The apartment on Victoria Island was still unfamiliar when Amara woke up at five in the morning. Not in the way that new places feel strange it had been three months since Dayo's team moved her in, three months of waking up to air conditioning which felt strange for the first month, to a kitchen with a fridge that stayed cold, to a bed that didn't share a wall with three cousins. But familiarity wasn't the same as belonging. The place was beautiful white walls, a balcony that looked out at palm trees, a bathroom she didn't have to share. It was everything her mother's flat in Yaba wasn't. And that was exactly why, at 5:17 AM, Amara was already dressed and heading out the door.
She needed to remember.
