“My parents are gone. It is just me and my grandfather. When you do something like this, it feels like you are standing where I should be standing.”
Imani looked at him with hurt in her eyes. “I was trying to help.”
“I know.”
“Why do you still sound angry with me if you know I was trying to help?”
“It is because I am grateful. And I hate that I’m grateful.”
That was the truth of it. It sat heavily between them.
Imani slowly let out a breath. “I didn’t help to control you. I couldn’t sleep knowing you were carrying it all alone, especially with your grandfather in the hospital. I don’t know how to watch someone I care about suffer and do nothing.”
Chidi said nothing for a long time. His pride was bruised, his chest was tight with shame, but behind all of it something else was growing too. He could see that she meant every word.
From that day, things between them changed. Not suddenly, not in one dramatic moment, but slowly.
Imani began visiting Pa Josiah at the hospital from time to time. She brought fruit sometimes. She greeted the nurses with respect. She spoke to the old man in that same gentle voice that kept surprising Chidi.
And Pa Josiah liked her very much.
One afternoon, after Imani had left, the old man turned to Chidi with a weak smile.
“She is not proud the way people say.”
Chidi adjusted the bed sheet. “People like to talk.”
Pa Josiah nodded. “That one cares for you.”
Chidi said nothing, but his ears grew warm.
When Pa Josiah became stronger and was finally discharged, Chidi felt as if he could breathe again.
A few days later, he met Imani after class. She was waiting near the same corridor where she had first stopped him weeks ago. This time, when she saw him, she smiled but did not tease.
“How is your grandfather?”
“He is better, thank you. He even asked about you this morning.”
Imani’s face lit up. “Really?”
He nodded. Then after a pause, he added, “He likes you.”
Imani placed a hand over her chest dramatically. “That is because he has good sense.”
For the first time in days, Chidi laughed. A real laugh. It was brief, but it changed her face at once.
“There,” she said softly. “That is better.”
He looked at her, and for once he did not try to look away too quickly.
“Thank you,” he said.
Imani’s smile faded into something softer. “For what?”
“For helping me.”
She shook her head. “You do not need to keep thanking me.”
“I do.”
She studied him. “So what happens now?”
He knew what she meant. He could have stepped back again. He could have returned to caution and distance. But he was tired of lying to himself. He liked her. More than that, he had started depending on her presence in ways that scared him. And now that he had seen how real her care could be, it became harder to keep pretending she was just a rich girl playing games.
So he said the thing she had waited weeks to hear.
“Maybe I should stop running.”
Imani went completely still. Then she smiled, and it was not the bright, playful smile she used when teasing him. This one was quieter, happier.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes.”
That was how it began.
They did not make any public announcement. They simply started belonging to each other.
At first, it was beautiful. Imani was happy in a way everybody could see. She glowed. She laughed more. Even Adeobi, who had warned her from the beginning, could not hide her relief.
“I didn’t think the boy would finally agree.”
“He did not agree,” Imani said. “He came to his senses.”
“You are impossible.”
Imani only smiled and looked back at the message Chidi had sent.
Their relationship was simple in the beginning. They studied together. They shared snacks after lectures. Sometimes Chidi walked her part of the way before turning back. Sometimes she visited Pa Josiah and sat talking with him like she had known him for years.
And in those quiet moments, Chidi began to see the parts of Imani that many people missed. She was softer than she looked, more thoughtful than people assumed. Sometimes she would talk boldly in public and then become very quiet when it was just the two of them. Sometimes she laughed hard over silly things. Sometimes she listened with a depth that made him forget the world outside them.
He found peace with her.
But peace did not last outside their private world.
Very quickly, the rumors grew teeth. At first it was whispers. Then came laughter that did not hide itself. Some said Chidi had finally won. Some said all his quietness had only been a strategy. Some called him a gold digger who had endured long enough to catch a rich girl. Others said poor boys always acted proud until money entered the picture.
Nora Bassi was one of the loudest.
Nora was from a wealthy home too—sharp-faced and stylish, with the kind of smile that often carried insult. She had always moved in the same social circle as Imani, though they were never close.
One afternoon, Chidi heard her voice behind him near the faculty building.
“So it is true,” Nora said to the girls with her. “The scholarship boy has entered the rich circle.”
The others laughed.
Chidi kept walking.
Nora did not stop. “I hope he remembers where he’s coming from. Some people can wear clean shirts and still smell of suffering.”
More laughter.
His hand tightened around the strap of his bag, but he kept moving.
Later that same day, Imani heard about it and was furious.
“Did Nora really say that?”
“Yes, she did.”
“It was worse.”
Imani stood up at once. “I will talk to her.”
But when she found Chidi and told him, he only said, “Leave it.”
“She insulted you.”
“I said leave it.”
Imani frowned. “Why do you always act like these things do not matter?”
“If I react to every insult, I won’t have time to live.”
That answer stayed with her.
Still, the gossip did not stop. It only spread further. The worst part was that even Imani, without meaning to, sometimes touched the same wound everyone else was pressing on.
One afternoon, they were at a small place near campus eating rice from plastic plates. Chidi reached into his pocket to pay. Imani waved his hand away casually.
“Please keep your money. I will handle it.”
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