The photo is ambiguous. Just hands. Just shadows. Just "good company" with no face. The caption is cryptic. "Peace found me." "New chapter." "Grateful for this one." The soft launch is Nigerian dating's most predictable performance. We all see it. We all know. We all pretend we don't. The hand with the watch we recognize. The shadow with the silhouette we know. The "good company" that appears in every post for three months. And the stages! First, the ambiguous photo. Then, the almost-candid. Then, the back-of-head shot. Then, the side profile. Then, finally, the full reveal. The relationship has been public since stage one. The pretense of privacy is the performance. But why? The soft launch is protection. It's testing the waters. It's seeing if the relationship survives before making it official. It's the "if we break up, I can pretend it was never serious" insurance policy. The soft launch is fear dressed as mystery. The hard launch is braver. The "this is my person, deal with it" energy. The full face, full name, full commitment from day one. It's rare. It's risky. It's respected. But most of us are soft. Most of us are scared. Most of us are launching in slow motion. Did you soft launch or hard launch your current relationship? And did anyone actually fall for the ambiguity?
