Jennifer was almost ready for work, she was adjusting her hair in front of a mirror when Muna woke and stared at her
“Are you not going to work today?” Jennifer asked Muna
“No”
“Why?”
“It’s my off day remember”
“oh, that’s true, I forgot, lucky you”
“Lucky me how, when I won’t be paid for staying at home” Muna said has she made her way to the toilet to pee
Jennifer noticed a small paper on the table, it was the card Muna got from Khalid, while looking through it, Muna came out of the bathroom, she went straight to bed to contiune lying down
“Is this yours?” She asked Muna
“Yeah, where did you see it?”
“Right here”
“Please throw it away” she said has she covered her face with her wrapper
“Not until you tell me where you got it from”
“Jenny, don’t disturb me now, I want to sleep”
“Tell me now”
“Remember the man you saw me talking to on Saturday at the lounge, he gave it to me”
“I thought you said you didn’t talk to him”
“I didn’t know him for real, he gave me the card so I can call him cause he wants me to model for him”
“Really” Jennifer’s face brighten up “wow, that’s awesome, what did you tell him?”
“Nothing” she used the wrapper to cover her face again obviously getting tired of the conversation
“What do you mean nothing, come on now, why are you always like this…..Muna”
“What now, I’m trying to sleep”
“Why did you reject his offer?”
“I didn’t say I rejected his offer, I only……urrrrrgh, fine I’ll call him”
“To tell him what?”
“I call him to tell him I’m interested”
“Better” Jennifer was satisfied with her response, she got up to continue dressing, afterwards she left the house after telling Muna bye.
At almost noon, Muna rose from the bed, she realized she has been asleep longer than she planed to, she saw the card on the table, stared at it for a while, then reached for her phone to place a call through to Khalid
“I was not sure you were ever going to call” He told her over the phone
“I told you I’d think about it, I’m calling because I have”
“Nice, so when would you love to come around?”
“Tomorrow”
“Perfect”
They agreed on the time she was to meet Khalid at his photostudio, He looked forward to it than she did.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
Muna left the house the following day, she got there at the exact time they agreed on, she walked up to the guy at the reception desk
“Hi, I’m here to see Khalid”
“Is he expecting you?”
“Yes he is”
“Okay, just sit right there, he’s busy now, but he’ll be with you in a moment”
“Alright thanks”
It was a beautiful office, She admired the colorful paintings on the wall, it must have cost a lot to put every thing in place, she thought. Khalid didn’t show up even after thirty minutes
“Hey, can you at least let him know I’m around, I’ve been waiting here for too long” Muna complained to the receptionist
“Ma’am, he’s having a photo session and I can’t disturb him, I assure you he’ll soon be done”
“How long further?”
“I can’t say”
“Fine , I’ll wait for ten more minutes, if he doesn’t come out, I’m leaving” she said with a frowned face
It was not up to ten minutes Khalid came out with two gorgeous looking ladies and a muscular guy, while speaking to them, he noticed Muna, waved at her, ended his dicussion with him and went over to where Muna was seated
“Hey, Muna, have you been waiting for too long”
“Obviously, yes for over thirty minutes”
“Why didn’t you inform me that I have a visitor” He directed the question to the guy at the front desk
“Sir, I didn’t want to interrupt you”
“You couldn’t even offer her something to drink, silly……come with me Muna”
Khalid took her to where the main studio was “This is where we would take the pictures”
“Are we doing it today?”
