JUST FOR YOU

《60》Vincent!

It was already two months after I moved to Abuja. I had already brushed up on my hairdressing skills and was close to perfect. After I was done with learning, I got a graphic designer to design and print business cards for me.

Then I started going from house to house, telling people what I did and I sure got a lot of customers. I spent most of my weekends and some weekdays running from house to house making people's hair.

Whenever I was less busy, I made it my duty to visit at least ten houses or more depending on my level of strength per day to market my services. A lot of them were friendly and nice, then there was the grumpy and pompous ones.

One fateful, momentous, life-changing totally unexpected day, I was taking my usual stroll around the estate, going from door to door. I noticed this particular house, a very beautiful mansion. There were beautiful houses but this one stood out among the rest. Just like how a rose would stand out in the midst of sunflowers.

The gate was railinged and painted white. The outer side of the fence had well trimmed sunflowers which complimented the green walls of the fence. I looked at the house through the gate, whoever owned this house was stinkingly rich. I glanced around the gate, looking for where to knock –– like the village girl I was –– there was none. I quickly spotted a doorbell and I rung it.

"Yes, who is there?" A gruff voice boomed before the uniformed gateman ran out from his house by the gate.

"I'm here to see the owner of this house. I run hair styling services which the owner might be interested in." I brought out my card and slipped it through the railings of the gate. He scrutinized it before unlocking the gate for me.

"Thank you." I muttered as I stepped into the compound. Beautiful was an understatement for the house before my eyes. It was majestic. The compound was massive and had ample space. On  my right-hand side was a little garden with beautiful roses and the common green plant, name –– unknown.

The house was painted pink and green and had a black roof. Some parts were painted white and brown and the windows were coloured green.

Tell me why I wouldn't lose my voice when standing before the owner of this house.

He led me to the house. I walked in awe, completely captivated by what I was seeing. He opened the front door and asked me to take a seat while he went up the stairs.

Trust me to look around, looking for what I didn't misplace.

The sitting room was huge, the sofas were leathery and black. Opposite sides of the walls were painted white while the other two were painted brown. The television was a 65inches Samsung television which was hung on the wall, below it was a black glass television shelf which held the decoder on its upper part while the DVD player sat on its lower part.

The floors were covered in white marbled tiles and were squeaky clean. Wall and ground air conditioners were on, cooling the sitting room even though no one was in the room when I entered. The essence of having a lot of money, no need for conservation.

I sat on the couch backing the stairs while I waited for whoever owned this mansion to show up so I could leave before I mistakenly applied to work here.

I fished my phone out and was playing a game. Soon the gateman appeared and told me the owner would be with me shortly. I nodded in response and continued playing my game.

Moments later, I heard footsteps approaching and I stood up quickly to introduce myself and my services. Focusing my attention on my purse, trying to locate one of my one million business cards. I finally found one.

"Good day, I run Janette's hairstyling services, my name is ––" I wasn't even allowed to complete my introduction, I was interrupted.

"Janette?" He completed in a shocked tone.