The burden of expectations
The Burden of Expectations – A Novel
Introduction
In the heart of Nigeria, where tradition and modernity often collide, two lives are set on a course neither of them could have foreseen.
Zahra Muhammad Aliyu has always known her path. The last daughter of one of Kano’s wealthiest families, she has spent her life cloaked in discipline, dignity, and the quiet burden of expectation. Her mother, ever doting, whispers prayers of success into her ears, while her father, a man too busy building an empire to look back, assumes she will never falter. Medicine is her calling, and excellence is her duty. There is no room for distraction. No room for deviation. No room for someone like Kevin chidera Ikechukwu.
Kevin is everything Zahra is not. A nursing student by choice and a Casanova by reputation, he walks through life with an ease she cannot understand. Where Zahra sees duty, he sees freedom. Where she clings to faith, he tests his own beliefs. He is Igbo, Christian, and reckless—three reasons she should never cross paths with him.
But fate is not so easily dictated.
When Zahra arrives at Lagos University of Nigeria, she steps into a world that challenges everything she knows. And when an infuriating encounter with Kevin marks the beginning of their story, she realizes that some battles are fought not with words but with the unspoken weight of expectation, pride, and something even more dangerous—curiosity.
This is not a love story. Not yet.
This is a story of identity, faith, ambition, and the unpredictable ways the heart defies reason.
And it all begins the moment Zahra and Kevin meet.
