It was raining again. Lagos rain didn't come soft, like a whisper. It crashed down on the rooftops like it was angry, like it had something to prove. Adrian didn't even bother with an umbrella. He had his hoodie up, hands stuffed deep in his pockets, head down. He looked like a regular nobody. Just the way he liked it.
He was twenty-two, painfully shy, and very aware of how awkward he was. Since he was a kid, words never liked him. They stuck in his throat, twisted around his tongue, and left him silent when he needed them most. It was easier to just avoid people.
Every day, he took the same path to work. Down Broad Street, across the muddy puddles near the bus stop, past the corner buka where that old woman always tried to make him eat. Then into the tall glass building that people whispered about because the CEO, they said, wasn't normal.
Adrian didn't care. He worked in the records department in the basement. Just him, files, old coffee, and peace. No one came down there. Not unless something serious happened. Until Lara.
She came out of nowhere, like one of those girls from anime. Confident, sharp eyes, always dressed neat like she had somewhere to go even when she was just walking to the elevator. She started working as the personal assistant to the CEO. Mr. Darius. People feared that man like he was a god. Adrian only saw him once from afar. He didn't want to see him again.
The first time Lara came down to the basement, Adrian nearly choked on air.
"Hey. Looking for file 3H-25B. The CEO needs it now," she said.
Adrian just stared at her like a fool. She raised a brow, smiled a little.
"You do speak, right?"
He nodded fast and started searching through the metal drawers. When he found the file, she took it, smiled again, and said, "Thanks, quiet guy."
And from that day, she always greeted him. Sometimes she came for files, sometimes for nothing. She'd just lean on the metal cabinet, talking like Adrian was someone she knew. At first, he thought she was just being polite. But then she started waiting for him at the elevator, asking questions about his weekend, teasing him about the dust in his hair.
He started waiting for her too. He didn't tell anyone, but he wore his less-wrinkled shirts when he knew she might come.
One Friday night, while everyone else had gone home and Adrian was still typing out a delay report, Lara walked in fast. Her face was pale. Her lipstick was smudged. She looked like someone who'd seen something she wasn't supposed to.
"Can I stay here for a bit?" she asked.
Adrian didn't speak, just nodded. She sat on a pile of files, hugging her arms. Her body was shaking slightly.
"I think I messed up," she said softly. "I opened a file I shouldn't have. I saw something I shouldn't have."
Adrian swallowed.
"Do you believe in fate?" she asked suddenly, looking at him like he had answers.
He didn't know what to say. So he said nothing.
"My boss… he's not just some rich tech guy. He's into things. Bad things. Mafia-level things."
Adrian blinked.
She pulled out a flash drive from her bag. "I copied one of the files before I could stop myself. I was just curious, but now I think they know."
He stood frozen, hands cold.
"I need someone who doesn't talk much," she said, voice low. "Someone no one would notice. That's you, right?"
He nodded slowly.
"Will you help me?" she asked.
He should've said no. He really should've. But something in her eyes made him say yes.
---
They met again the next day. In public. Yaba bus station. She was wearing a hoodie, glasses, and a mask. She looked like a character in some detective anime.
"You sure no one followed you?" she asked.
He nodded.
She passed him the flash drive. "Keep it. Don't plug it into your laptop. Not yet."
"Why?" he asked, the first full word he said to her.
"If anything happens to me, you take this to the police. Okay?"
Adrian wanted to say no. He wasn't brave. He was just a shy file guy who liked peace and hated noise. But he nodded anyway.
That night, he didn't sleep. He stared at the flash drive like it was a bomb.
The next day at work, Lara didn't show up. Her desk upstairs was empty. By afternoon, someone said she had taken a sick leave. By evening, people were whispering.
By Monday, the whispers stopped. Like nothing happened. Like she was never there.
Adrian knew something was wrong.
---
Three days passed. He couldn't take it anymore. He plugged the flash drive into an old laptop at a café, far from his house, using a borrowed Wi-Fi.
The folder was titled CODE SHADOW.
Inside were documents, emails, and one video. Adrian clicked the video. What he saw made his stomach twist.
There were men in suits, guns, people crying. Mr. Darius, the CEO, sat at the head of a table. Calm. Smiling. A man was being beaten in the corner.
"You don't steal from the family," Darius said in the video.
It wasn't just mafia rumors. It was real.
And Lara knew.
---
Adrian ran. He didn't even know where. He just kept moving. That night, he didn't go home. He slept at the train station. In the morning, he tried calling Lara. Her number didn't exist anymore.
Then someone sent him a message. No number. Just text.
You're next.
He threw the phone in the trash.
---
For a week, he hid. Then one night, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun fast, heart racing.
It was Lara.
Alive. But barely. She looked thinner. Eyes sunken. She smiled weakly.
"I knew you'd still be in the city."
He didn't know whether to hug her or scream.
"They tried to kill me," she said. "But I escaped. I've been hiding since."
He couldn't believe she was real. He reached out, touched her hand. She was cold.
"I want to take them down," she said. "You in?"
He hesitated. But then he nodded.
---
The plan was crazy. Two nobodies trying to destroy a mafia boss CEO? It felt like anime stuff. But Lara had everything mapped. With the files, the video, and a few insider names she memorized, they could leak the truth.
They picked a date. They created multiple email accounts. Scheduled everything. Just in case something happened to them.
Adrian stopped being scared. Maybe it was Lara's fire. Or maybe it was just knowing he mattered for once.
On the last night, before they launched the leak, Lara leaned close to him.
"If we die tomorrow, I want to tell you something."
He looked at her.
"I like you," she said. "Even though you barely talk. Maybe because of that."
He blinked, heart hammering.
She kissed him. Lightly. Just once. Then she smiled.
He couldn't say anything, but she seemed to understand.
---
The next morning, the leaks went live.
The video, the files, everything.
By afternoon, Darius was arrested. Not by the police, but by federal agents. Everything came crashing down. News spread fast. The whole city buzzed.
Adrian and Lara stayed in a motel, watching everything on TV.
"You did it," she whispered.
He looked at her.
"No. We did."
She smiled. "You're not shy anymore."
"I still am."
"But you're braver than most people I know."
He looked at her lips.
"You wanna kiss me again?" she asked, grinning.
He nodded.
And this time, he kissed her first.
---
Six months later.
Adrian was still working, but not in the basement anymore. He had a small desk in a sunlit office, and people actually greeted him now.
Lara started writing. A book. About everything. She called it "City of Shadows."
Sometimes at night, they'd sit on the balcony of their small apartment, watching the city lights. Holding hands. Not saying much.
They didn't need many words.
Because silence was enough.
And love didn't need noise to be real.