Love Found Me When I Wasn’t Looking (Episode 13)

Daniel’s POV

That night, after Victoria told me everything her mother said, sleep refused to come.

I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, listening to the hum of the fan, my mind louder than the room. Her mother’s words replayed in my head even though she hadn’t said them to me directly.

Teachers are not rich.
Love doesn’t pay bills.
You will suffer.*

I sat up slowly and looked around my apartment.

It wasn’t bad. It was clean. Comfortable. Everything I owned, I had worked for. But suddenly, it felt small. Incomplete. Like it was being compared to a life I couldn’t yet offer.

For the first time since I met Victoria, doubt crept in.

Not about loving her.

But about being enough

The next morning, I stood in front of the mirror longer than usual, adjusting my shirt, studying my face like I was searching for answers written there. I saw a good man. A hardworking one. But was goodness enough when money spoke louder?

At school, I tried to focus, but my mind kept drifting. I watched other men businessmen dropping off their children, expensive cars pulling in and out of the compound. I wondered if that was the kind of life her mother wanted for her.

And if I could ever give her that.

During break, I overheard two teachers talking about rising prices, unpaid allowances, side hustles.

Reality doesn’t whisper.
It speaks plainly.

I walked out of the staff room and stood under the tree at the far end of the compound, breathing slowly. I hated that this was getting to me. I hated that love had suddenly become a calculation.

But I loved her too much to ignore the truth.

That evening, I went straight home and sat with my notebook the one I rarely used anymore. I wrote down numbers. My salary. My expenses. What I saved. What I didn’t.

It wasn’t impressive.

I laughed bitterly to myself. How do you compete with Abuja money?

My phone buzzed.

Are you okay? Victoria.

I stared at the screen for a long time before replying.

Can we talk?

When she came over later, she could tell immediately something was wrong. She didn’t ask questions right away. She just sat beside me on the couch, close enough for our shoulders to touch.

“I’ve been thinking,” I said finally.

She turned to face me. “About my mum?”

“About me,” I corrected.

She waited.

“I’m scared,” I admitted, the words heavy but freeing. “Not of loving you. But of not being able to give you the life people think you deserve.”

Her brows knitted together. “Daniel 

“Let me finish,” I said gently. “I’m a teacher. I love my job. But I know what people say. I know how they look at us. And I hate that your mother sees me as a limitation.”

She reached for my hand, but I kept talking.

“I don’t have Abuja money. I don’t have connections. All I have is intention. Effort. Plans. And sometimes… that doesn’t feel like enough.”

Silence filled the room.

Then she spoke, her voice calm but firm. “Do you think I fell in love with your bank account?”

I looked at her, surprised.

“I fell in love with the way you listen,” she continued. “The way you respect me. The way you make me feel safe. I know money matters—but so does peace.”

I swallowed. “Peace doesn’t pay rent.”

“No,” she said softly. “But a man who’s willing to grow does.”

I looked down at our joined hands. “I don’t want you to struggle because of me.”

She squeezed my fingers. “I don’t want to live a life that looks good but feels empty.”

Her words settled into me slowly.

“I’m not saying we won’t have challenges,” she added. “We will. But I believe in who you are becoming, not just who you are now.”

That did something to me.

I exhaled deeply, feeling something inside me straighten.

“I may not be rich today,” I said quietly. “But I promise you I won’t stay stagnant. I’ll build. I’ll try. I’ll rise.”

She smiled then, that soft smile that always disarmed me. “That’s all I need.”

I pulled her into my arms, holding her like a vow. Not desperate. Determined.

In that moment, I understood something important:

Money could open doors.
But character built homes.

And I was done letting fear tell me I wasn’t enough.

Because loving her didn’t make me weak.

It made me ambitious.

to continue Episode 14