Illusions Of Us

Nimi, a longtime saleswoman at the Saint Roland perfume store in Lagos, hears through a colleague that Madam's niece Karisa is coming to head the branch, and the news unsettles her before Karisa even walks in. Once Karisa takes over, she changes the store hours and waves off Nimi's concerns, leaving Nimi more frustrated. That same pressure builds at home when Nimi's mother phones, insisting that a 30-year-old daughter ought to be married, and Nimi confides in her friend Jerry that she feels stuck in an unfulfilling job with no serious relationship. A chance collision near her estate brings her to Duncan, a businessman based in Abuja, who invites her to lunch and quickly learns about her long daily commute. He offers her a place to stay in his Lagos apartment, closer to the store, and later buys her a car, an overwhelming generosity that convinces Nimi she has found her person. She moves into his apartment, and her friend Daring teases her about the sudden change in fortune, but the joy is short-lived because Duncan's work takes him back to Abuja, leaving Nimi alone with her hopes for a future together. In the film Illusions Of Us, her hopes are shattered when she learns about Sapphire, a woman who claims to have been Duncan's girlfriend for years, and the confrontation that follows forces Duncan to admit that he and Sapphire have been together since their teenage years and that he never intended for things to go this far. Seeing herself as a homewrecker, Nimi orders Duncan out, ends the relationship, and moves out of the apartment he had given her, deciding to sell the house and start over. The break-up does not stay quiet for long. Duncan breaks up with Sapphire, tracks Nimi down at her new place, and confesses that marrying Sapphire would have been the biggest mistake of his life. He asks Nimi to marry him, getting down on one knee and promising to spend the rest of his life making things right.