Yesterday, I talked about life throwing me a sweet surprise.

You can catch up on it here.

Well, it also showed me that it could throw me to the other side just as easily.

This was the first major disappointment I experienced in my life.

By lunchtime that day, news had spread that I was one of four acting food prefects. Congratulatory messages poured in from left, right, and center.

One comment stood out.

"With how quiet you are, someone knows you," Seun Fasawe, my then classmate, said with a smile.

It made me happy because she was right.

I've always stayed out of trouble. I'm usually quiet, the kind of person who blends into the background until my bubbly side decides to show up.

I performed my duties diligently. I even enjoyed the perks that came with it. Extra food 😄

A few weeks later, the official interview process for prefectship positions began.

A list is usually drawn up with names of students from each arm of the succeeding class. We never saw the list ourselves. Instead, a staff member would come around, calling out the names of selected candidates.

Uncle Mike came to my class that sunny afternoon.

I listened with rapt attention as he called each name, fully expecting to hear mine.

"Soon," I muttered to myself. "Maybe after this one."

But he walked out of the classroom… and my name was never mentioned.

I didn't cry immediately. I just sat there.

The classroom went back to the usual chatter before he walked in, but I wasn't the same.

Then came the ache.

Then fear. Then disappointment.

If I didn't make the interview list, there would be no prefectship position for me.

The tears wouldn't stop. For weeks, I carried that pain around quietly.

I kept replaying that morning when Senior Ifeoma walked up to me in my head. Raising hope, only to dash it, hurts differently.

And that, dear friends, was how I experienced my first heartbreak—and discovered the other side of life's sweet surprises.

Do you remember an incident that broke your heart? Please share in the comments.

Catch you again tomorrow.

Peace and Blessings ✌️

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