04/05/2026
The first time he saw it, he didn’t even need to think twice.
Solid. Clean. Exactly what he came for.
“How much be this?” he asked.
The vendor wiped his hands and looked at him.
“Seventy.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“Seventy? Ahh… make we talk true. I go carry am fifty-five.”
The vendor smiled faintly.
“You sabi market. But no be that price.”
He stepped closer, lowering his voice a bit.
“Okay, sixty. Last price. I go come back, I no get full cash now.”
The vendor looked at him for a second… then nodded.
“Bring your money. If e still dey, na your own.”
---
That was enough.
Sixty.
He locked it in his head.
---
He moved fast after that.
Calls. Transfers. Arrangements.
This wasn’t just a casual buy anymore. Someone else was already waiting for it. If he got it at sixty, there was margin. Clean margin.
Everything lined up.
All he needed… was to come back and pick it.
---
By the time he returned, the market had shifted.
Not in a loud way.
Just… different.
More people. More movement. More interest around that section.
He felt it before he even got there.
---
He walked straight to the stall.
The item was still there.
Good.
“How far?” he said, steady.
The vendor nodded.
“You don come.”
“Yeah. I bring the sixty.”
The vendor didn’t move.
Instead, he leaned back slightly.
“My brother… price don change.”
---
The words landed heavier this time.
He blinked.
“Change? How?”
“E don go up. Na eighty now.”
---
For a second, everything around him faded.
“Ahh ahh… wait first,” he said quickly.
“How e take jump from sixty reach eighty overnight?”
The vendor didn’t flinch.
“Na market. Demand don high. I even get person wey wan carry am since morning.”
---
He looked at the item again.
Same thing.
Nothing changed.
But everything had changed.
---
“But we don already talk am na,” he pressed.
“You tell me make I bring money.”
The vendor nodded slowly.
“I tell you say if e still dey.”
---
Silence.
Not long. But enough.
---
In his head, numbers were already running.
At sixty, it made sense.
At eighty… everything shifted.
Margin gone. Risk higher. Buyer waiting.
---
He rubbed his face.
“This one no fair na.”
The vendor shrugged lightly.
“My brother, market no dey wait person.”
---
Around them, someone else stepped closer.
“Bros, how much you talk say?” the stranger asked, eyeing the same item.
The vendor turned slightly.
“Eighty.”
The stranger nodded like it was nothing.
“Okay, hold am for me small.”
---
That was it.
That small moment.
That was the real pressure.
---
He stepped forward quickly.
“Wait. No rush am.”
He looked at the item one more time.
Then back at the vendor.
Then at the other buyer.
---
Everything came down to this.
Not logic.
Not fairness.
Just timing.
---
He exhaled.
“Alright… I go take am.”
---
The vendor nodded once. No smile. No drama.
Just business.
---
As the item was being packed, the thought settled quietly in his mind:
The price didn’t change because it wanted to.
The market moved.
And he came… just a little too late ⚡
