Chapter 4

When I entered the restaurant, I was taken away by the ambience of the room and the sophistication it held. There was this air of both opulence and relaxation. The fairy lights around the room created a romantic aura and the low lighting helped to set a bit of a romantic mood. There were round table and tiffany chairs around the restaurant with white linen table cloths and scented candles. The place was bare though and customers hadn’t been let in yet but a group of beautiful ladies were leaning against the bar. They cheered when they set their sight on my brother and I walking in but I’m certain they weren’t happy to see but were happy to see my brother. 

My brother revelled in the attention and he grinned from ear to ear, opening his arms wide in welcome and acceptance of the energetic greeting he received, "hello, ladies! My, you’re all looking so beautiful on this fine evening…" he drawled with a satisfied smirk as he looked over all of them.

In my opinion these women were not simply beautiful, they were drop dead gorgeous. It was obvious there was some standard of beauty that needed to be held in my brother’s restaurant and I most definitely did not meet it according to what I’m seeing. Each of the women had long luscious hair, their make-up skills seemed to far surpass mine and their bodies fit snugly into the black sequins dresses that all matched somehow. 

I simply had my hair in a high ponytail and I was wearing a modest midi white dress with a pair of black ankle boots that would make walking around easier. I didn’t know that I had to put my best foot forward and dress like I was meant to have all eyes on me and for that reason I felt extremely insecure looking at all of these women. 

"Ladies, I would love to introduce you to my…" he paused, pulling me from my hiding place which was behind his back, “I would love to introduce you all to my baby sister, Nyeleti,” some of the girls smiled at me, others just looked at me and I smiled shyly, looking at my feet, "Kelly, she’s your responsibility, make sure you teach her everything she needs to know," I saw a girl make a "call me" gesture to Jabu and all the girls laughed.

My brother simply grinned, "we’re opening in ten minutes, let’s make sure everything’s ready."

He pushed me gently towards a girl with deadlocks. The girl stood up and looked at me, eyeing me up and down before a smile broke through her face and she laughed, "my name is Kelly, and since I have to take you under my wing, I hope we can be good friends."

I wasn’t able to get over how beautiful she was. She had a darker skin tone, almost close to nutmeg and she had done her make-up in such a way that she glowed. Her lips were painted the perfect red and her eyelashes were long and dramatic. Her dreadlocks were pulled into a high ponytail and they reached till her lower back and the backless black dress clung onto her like second skin. She had curves in all the right places and her smile was bright, "well, I’m not really sure where to begin because it’s all really simple. Firstly, I would like to welcome you to L'Italia viene a Jozi," she had a slight twang in her English accent, that let me know that she must have gone to those posh private schools where 90% of the students are white, "co-owned by your brother, and a silent partner. We have a full house every night and it’s not uncommon to have tourists and foreign businessman that like the fact that this place reminds them of Italy. All you have to do as a waitress, is make sure that everyone’s happy with their food, the tables always have a full bottle of wine and champagne, and if the customer asks for a suggestion about what they should order, make sure you suggest the most expensive food items. The aim is to make the customer spend as much money as possible, do you understand?” I nodded, stiffly and she smirked.

"Let's get to work," she said as she flipped her hair and winked. 

~~~

"How was your first day?" Kelly asked me and I groaned, massaging my feet as we sat outside on the sidewalk, besides my brother's car. She laughed, nodding her head, "heels are a bitch. Bitches that make you look sexy but kill you after a long night. Don't worry I'm going through the same thing right now." 

Kelly was sitting with her dress ridden up past her thighs and she was flashing her panties, her heels were on the side walk and her eyelashes were long ago pulled off. I wasn't judging because I had taken off my bra and my heels were tossed somewhere out of sight. 

"What a long night," I complained like I haven't been doing enough of that and Kelly laughed, nodding. I looked up at the sky, the sun was rising and it was only now that the restaurant closed. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, baby girl," Kelly said to me as a Ford Ranger pulled up right besides my brother's car, "my boyfriend's here," she pointed at the van and I nodded, smiling and hugging her like we were best friends. I only met her a few hours ago and she was a cool girl who laughed at everything. 

I watched as she skipped to the car with a new found energy and I shook my head with a smile on my face before I heard the sound of chains and I looked behind me to see Jabu locking up the shop. 

"You done?" I asked him but he didn't reply. Instead he was just standing there, holding the lock in his hands. I furrowed my eyebrows and smirked at the genius idea to scare him. 

I got up slowly yet quickly and began to creep behind him before I bit my bottom lip to stop from laughing and then placed my hands on his shoulders, "boo!" I exclaimed and he jumped but it wasn't the reaction I was expecting. I thought that he was going to be scared, but he wasn't. Instead he turned around fast and twisted my arm behind my back before his other hand wrapped around my neck throat and cut off my air supply. 

I cried out in surprise and he jumped from me like I'd burnt him, "Leti!" He exclaimed, "what the fuck is wrong with you?" He shouted me but I stood there looking at him, shaking. "Don't you ever do that again. You're lucky I didn't have my gun on me,” he snapped, and glared at me before he stormed to his car and I looked down at my feet in shame and shock, before I sighed and walked to the car. 

It was silent for ten minutes but I knew my brother and I knew that something was bothering him, "what's wrong, Jabu?" I asked him, speaking softly. 

"Nothing," he grumbled out and I looked outside the window. 

As he drove and I fell asleep in the passenger seat, both of us had completely forgotten that after I'd scared him, he hadn't put on the lock.