Chapter 97 The Blue Print Of Ambition

• Setting: Evening. The Ajayi family home. A pristine, overly curated house where everything is in place, but nothing feels lived in. The walls are lined with gold-trimmed photo frames — most of Imani in various pageants and social events — a shrine to a perfectly manufactured life. The smell of lavender polish and stale silence lingers in the air.
• Imani steps in, gently shutting the door behind her. She’s dressed in an elegant maternity gown, her makeup perfect, but her eyes are heavy with frustration. A hospital file peeks out of her handbag — she’s just come from a routine prenatal checkup. No complications, but the sterile white walls and whispers of waiting mothers had rattled her nerves. She isn’t used to waiting. Or being one among many.
• Her heels click lightly on the marble as she walks into the sitting room. Her mother, Mrs. Ajayi, is seated like a queen in her usual spot — an ivory velvet armchair by the window. A gold-edged magazine is splayed on her lap, open to a fashion column she isn’t reading. A tray of untouched tea and small chops sits beside her, already going cold.