* * *
All the dirty dishes, the endless
servings, the ever obnoxious and annoying customers, capped with a nagging
boss, were enough reasons for Adesewa to be at her ends wit. She was
officially sick of ofada kitchen. All she thought of as she served a plate of
rice, beans and boiled egg for a customer, was a way she could quit her job. She
only sought for a job at the University College Hospital because she needed
some money as a first year student in the University of Ibadan,
but now, she was over it. She would rather be a broke freshman than be a
suffering rich-man.
"I said plantain, not egg!"
The irritated customer before her exclaimed, pulling Sewa out of her pool of
thoughts.
Her hands shook clumsily as she
replaced the egg with slices of plantain, simultaneously apologizing to the
customer. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." While doing that, she prayed
her boss wasn't watching the drama.
"Sewa! What is wrong with your
brain!" It was too late. Her boss had seen the scene. "Why did you
serve a customer egg instead of plantain? Do you want to drive all my customers
away? Fool!" Sewa's eyes literally had ‘upset’ inscribed on them. She was
fed up with the woman. "Sorry jare,
customer. She has always been so clumsy. Please, don't be angry." Madam ofada apologized, in between fake-smiling at the customer and rolling
her eyes saucily at Sewa.
The next customer was an angry one and he wasn't smiling at all, but even
with a frowning face, the dude was cute. Sewa was stunned way beyond words. He
was dark-skinned, slightly built and tall. His glossy lips, of peach color,
were adorable. The lab coat he wore perfectly fitted him, and Sewa felt as
though she had never met a medical student in their lab coat for the past eight
weeks that she had been working at the canteen. Damn, he was a hot doc. to be.
"Hello? Are you deaf?" Sewa was sent out of her reverie by the customer's howling voice. She blinked her eyes
severally like an apprehended pilferer before she got a hold of herself.
"I'm so sorry, what do you
want?" Sewa asked stupidly.
Demilade eyes darted in disbelieve
with his mouth agape. He was shocked. He couldn't believe she didn't hear him
despite how angrily loud his voice sounded while requesting for food. "You
didn't hear what I said before?" He asked incredulously.
Grabbing a plate quickly, Sewa nodded
slowly, looking like a fool. Demilade couldn't believe someone could be so
dumb. He was too hungry to waste his waning energy on her poor composure.
"A plate of jollof rice, egg and
plantain."
"How much for each?" Sewa inquired.
"Just give me a plate of food and
tell me my bill." Demilade replied, irritated.
Sewa was annoyed by his indignant
irritation, so she replied him similarly. "Mr. Man, you need to tell me
the amount of food you want to buy; I can't dictate that for you."
Demilade was fed up with the attendant,
so he had no choice but to do her bidding. The instance he grabbed his food
from her, he didn't even glance back at her, and for some reasons, it hurt her
feelings.
"Douchebag." Sewa muttered to herself while she keenly watched
Demilade grab a seat.
Throughout the time that Demilade ate, Sewa kept stealing glances at him while attending to customers. She found it hard to
believe that someone could look so beautiful and still be that rude. Assessing
the way Demi ate, she knew the poor guy was only playing to hunger’s gallery.
Few minutes later, Demilade happily
approached the food stand. Sewa quickly readjusted her posture and for some
unknown, stupid reasons, her heartbeat synchronized with his footsteps.
"My change…" Demilade said haughtily.
Sewa chuckled and sexily rolled her
eyes. "So, are you okay now?"
She asked sarcastically.
"Excuse me?" Demilade asked,
not quite sure of what she meant.
"Your tummy, hope it’s okay
now?" She asked drily, gesturing
towards his stomach.
Realizing what she meant now, Demi
took a look at his stomach, then at her, and then, flashed a smile for the
first time. Shocked, Sewa's heart literally ceased to beat. She had never seen
a guy smile so divine. Her heart immediately
warmed up to the smile.
"Hello?" Demi said, waving
his hands at her. "Are you there?"
Sewa stuttered awkwardly as she tried
reentering the world of reality. "Sooo...soo....so...ory. You said?"
Demi could not explain what was wrong
with her brain psychologically. So he folded his arms and studied her for a
moment. For the first time, he noticed her innocent looking wide eyes that made
her look like a baby. He found them odd but beautiful. He also took note of how
her eyebrows were naturally alluring likewise her luscious lips. Oh Demi, you're crazy, he whispered to himself as he struggled to erase Sewa's face from his head.
"Hello?" Sewa said, waving
at Demi's face. Ironic, it was her turn now, and she had no idea what was
running through his mind.
"Huh?" Demi said, looking like
the fool now.
"Here's your change." Her
right hand was already extended to him.
"Oh, thanks." He collected
his change from her and made sure his hand brushed hers. The warmth that he
felt from that brief contact was ineffable.
"See you next time." Sewa said, smiling and at the same time wondering to herself if she still wanted to
quit her job. Quit, and you will never see him again, her inner voice told her.
"Yeah, see you next time," Demilade replied, already
fantasizing about another memorable meeting with the attention-luring
attendant.
As Demilade turned to leave, he became
paranoid, and wondered if he would really see Sewa again. He was in one of his
medical classes when another Sewa-thought
sneaked into his mind.
‘Fool! You didn't even get her name,” He
thought aloud, slapping his cheek-like head. Having realized he forgot to ask of
her name, he became awfully scared. However, what scared him more was the fact
that this canteen girl was doing something (weakening) to his stoic heart.
Something not experienced before. “God, just who the hell is she!”
Yetunde Oyelude, an indigene of Ogbomoso, Oyo State, loves watching movies, singing and reading novels. She is a prolific writer with an unpublished novel to her credit. She studies in the department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan.
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