Familiar Faces

Thursday afternoon brought something Zai hadn’t expected.

A visitor.

The receptionist called the design studio.

“Miss Adebayo?”

“Yes?”

“Someone is here to see you.”

Zai frowned.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“They’re waiting downstairs.”

She looked at Funke.

“I’m not expecting anyone.”

Funke smiled.

“Go and check.”

“If it’s a loan company, tell them you don’t know me.”

The studio burst into laughter.

Zai walked to the reception area.

The moment she saw the visitor, her face lit up.

“Chioma!”

The young woman jumped up and hugged her tightly.

“You’ve become impossible to reach!”

“I’ve been working!”

“I can see.”

Chioma stepped back dramatically.

“So this is where Madam Fashion Designer works now.”

Zai rolled her eyes.

“Stop it.”

“No.”

“I watched your interview online.”

“What interview?”

“The company posted it yesterday.”

Zai blinked.

“I haven’t even seen it.”

“You should.”

“You sound intelligent.”

They both laughed.

Chioma and Zai had met six years earlier at fashion school in Yaba.

While Zai struggled to pay tuition, Chioma had been the loud, fearless classmate who could make friends with anyone within five minutes.

After graduation, life had pulled them in different directions.

They still talked occasionally.

Just not as often as they wanted.

“Can we step outside for a few minutes?”

Chioma asked.

“I’m on my lunch break.”

“Of course.”

They walked to a small buka across the road.

Nothing fancy.

Plastic chairs.

Cold bottled drinks.

Fresh amala and ewedu.

The owner recognized several LuxeThread employees immediately.

“Designer people!”

“Welcome!”

Chioma laughed.

“So this is your celebrity life?”

“If only you knew.”

As they ate, Chioma leaned forward.

“I’m proud of you.”

“Seriously.”

“You’ve worked for this.”

Zai smiled.

“Thank you.”

“I mean it.”

Then Chioma’s expression became more serious.

“I also came because I heard something.”

Zai looked up.

“What?”

“There are people saying you only got noticed because the CEO likes you.”

Silence.

The noise from the buka suddenly felt far away.

Zai slowly put down her spoon.

“I expected that eventually.”

“You don’t sound surprised.”

“I’m not.”

Chioma sighed.

“Does it bother you?”

Zai thought carefully.

“It hurts.”

“But…”

She looked toward the road.

“…I know how hard I’ve worked.”

“I can’t spend my life defending work that already speaks for itself.”

Chioma nodded slowly.

“That’s a mature answer.”

“It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”

Back at LuxeThread, Raymond was reviewing quarterly reports when someone knocked.

“Come in.”

It was Daniel.

“Sir.”

“You wanted to see me?”

“Yes.”

Raymond gestured toward the chair.

“I’ve been reviewing the mentorship assessments.”

“You ranked first.”

Daniel looked surprised.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“I don’t want you becoming comfortable.”

“I won’t.”

“I believe you.”

The meeting lasted barely ten minutes.

Professional.

Focused.

Exactly the kind of mentorship conversation Raymond had intended from the beginning.

As Daniel left, he noticed Adanna standing near the corridor speaking with the Head of HR.

She smiled politely.

“How was your meeting?”

“Very insightful, Ma.”

“Good.”

“I hope you challenged him as much as he challenged you.”

Daniel laughed.

“I tried.”

Meanwhile, Chioma and Zai returned from lunch.

As they entered the building, Chioma stopped in front of the reception display.

The winning competition dress stood inside a glass case.

She stared at it.

“You made this?”

“Yes.”

Chioma walked around it slowly.

“I remember when you almost quit fashion school because you couldn’t afford your project materials.”

Zai smiled quietly.

“I remember too.”

“You borrowed my sewing machine for almost three months.”

“And nearly spoiled it.”

“You did spoil it.”

Both women laughed.

“You cried so much that day.”

“I thought you’d never forgive me.”

“I didn’t.”

Chioma grinned.

“I just decided to charge you with friendship instead.”

The laughter caught someone’s attention.

Raymond was walking toward the lobby with two investors.

His eyes briefly met Zai’s.

She nodded politely.

“Good afternoon, Sir.”

“Good afternoon.”

He nodded back and continued walking.

No pause.

No conversation.

The investors never even looked at her.

Chioma watched the interaction carefully.

“That’s him?”

“Yes.”

“He barely stopped.”

“He’s working.”

Chioma shrugged.

“Honestly…”

She lowered her voice.

“…from everything I heard online, I expected something completely different.”

“So did the internet.”

After Chioma left, Zai returned to the studio feeling lighter.

Seeing someone from her old life had reminded her of something important.

Before LuxeThread…

Before competitions…

Before office gossip…

She had already been fighting for this dream.

She hadn’t started working hard because someone noticed her.

Someone had noticed her because she’d been working hard for years.

That evening, Adanna remained in the office longer than usual.

She was reviewing employee engagement reports when she came across comments from the anonymous staff survey.

One response caught her attention.

Sometimes talented people don’t get recognized because others assume success must come from connections.

She read it again.

Then another.

Recognition creates resentment if people don’t trust the process.

She leaned back thoughtfully.

The comments weren’t about Zai alone.

They reflected something deeper.

Trust.

A company could survive poor sales.

It could recover from a bad season.

But once employees stopped believing that merit mattered…

The culture itself began to crack.

She closed the report and made a note for the next executive meeting.

Review promotion and evaluation transparency across all departments.

If people believed favouritism existed…

It wasn’t enough to say they were wrong.

Leadership had to remove every reasonable doubt.

Later that night, Zai sat on the small balcony outside her family’s apartment.

The city hummed in the distance.

Mama Zainab joined her with two mugs of tea.

“You’ve been thinking.”

“A little.”

“About work?”

“About people.”

Her mother nodded.

“When people can’t explain someone else’s success…”

“…they sometimes create a story that makes them feel better.”

Zai looked at her.

“What should I do?”

Mama Zainab smiled.

“The same thing you’ve always done.”

“Which is?”

“Wake up tomorrow.”

“Do your work.”

“Go home.”

“And let time argue on your behalf.”

Zai rested her head lightly on her mother’s shoulder.

For the first time all week…

She felt the noise around her becoming quieter.

Not because people had stopped talking.

Because she had stopped giving every rumour a place inside her heart.

Engagement Question

Have you ever achieved something through hard work, only to have people assume it happened because of luck or connections? How did you handle it?

To be continued…