The beautiful one

Chapter one. As she walked swiftly through dugbe market, on her long, slim leg,yinka knew that all male eyes were upon her. she did not need to glance up. for ever since she was sixteen she had suffered from what she called,'too much unwanted attention from the opposite sex.'. I don't know how you can complain about it ,her friend, tunde ,had told her one day, when they were reading at U I.I .I wish I suffered from the same complaint;and tunde sighed, for she was a plain girl and she knew it. Not for her the easy conquest; a boy really had to like her personality before he became attracted to her.if you only knew, tunde ,how I wished I were like you. don't you see that you only attract boys who really like you,the real inside you?whereas with me, they take one look at my face and don't care about the real me.'yinka to sighed and returned to her studying. By now,she was adept at avoiding most of the straying hands that tried to touch her as she passed. she was in a hurry today and little beads of sweat had broken out on her smooth forehead as she hurried alone the rough, muddy path.she was wishing that she had not put on her one really good pair of shoes, for now they were covered in red mud and she was sure the leather on the heel would be scuffed up. But she had so wanted to look her smartest this afternoon. She had taken great care with her hair, and it was lying smooth across her head,ending in little curls at the nape of her lovely, straight neck.she had put on her best pair of gold earrings, which her mother and father had given her on her twenty- first birthday last month.The bodice of her pale mauve dress clung to the soft ,full rounds of her breasts, while her skirt fanned out in knife-edged pleats which swung as she walked. Her shoe were of a darker shade of mauve and the matching envelope bag hung from her shoulder on a slender strap.it started to rain again,and yinka cursed her folly in not bringing her umbrella because it did not match her dress and would have spoilt her outfit.'oh well.I have only myself to blame,'she said to herself as she broke into a run. 'Now I shall arrive wet and hot and sticky instead of looking cool and sophisticated as I wished.' she glanced at her neat, and pretty watch on her slim wrist,another present from her parents.