There was a time when the world was no larger than the dusty stretch of road between their houses. In that little corner of the earth, under the gaze of mango trees and fading sunsets, two children shared dreams stitched together with laughter, curiosity, and the kind of love that knew no cynicism.
He loved her without needing to say it, and she loved him with the freedom of someone who didn't yet understand what distance could do to a heart.
But life is not a gentle storyteller.
She was lifted away by duty and bloodline, flown across oceans to the cold prestige of Harvard and the colder expectations of a powerful father. He remained-left behind to wrestle with a reality unkind to dreamers, in a Nigeria that offered no apologies.
Years passed. Worlds changed.
Now, she returns-not for love, but for legacy. The empire her father built is fracturing, and she must become its relevant heir. He, a man shaped by struggle, stands on familiar soil, watching the skyline for a ghost he never stopped waiting for.
And though the years have dressed them in different lives, somewhere beneath it all is a question they're both too afraid to ask aloud:
Was that childhood love just a moment… or a destiny delayed?