CHAPTER ONE

　　*When you play with fire, no one needs to tell you that you will get burnt.*

　　7:10am, 2nd May 2016.

　　Monday Morning,

　　Lagos, Nigeria.

　　I shivered as I stood outside in the pouring rain, waiting for a bus to arrive so I could get to work. I had been in the same spot for close to an hour. This situation could have easily been avoided but did I listen to the weather forecasts yesterday? No. Instead, I thought I could beat the elements. I never really believed in predictions anyway.

　　I took a few shaky steps to the nearest shelter I could find. The bus stop provided me with barely any shelter from the rain. I tried as much as possible to shield my phone as I called the one person I thought could help me out. Of course I expected an ‘I told you so’ but in this case, I would gladly take that option over looking like a drowned cat.

　　“Hey Daniel, it’s me.” I said as soon as he picked up.

　　“Damilola, where are you?”

　　“Stranded in the rain.”

　　I waited for his scolding which I knew was going to happen any minute from now.

　　“Let me guess, you didn’t listen to the forecast and now you need a favour,” he sighed.

　　“Exactly.”

　　He knew me too well.

　　“What is it this time? Shall I tell Mr Hassan you’ve come down with a cold like the last time you didn’t have a cold?”

　　“That wasn’t entirely a lie, okay?” I rolled my eyes. “Besides, the way things were going, I really might catch a cold this time. You don’t want that do you? I might try really hard to make you get one too if I catch one.”

　　“Keep your snotty nose to yourself.”

　　“Can you please pick me up?”

　　“No.”

　　I was silent as I counted down in my head. 3…2…1.

　　“Okay, fine. Tell me where exactly you are. I’ll come over.”

　　I couldn’t help but smile. Despite his sour attitude, I knew he would come through for me. After describing the area, I tucked my phone away in my pocket and waited.

　　The street was free from activity, only a few cars drove by occasionally but no one else was out in this rain. I felt the shivers grow more intense as a strange tingling sensation drifted down my neck and I started to worry, the weather wasn’t that cold to make me feel this way. What on earth was wrong with me?

　　The roar of a familiar engine reached my ears about ten minutes later and I stepped out of my little shelter. The rider took off his helmet and gestured for me to hurry up.

　　“You know you owe me, right?” Daniel grumbled as I climbed on his bike. “I can’t believe you made me ride in this rain.”

　　If you’re thinking it’s a power bike… then you’re absolutely wrong. It was an old motorcycle that he saved up for a really long time to buy. Even if we pooled resources together, neither of us would be able to afford a power bike, let alone a second-hand car. That was how broke we were.

　　“Your favours are always expensive.”

　　“Next time, pay attention to the weather forecast.”

　　I stuck my tongue out as I collected the spare helmet from him. I braced myself and wrapped my arms tightly around his torso as he started the bike.

　　“Could you not hold me in a death grip?” He asked.

　　“I am trying to keep my body parts in one piece here, thank you very much.”

　　“We’ve never crashed on my bike and you’ve never fallen off.”

　　“Hence, the grip. So that I don’t fall off. As for not crashing, that’s by sheer grace.”

　　“Right, hang on tight then, be sure not to fall off,” he yelled over the noise of the engine.

　　“I know it would make your day if I did,” I muttered under my breath.

　　He probably didn’t hear my reply because we were already moving. Good thing too, unless he might have dumped me back by the side of the road.

　　When we got to Exquisite, a popular hotel and restaurant where we worked, I made sure to sneak into my work station quietly. There were only fifteen minutes till we officially opened for the day and I still needed to get changed and sign in my attendance.

　　“Well, if it isn’t Beauty and the Beast.”

　　I guess I wasn’t discreet enough.

　　I sighed and looked up at Kayla, she was a co-worker. She wasn’t even the one who came up with the nickname for us, that was Kevin, who I personally consider to be an irritant. Anyway, the name stuck and everyone started using it. What’s even worse is… I’m not Beauty. Kevin made that fact very clear when he started using the nick name.

　　I saw Daniel hide a smirk as he walked past me and I eyed him in annoyance before focusing on signing in for the day. I grabbed my work uniform which was a fitted white shirt along with a red waistcoat and a matching red skirt. I hurried into the changing room to change into the uniform and spent at least two minutes struggling to pull the skirt up past my hips.

　　I never understood why our uniforms had to be so freaking tight, we were serving food for crying out loud, not our bodies!

　　“By the way, you’re on serving duty in Section A, tables 1-5.” Kayla announced before she walked away.

　　I groaned silently. That was the section where the most impatient customers were. It was also the closest one to the main entrance and the section everyone tried to avoid.

　　Around 10 a.m, customers started trickling in. The rush hour wasn’t until about noon when most people were on lunch break so it was relatively calm.

　　"Can I get some service over here or what?" A customer yelled.

　　Well, as you can see, not always.

　　“Hello, are you ready to order?” I smiled.

　　The man looked me up and down with a sneer plain as day on his face.

　　“What do you think I called you over here for, to chat?” He snapped.

　　“I’m…I’m sorry, sir.” I said through clenched teeth.

　　It took a massive level of self-control to keep that smile from melting off face.

　　He pointed at his menu, which was a slate that displayed all the dishes and drinks we served. There were blank boxes next to each item and customers simply ticked what they want with the erasable pen the restaurant provided. It was like writing on a white board with a marker.

　　Minutes later, the food was arranged on a serving tray in the kitchen. I headed over to deliver it to the table. Suddenly, that strange tingling sensation from earlier crept up the back of my neck again, distracting me and almost turning my body numb. I couldn’t even feel my limbs.

　　Was this a health condition or what?

　　"Look out!"

　　I wasn’t sure who yelled the warning but the next thing I knew, the serving tray was airborne and food went flying in different directions. As I stood there in the midst of the mess, with several eyes locked on me, all I could think was…Oh God, I am so fired!