The BUT in the BeaUTy of life.

"Life is beautiful" is the only quote that annoys Daniel the most even as a kid, I don't blame him because of what he has been through in life.

Would you have said life is beautiful if you are in shoes?

Daniel was born without a silver spoon, his parents were poor and not educated. They lived in one of the worse places in the city and growing up was quite difficult for him, he sometimes cursed the day he came into the world.

He was the only child in the family until he became twelve years old, his mother was unable to conceive after Daniel was born but after his twelve years birthday, she conceived and gave birth to a set of twins after. The twins were barely two years of age when she conceived again, and the arrival of the kids hurt the innocent boy.

His education was the first thing that suffered from it, they couldn't even continue to sponsor his public school education. He has to drop out of school and was sent to his grandmother's place, life became miserable and he was condemned to just taking care of his aged grandmother. In his free time, he usually draws images. He met a kid at the football field whose family is living better and they somehow became friends, Jide usually gifts him with drawing materials because he also draws and he had enough of it.

Jide's parents were educated and were always promoting his artwork on several social platforms, they believe their son can become famous and successful with art. Daniel never got the opportunity to showcase his work even though he was better than Jide, he does it for fun; it was the only way he relaxes and feels happiness in life. His parent usually sends him money once in a while but there was no hope of escaping from the dungeon he was locked in.

Daniel clocked fifteen and decided to get a job, farming, fishing, and blacksmith were the only jobs in the village. He settled in for fishing since the pay was high and it comes with a high income, he wanted to save up and return to school. Jide was doing well with his studies and on a particular day, his parent came home with a huge opportunity. There was an art competition with a $10,000 reward attached, he only needed to present his drawing to get the ticket to the competition and it was more like an audition thing. The drawing would determine if the applicant is qualified or not, Jide told Daniel about it and they both agree to participate.

Daniel went to work, and while fishing, he saw a beautiful view of the cloud and the sun peeping through it. He was still admiring the view when a fish did a stunt far from his boat, it was perfect.

He finished fishing and returned home to start his drawing, it took him a lot of time to bring the image from his head to the drawing sheet. He finally arrived at something and went to Jide since his parent were the ones who knew where to submit the image, he dropped it quickly for his friend and returned to work. Jide's parents were blown away by the image, it was better than what their son drew so they swapped and submitted it.

Daniel's image was chosen but Jide took the glory, he gained an invite to the competition while Daniel was sad he didn't make it to the competition despite his effort and creativity. He moved on with life and hoped for a better opportunity as he continued struggling with life, every night ended with tears for him because he felt forsaken.

The competition contestant gathered and they will go through stages where two people will be eliminated till the final round. They were expected to be 16 in number but one of them didn't show up due to health issues and they had to pick someone from the rejected applicants.

Jide's image was chosen next to be the qualified replacement and they invited Daniel since his name was on the image, he arrived at the competition looking unkempt. One thing Jide's parents did well was helping him reach the venue, the organizers had to help with clothes because he would be in a house with the other contestants for a month. He had no choice but to leave grandma to fend for herself, he doesn't care about the punishment he would get for that.

The competition started and Daniel's drawing got the attention of people across the world, he made it to the final and there were offers for his artwork already. A white man was willing to pay $10k for each drawing, he was famous already.
His opponent in the final was his friend and Jide wasn't sure he would beat Daniel but they just had to compete.

Daniel's parents didn't know anything was happening until their neighbors called them to confirm if it was their son on live TV. They called grandma but they couldn't reach her, her phone fell into the water while she was struggling to do the home chores.

The final day came and Daniel won with more than 10 points, he got the grand prize. Jide was sad but his friend promised to give him part of the reward.

I It was time to show their journey from the beginning of the competition and the two friends were surprised to see their application drawings swapped, Jide stepped down from the stage to ask his mom and they explained to him. He was angry but had to keep his cool, the two boys became stars and Daniel got a scholar after sharing his story with tears on the stage.

His parents regretted their actions while watching him on TV, giving birth to the kids they couldn't take care of was wrong, and withdrawing Daniel to go live with grandma was the biggest error but would he have met Jide? Would he have had the opportunity to the competition?
His parent doesn't even give him time to draw, he was always running one errand or the other while he was with them.

The competition officially ended and he returned home, he gave his parent all the money and went abroad to study on a scholarship.

He turned not just his life but his family life around as well, he made a painting at the age of 17 and captioned it "Life is beautiful, but you will be tested by life to know if you are worthy of the beauty".

This story was written by me but first appeared HERE.

Lead image. Click other images for their source.