Obsession! The Landlord

In Lagos, where a woman's marital status is weighed before her rental application, Tiara learned the sting of closed doors. Landlords shook their heads. Agents shrugged. Only her friend Ese stood by her, walking from one empty promise to the next. Then came agent Joshua, and the house that felt like a haven. The landlord Sholay greeted her with a voice like honey, and she thought, finally. She moved in, and after a night of drinking, she let him into her bed. That single choice was the pebble that started a landslide. Sholay's attention first came wrapped in gifts—perfume, shoes, a handbag she never asked for. Then the calls began, relentless as rainwater. He appeared at her office, her gate, her kitchen. When Tiara tried to push him back, he painted her workspace with their photos and pulled strings with her boss to keep her close. She introduced Kelvin, hoping a man would be a shield. But Sholay did not see a shield; he saw a target. He killed Ese in Tiara's kitchen, her blood pooling on the tiles. He tampered with Kelvin's car, sending it and him off the road. Sholay came to Tiara, knife in hand, and proposed marriage. She said yes because the alternative was death. When he left the room for water, she picked up the same knife. He returned, and they fought for the blade. She stabbed him once, twice—he crumpled to the floor. Tiara dropped the knife and fled, her screams rising as she ran past the gate and into the street. The house stayed dark behind her, and the night took the story from her lips.