CHAPTER 1

"please I promise, I will pay up by tomorrow" a man who is bruised all over cries

"kola how long have you been telling me that? when you came to my office did i tell you I would give you the loan tomorrow? didn't I provide the money immediately" the woman says

the woman has a tall build towering over him and is standing among the midst of scary looking thugs who are equipped with broken bottles, iron rods, knives and guns in a dark alley.

"yes ma you did..b..but pl..ease have mercy!" the man pleads.

"mercy??? did you just say mercy? when I sent two of my boys to calmly get the money from you what did you do to them?" there was no reply from the man, he sits there shaking in fear as the alley grows gravely quiet by the minute .the woman squats in front of the injured man with a cold glare

"my mercy died along with my boys that you killed." she walks away from him to two hefty men in the crowd of thugs.

"if he can't provide my money beat him up till he passes out and put him where the police can see with the documents that contain all the dirt we have on him" the injured man hearing this screams begging for mercy. ignoring him she simply continues talking

"I don't want his disgusting blood on my hands so the police will do it for me after his trial"she says, the two men nod in reply.

she walked away from the man and no matter how hard he screamed and begged it was all useless. this is the lioness of Lagos Kemi, who even tho was a woman dominated the city of Lagos and had everyone at the palm of her hands

Kemi is the queen of the streets, for generations her family has been In charge of ruling the city of Lagos from the shadows. it might look like a dumb family business but it's a huge deal. when governors needed to win an election, it was a must that Kemi was involved, even for the states economic development she was not left out. She and her gang are at the top with all other gangs and political offices answering to them.

funny thing about her was that even tho most thugs, just like her father before her did business with drugs, handling assassinations and so on, kemi never did any of that. instead she made it top priority to keep those thugs with their illegal businesses, as well as government officials ambitions and the greed of business men in check.

she holds a great position on the streets, but there is something that no one must know about her, it's a secret that must be kept to herself and that is her obsession with Cringey Romantic comics. as tough as she looked with her tall build,dark skin designed with scars and a buzz cut , she really loves girly things.

she loves the colour pink, she likes to wear skirts, though she only does that in her house, and she is a sucker for romance. she can't tell anyone about this because it'll ruin her image as the lioness of Lagos.

"done with the day's job finally, now all I have to do is wait for Chidi to pick me up, I'm in no mood to drive". Kemi said with a yawn

"haa... i really want to know what happens next in pretty pink princess" she thought to herself. she really wished she could share this hobby with the crew because, she had considered them as family, but it's considered foolish in a thug's life, plus her enemies might use it to tarnish her name and bring her down. No one knows about it and no one must know except one other person asides her.

a car is in view, it stops right in front of Kemi. the glass is whined down revealing a young dark man with dreads, eyes dark and with a tattoo place on the left side of his face. he is grinning from ear to ear happy to see Kemi. the man shouts "boss the new release of pretty-" he stops half way because Kemi placed her hand on his mouth stopping him from saying anything further.

"Chidi you idiot!! are you mad?? do you want the guys to hear you?!" Kemi releases him and quickly hops into the back seat of the car and then the car zooms off.

Chidi her right hand man, cousin and her childhood friend, is the only person who knows about her hobbies as well and like a good friend, he shares it with her, this way Kemi doesn't feel lonely and ashamed of what she likes because Chidi will read every manga, manhwa, watch every anime show and cringey love story with her.

"""

Chidi parks the car in the driveway of an outstanding bungalow, Kemi who could not supress her excitement any longer, quickly gets down from the car and calls out to Chidi to hurry and come in with the shipped items.she wanted to know how the twist in the plot of pretty pink princess will finally be resolved. After a nice bath she took in a hurry, she came out and found her beloved comic placed on her dinning table, Chidi had unpacked it and arranged what they could eat as they read the chapter together.

"What!!!! how could she?!" Kemi screams, she is fuming at the bright coloured book in her hand wishing she could rip the MC apart.

"calm down Kemi" Chidi tries to cajole her.

"how can I be calm when the dumbo chose the prince instead of the grand Duke who has risked his life, title and wealth just for her? if you knew you liked the prince from the start why reel in our precious Duke caleb" tossing the book as hard as she could she falls to the ground in tears.

"come on it's not that bad, the Prince was a good character too, plus he could ensure her safety more than the duke would have" Chidi already used to her dramatics tries to console her

"but now duke caleb is all alone who will mend his broken heart?" she says with tears welling up in her eyes

"he is a fool tho for making a pledge with a devil to never love anyone else" Chidi deadpans

"all the more reason to protect this man, he..he is such a romantic" Chidi rolling his eyes picks her up " is this really the lioness of Lagos " Chidi thought to himself. In other to lift the mood he remembers a surprise package he prepared for her .

"sit here" he commands her, "I have something to show you". Chidi rushes out into the car where he hid the surprise package away from the eyes of Kemi, rushing back in with the package Kemi perks up at the sight of what is carrying.

"what is that?" she askes with her eyes sparkling in full expectation.

"I'll tell you if you stop crying" he teases. Kemi wipes her tears off like the speed of light and snatches the package from Chidi.

"hey!! wait- listen!" Chidi says trying to pry it from her hands but it's too late, on seeing what was inside the box she screamed in excitement.

"how did you get it! the exclusive release of Akira-chan's comic, last I remembered some scumbag bought it before we could and it was just minutes after they announced it!!" she says in excitement. "well I'm that scumbag, I bought it to suprise you-" before he finishes his sentence she attacks him with a bear hug. Chidi smiles and pats her head.

"It has just one copy, so now only I and my favourite author will know its content hahahahah" she said through giggles "I as well, we're reading it together right?" Chidi asked, "uh huh..." Kemi replied in uncertainty.

"why do you sound unsure? your not planning on hoarding its content to yourself right coussssin?" Chidi says fuming, Kemi remains silent. "where is your answer?" Chidi glares at her waiting for a reply. suddenly Kemi runs off with book in her hands as Chidi tries catching her. She of course was going to share the book with her cousin, she enjoyed when they had conversations about what they read and watched together, they were the perfect secret otaku team, all she wanted to do was to tease her cousin who went behind her back to get a precious book she was gloomy about not getting for a month, but what could be contained in side this book and why is it exclusive to just one reader? Kemi doesn't know but the excitement to find out makes her body tingle. "I love being able to finally act and be a girl" she thought as she continued to tease Chidi.