MR SENSUAL, MISS SASSY

YOU'VE BEEN MUGGED!

I was frowning over a terribly published magazine when I got a text from Chike that read, "You owe me a date." 

I smiled for the first time that day before closing the message without bothering with a response. He would have to wait until later, I needed to focus on the issue at hand. There was this blogger I suspected had it out for me and his latest scheme involved peddling lies against me. I've always known journalists to investigate the truth before sending words to print so imagine my disbelief when I read that I had styled a client that wasn't in my schedule for the past month and half. 

There was no way in hell I was going to outfit someone in three different animal prints, it was beyond outrageous. Seeing the pictures in the magazine gave me an eye ache, even amateurs knew you couldn't pair so many bold prints together. It upset me more that the celebrity involved was totally forgotten and I was being given unnecessary hell. The fashion world was really chaotic, it pampered you unexpectedly then smothered you intermittently to keep you second guessing your abilities. 

Granted she was my client, but it wasn't everyday celebs wanted to be styled. Some days, they checked their closets and picked whatever they felt comfortable in, sometimes it worked and other times it didn't. I sent a mail to Dave requesting for him to contact the blogger so the lies could be retracted, I couldn't rein in my anger when Dave got that the source had been the celeb herself. I immediately called her and got no denial, instead I was informed it had been done as a publicity stunt for an upcoming music single which further proved that there was no such thing as bad publicity.

Bad publicity was typically good publicity if one was into crude ironies. Creating buzz was the end goal and this was no different. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do to reverse it especially as I wasn't consulted. This was bad for my business which relied mostly on hearsay and referrals so I contacted my lawyer and she got back to me with a fat check from my client for the inconveniences. I sighed when I realised I had been used as a pawn in this event.

As the sky turned black, I stretched the knots from my shoulders and called Chike. It was time to talk about how to settle my debt. I wasn't getting anything done by staring at the offending article except feeling more depressed by the minute. I wished for a retraction but I wasn't going to get it so I turned my attention towards Chike.

"Where are we going?" I asked Chike.

"It's a surprise, just get ready. I'm coming with a cab to pick you up."

"Great." I could have gone anywhere at that moment. I needed an escape and I got one. 

I said goodnight to Dave as I walked out of my office to join Chike who was waiting in a yellow cab.

"Hey, sweet face," Chike greeted.

"Hey, back," I replied without smiling.

"Are you okay? You look down." Chike gave me a glance over.

"Just another regular day in the fashion world. Where are we going?" I wasn't ready to tell him how crazy my day had been.

"The Fela Shrine."

"I've heard about it but never been there."

"I'm taking you today. Should improve your mood, don't you think?"

"Alcohol always does."

He smirked. "That's funny, Jade. Now come to daddy."

I rolled my eyes at the tittle he felt so confident using but went into his arms gladly and stayed that way. I smiled contently as he played with my hair. There was a large sign showing "AFRICAN SHRINE" on the building when we arrived and I waited for Chike to settle the cabbie. The inside was already lively and it was barely eight, girls wearing top bras and skimpy skirts in African prints were dancing wildly as the singer coined his words from the centre of the stage.