BINDED IN FAKE LOVE

“Ooh Nooo!” Stephanie’s loud scream covered up the whole room. People throwing rolled papers at her, a few empty plastic bottles. She immediately rushed to put her bag over her head to shield herself from the things being thrown at her from all directions. She dodges them ,but some could still reach her knocking her hard. Oouch. She exclaimed touching her back where the bottle had just hit her. “Crack” her heels got broken as she ran. Insults from every direction in each department as she ran through the hallway “irresponsible”,”fool”, “copyright thug’’. Immediately she ran out of self confidence. She wished the ground could swallow her there and then. Who would hire such a girl? Another comment from one of Gallery Genius Company Department. Immediately she slid ,her pencil skirt splitting apart slightly from the side. She bent her head ,looking around in embarrassment. What a mess!Her hair looking so messy, people laughing like it was a comedy show. She woke up breath held tight ,her pink silk pyjamas soaked in sweat. Thank God it was just a dream. She whispered holding her pillow tight. A sigh of relief flowed within her. It was now a few minutes to the interview. She moved down her bed to use the remaining minutes as fast as she can so that she doesn’t miss out on it. Immediately her eyes locked with a pair of shoes whose sole had one side higher than the other. She nodded her head in pity. Every shoe Stephanie picked to put on for her interview had its leather peeling off. Some even had open soles at their bottoms. She opened the sole to put some glue to make them tighter, opening and pressing it with a lot of pressure to ensure the shoe was smart enough for the day's interview. The torn shoes were as a result of her walking to and from her three different side hustles that were not paying her well . She could barely afford transport sometimes and had to walk which damaged almost all her pairs of shoes. The street outside was dull. Very many expensive cabs ready to transport passengers, cars honking . The rain wetted the plants, and the smell of coffee and fries mixed in the atmosphere which she couldn't afford to have for breakfast. She swung the gate open and stepped into the street. Smoke rose from a far, emitted by the old buses at the bus park . Her bag swung against her side by side, her sketch inside but part of it outside because of its big size because it couldn't fit in her bag. Struggling to board the last overcrowded bus as it had been her everyday thing not because she wanted but that's what her account could afford to see that she doesn't miss the gallery recruitment on this particular day. She crosses to Street Avenue as the wind blew through her hair like she was too busy doing something very profitable yet she was just in a search. She thought to herself as she walked down the street if I don't get this job, how will I feed my family. This wasn't the life graduation had promised her. She had just graduated and was faced with family debts. She found a bus filled with people that she couldn't walk properly through the door to enter and she squeezed herself . Every step she took at this time reminded her a full year of sitting at home .A full year of searching for Art gallery jobs. “She was not ready for rejection. The one thing that stood in Stephanie's principles whenever she opened her art gallery was to never accept rejection but Solarest city did not care about the rules. She walked while thinking about this in her mind, more so if she wanted to meet better standards for her art gallery. This was her motivation to get herself a spot in the bus, immediately she settles her GPS attempts to alert her on the directions "300 Hun…" the GPS voice vanished before she could hear how many more kilometres left. It was so loud that everyone in the bus could hear it. The crowd went silent, her neighbours looking at her. Her papers almost slipping out. She ignored their reactions. Right now what mattered was to reach the recruitment place but now her GPS was off and time was running fast. The cars that luckily knew their destinations passed their bus. The GPS was no more to direct her where exactly they were. She did not know the direction where the office interview was going to be. Too many big signposts some covering locations others making it hard to see where she was. She looked into her bag looking for the address of where the interview was going to take place, pushing items inside her bag, ignoring her elbow knocking those behind her. It was all in vain. She could not find it. Lucky enough a passenger close to her was going to the same place, she overheard her speak on the phone and she followed silently. She feared to ask because the passenger was dressed well than she had. It was her and her worn out shoe. On her way out of the bus, she catches sight of a big poster marked “GALLERY GENIUS COMPANY LIMITED “ the way she had seen it in her dreams welcoming her. Her heart skept abit. At this point she was just at the entrance of the company. Immediately the videos of her that were trending of her taking part in a house party drunk and another of her allegedly taking part in taking over someone’s gallery copyright flashed in her mind. All these were edited and were surely manipulated more than enough to convince the company not