Final Epilogue: What Grows Back My name is Toke. I am forty-one years old today. I light no candles. I cut no cake. I do not celebrate years that remember me. I lived quietly after Zainab. That was my punishment. No mansion. No drivers. No soft life sermons on Instagram. I moved inland. A small flat. A regular job. Synthetic wigs stacked neatly like harmless lies. For a long time, it...

When I got the factory job, I thought I had finally caught a break. Work had been hard to find, and the offer sounded promising. They even provided accommodation, which felt like a blessing at the time. I packed my bags with hope, telling myself this was the beginning of something better. Reality hit me the very first day. The factory work was nothing like I imagined. It was stressful, loud,...

  Aminat (POV) I knew I was poor long before I understood the word for it. Poverty announced itself in our one-room apartment in Ajegunle, in the cracked walls, in the way rain bullied its way through the roof, in the silence that followed my parents’ whispered arguments at night. I watched other girls walk past our street with clean shoes and careless laughter, and something...

Victoria’s POV That night, sleep refused to come. I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, my mother’s words replaying over and over in my head like a stubborn echo. Love does not feed a family.  I turned from one side to the other, hugging my pillow tightly, wishing it were Daniel’s chest instead. I loved him. That part was certain. But loving him suddenly felt like...

The days after the betrayal felt unreal, like I was watching my life from outside my body. Daniel kept calling. Amara sent long messages full of excuses and tears. I blocked them both. Silence became my shield. I stayed indoors, curtains drawn, replaying memories I now hated. Every laugh with Amara felt fake. Every promise from Daniel felt like a lie. I blamed myself was I not enough? Too...