THE MAN I LOVED WHO HID HIS CROWN

Chapter 1

We start with a girl lying in bed; it's early morning, 6:30 a.m. Her alarm rings, and she immediately wakes up, turns it off, stretches a little, then looks out the window smiling at the sunrise. She says, "Only one day left before the weekend begins."

She gets up happily, takes her toothbrush, puts toothpaste on it, and heads to the bathroom while brushing. After finishing, she wraps herself in a towel and goes for a shower.

She has a beautiful bathroom with everything she needs. She lives in a three-bedroom house with a living room, tiled floors, and nicely painted walls. The living room has large couches as if she lives with a big family, but she actually lives alone. Her things are always organized, and she doesn't have a housekeeper.

She spends about an hour in the shower, then steps out and goes back to her room. She sits in front of a large wardrobe mirror, applies lotion carefully, opens her wardrobe, and picks a pink pair of pants and a whiteish blazer, matching her pink and white underwear.

She likes coordinating her outfits like a real fashionista. She does light makeup, sprays a sweet perfume, opens her shoe closet, and picks white high heels. She grabs a white handbag, wears pink earrings, and heads out.

Passing through the dining room, she places her handbag on the table, goes to the kitchen, puts on a clean white apron to avoid getting dirty, turns on the gas, and starts making coffee. When finished, she grabs some bread and honey from the fridge, sits down, and eats.

Meanwhile, someone keeps calling her, but she ignores it. After eating, she takes her dishes to the kitchen, washes them, checks the time - it's already 8:00 a.m. She quickly closes the windows, checks the house, leaves, locks the door, puts her keys in her bag, and heads to the street.

There she finds someone waiting for her - a beautiful girl leaning against a car. The girl is dressed elegantly, clearly someone who cares about fashion.

The girl smiles at her, but she's upset while on her phone. She comes closer, kisses her cheek, and says, "Good morning, love! I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

The other girl replies, "Honestly, I won't be picking you up again! Do you know I've been waiting for an hour? And you even ignored my calls! I'm really mad; I don't even know how you're going to make it up to me!"

The upset girl gets in the car angrily.

The first girl smiles, opens the door on her side, gets in, and drives. She tries to cheer her up but gets ignored, so she picks up her phone and says, "Hey, guess what? Zaddy told me he wants us to go to Dubai next week!"

The upset girl immediately perks up and says, "I hope you said yes!"

The first girl says, "I couldn't say yes, Leyna. You know I don't even love Zaddy!"

(Leyna - that's what we hear her called) rolls her eyes and says, "Girl, nowadays love doesn't matter. If a man wants to spend his money on you, let him! In fact, ask him for a car so I don't have to keep picking you up!"

The first girl, whose name we don't know yet, says, "I couldn't do that. I have 800k on my account; my salary is not bad. If I wanted a car, I could buy one. Besides, I don't have time to be playing with someone's heart just for a trip to Dubai."

Leyna clicks her tongue, continues driving, and they keep chatting casually.

They park at a nice, tall building - the headquarters of a telecom company called New Network Telecom (NNT), similar to MTN. They enter the building, and everyone notices them because they're beautiful and well-dressed. As they walk into the room, the noise drops.

Sandy: "Listen, do you know what? He finally asked me to do it last night. I was almost about to dump him!"

Alicia: "Sandy, are you crazy? Other girls are praying to have a man who respects them and doesn't demand sex before marriage, and you wanted to leave him just because of that?"

Sandy: "Girl, the love I feel for him has tripled! He's so well-behaved you'd think he was trained for it. I even started wondering why we've been together for three months and he hasn't even touched me!"

Paula: "You're making me miss Alain. Last night we slept together, and he told me I'm the only girl he's ever brought home."

Alicia: "But you girls are something else! Just because you're the first girl he took home doesn't mean you're the first he slept with. There are hotels too, you know!"

Sandy: "Alicia, you found yourself a pastor for a husband who prays for you to change, but before that, you were as wild as we were!"

(They all burst out laughing.)

Paula: "Look, Rihanna is coming with Leyna! Look how gorgeous she is!"

