The smell of burnt toast filled the air—not from Eliana's kitchen, but from the neighbor's flat downstairs. Her own breakfast was a dry plain bread and water. Her mother had taken the last sachet of milk for her younger brother before heading out at 5 a.m. to clean houses.
Eliana tugged her faded hoodie tighter around her small frame and glanced at the old phone on her mattress. It was barely 6:30 a.m., but she had already answered three messages from a customer on WhatsApp, confirming the delivery of thrifted earrings she'd posted on her status the night before.
"Another ₦800 if she doesn't change her mind," she whispered.
She walked past the curtain that separated her sleeping space from the living room where her mother's sewing machine sat—broken again. A faded poster of a university logo hung proudly above it. LAGOS METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY — her ticket out of this life. Her burden. Her hope.
By 9 a.m., Eliana had made it to class. Her lecture notes were in a second-hand spiral notebook. The cover read: "Dream big, even if your wallet is small."
That's when she saw him.
Mae Carter
He didn't belong in a university classroom. He belonged on a billboard or in a luxury fashion magazine. With his expensive leather jacket, lazy smirk, and deep brown eyes that seemed to look into your entire history, he was the guy every girl secretly watched—and every other girl openly flirted with.
Eliana rolled her eyes and looked away. Guys like him didn't notice girls like her—and if they did, it never ended well.
But then he sat… right next to her.
Her entire body tensed.
"Hey," he said, casually leaning over. His voice was smoother than the silk blouses she sold at night markets. "You dropped this." He held up a crumpled receipt from her side hustle bag.
It was from a small cosmetics store. She snatched it from him and shoved it back in.
"Thanks," she mumbled, not meeting his eyes.
He smiled. "You're in Business Admin too? I haven't seen you before."
She bit her lip. "That's because I don't like to be seen."
Mae laughed. "That's impossible."
Eliana turned sharply to face him. "Why?"
He looked surprised, but in a good way. "Because you stand out."
She didn't respond. She couldn't. Her chest was tight, her palms sweaty.
And just like that, her past whispered in her ear: Don't fall for the spotlight. You got burned last time, remember?
After class, her best friend Tolu rushed to her. "Mae Carter? Sitting beside you? Do you know who that is?!"
Eliana shrugged. "Just some guy."
Tolu gasped. "Girl, he's not just some guy—he's the richest, finest, most unattainable human being in this school."
Eliana didn't care. Or at least, she told herself that.
Because she had no space in her life for shiny distractions.
Especially not ones that looked like trouble in a leather jacket.