Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

What a day!

Chava Maurice, a young and beautiful young lady, slim and average in height who worked as a fashion consultant in one of the fashion homes in Losantiville dropped on her bed, with each pair of her burgundy shoes here and there. She had had a hectic day and all she dreamt of was a good bath, a good meal, and a good sleep. It was already past 7 P.M. and thankfully the next day was Saturday. She had drifted to sleep a little bit before her phone rang. After blindly rummaging through her handbag for a while without finding anything, she sat up and carried out a proper search but by the time she found the phone, the call had ended. She stared at the foreign number that had called her for a while, trying to ascertain who it was. She put the phone on the table and started undressing. Then she walked into the bathroom and had a bath. She wanted to check her messages but hunger was deeply panging into her stomach. "What’s up for dinner? Biscuits and yogurt? No. I feel like eating chicken Barberton but I think I should just take fruits. I need something light." Chava stared at her refrigerator for a while before taking out two red apples and green pear. She had planned to cook the previous day but few other things had kept her busy. "Soon, I’ll come back to this house to meet nothing. I need to restock but then, when? Lord, I already have too much on my plate now." Then she slammed the fridge behind her. Oh! She went back and grabbed a bottle of cashew nuts, her favorite nut. After washing the fruits, she settled down on the bed and devoured her dinner. After eating, she picked up a book; business wisdom, she had bought it a few days ago and she started reading it. Then her phone rang again. It was the same number. She pressed the green button.

“Hello, good evening madam.” The tiny female voice made her ears twitch for a second. She sat up and cleared her throat, “Hi. Good evening. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine madam. I hope I’m speaking with the owner of The Glitz Fashion Home?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Adelina and I’m calling from KlasyRhodes fashion home, Luanda. We need you to create some designs ma. We want to put up a fashion show and we need new unusual foreign designs.”

Could she just stop with the madam thing, Chava had cringed one of her fists already; she didn’t like to be addressed with ‘ma’. Luanda? That was an African country and the caller didn’t sound like a regular client. Where did she get her contact from? “OK, my name is Chava or you can call me Miss Ava.” She smiled.

“OK mad--sorry, Miss Ava. How much is your rate?”

“When is the deadline? And how many designs?”    

“Three days. We need up to ten designs."

“OK. $15.” 

“Alright, thank you. I’ll call you back in three days but before then, I’ll call to get your account details.”

“OK, but how did you…” the call ended. "Damn! No negotiations? Lord, I need this kind of client more, not some petty ones." The last time she rendered such service, it was at $8.95, something she charged for $10 at least. It was hard to get clients who just go for any slated price and bother to negotiate. She clasped her hands while looking up to the ceiling as if there was an invisible being sitting above it. Then, she picked up her diary and scribbled some things in it.

###

“Ava, are you aware that I’ve been waiting here for the past one hour?” Liam said, he was trying not to sound too harsh or too angry but his emotions were boiling already. Ava looked at her wall clock and sprang up from the couch as if she had mistakenly sat on a pin. She placed a palm over her head before it slid down to cover a part of her face.  She was supposed to go on a date, how could she forget that? It skipped her mind. She had met Liam a few weeks back at a friend’s child naming ceremony that she had attended with her aunt. They had been in touch a few times and today, he asked her to meet him so they could get to know each other better. Her mind had been pretty occupied. She felt so bad. Liam hung up after Ava couldn’t come up with an explanation. 'Not again, Lord. Why do I keep messing things up? How did I forget? What should I do now?'

 Ava tried calling him back but he had turned off his phone so she sent him an apology text. She was sorry and wished she could make it up to him. It was the second time such a thing was happening to her. The first one happened sometime last year. She was at this party her childhood friend, Olivia had invited her to. They had a good time. A lot of handsome and influential guys were present. She had gone to the bathroom to ease herself and she came out to meet someone in the doorway.

“Holy Jesus! You scared me. Jeez! This loo ain’t for the gents, please.” Ava was still holding her chest and she was trying to control her breathing. 

“I’m so sorry. I just wanted to talk to you?”

“Here?”

“Uhm, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I am Bern…”

Then she scuttled away, not minding what he wanted to say. He met her again when the party was over and succeeded in getting her contact. Days later, he asked her out and they scheduled to meet somewhere within the metropolis. That Sunday evening, Ava was out of town and she didn’t remember to call her date and inform him. The date got canceled and Ava seemed unapologetic about it.

And now, it happened again. This time, she seemed to regret it more than the first one. Liam was rich, good-looking, cool, responsible and they seemed to share the same faith. He fitted into the shoes of her dream man She felt bad but what could she do? Perhaps, they weren’t meant to be, so she thought. She left her book and grabbed her sketch pad and a pencil and started drawing on it. When she was satisfied, she decided to sleep