“No, have not planed it with you”
“So why did you ask me to come?” she asked him, giving him a weird look
“So you’d see how it is done here and besides my makeup artist and stylist will be coming to check you out, they will be here in less than two hours”
“ I can’t wait that long”
“We could go somewhere to chill, I’m sure you’d be hungry….. that’s if you want to”
“It’s fine” she could already feel the worms in her stomach yelling for food, she was indeed hungry
Khalid and Muna left the premises to a nearby restaurant, Muna was truly hungry so she ordered for something satisfactory, Khalid ordered for something little as he was not has famished has she was
“You were truly hungry” He said when they were served
“You kept me waiting for too long” She responded with food in her mouth
“I’m sorry about that, don’t worry on Friday I won’t keep you waiting” Khalid observed that she prefered to eat than have a talk so he decided to let her eat, It was a delicious meal and Muna enjoyed every bit of it, when she eventually finished eating he spoke
“You enjoyed it”
“Yeah I did, they cook well here”
“I like coming here to fill up my tommy”
“Okay….hope the people we are waiting for will be here soon”
“Yeah, pretty soon, you want us to go back to the studio or are you in a hurry?”
“I’m not really in a hurry, just don’t like waiting for somebody”
“I know right, don’t worry they will be here before you know it, we can talk while we wait”
“Talk about what?”
“Anything at all”
“Well I’ve been meaning to ask why you decided to use me”
“Errrr….that should be because you have a pretty face and a gorgeous body, have you ever thought of been a model”
“Nah, I don’t fancy things like that”
“Very ridiculous”
“So do you often go to clubs to find your models?” Khalid found the question quite funny so he laughed
“Not like that though, I meet them anywhere, you know, Saturday wasn’t the first time I saw you”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you a couple of times at the same lounge, I wanted to talk you the first time but I wasn’t sure you’d interested”
“I’m still not interested, just doing it for the money”
“I can see that……… so tell me what else do you apart from clubbing, smoking, having fun?……”
“I’m not an hooker if that’s what you are insinuating”
“I’m not insinuating such, I know you like having fun”
“Yes I do, I love meeting new people”
“That absolutely makes sense”
“Anyway just so you know, I’ve never modeled before, I don’t know how to pose for pictures”
“Don’t worry, you’d just fine, you will be taught what ever you need to know”
“How long have you been a photographer?”
“Emmm…. It’s been like seven years”
“Wow….that long?”
“Yeah that long, I started without a studio, so along the line I got mine”
“Nice” She said has she sipped her drink
“You haven’t told me about what you, your job”
“I work in a supermarket, as the Cashier, I and my friend Jennifer work together”
“Why did you choose to work in a supermarket< you went to school right”
“Yeah, Just for three years, I was unable to complete it so working at the supermerket was the next available job for me”
“Why were you unable to finish your education?” He asked and it made Muna sign, “I’d understand if you don’t want to tell me”
“It’s fine, I got pregnant in my third year through rape, I lost my dad also, so things got really got bad for my family, I couldn’t write my third year exam because of the pregnancy and the trauma that came with the death of my father” Muna became a little moody
“So sorry about that….you’ve really been through a lot, hope your family her fine now, and your baby, you gave birth right?”
“Yes she’s fine, she’s with my mom in Ibadan, my mom is taking care of her well, that’s enough to find comfort in”
“Hmmmm, you’ll be fine, she’s going to make you proud”
“I know……I know she will”
“But you know you still have to go back to school, to finish your last year, having a certificate will get you a better job”
“It’s not that easy, I can’t fund myself now, the little money I get is for the well being of my daughter, I don’t know if I have the strength to undergo exams and carry over issues in the school”
“I know it can be really frustrating but Muna, you should take time to think about it, it’s just for a period of time”
“I’ll go back when I’m ready”
“Alright, your daughter’s name is?”
“Emmanuella, so we call her Ella”
“Beautiful name, I must say”
It wasn’t long that Khalid got a call to inform him of the arrival of his makeup artist and stylist. They left the restaurant back to the studio.
All necessary decisions were made on how to make Muna beautiful for the shoot, Muna was elated at the sound of everything, it was behold a day to look forward to, she imagined how pretty she will look on Friday, she was definitely going to take a lot of pictures aside the ones Khalid will take of her.
Khalid offered to take her close to where she stayed with Jennifer, she did not want him to drop her exactly at her house because she didn’t want him to know her house, she admitted to him that she had a great day and he assured her of a better day on Friday. Muna was happy
