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It was 3:00 a.m. in the morning and Zuri was staring at the ceiling as the latest episode of 'Scandal' flickered on her television screen. She couldn't sleep; her mind kept bouncing from one random thought to another. This was the third week in a row that she'd had to reach for her sleeping pills at this ungodly hour after several futile attempts at sleep. The last couple of weeks she had been worried sick about her money situation. Even though she thought about nothing else these days, a solution wasn't forthcoming and the problems certainly weren't going away. Mr Okeke, her landlord, had been calling for weeks. He had left message upon message with the security guards saying they had to meet soon. He even rang her bell twice that week but she pretended not to be home. Zuri cringed. It was mortifying. Even her mechanic Ola had been calling her nonstop and had resorted to sending her so many WhatsApp messages, she'd had to block him. But she couldn't hide forever. That WhatsApp is too intrusive self, she thought.
Zuri wasn't ready to deal with any of them yet until she found a solution. She had even started having nightmares about meeting Mr Right and discovering she
had infertility issues. She didn't need a shrink to tell her what the dreams meant. They were obviously a
symptom of her refusal to confront her fibroids. She had cancelled four appointments with her doctor because, let's face it, she wouldn't be able to pay.
She drifted into a fitful sleep then jolted awake when
her alarm went off at 6:00. As she struggled to get dressed for work, she stared at her face in the mirror. Her skin had never looked worse because she hadn't had
her regular facial with Dr Bruce at Oasis Med Spa in
months. She turned to her favourite pick-me-up; a
glycolic skin care treatment that was only available
from YoutopiaBeauty.com. Not that she would be able
to afford any of that anytime soon.
At 7:40, her Uber driver called to say he was at the gate. As Ola still had her car in his shop, she now had to take taxis to work—yet another expense she could ill afford. She stared out the window as the Toyota Camry drove past the Lekki-Ikoyi tollgate, and she soon tuned out the driver's chatter about his family and the stress of driving in Lagos.
She mentally ran through a list of potential loan sources. What about Folabi? Her ex had been reaching out a lot lately to hang out, but that sort of “hanging out” probably meant between the sheets. To make matters worse, if she asked him for the money, he would most certainly expect sex as collateral for the loan. And really, was she that desperate yet?
Then again, Folabi had quite the big mouth. Within a
week the whole of Lagos would know he had given her money, and what she had given him in return. His ex, Sheila, had learned the hard way when he boasted about “changing her parade” and buying her first ticket abroad. Why am I even considering it? Turning aṣewo(prostitute) for a loan? Ye!
When she got to work, Thelma the receptionist beamed at her as she breezed past. “Goodmorning, Zuri. I love
your dress.”
“Thank you, love, ” Zuri replied with a faint smile.
Thelma was a very sweet girl but all na wash. She was a newbie, so she wanted to stay in everyone's good graces. Zuri knew her face looked like crap because she
had been too exhausted to bother with full makeup this
morning but her dress was lovely—It was a red Carina
dress from one of her favourite Nigerian designers,
Lady Biba. It hid her insecurities—like the slight bulge in her lower stomach—and accentuated her best assets.Frankly she felt like a boss lady every time she wore a Lady Biba dress. The dress gave her the confidence boost she needed to participate in this project meeting with her boss that she was now twenty minutes late to.
He was going to have a fit! Lateness was something he
abhorred and she didn't even have the energy to defend herself.
“We were wondering when you would join us,
” Mr Tunde said when she arrived. “This meeting started at 8:00 a.m. and it is now 8:25!”
“I'm sorry sir, there was traffic, ”she said as she hurriedly plugged in her flash drive to begin her presentation.
“Madam, this is Lagos; there is always traffic. Please, let's start with your presentation on the Georgia Heights development.”
As Zuri ran through her presentation, it dawned on her that the empty-looking presentation was unimpressive. Still, she stumbled through the best she could, but she knew she was in for it when Mr Tunde told her that he wanted to speak to her.
To be continued.....
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