Britah
Morning hustles are a turn off for me. Every single day, my alarm ruins my sleep by sounding to wake me up so I can go to work. I wake up early and prepare for work, then get a cab and proceed to work as usual. I change into my uniform and start working as soon as I reach .
Working at the cafe was never in my plan, but here I am, a waitress at this place, even with my first class degree in Business. Perhaps I'm not as good as everybody else.
Anyway, the cafe is so busy that I leave work feeling exhausted. Right after work, I get to my sister's workplace, which is a school. She teaches kindergartners, and her class is always decorated. As I wait for her, my attention is completely taken by a unique piece of art. As a child, I don't think I was this good.
It's labelled in ink with the name,'Lenah'. It's really beautiful.
"You're finally here!" Britney says as she comes to hug me. "Hi."
"Hi. How are you?" I ask.
"I'm good. I see you're looking at my student's art," she says. "The one you're holding belongs to my favourite student, Lenah."
"Nice work, I must say," I praise.
"Lenah is a sweet, innocent and introverted girl. I hope you get to meet her sometime.
" Me too. Anyway I'm wondering about the memorial service for granddad. What did Mom and dad say about it? "
"They said you should come home so we can discuss the matter. " Britney says.
"Alright. I'm coming on Sunday. That's the free day I have. " I reply.
"Alright then. Sunday it is. " she says.
We talk more than I hoped we could, and once I get home, I just go and take a shower, then sleep.
*******
The next day also contains the same routine, only that I leave work early so I can see Britney and get a good rest afterwards. This time, I find the children going home. Looking around, there is a little girl seated down on a bench looking sad. Maybe she has waited long enough for her parents to pick her up. I go towards her and seat myself next to her. "Hi." I say to her.
"Hi." she replies.
"Are you waiting for your parent to come and get you?"
"Yeah. I'm actually getting bored by all this waiting. " she says.
"I could keep you company as you wait. I'm also waiting for someone here. " I say.
"Really?" she asks, looking up at me. She has dark hair and a flawless fair skin. Her eyes are emerald green and her smile is seraphic.
"Yes. Really. " I reply.
"Are you a teacher here?"
"No. I just came to see someone." I reply. "I'm Britah. How about you?"
"My name is Lenah."
"Lenah? That means you're the one whose artwork I saw yesterday. I really loved your work. Nice to meet you." I say to her.
"Nice to meet you too,Britah." she smiles. "As I wait for my dad, would you mind if I showed you other art pieces?"
"Not at all. You can show me your work." I smile at her.
She opens a book and shows me some amazing pictures. How is it possible that she drew all those beautiful pictures? I'm in awe on looking at the wonderful portraits in her book.
As I have my time with Lenah, she says,"Dad!"
I move my eyes to the direction of whoever she's looking at, and I land on one fine human being.
He's tall and has a wonderful physique. As he comes closer, I notice that he's dressed in a black suit, with a black silk shirt and black necktie. Lenah runs to him and he goes on one knee to hug her. Their moment together is so adorable, and I don't plan on interrupting, so I get my purse and stand up to leave.
Just then, I see Lenah running into the direction from which her dad just came, and the latter walking towards me. When he gets to me, before I can say anything, I'm rendered speechless by his looks. He has gorgeous emerald eyes that have a slight sparkle in them, his hair is dark and lustrous, his nose is perfect, his lips are sensual and baby pink in colour, and his jawline is quite defined with the thin stubble along his face.
"What do you think you've been doing?" he asks immediately.
"What... do you mean?" I ask him,genuinely confused by the question.
"You were planning on kidnapping my daughter, weren't you?" he asks accusingly. I'm taken aback by this accusation.
"Kidnapping? I was literally keeping her company."
"Out here? Alone? Do I look stupid to you? Don't play dumb, okay?"
"Excuse me? Okay let's get this straight. Even if you ask Lenah-"
"Be quiet! I don't want my daughter's name coming from a criminal's mouth. I swear to God, next time you do something like this, I'll have you arrested."
"What the fuck? " I say.
"Don't you dare use such language with me, you criminal." He says, grabbing my arms.
"How about I sue you for assault?" I growl at him. He looks at me angrily before leaving my arms.
"Stay away from my daughter. I'm serious." he warns me, then leaves me there. Like, who does that?
