MARIA

The call from a potential customer woke Julie, she rolled down from the bed and crawled to the wooden table where she had kept her phone a night before with half of her eyes closed. She stretched her right arm and after a lot of searching, she finally got a hold of her cell phone. "Hello." She whispered holding her forehead because of the slight pains she felt.

"Is this Julie's Apparels?" A voice asked from over the phone.

"Yes, I am." She whispered almost silently.

"I need you here at your store urgently, I have a dress I need to get done as soon as possible."

Julie took the phone off her ear and clicked on the screen to check for the time, the light from the phone screen shone into her big eyes and she closed it sharply then opened it again to check the time. "It's still 7 in the morning." She whispered back to the caller.

"I know, but please, just do this for me."

"I don't open until ten in the morning." Julie persisted.

"Stop acting stubborn, I will pay you whatever you want, just name your price."

At the mention of money, Julie's sleepy eye opened wide. "I will join you in the next forty minutes." She said and rushed over to the bathroom and dressed shabbily the way she used to, but she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and remembered her "new me" resolution. So, she changed her clothes into a fancy a dress, made use of the skin care products she has purchased a night before and applied a hot chocolate lip gloss on her lips. As she smacked her lips together and looked at herself through the mirror, she realized how beautiful she really is, and deserved more than her crazy ex.

Her phone brought her back to reality when it rang out loud again. "Yes?" She asked as she placed her palm on her forehead still.

"It's forty minutes already and you are not here yet."

"I will be there in the next few minutes." She hanged up, not promising a particular time purposely. She exhaled deeply and whispered to herself. "What's the worse that can happen anyways, I have lost the things I held dearly to my heart."

***********

Julie started rejecting her actions immediately she arrived at her store, she held her clutch bag firmly in one hand and clinched her fist tightly with the other. To what benefit will it be to keep humiliating me? She asked in her mind. From where she stood, her ex best friend and boyfriend looked like a heap of rubbish. They stood in front of the car Daniel had brought to her store a day earlier. "Pathetic bastards." She cursed beneath her breath and approached them.

"Look who's here!" Maria exclaimed scornfully. "What? You already transformed you old wrinkled body to something appealing to the eyes."

"There must be some guy deceiving you again." Daniel lowered his voice and looked straight into her eyes. "Just like how I deceived you for five years and lived on you." He giggled. "It was so fun to do that."

"You can say that again." Julie said with a soft smile. "Seeing both of you stand side by side reminds me of the irony I learnt in literature." She faced Maria."Do you think this thing here will marry you?" She pointed to Daniel with her middle finger.

"Are you trying to play games now bitch? Because you know I have the man you want but can never have?" She smirked.

"Well, enjoy spending my money, it's going to run out soon." She placed her palm on her cheek and pulled it gently a few times. "Let's see how you are going to afford to pay for your organic skin care products and keep buying the Gucci bags."

"Get those crazy hands off me." Maria hit her hands and wore a very dangerous frown on her face. "Baby, let's go."

"Come on, don't be petty, even though you are still spending my money, let's us manage to keep to business and learn to stand on your words. Pay me the money as planned, my time is money." She looked at Daniel In an irritating manner. "I am not like some crazy fools who has no job than to humiliate someone who is doing better than them."

"So you going to run your mouth, yeah?" Maria asked a bit fired up.

"Stop it." Daniel cautioned her. "Just give her some money and let's go." He whispered in her ears.

Maria sneered at him and reluctantly gave Julie a bundle of money before walking briskly back to the car.

"I could have own a house and car to myself, even upgraded my store and go on vacations if I had kept all my money to myself." Julie ranted as she watched Maria walk to the car.

"Fuck you bitch." Daniel cursed and walked back to the car.

"Your girlfriend's pussy bastard." Julie said it loud and clear enough for them both to hear.

As soon as the car drove away, she rushed into her store, and started weeping profusely. She had managed to hold herself out there, because crying in front of an enemy is the worse thing ever. "She even called me out in the morning to humiliate me?" She asked and weeped more. "I shouldn't have even asked her for the money, it's just so embarrassing, how did I manage not to recognize her voice over the phone?" There was a knock on the door and she looked to see who it was.

"Can I come in?!" The lady from a day earlier asked. Julie nodded and she walked in.

"Good morning." Julie murmured wiping her tears off with the back of her palms.

"You said you were going to be here in forty minutes, but it took you an hour and some minutes."

Julie's eyes widened, she was confused, what was happening? Maria wasn't the one who called her earlier that day? "You were the one who called me?" She asked again to be sure.

"Of course I was." The lady nodded and shook her head as if she saw something surprising. "Wow! You look like a queen today, very different from what I saw yesterday."

Julie shyly rubs her palm on her head, "really?"

"You look so beautiful." The lady looked round the store. "All you have to do is to upgrade this place. I have someone that can help you with the decor."

Julie lips widened in a smile. "What is your name?"

"Oh! Forgive my manners!" She stretched forth her hand for an handshake. "My name is Eve."