🌻🌼

She felt a cold shiver course through her body and tried to pull the blanket closer to her chest, but it wouldn't pull up as much as she would like. Slowly, her eyes lazily fluttered open, and she reached down once more to pull the blanket further up her chest. She shut her eyes to continue her sleep.

Unexpectedly, her eyes flickered open, and she looked down at herself. Her dress wasn't on her. Fearfully, she barely lifted the blanket and, in a gasp, she held it close to her chest once she realised she was naked. Her thoughts were in disarray and she couldn't make out why she was naked. Looking around, she realised she was in an unfamiliar room. She felt a splitting headache come in and puzzles of memories from last night popped up.

Looking at her present situation, Genevieve had a theory. Second by second, panic seeped in as she hoped what she was thinking wouldn't be the truth. Yet, she steadily made a turn to her side.

A louder gasp escaped her lips, and she was quick to cover her mouth with both her hands. A strange man laid by her side sound asleep, naked as she was.

Her heart raced within her chest as she recognised the stranger from last night, but how... how she ended up in a room with him was what she couldn't wrap her head around. She must have been dead drunk. Carefully, she made her way off the bed without waking him up. Gene wasted no more time as she searched around for her clothing; and once she had gathered them, she put them on.

She picked her purse off the bedside table and spared the stranger one last glance. He'd barely made a move and she couldn't help getting a closer look at his face; something she hadn't done the moment they met. He was averagely handsome and seemed young. How young?

Suddenly, Genevieve shook her head to rid herself of useless thoughts. What does it matter? She will never run into him ever again. Quick, she turned away and carefully made her way towards the door. She couldn't help but notice the luggage that sat at the entrance of the closet, and she wondered if he lived there. Regardless, she quietly stepped out of the room and silently shut the door after her.

A light sigh left her lips once she was out and only after she looked left and right down the hallway did she realise she was in a hotel. Each lookalike door had a room number. She gulped down in terror. Drawing in a deep breath, she began her steps towards the hallway and out of shame; she avoided making eye contact with anyone she came across. Once in the lobby, a few things seemed familiar; but not until she stopped in front of the lounge she had walked into last night did she realise she was still in the same hotel.

She felt disgusted with herself. Had this been his plan all along? To get her in his bed?

Seated in her car, she shut her eyes for a moment and the memory of them together pushed back. Quick, she flickered them open as fear gripped her. She didn't like the idea of having such a memory with a stranger. Genevieve hated the fact that she had let that happen. She had always been pitiful to herself, but now, what she had done was simply sad.

Second, by the second, the tears gathered her eyes and eventually rolled down. What horrible mistake has she committed? Her gaze drifted to the time frame in her car and they gradually widened at the numbers she saw.

"Shoot! I'm so late!" She exclaimed as she quickly wiped the tear stains off her cheeks and eyes. Quickly, she started her car and made a reverse out of her parking space.

Nearly twenty minutes later, she was held up in a traffic jam. The worst there could be. Over the years, she'd figured out a bit of how the traffic hold up in Lagos worked, although it's never really constant. For her, she would wake up every working day as early as 4a.m. and by 5 a.m., she was ready to leave her apartment. What are the benefits? She gets to work right before the morning traffic gets clogged.

Gene tapped her fingers anxiously over her steering wheel. She kept stretching her neck over it and staring further towards the lines of cars ahead of her. Time was running out and she couldn't show up at work looking the way she does at the moment. She wondered if there was even a slightest space for her to squeeze her car into, which queue moved faster. Is she even going to make it to work today?

A scorching hour later, Gene had barely moved. The fuel was draining, so she turned off the air conditioner and wind down the car windows. She spared her wristwatch a glance, and it was well thirty minutes past nine. The car ahead of her moved and by the time Gene tried to move as well, a danfo bus intervened. She honked loudly and continuously at it, unconsciously taking out her frustration and anger at the same time. In the end, the bus successfully intercepted, and she hissed at their ill manners of driving.

No matter how hopeful she would like to be, Gene is stuck in this traffic jam where movement is like that of a snail's. There's no turning back and there's no intercepting into another route. She took out her phone and dialled a close fellow employee's number.

It rang a few times. Eventually, she picked it. "Hello? Doris... H-Hello?" Gene called, but the voice on the other side was a little muffled up.

Damn networks.

She disconnected the call and redialled.

"Hello." Doris' voice came through clearer and Gene felt relieved to hear it. "Doris, it's Genevieve." She spelt out for her. Doris was one of her close acquaintances at work, but after work hours, there was hardly anything that got them chatting away or calling each other, so it felt like she had to state who she was.

"Gene?" Doris repeated with a little surprise. "Where are you? Are you coming in today or..."

"Yes, yes I am." Gene was quick to respond. "I..." She shut her eyes for a moment to recollect her thoughts, forcing the memory of the past night and every thought associated with it to the back of her mind. It's the past, and she was going to let the past be in the past. Life moves on.

"... I'm going to be there. I'm held up at a traffic jam; so if anyone asks of me, please let them know I'll be running a little late today." She assured her and waited to hear a response from the other side.

"Alright. I'll do that." Doris eventually added. Gene felt much relieved and grateful.

"Thank you. Alright, bye."

"Bye," Doris added, and the call got disconnected right after that. A little after 10 a.m., Gene arrived home and ran her way up the stairs, towards her apartment. The moment she got in and locked the door after her, she began undressing till she walked into the room. She spared her reflection a glance through the mirror that hung on the bathroom wall.

Pathetic. The word echoed in her head. She shook her head as she lowered her eyes, an attempt to ignore any thought that threatened to spring up. Gene reached her ears for her stud earrings and took them off one after the other as fast as she could, then reached for her necklace, but it wasn't there.

She lifted her eyes back to her reflection and took a step closer to it. Her neck was bare. The small chain necklace she had on last night was nowhere to be found. How? Did she lose it or perhaps... her eyes widened and her shoulders slumped.

Please Lord, let it be that I didn't forget it in that stranger's room.