Everyone turns to look at where Rihanna and Leyna are arriving, laughing.

Now let me introduce myself:

My name is Kamikazi Tatiana, but everyone calls me Tiana. I work at New Network Telecom (NNT) as the Chief of Staff.

Leyna is my closest friend, along with Sandy, Alicia, and Paula.

They like to call me Rihanna because of my very fair skin that sometimes makes people mistake me for being mixed or foreign. I'm slim but fit, with moderate curves, weighing 70kg and standing at 1.80m tall.

People also love how I dress - I care about what I eat, drink, and how I look. I don't drink alcohol, and I don't hang out in nightclubs because I feel it's not my style anymore. I'm 30 years old, the firstborn in my family. I have a younger brother, 25 years old, who is handsome but a notorious heartbreaker.

My mother had me when she was 17. After getting pregnant, she dropped out of school, and my biological father abandoned her. She was an orphan, living with her uncle's family, but when they found out she was pregnant, they kicked her out.

On her way to the city, she met Liam's father - the man I consider my father today - who took care of her and raised me like his own daughter, even though he wasn't my biological dad.

Now, about my friends:

Sandy is the craziest of us all. She talks a lot, loves handsome rich men but doesn't settle down. She's funny but has a good heart. We grew up together because our families were neighbors and close.

Leyna is my favorite - she's calm, serious, and mature. We met at university, and we're almost the same age, with our birthdays just days apart.

Paula is the youngest (21 years old), Leyna's little sister. She just finished high school and works with us at NNT. She's very beautiful, loves TikTok, and still a bit childish.

Alicia is 28 years old and pregnant. She joined us later at work and became part of the group. She was a party girl but changed when she met Richard, a pastor she fell in love with and married.

We call ourselves the 5 Angels.

We go everywhere together, share everything, and even know about every man who tries to approach any of us.

When lunch break came, we went to eat, and Sandy said:

"At Zaddy's nightclub, there's going to be a fire tonight! A big artist is coming!"

Alicia said, "I wish I could join, but this little thing inside me doesn't like loud music," referring to her unborn baby. We all laughed.

I added, "Well, that baby already has a little auntie like me; no wonder we don't vibe with clubs anymore!"

Leyna said, "But Tia, what's wrong with you today? What excuse are you giving us now?"

I replied, "I just don't like going to clubs, I told you already. I like going home early and sleeping."

Sandy said, "Or is it because we always go to Zaddy's place, and he likes you but you don't like him?"

I said, "That's not it at all, Sandy, you know me well, I don't like parties."

Meanwhile, Paula, who was browsing her phone as usual, showed me her chat with Liam and said, "Liam and I are kind of flirting. I wish he would agree to meet up. If it weren't for Alain, I would ditch him immediately. Girl, tell your bro that I'm crazy about him - I love his eyes so much!" laughs

I said, "Okay, looks like my brother has found another girl to flirt with. But Paula, you really don't know Liam. He doesn't fall easily. He likes calm, mature girls, not someone wild like you."

Leyna said, "I don't get why you'd reject Alain just because you say you love Liam. Liam isn't that much better either."

Paula said, "Honestly, I'm just like a cook who wants to taste all the flavors before picking the best dish. I have to explore before I find my Mr. Right."

Sandy said, "Paula, I actually agree with you. You need to live first before rushing into marriage. Sometimes even after marrying, you still want to leave."

I added, "Isn't it Alicia who broke all the old rules and forced us to change? Living freely is the real happiness."

Alicia said, "You don't know how sweet love can be. Tiana, if you ever fall in love, you'll understand. Having someone love you is incomparable."

Leyna said, "You're talking about Tiana falling in love? Since I've known her, she's never truly loved anyone. She always finds flaws in every guy she meets. Even Wilson didn't move her heart - she said he felt more like a brother."

Everyone laughed, but honestly, it made me think about myself again. I remembered my ex, Wilson - a great guy, 35 years old, with a master's degree in veterinary medicine, owner of many veterinary pharmacies, rich with money to throw around.

He even bought me two cars, but I rejected them, telling him I wanted my first car to be one I bought myself.