to take her at all. The short clips were only of someone who was almost her look alike but it wasn’t her. She was not the kind of person that boozes. She had even never reached the level of owning a copyright at all Still having high hopes she moved as fast as her legs could take her she reached the office. The office was filled with so much posh and luxurious art paintings hanged on the deep cream smooth wall which seemed to have been made with a lot of perfection and expertise. She stared at the pictures wondering if she could ever get close to this at all. Across the glass door were high class clients dressed in expensive tuxedo tailored suits taking part in a bid. She stood silent looking at them and comparing herself to them. I don't belong here, she thought. She reached for the door, her palms sweating, breathing heavily where the recruiter was in his office. There he was sited and facing his back at her as if he didn't know someone was in. She stood glanced at the chair and the recruiter about three times. It was as if he was teasing her around. ‘Won’t you sit down or my chairs are too good for you to sit.” The arrogant recruiter in the human resource department asked. “Tha ……Thank you.” said Stephanie as she shivered. He said judging from her dress code. The recruiter pushed his rolling office sit closer asking” You are Stephanie,” asked the recruiter ‘’yes it's me’’. Stephanie replied looking down. “Okay what do you have to present to me and what makes you think you will qualify?” asked the arrogant recruiter She rushed for the envelope to pull out her portfolio who knows it could redeem her out of poverty. She bent over her hand stretching for the handle of her bag where the envelope was. She opened the envelope the dusty old particles of the wood falling. The cheap wood of her portfolio sketched art was betraying her as it was not any close to the one on the walls around her, could this be immediate rejection. “Next…….” The recruiter shouted to call in the next person in line. She reached for the door looking around for a chair where she could sit down outside waiting, maybe she would be called back after everyone is done. Before she could even spot a chair, the receptionist passed on the message immediately to her. Her chest tightened, short of breath as though the receptionist’s words were chocking her, she left immediately. Her head tilted to the ground ,slow footsteps , down the coastal rocky estate of Solarest she heard a voice in her ,all she would remember “was we regret to inform you…….” A pedestrian greeted her but she was overtaken by the voice. The people in the estate who saw her graduate could hardly recognize her as a graduate as one of the men on the street made a statement that people who studied that discipline are never rich. It was as though hey we're adding salt to her already injured wound minutes ago. The city was filled with tourists moving around, others pointing , others laughing at funny sketches and paintings . She stared as they loaded sketches on a lorry from the far opposite side where she was.? The city watched her coming back very invisible as if it already knew no one would recognize her. But how true was it? Across the road was her small art gallery, she had reached home. She reached for the door opened and determined to sketch as her night schedule had always been. She grabbed her pencil, started to sketch and then paint for that night. Overtaken by her task there she was sitting in her small gallery empty with unsold paintings, peeling walls, flickering lights and overdue rent notices. She was sketching late night , some sketches discarded on the side of the table due to lack of exposure. She kept sketching a picture of a young girl holding a flag symbolizing victory which she was even sure no one was going to buy as she had hardly seen a customer for quite a long time. The day went and she headed out the next day in the afternoon for her other side hustle. At work it was now lunch break at the company art gallery, there she was sited pretending to be on her phone because she couldn't afford lunch. The room next to hers there were people in the corporate company she was working for who were tossing and dining at lunch were eating a variety of foods. Cheers guys. One of them shouted as he invited others to toss their glasses. While she goes through her phone she discovers the only marketer she uses to market at her own has left the art gallery because it can no longer pay him . Very determined and undisturbed she got hold of the company book records and started running her eyes through them as she aligned each item on each price with a red pen circling the profits with her head overtaken in her book. She is then distracted by people making noise and running. “Stephanie, Stephanie someone's looking for you”, they just vandalized your art gallery and they are claiming when they get you they won't spare you.’’ Someone outside shouted. She rushed through the backdoor of the company art gallery where she met her boss who commanded her.” Please put these out She looks wondering whether to go out and put the gallery boards there and they see her or she continues hiding for her safety. The cars park and break in sync all at once a sign of danger coming her way. They ask where she was. The boss asks who they are looking for?