SOFTLY YOU FOUND ME

I did not grow up believing that love was for people like me. I am Aishat, and my life began in a home where survival mattered more than dreams. We did not have much, but we had endurance. I learned early how to manage disappointment, how to stay quiet when things were heavy, and how to hope without speaking too loudly about it. Coming from a poor family meant understanding limits before understanding possibilities. There were things I wanted but never asked for, and dreams I hid because they felt too fragile to survive reality. While others talked about love and futures with excitement, I focused on getting through each day. My mother—Mama Aishat—was my first example of strength. She carried life with patience and faith, teaching me that not everything broken is lost. She didn’t speak much about love, but when she did, it was always about kindness, respect, and prayer. “Choose peace,” she would say. “And let Allah guide the rest.” I held those words close. Zainab, my best friend, was the opposite of me—bold, expressive, unafraid to feel. She often teased me for taking life too seriously. “You act like happiness is something you have to earn,” she once said. Maybe she was right. Maybe I believed struggle was the price of becoming. Love felt distant. Unreal. Something meant for people whose lives were already settled. So when Daniel entered my life, I didn’t recognize him as the beginning of anything important. At first, he was just a presence—calm, respectful, easy to talk to. There was nothing loud about him. No dramatic gestures. No forced charm. Just a steady kindness that made me uncomfortable in a way I didn’t yet understand. I told myself it was nothing. But slowly, something shifted. I noticed the way conversations felt lighter around him. The way silence didn’t feel awkward. The way I started looking forward to moments I hadn’t planned. And still, I guarded my heart. Because when you come from nothing, you learn to protect what little you have—even your feelings. I didn’t know it then, but this was where my story was changing. Not loudly. Not suddenly. But quietly. This was the beginning of a love I never planned for. A love that would meet me not at my best—but in my becoming