Cicitiwawrites
Stephanie Audi did not come to Chicago looking for love.
She came with a scholarship, two suitcases, and the kind of courage that only exists when there is no other choice. Fresh from Kaduna and raised in a quiet Christian home, Stephanie arrives in America believing the hardest part will be adjusting to a new country.
She is wrong.
Because within hours of landing, her housing falls through, and she is left stranded in a city where nobody knows her, nobody is waiting for her, and she has absolutely nowhere to go.
Her only option is a temporary apartment arrangement with Julian Brooks, a quiet, maddeningly handsome man who does not look like he enjoys company, conversation, or surprises.
Julian has rules.
Stephanie has pride.
And neither of them is prepared for what happens when loneliness, proximity, and late-night vulnerability begin to blur the lines between strangers and something far more dangerous.
In a city that feels too cold, too fast, and too unfamiliar, Stephanie must learn how to survive on her own without losing herself in the process. But the more time she spends with the man who was supposed to be only a roommate, the more she begins to realize that sometimes love does not arrive loudly.
Sometimes it slips in quietly and becomes the very thing that starts to feel like home.
A slow-burn romance about migration, loneliness, healing, faith, and finding love in the last place you expected.