Oba woke up at the beeping of his phone at about 7am
It was the beeping of a notification
He opened his phone and checked what it was the first thing that popped up was the army's logo
With the nest page
Spotting a big green ACCEPTED
A smile of relief crept his fist unknowingly as he read down to the day he would report
He closed the page without noticing the the section that said special batch
He decided to do a few exercises before he walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He then took off his clothes in front of the mirror, he looked at himself in the mirror, he had quite the six pack due to a strict daily routine he had, with the average face chocolate tone and asymmetric face he looked average though he still seemed lean due to malnutrition
Quite different from the lightskin, ripped and handsome ayemoyi and the mature bose who had a similar tone as him, chocolate but was more fit and his glasses made him the nerdy handsome type
He decided to push those thoughts away, who knows maybe things might go well for him in the army
He then proceeded to take a shower, after that freshened up and put on his clothes
He left his home with a gift he bought the other day it was a bracelet with some fancy features like holographic imaging and videos, High tech Smart Verse AI assistant 3.0 just a few updates to the current 4.0 edition, high tech health monitors and 6g network and a sapphire alloy that was hard to damage it cost him a whooping 800 federation dollars
He had been saving this amount for the past 3 months and it's was finally to to see it's fruition
He went all the way from the badagary district to the mope district this cost him 10 dollars alone he walked up the first house of the strict and knocked on the door
Knock knock..!
The door slowly opened as a light skinned girl with dyed brown hair and pink lips appeared in front of him
He gave his best smile and greeted "aleria how are you doing"
But what greeted him back wasn't the warm smile he always knew but a cold gaze as she asked "what are you doing here"
"I… I came to see my girlfriend, of course," he stammered.
"Don't call me your girlfriend," Aleria snapped, her tone sharp as a blade.
Oba froze. The warm familiarity of her smile, the teasing she used to give him, it was all gone. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, a deep, masculine voice cut through.
"Babe, who's at the door?"
A slightly muscular man stepped into the hallway. The way he looked at Oba was enough to make him feel small, insignificant. Superior. Dominant.
"It's just the… weasel I told you about," Aleria said, her voice cool and detached.
Oba's stomach sank. He reached into his bag, hands trembling slightly, and pulled out the bracelet—the one he had been saving for months, the one he had spent nearly everything on. The sapphire alloy gleamed faintly in the morning sun streaming through the door, the holographic AI flickering alive for a brief second.
"I… I got this for you," he said, voice soft but full of hope.
Aleria glanced at it, then, without a hint of warmth, lifted her wrist. A superior bracelet, shining brighter, holograms dancing perfectly across its surface, health monitors blinking, data streams moving elegantly.
"it took you how long just to get a basic bracelet while he got this the day I asked him for, how pathetic could you be"
Her new boyfriend smirked. "yo weasel, could you do me a favour I never see her again starting from right now.
Stay away from her, that's a warning " he said flatly, eyes locking with Oba's.
The words hit him like a physical blow. Oba's mouth went dry. He stared at the bracelet in his hand as if it had betrayed him. Slowly, he turned and walked away, each step heavier than the last.
He drifted down the street, the city noises washing over him but doing nothing to calm the storm in his chest. His mind replayed Ayemoyi's warning.
"Oba… that girl isn't your type. Something feels off about her. Just… watch out."
The memory hit him with brutal clarity. He had ignored it, laughed it off. Now it made sense. He shook his head, trying to sober up, to clear the fog of embarrassment and rejection.
By the time he reached the public storage center, the weight of the morning had shifted slightly. He pulled the passkey his brother had left him from his pocket. His fingers traced the worn edges—Olu had been careful, meticulous.
He swiped the key on the locker screen. A metallic click echoed, followed by a soft whirr. One of the compartments slid open, revealing a plain, nondescript box.