Short Story: Ofada Kitchen by Yetunde Oyelude

   

    

  Demilade kept stamping his feet on the ground in a soundless but frustrated manner. The lecturer in the room, obviously oblivious to his agony, was lecturing the class on the intricacies of human cell division. He cared less and heard less. His attention only responded to the awful growling noise his flat stomach was making. He was terribly hungry, and he couldn't wait to get the hell out of the lecture room to a nearby canteen. He frantically glanced at his wrist watch for the umpteenth time. He was still twenty minutes away from leaving the lecture room. Damn it! He gave a frustrated sigh before taking a quick glance at the entrance door for the sixth time .Yes, he was that famished and God knew he couldn't wait to get out of the hellish situation.

*               *              *

        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!”

Biography

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.