Ifeoma stood frozen, her bag suddenly feeling heavy.
Jide blinked, caught between guilt and shock. The girl beside him — slender, chatty, and full of energy — didn't notice the storm between them.
"This is Ifeoma, right?" she smiled. "She's going to make me look like a queen today!"
Ifeoma forced a smile. "Sure. Let's set up."
She followed the birthday girl upstairs, her mind spinning. Jide… had a *babe*? After all that danfo talk, the smiles, the late-night texts?
*Na wa. So he was just catching cruise?*
Downstairs, Jide sat still. The malt in his hand now tasted bitter.
He hadn't planned this. Tolu — the girl — was his *almost-ex*. They'd broken things off months ago, but she'd begged him to still come for her birthday. Said she needed "just one more normal day."
He didn't expect Ifeoma to walk into that "normal day."
Upstairs, Ifeoma applied foundation with robotic focus. Tolu chatted on and on about her "confusing relationship" and how the guy she liked was "half in, half out."
Ifeoma kept nodding, lips tight.
An hour later, her work was flawless. Tolu hugged her. "Thank you so much, babe. I feel unstoppable!"