He loved me so much, we spent lots of time together, but no matter how hard he tried, I just didn't feel attracted to him.

Even physically, he didn't move me. Everything we did felt forced, like I was doing him a favor.

I used to think maybe it was because I still had feelings for Derick, but no - it's just that Wilson and I weren't compatible.

Derick was my first real love. We dated after I finished university. He was tall, handsome, rich, and had this charming little dimple.

When we were together, I felt like a crazy person. We had intense chemistry - we made love often, went out together, did all kinds of things.

But we broke up because he didn't like my friends and wanted me to leave them. I refused, and he left me.

Within a month, he married another woman.

I was heartbroken, but thanks to my friends Sandy and Leyna, I recovered.

As Sandy was making noise, I came back to reality and smiled, only to turn around and see Zaddy coming over.

Immediately my mood darkened.

Leyna whispered to me to smile at least, so I forced a little smile.

Zaddy handed me flowers and hugged me, while Paula whipped out her phone to take pictures, Leyna pinched me to make me smile more, and Sandy started ordering expensive food because when Zaddy is around, he always pays.

We sat down, and Zaddy and I talked, but I felt so uncomfortable.

I don't love him at all.

He said, "You look beautiful, my love."

I said, "Thanks."

Zaddy continued, "I organized an end-of-year party at my nightclub. Sandy and the other girls agreed to come. Will you come too?"

Without hesitation, I said, "No, I'll be working out. You know I don't like parties."

Zaddy looked hurt and said, "Tiana, if only you would let me, I would show you how much I love you. But it seems like you don't care."

I got irritated and snapped, "If I didn't care at all, would we be sitting here together?"

He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Okay, sorry, my baby. But you're hurting me.

Imagine this morning, I asked you to come with me to Dubai for the weekend and you refused, and now you don't even want to come to my nightclub?"

I said, "You have to understand, that's just who I am. I won't change. I always do what feels right to me."

Zaddy said, "Alright then. But at least promise to go out with me next weekend if you can't this time."

I said, "I'll think about it and let you know. I need to go back to work - break time is over and, as a supervisor, I have to set a good example."

Zaddy said, "I love you, sunshine," and kissed me on the cheek.

I said, "Thank you."

I paid the bill, but they told me Zaddy had already said he would pay.

I left with Sandy and the others, heading back to work.

As we were walking, I threw Zaddy's flowers into the trash.

Leyna followed me complaining, "Why do you treat him like that?"

I said, "Leyna, I don't love Zaddy. If you want him, you can have him."

Leyna replied, "I would never take him! But it hurts me to see him suffer. You know by our rules, once someone's your ex, they are off-limits to me too. And that guy really loves you."

I said, "Well, he'll have to deal with the fact that I don't love him."

Back at work, Sandy wouldn't stop gossiping about Zaddy, saying he showed off but she didn't like guys who lift weights.

The day went by, and they kept begging me to join them at the nightclub, but I refused.

When it was time to leave, Alicia drove me home, and they said they'd visit me Saturday instead.

I live a simple life, focused on myself.

When I got home, I locked the door, said goodbye to Alicia (who I admire a lot, even though she's younger), and went about my evening.

I want to marry a man who is wealthy enough to take care of me and make my heart race like Derick used to, but even if I don't find him, it's okay.

Marriage is not the end goal for me.

I removed my shoes, put on indoor slippers, dropped my bag in my room, and headed to the bathroom.

I washed off all my makeup and showered.

Feeling refreshed, I wrapped a towel around me and went to the kitchen.

I turned on the gas stove, took a well-prepared chicken from the fridge, and started cooking.

I chopped onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, and made a salad.

Once the chicken was fried nicely, I made a sauce and also prepared some fries.

I plated the food and set the table, then went back to the bedroom and wore my favorite big yellow T-shirt that reaches my knees.

I remembered my phone, opened my bag, and saw I had 10 missed calls from Mom and 3 from Liam.

I was about to call Mom when Liam called again.

Tiana: "Hello, my lovely brother."

Liam: "Hello, my beautiful sis."

Tiana: "You disappeared the whole day. Were you with a girl?"

