially from different worlds, different lives, and different futures and whatever this was, it ended here before feelings had a chance to grow.
She picked up her bag, opened the door and walked away, without a note, or a goodbye with certainty she would never see him again but unfortunately for her, fate had other plans.
The next morning, standing before a packed church congregation, microphone in hand and dressed in a green choir robe, Pelumi would come face-to-face with the one man she prayed never to meet again.
