The wrong choice (#256).

Pablo was a young man from the quiet coastal town of Number Two Beach, Sierra Leon.

With salt in his hair and sun in his eyes, he had grown up near the docks.

Helping his father unload fishing boats and dreaming of something bigger.

The town was small, the kind of place where everyone knew everyone—and everyone's business.

Pablo had talent, a gift for fixing engines, and had even earned a scholarship to study mechanical engineering in the capital.

But the city was different.

It was loud and alive, pulsing with temptation. At first, Pablo tried to stay focused.

He went to class, took notes, and worked nights at a garage run by a man named Paul.

Paul was slick, wore gold rings, and always smelled like expensive cologne and gasoline.

He liked Pablo.

Told him he was smart.

Too smart to be broke.

You wanna make real money?” Paul once asked, wiping grease off his hands.

“There’s a quicker way. No books, no degrees, Just guts.”

Pablo laughed him off, at first.

But life in the city was expensive.

Rent went up, his mother got sick back home.

The scholarship only covered tuition.

He started skipping class to work more hours.

Then, one night, Paul showed him a sleek black car with tinted windows and a trunk full of unmarked packages.

"Just drive it across town," Paul said. "No questions."

Pablo hesitated, his hands shaking on the steering wheel.

But he thought of his mother’s hospital bills, the landlord’s threats, the hunger that kept him up at night. So he did it, just once.

Then again, and again.

The money came fast, with new shoes and a better apartment.

He even sent cash home.

His mother thought he had gotten a paid internship.

But secrets have a weight.

One rainy night, a traffic stop changed everything.

The officers searched the car.

Pablo’s heart raced.

They found what they were looking for.

At the station, Paul didn’t answer his calls.

The lawyer was a stranger who barely looked him in the eye.

Pablo’s mother cried when she visited him in jail.

“You had so much promise,” she whispered.

Now, two years later, Pablo sweeps the floor of a small repair shop outside the city.

Working for a man who doesn’t ask questions about the past.

He still has hands that fix things and still has dreams—but they look different now, smaller.

He knows he made the wrong choice.

And he knows that the right ones are often the hardest.

But maybe, he thinks, there's still time to make one.

Always remember that success doesn't come to those who do not believe in hard work.

Keep your head up and stay focused.

Thank you and have a beautiful weekend.