CHAPTER THREE

These days she has risen above those moments of helplessness and for her there was no going back. She still goes back to the orphanage from time to time just to see Sr Geraldine. The fair woman had become more like mother figure to her, from the very instant she set her eyes on her. She was the only person who never treated any different from the rest of the kids, even though must more ill tempered than any other kid that was around.

Kira knew that Sr G as she fondly called her had always nursed a secret fantasy that she kira would one day join the convent, but she never for once forced her to. Even after the years went by, and almost all the kids in her orphanage class had either ended up adopted, or with scholarships to further their education, while kira was left without a bright prospect to carry on with, yet Sr. G never forced her.

Instead, she had encouraged kira to find a passion that she was skillful enough at, to make a living from. Under Sr G’s watchful and encouraging gaze, she found out that she had a flair for hair dressing and from there, hair dressing became her thing. It was a strange passion she finally realized, not because she had never actually made her hair before, but because she could remember that back then in the forest, a friend had taught her how to and for her that was probably the only time every engaged in the art. But surprisingly as it turned out, she was really good at it.

With more encouragement from the lovely Sr. Geraldine, she enrolled in a training institute, got a professional certificate and as compensation or rather as an encouragement for her to get a footing in the outside world, the missionary group to which Sr Geraldine belonged decided to oot the bills for very first establishment. She knew that Sr G had everything to do with the mega donation in her life and just like everything she has managed to achieve with her life so far.

She moved out of the convent after she turned twenty one, it was a bittersweet moment for her and Sr G but for the other members of the convent they were just happy she was finally leaving.  For them it was a case of it being better late than never. There were rumors among them that   it was only a matter of time before kira would eventually unleash and manifest the demons that she has been trying so hard to hide ever since she came to the house.

At twenty one, she was officially an adult according to the country’s standards and laws and for the first time in her life she felt she was ready to begin a fresh start all on her own. It had been a year after the mission had made the huge donation that birthed the establishment of her salon. She was doing so good as far as anyone could tell despite certain momentary setbacks that could only be attributed to the problems involved in the establishing a new business. She had only one goal and it was to never at any point cause Sr G to regret all the effort she had put into making sure she made something good for herself in the world.

So today on her way to her salon just like any other day in her life for the past two and half years, she had boarded a bus that would take one straight route and no curves or bends just to land her  a mere centimeters away from her shop door and protector. She knew she was late today, but one of the perks of being your own boss and only employee at the same time is that she didn’t get to answer to anyone. She did everything at her own pace and that was one of the habits that came with being the kind of perpetual loner that she was. It was surprising to everyone how she said very little to anyone including her clients, but her salon was always booming with bodies who wanted to do one thing or the other. Yet on the same note she never thought it necessary to employ an apprentice or a help at best. Strange as it seemed, no matter how swarmed by work that she appeared to be, she somehow always managed to get all the work done every single day and that was probably her biggest selling point as strange as it might seem when you really think about it..

When she had first started the salon, her neighbour had tried to get on her good side, everyone had been unnecessarily nice to her, especially one that was called madame Maureen. She was owner of a big boutique by the left side of kira’s salon. She had so many sales girls and was constantly firing and recruiting new girls that it was very difficult for anyone to keep track of faces  in Madame Maureen's boutique.

During the first days that Kira was still coming from the convent to set up the salon, madame Maureen in her quest to find out kira’s story had managed to turn herself into a nuisance to kira, and even to Sr Geraldine who would always come by to check kira’s progress from time to time. It was clear to everyone who had eyes to see that Madame Maureen didn’t care about kira or where she came from. The only thing that held the fat woman’s attention was her trying to make sure that kira wasn’t there to sell anything that would inconvenience her and her boutique in any way. She was also a known loud mouth and gossip who clearly wanted to be the first in the area with details about the strange girl on low cut that was always dropped off by a reverend sister.

For weeks straight, she had tried to get kira to tell her about herself, but all she got was just a name, and for the fair girl on low cut who had never really had anything to share or say to anyone, except for Sr G, that was more than enough information that she was willing to offer and the only reason she was going to let the angry looking woman know the name was because she had it written on her salon’s sign post just by the side of the shop and also on the neon sign post that was constantly flashing on top of the shop.

“KIRA’S HAIR DRESSING HOME” It simply read with no further information to offer. So it would only make sense to everyone that she just had to be the kira that was named in the signs. It didn’t matter that kira wasn’t truly her name but just a syllable that Sr G had thought she had heard her say on the very first time she had found her outside the church walls almost stark naked.

It didn’t matter that no one else except the voices in her head and her mother knew her real name, kira had a nice ring to it, and if Sr G had chosen to gave her the name then she was going to use it gladly. On several occasions she had gotten the opportunity to correct the mistake with her name, but like every other thing that she at one time desperately wanted to prove, she finally decided it was pointless to do so. So to everyone and the rest of the world she was yet to met, she was kira and just kira. No last name whatsoever. And in any occasion that required her to fill in a last name, she would simply add Obi since that was Sr G’s last name. On the other hand, Sr G didn’t seem to mind. The first time she had seen her fill in the name, she was shocked and asked why kira had picked her last name as hers, kira had simply replied that her name was the only name she wanted to bear, and to that Sr G replied that she was honored that she picked her.

It was a beautiful moment that undeniably bought tears to Sr G’s eyes. She had always loved kira like she was her own, she thought she came of a bit rough on the edges to the rest of the world but that was only because she was a troubled little girl who have just been through alot in her short life.  She would be the first to admit that kira scared her to death sometimes if not all the the time, but she has always been able to dismiss it as nothing a little love and care couldn’t fix.

So for kira, despite what every other Reverend sister and other members of the convent had told her about the beautiful fair, and quiet little girl that always seemed to stare right into the bowels of every ones soul without ever smiling or saying much, she was prepared to give her all the love she had to offer and God willing, she was going to keep loving her whether she wanted to be loved or not.