Twist Of Fate

Chapter 13

After graduation,

Enitan and Christabel was lucky enough to be posted in the same council district in Abuja for their service,

It was a thing of joy for both ladies cause they found it hard to be apart from each other most especially Christabel.

She loves Enitan's company more than anything and was going to ask for father to work things out for her and make sure she was in the same place with Enitan if she ever get posted to a different state but luckily she didn't go through that cause luck was on her side.

Since Christabel was his only child from his first wife and his only daughter,

Chief Etuk was willing to do anything for her.

His first wife is a foreign woman,

He'd married the lady to get his citizenship card processed very fast while he was in the States.

After he got his card,

He didn't divorce her like he intended to plus she was already pregnant for him,

He didn't want his child to be carted away by a foreign woman,

So he decided to keep her.

He came back to Nigeria and got married to his late wife and she gave birth to Christabel for him before she died,

The foreign woman has two sons for him too,

He told her about Christabel and she readily accepted the girl as her own although he didn't want her to go abroad.

So while she takes care of his sons in America,

He takes care of his daughter in Nigeria,

He visits them sometimes and some Christmas,

They come to Nigeria to stay with them for the season.

Chief Etuk got Christabel and Enitan a comfortable three bedroom apartment in the area and paid for their one year rent,

The one year they would be in Abuja,

He paid for it and also got them a new car for transporting themselves.

While Enitan was sent to a commercial bank as a marketer while Christabel was sent to one of the government schools around as a teacher,

Enitan gets to go to work most time three or four times in a week while Christabel goes whenever she has a class to teach.

While they weren't working,

Enitan thought of possible businesses she could do to pass time and earn some cash,

One night she decided to talk to Christabel about it,

"Let's wait till we go back to Lagos,

We can set up something there than setting it up here when you know you've gat just one year to live here." Christabel said,

The idea was a good one but the timing to her wasn't good.

Enitan was convinced yet,

She still wanted to do something while at Abuja and what she wanted to do was open a clothesline,

She'd the experience and Christy had the taste,

Plus the percentage of them doing well in the business here in Abuja is really good because the people living there are mostly people of high taste of fashion, celebrities and people who love to wear good stuffs.

It's the same in Lagos but Lagos has been crowded with boutiques and clotheslines,

The competition there's high,

Everyone wants to open a boutique,

Almost every street or road has at least one of two boutique situated in it,

Business isn't good in such places.

She decided to talk to Chris Christabel about it again,

Yes the cost of living in Abuja is high but still doing business there would be better,

If they can secure a good site for their business,

She knows a few designers and mostly a few tailors she can get to sew for her.

There are a lot of sites on the Internet she can visit to see what's trending and what the people would love to wear,

She has everything all planned out in her head,

Her only problem is having enough capital to put her plans to work.

When she laid out her plans to Christabel,

She agreed to it cause on her second look,

She found out it was a good plan,

So she went to her father and told him about it,

He promise to help them secure a good site for business through his contact.

Enitan met with a designers,

She went out to the market and checked for a few materials,

African Ankara both local and imported,

She checked for bespoke senator materials too and even got acquainted with a few sellers too.

By the end of that week,

Christabel's father called them,

He told them his contact found three possible place for them,

One was in the mall while the other was a two shop vacancy in a shopping complex,

He said the last one wasn't that good cause of it's location,

He said it's a big shop but it was at the outskirt of town,

Not much people live around there.

He gave them the contact of his agent and told them to talk to the man and have him show them the places,

That way they can choose where they would want their shop to be situated at,

Then whichever one they choose,

They should get back to him.

Enitan was so thankful to the man,

"You don't have to be,

I love the fact my daughter is changing into the kind of woman I want her to be and all thanks to you." He told her,

She nodded.

Since both ladies were going to be busy that week,

They scheduled their appointment with man the next week,

He told them where to come and meet him when they would come and have time,

He too was a busy person.

The next week,

They went to see the man,

He took them to the mall and showed them the shop,

It was big and has a small changing room but they didn't like it,

One was that, it was very expensive and doesn't have enough space where the tailors would be working.

Secondly, there were about five more boutiques in the mall and all of them where lined up one after the other,

She didn't want such place.

The next place he took them was the shop at the outskirt of town,

The didn't like that one either,

The area was quite lonely and it was backing the main road,

The man decided to take them to the last one,

The shops in the shopping complex.

Christabel loved the place even before they went to the shop,

The shopping complex was a three story building and it has a wide parking space which ten cars could fit in at a time.

