He Promised Me Work In Lagos, Na Trap I Enter (EPISODE 16)

EPISODE 16 – Comfort Wey Turn Cage

The days after that night blurred together.

Food appeared on the table without me asking.
The rent was always paid.
My phone was topped up before I could even check my balance.

It felt… comfortable. Safe.

But comfort had a price.

Whenever I tried to mention getting a job, learning a skill, or even stepping outside to meet someone, his voice would cut me off:
“Why you wan suffer? I fit take care of you.”

At first, I laughed it off. He sounded caring, almost like a brother or father figure. But slowly, I noticed patterns.

He would check my phone. Not violently, not aggressively, just enough to remind me he could.
He decided when I could go out. Sometimes he even drove me, sometimes he said I shouldn’t go at all.
I stopped asking about the streets, the market, the Lagos chaos outside my tiny Agege room.

The truth was simple: without him, I had nothing. No job, no contacts, no money, no way to survive.

And he knew it.

I started measuring my words. Watching every gesture. I smiled when he smiled, nodded when he nodded, stopped asking questions I used to ask freely.

I was still technically free to leave, but leaving meant hunger. Leaving meant uncertainty. Leaving meant surviving alone — something I hadn’t done in years.

Comfort had become a cage.
A cage with invisible bars.

I lay in bed some nights, staring at the ceiling, asking myself if this was all I deserved.
The food was good. The room was warm. My phone worked.
But my mind felt like a prisoner.

“I dey comfortable, but I no dey free.”

Episode 17 Coming Soon
When he accidentally mentions her mother in conversation, the first real cracks in the façade appear — and Nkiru begins to suspect the truth about his intentions.