II: Hiding her Imperfection

“How much would it go for?” She asked the owner of the pawnshop, Usman, as he carefully examined the Rolex with his glasses.

He set the glass down and looked up at her, “I’d give you fifty thousand naira.”

“Fifty thousand naira?” Jasmin exclaimed in disbelief. It's obviously a rip-off. “I know it’s worth four times to that money. I googled it before coming over here.”

“Okay, go right ahead and sell it to G****e then.” Usman replied and handed the Rolex back to her, but when she didn’t collect it, he sighed and added, “sixty thousand and that’s my last offer to you.”

She knew her back was against the wall with her piled-up bills for home and check-up, she nodded and he went to his drawer and counted out the money before handing it to her.

Three weeks later,

“The dinner would be a great way to earn extra cash because we will get paid two thousand naira an hour and the program I heard is going to last for over three hours,” Anita informed Jasmin who took a customer’s order over to them.

She had bonded only with Anita with since she had been here in the last few weeks. They weren’t friends, at least not in Jasmin’s eyes, but they talked every day she came to work. Despite both being twenty-six, Anita was married and also taking a part-time accounting course and soon would get a better job. Jasmin however was still trying to adjust to the lifestyle of earning a living as well as providing for her unborn child and even if she had the opportunity of going back to further her education, she surely wouldn’t take it because education wouldn’t be for someone like her.

Anita took likeness in her the first day she saw her applied for a job at the restaurant four weeks ago and though yet to be given a job then, she told her about the pay order job which she had that night and asked Jasmin to come along even when she barely knew her and there she saw Ms Francesca. She earned good money for her services as a waitress that night and remained grateful to Anita, but it wasn’t enough to cover her bills, which made stealing the old woman’s diamonds seemed like the perfect plan.

She got a call back three weeks ago, a week after she applied for a job and she had been there ever since.

“So what do you think?” Anita asked after a moment of Jasmin coming back to the kitchen and remaining silent.

“We will make about six thousand extra, right?” She asked, after a quick thought.

She nodded with a smile, “Yeah, two thousand an hour.”

The pay sounded good, especially when she could spend those hours at home doing nothing and not receive anything at the end. “Okay, I will do it, but how do you come about these jobs though, if I may ask.”

“George, I told you he’s an event planner, and he always gives me heads up when the event he organises requires services I can render.”

George was Anita’s husband, he was a few years younger than Anita and though the idea of love irked Jasmin skin, she could see love every time she saw them together. It was so obvious that he loved his wife and would do anything just to make her happier, and she only wished she would find a man that would do the same for her.

She had been in a relationship ex, Dennis Ojo, who was nothing to write home about and it hurt that she loved him. She left him four weeks ago after she caught him in bed with another woman and Jasmin did the only sane thing she could think of, leave.

Without warning or word, she gathered her things together after Dennis left with his team members to go rob a store and she ran away, bringing their six years relationship to an end.

Relocation and starting over didn’t go as great as she thought it would and she found out a few days later that she was four weeks pregnant, which made matters worse for her. Many nights she contemplated going back to Dennis and telling him she was pregnant with his child but she knew he would careless or even believe her, they had talked many times when they were together about family, but he was never interested in getting married or having children. She knew he would either ask her to get rid of it, which she didn’t want, or accept the baby and train him/her up to be just like him, and that was the last thing she wanted. Finding a job became the only way out of her frustration. It would sustain her and the baby and when she saw a vacancy at the restaurant, she took the chance, and here she was.

She hadn’t told Anita about her pregnancy because, though she clung to her and seemed genuinely fond of her; she didn’t want to make things awkward yet. Somehow, she wanted to give time to their friendship.

“Well, thank God for George then.” She said. “When is the dinner starting?”

“The dinner starts at eight p.m., but just like the job at the party, we are to be there an hour before.”

The restaurant door opened, and a couple walked in hand in hand, smiling warmly at each other. And it was Jasmin’s cue to leave. “Okay, thanks again, Anita.”

She smiled at her before walking out of the kitchen.

Jasmin wore a black trousers and a white long sleeve with a black vest. She had a red bow tie on and she’s already wearing a black boot. Her natural red hair she made into a neat bun.

Anita fed her the dress code of the event and had given out the uniform for the night after their shift ended as well as the address of the venue but told her they would both go together, to ensure that Jasmin would not get lost on the way like she did during the birthday party.

She stared at herself in the mirror, taking notice of the few freckles on her cheeks and the red spots of the pimple on her forehead and jaw. There were also a few blemishes and under-eye circles, but she didn’t like the idea of hiding her imperfections, so she refrained from using makeup. Make-up’s supposed to make a girl pretty and secure, but that wasn’t how she felt, and after the first time, she did not go back to try again.

She didn’t have a perfect face, but it wasn’t always this imperfect. She read somewhere that pregnancy also contributed to changes in skin and she was going to go with that because pregnancy and changing environment were the only things that had changed so far.

She took three deep breaths before walking out of the room. She grabbed her purse and made her way out to the park where Anita told her she would wait for her at six forty p.m.

“Thank God you’re here. I was about to call you,” Anita said, poking her head through the car window as she saw Jasmin approaching where she was. “Get in.”

Doing as she was told, they both drove off to the venue, which was a fifteen minutes’ drive. They entered the Royal Palace hall where the dinner was taking place. They already set the hall with tables and chairs decorated and arranged with white cloth and a red ribbon at the centre. Jasmin wondered those who would be present for the dinner. They would be classy men and women for sure, and she couldn’t wait for the night to begin.

Anita left to go meet up with George, who was at the corner of the room, and on seeing her, a cheerful smile broke on his face and he pulled her close.

Jasmin rolled her eyes and turned away from the couple because the last thing she wanted to see was happiness. She might as well just gouge her eyes out while at it.

She saw three ladies and two young men wearing the same uniform as she was and she approached them.

“Is there something we should do at this moment?”

“The organiser would give us orientation once it’s seven O’clock,” the waitress with the Sandra name tag replied in a polite tone.

Oh, she thought and turned around to the organiser, who was still much occupied with his wife, smiling like an idiot, but she couldn’t blame him or her. Love seemed to always make fools out of the best of us. She glanced at her wristwatch and muttered one more minute under her breath.

“Is this your first time waiting?” The other lady with Gloria’s name tag asked curiously.

“Yes,” it wasn’t her first time, but she couldn’t make it for the waiter’s orientation last time because she lost her way and it took her almost an hour to reach the venue.

One minute came before she knew it and George cleared his throat to get every attendant’s attention.

“The dinner would soon begin. I would like every one of you all to be at your best formal behaviour. Your duty as a waiter is to attend to the guest that will arrive, attend to their request and orders. As to the ushers, we are expecting you to tender to the guest’s need and be prompt in your duties, and we will have a successful night and smiling while going home. Any question? Please asked now.”

Jasmin raised her hand. “Are we going to serve as ushers as well?” She asked because ushers usually wore different uniforms, and she wasn’t seeing that tonight. She also noticed that the waiters were close to twenty, if not more, which was more than they were the last week.

“This dinner requires every attendant to be dressed in the same uniform, but each knows their position and duties,” George replied, settling her confusion.

The night surely would go smoothly from here.