I get my stuff, compose myself and leave.
*****
"You don't look happy, Britah." Britney says as we stand at the roadside.
"I just need to relax. Let's get some ice cream." I sigh. We get a taxi that drops us off at the ice cream parlour.
"So, how has your day been? " Britney asks.
"Well, it was good, until I encountered someone that made me mad." I reply.
"Tell me about that." Britney says.
The fight I had today with Lenah's dad flashes in my head and I get angrier. "Let's not talk about it. I'll just get angrier anyway.
I get home, freshen up and go to bed. However, when I go to work, I feel so moody and off, and it's because I can't get that man's accusation off my head. How dare he call me a kidnapper? And how dare he attack me like that?
The most annoying part of it is that I can't get him out of my head, despite his rude behavior.
" Are you okay?" Someone asks me as I clean up the table. It's Alice, my friend.
"I'm fine." I reply.
"Are you sure? Cause you've been moody today." she says.
"Yeah. Perhaps I'm just having an off day. "
"Sorry about that. Well, I'm here in case you want to talk about it." she offers.
"Thanks." I sigh. I can't just burden my friend with my problems like that. It's just not done.
At around quitting time, Alice says to me,"I'm taking you to the club, Britah. So you better be ready by seven."
"Alice I-"
"Not today, Britah. It's Friday. Don't bore yourself today. You know, once in a while, you have to shake off all the stress and relax."
"I don't think it's a good-"
"Come on....please.....I'm literally begging you. What's the problem? Are you scared of the club or something?"
"Well....yeah. "
"Don't worry. I'll be with you. It will be fun." Alice says.
"As long as you don't leave me there alone."
"Yay! I'm psyched about this." she beams and hugs me tightly before we leave the cafe. What have I done?
*******
Alice picks me up and we go to the club. I'm really confident that I'll be safe because my dress might be sleeveless, but it's knee high. And in case of anything, I chose sneakers to run in effectively.
As Alice takes shots, I take soda. I'm not the kind of person to drink and stay stable. So I don't drink. Literally.
The music is to my liking, like it was played just for me. Just then, Alice pulls me from my seat."Come. Let's dance. This is my favorite song!" She says.
"Alice no." I try to resist, but she takes me with her anyway.
"Just dance like nobody's watching. Imagine we're dancing just like we do at my house." she says. "And have fun."
On the floor, Alice forcefully guides me on the moves, and I actually give in. I forget about all the people watching and dance just like we used to in Alice's dorm room in college during her slumber parties, and it's fun. It's actually fun..
Alice knows how to take one's bad mood away I guess. And though I feel like there's someone watching us intently, I ignore it and keep having fun with my best friend.
Right after, Alice and I go back to the counter, and looking at the time, it's a bit late. "We better get on our way. It's almost midnight." I suggest.
"I agree. " she says. How is she still this sober? "But I need to use the restroom first."
"Hurry. "
"Okay" she laughs. "I'll be back in a flash. What's the worst that could happen in a minute?" Alice adds as she goes away.
She has only been gone for seconds, but it feels like hours have passed, and I'm nervous already.
"Hey." a guy says to me. I don't know him personally, but I know he's not a good person. I can tell by the way he's disrespectfully checking me out.
"Hi" I reply, hoping he leaves.
"How about a dance?" he asks. Where's Alice?
"How about you leave me alone?" I reply. He looks at me and chuckles.
"Playing hard to get? Or are you refusing me?" he asks, his breath wreaking of alcohol. He grabs me by the hand, and I try to withdraw from his grip. "I'll show you now, what exactly happens to whores like you that dare to refuse me." he says.
"Let me go right now." I raise my voice. He pulls me out of my seat and tries to take me to the dance-floor. I guess he might have some sort of fetish for forcing himself on people or something. I knew this was a bad idea.
As I struggle with him, some other guy says, "She told you to leave her." The voice is so familiar to me. "And don't make me repeat myself here." he adds.
This guy grumbles as he leaves. Looking up at the other guy, I find his glare fixed on me. His expression shows surprise and anger. He's dressed in black, like yesterday, only without the coat. Before I can say 'thank you' to him, he walks away.
That's when Alice comes to me and asks, "Are you okay?"