It was in the heart of the city and both the shops at the front and the one at the back can be viewed by passersby,

It can be easily located cause it was right at the junction of the road,

"This is what we've been looking for." Christabel exclaimed when they went upstairs to the second floor,

Enitan just nodded,

She needed to see the shop before she says anything.

Each floor had four shops,

Two by each sides and those two shops faces each other,

One at the back and the other in front,

The vacant shops were the ones on the second floor and both were opposite each other.

"What do you think about this one?" The man asked them,

"It's good." Christabel said to the man,

Then turned to Enitan,

"This place is perfect,

The shop in the front would be for display while the one at the back would be for the tailors,

Where the clothes are being sewn,

Whoever comes in for amendment would go to them too,

It's perfect."

"I like it too." Enitan said to them,

"Yippee!

I'll tell dad to secure it for us." Christabel said,

She brought out her cellphone and called her dad,

She told him how much she love the place and asked him to secure it for them,

He was more willing to do anything for them as long as she's happy.

They next week,

They paid for the two shops and other levies attached to the rent,

They got someone to clean the place up and did a few works in it like repainting and changing the lights to something more glittery and fancy.

Since the complex uses the same power line, generator and water supply

They was no need of getting a generator,

They just paid for light bill and water bill.

The machines they ordered was brought in two days after,

Thank God for home delivery,

They'd it brought to their doorstep.

They got someone who was familiar with such machineries and he gave them a few days lesson on how its being used and how it works.

Two industrial sewing machine,

Two weaving machine and a print in designer machine,

Then lastly she got two normal sewing machine.

Enitan met with a few tailors,

Two skilled Yoruba male tailors and two female tailors for starters,

Then she ordered for the materials from the market,

Everything that has to do with them starting the business,

She had everything in handy,

Male and females mannequins for displaying the clothes,

From clothes hangers to little things like buttons, cufflinks and zippers,

Everything was in handy.

In less than two months,

Everything was set for the business to kickoff,

For the opening,

Enitan invited her colleagues from work and Christabel her colleagues too them most of her friends,

Then they invited other people in the shopping complex,

Christabel's father flew from Lagos to Abuja to be at the occasion,

Enitan called Mrs. Okawe,

Even though the woman wasn't there,

Her prayers was always with Enitan,

That morning before they left home,

She talked to her mother,

The woman was proud of her, she could tell.

It started with a pastor praying and blessing the place,

Then the opening and cutting of ribbon and that was the birth of J.P Collections (June Perfect Collections)

The party began,

Enitan and Christabel sold out a lot cause everyone wanted something for themselves or for their spouses.

As the host,

They treated their guests to finger chops and drinks,

For cutting the cake,

Everyone contributed especially Chief Etuk,

He contributed a lot and while the girls danced,

He sprayed the lot of new bank notes.

The party went on and on till nightfall and everyone started leaving one after the other,

Enitan continued to thank her guests as they left,

She was so grateful to them for gracing the event with their presence.

Soon the room was less crowded,

It was just Christabel,Enitan,Christabel's father and two of the female workers,

Christabel's father finally left,

He said he'd to catch the next flight to Lagos and his flight is scheduled by ten pm,

It was just a few minutes left,

So he'd to leave.

Enitan and Christabel was about going on when one of the workers told them that someone was looking for Christabel downstairs,

She excuse herself and went downstairs to see was looking for her,

It was one of the shop owners downstairs.

"Hey,

How're you?" He asked her,

She just nodded,

"I wanted to talk to you while I came up but you seemed very busy attending to the guests,

So I thought I should wait till you guys finish up." He told her, she just nodded.

"My name is Frank from Delta State

I own the shop downstairs,

The pharmaceutical shop." He emphasized,

"I'm Christabel."

"Nice to meet you." He brought out his hand and she took it smiling,

"Welcome to Vince Gold."

He said to her and scratched his head,

She nodded,

"Thanks."

He seem like a shy person too,

Just like Enitan,

She smiled at the thought of that.

"Mind if we hand around sometimes?

There's a lot of restaurant and clubs in the area,

We should probably hang out sometime,

That’s if you don't mind.."

"I don't mind that."

"Okay give me your contact,

Let's talk on phone later on."

She called out the number for him and he saved it in his cellphone.

"Okay, I should let you go now,

Your girlfriend would be waiting for you."

She nodded,

"Good night."

Then she turned to leave,

He watched her till she had left the stairs and he heard their door open and close,

Then he turned, went out, got into his car and drove off.