Liam: "No girl, sis. It's Mama! She brought 20 girls and told me to pick a wife. She said she's tired of waiting for us to settle down.

Anyway, how are things with you?"

Tiana: "What do you mean how? I'm just getting home from work. I saw she called me many times but I haven't called her back yet."

Liam: "You're dead meat! Mama actually came to your house! By now she's already there. It's 7 PM!"

Tiana: "Oh my God! I don't want to fight with her. Let me find somewhere to hide. You know how she is - she won't stop talking."

Liam: laughing "Run, girl! Otherwise, she'll marry you off to some random guy. I even asked her to find me a girl from the diaspora, but she's rushing things."

As Liam was still talking, I hung up, rushed to the wardrobe, and pulled out a short black dress and high-heeled black boots.

I quickly applied some lipstick, grabbed my small handbag, and ran out.

I locked my door, hopped on a motorbike, and told the driver to take me to Zaddy's Empire - not just his nightclub, but the huge complex he owns...

Zaddy's empire - maybe I told you that Zaddy owns a nightclub, but that's not all - he owns a really big place with hotels, restaurants, and high-end bars.

When you see Zaddy's face, you might think he's around 20 years old, but he's actually double that - he's 40. His family is very wealthy; his mother is a Deputy, and his father is a General. He is their only child, and they love him dearly.

When I arrived at the nightclub, I was so nervous. I entered and saw bouncers standing at the door. I showed them my VIP card and got in easily - I had a VIP card because I was invited by Zaddy.

I walked in, expecting to head straight to the VIP section and immediately spot... people like Leyna. But the place was so chaotic that I couldn't find my way clearly. I eventually made it to the VIP section and sat down near the counter.

There were people drunk and having fun, some were dancing, and the noise was overwhelming. I put my phone into my bag and turned a little - I noticed the bartender looking at me. I smiled awkwardly, and he started licking his lips.

I turned my eyes back to the front, trying to focus on the artist performing (even though I could barely see because of all the colored lights I wasn't used to).

Suddenly, the bartender touched me - I got startled and turned around. He asked, "What can I get you, beautiful girl?"

I wiped the spot where he touched me and answered, "Just water, please."

He looked like he wanted to touch me again, clearly being flirty.

Right then, I spotted Paula and Sandy on stage, moving boldly.

I tried to push through the crowd to go call them, but it was too packed.

Suddenly, I felt someone grab my breasts from behind!

Shocked, I turned around ready to argue, and found three drunk guys who looked like homeless rebels, laughing like zombies.

Fear overwhelmed me.

The one who had grabbed me said, "Let's dance, baby!"

I pulled away, saying, "Get off!"

But he grabbed my waist even tighter and said, "You ran from me, but now I caught you."

Meanwhile, the other two guys were laughing and encouraging him: "Big bro, go for it!"

I started crying and pleading, saying, "I don't want to dance!" but he pulled me harder.

Suddenly, behind us, a voice said, "The girl told you she doesn't want to dance - let her go!"

I turned around and saw a tall guy, about my height but a bit taller, wearing white and black Jordan sneakers, a black Jordan jacket, white t-shirt, and pants with side zippers (I don't know the brand).

He walked up to us confidently, no fear at all.

He pulled me behind him and stood between me and the drunk guy.

They started arguing.

The tall guy said, "How dare you touch my girlfriend!"

I looked up at him, surprised.

Then he leaned toward me and whispered, "30,000 francs and I'll get you out of here."

Without thinking twice, I said, "Yes, deal!"

He immediately threw a powerful kick at the guy, knocking him down along with the other two.

He grabbed my hand, and we ran out of the club.

We ran for about 20 minutes.

I got tired and pulled my hand away, bending down with my hands on my knees, catching my breath.

He was also catching his breath.

We looked at each other and just burst out laughing..... I looked at his face boldly i don't even know how it came out of my mouth but i found myself saying 'you wanna fuvk with me tonight '

He looked at me suprised he was so hot with his confused look but still smiling. Before he could reply i said 'imma pay you a good money' he still looked confused then he i meant and... Loading next chapter