The sound of car horns permeated the still Lagos air. It had been raining for about a week but the nights were hot and uncomfortable. Rissa adjusted her weight in her seat between a young man and an elderly woman at the back of the bus. The bus was crammed to the teeth. The conductor had instructed that five passengers were to be seated per row. It was one of those Volkswagen ancient buses. Despite the terrible inconvenience, the bus driver was charging 300 naira from Obalende to Yaba. Ordinarily it should have cost about 150 naira but this is Lagos and taking advantage of precarious situations was the order of the day.

“Oga please shift small, the metal part of the seat is what I’m sitting on” complained a lady sitting on the detachable sit beside the door.

“Shift to where? You see space for here?” the man replied angrily and hissed.

The lady not surprised at his outburst replied angrily as well. “I can clearly see the space between your legs you used to put your bag. You can afford to shift.”

“See this rubbish girl oh, na me send you make you fat? The space wey you sit down for, two people fit stay there. Abeg nor give me stress oh!” He looked menacing in the dim glow from the tiny bulb hanging from the headliner of the bus. Some of the passengers just ignored the man’s insults and just watched on for drama. “You shouldn’t have spoken to her like that oga.” Rissa piped up. She hated how these men unabashedly abused fat women. Other voices joined in to criticise the rude man’s behaviour. After a threatening warning from the conductor, the man eventually shifted. The lady thanked the other passengers in the bus while the man hissed.

It was a common habit in Lagos for people to fat shame women who weren’t as slim as others. Sometimes, they would be refused entry into the bus on the ground that they could only ride the bus if they agreed to pay for two seats because of their size. Rissa had experienced her own share of embarrassing moments on buses. She was just counting down the days till her entry level position would become junior asset manager so she could afford her own car and avoid the insults.

The bus crawled slowly in the traffic. It took about three hours before she could finally get home. I need to either leave this country or move closer to the Island, Rissa thought to herself as she climbed the stairs to her room.

Rissa had studied estate management in the University. She was one of the ‘lucky’ ones who got a good job for their NYSC placements. Shortly after her service year she was retained at Sunrise Capital. She did market research for investments in Nigeria. She lived at Alagomeji in Yaba with her aunt’s family. After a quick shower she checked her email notifications. Another debit alert from Guaranteed Trust Bank, 150 naira for SMS fees, but it’s not even close to the end of the month; Rissa groaned inwardly. She had to get some extra money before the end of that week. She had spent a considerable sum of her savings on transport and her last month’s salary had been used to purchase a new prosthetic leg for her younger brother Raymond. Her mum worked as a nurse at Luth. Her dad was a retired Construction Engineer. Combining his pension and her mum’s salary would not be enough to get him the prosthtic leg he needed so she had volunteered to pitch in.

A call from Anwuli snapped her out of her reverie. “Babe I’m close to that Dominos at Yaba, I’m meeting up with Mark from that Insense shipping company.” She said hurriedly. “Hi Anwuli, I’m sure you’re fine, I’m fine too thanks for asking.” Rissa replied sarcastically. “Aunty I’m sorry, I’m just a bit nervous, that’s all.”

Rissa huffed. “You! Anwuli! Nervous to see a man, why?”

“He’s the German guy I told you about “Anwuli cried impatiently.

“Is this a work related meet up?” Rissa asked

Anwuli exhaled and then responded, “not exactly.” “Their company has my firm on retainer. He came to the office for a meeting recently and my department is handling a dispute they were having with NIMASA. He sort of took an interest in me after that but this is the first time I’m meeting him outside the office.” she sighed.

It dawned on Rissa that Anwuli was interested in this guy.

“You’re beautiful and brilliant Anwuli, I don’t think you have anything to be worried about” Rissa said in an encouraging voice.

“Thanks dear, my dad also can’t know I’m meeting up with foreign men at night.” She trailed off lauging.

Anwuli’s dad is a retired Brigadier General in the Army. He was quite cotrolling about her movements. While her mom worked at NNPC so she was relatively comfortable financially. She had her own car because of her dad’s grouse with the Lagos public transport system. She lived with her parents. She was one of Rissa’s best friends.

“You’re welcome dear. Let me know when you’re done. I could use some Cold Stone Ice Cream tonigh.” Rissa said running her hands through her short braids.”

As soon as the call ended, messages from Olamide, Selene and Ediseh popped up. The girls had made a group chat where they could keep tabs on each other easily.

Rissa logged in to her Upwork account to search for jobs. Rissa was a pretty good graphics illustrator. In her spare time at the university she learnt graphics designing. She loved how proficient she was at using Adobe photoshop for her illustrations. She made book covers and arts for writers on writing platforms. Selene was the only person she did free graphics for.

She scrolled through the messages. Olamide had registered all the girls for the GT Bank Fashion Weekend. She was contracted to help with the set up for the event. The girls all seemed excited to be going. Rissa didn’t particularly love these fashion shows.

They made her more self-conscious of her weight and she didn’t need that right now. She feigned some excuse about not being able to attend which was partially true. She needed to finish a report she had started earlier that day at the office and she would love to use the office Wi-Fi for her Upwork job hunting. The girls seemed bummed that she wouldn’t be able to make it.

Thirty minutes after she started drawing the characters in her new comic she dozed off. She didn’t realise she had slept off on her table till her 4a.m alarm rang.

She bolted off the table and immediately felt the strain in her neck. She tried to massage her neck. It was quite stiff. She moved gingerly to her bed and propped her pillow under her chin. The next time she saw colours, It was 8;30 am.

“Hey 8:30!” Rissa groaned and got out of bed.

Rissa hurried through her shower and breakfast. Placing her tab carefully in her bag, she set off for the office.

The roads were relatively traffic free, she said a quick thank you prayer to God as she stepped in to the gate.

“Madam, good morning” Musa the gateman greeted.

“Good Morning Musa, have a great day” Rissa replied.

She took the steps to her office floor. She stepped in, a couple people were in. The accounts manager in the pensions department and some of his team members seemed to be having some team meeting. She walked to her department office and sat at her desk. Put in the office wifi password on her tab and placed it on the table as she got to work on her report.

Rissa you need to leave here before 2 pm , she said to herself. She started the report and within three hours she had made considerable progress. She finished by 1 and did her final proofreading before sending it to her department head.

“Clarissa” a slightly unfamiliar voice called. Rissa turned, searching for the strange voice calling her by her full name. No one called her Clarissa, not even her parents.

A tall, dark bespectacled man was walking towards her with his eyes trained on her. She racked her brain for its database of faces. He was the new regional manager. She mentally face palmed herself. He had resumed earlier that week.

“Good afternoon sir.” She greeted politely. The man was easily in his late twenties, younger than the previous regional manager. How he knew her name she didn’t understand.

“Oh please no need to be so formal,” he said with a slight Yoruba accent.

“Alright then, hello Mr Adekunle.” He extended his hand for her to shake , she shook him but his grip lingered just enough to make her a bit uncomfortable.

“What are you doing in the office on a Saturday?” He chuckled softly.

“I just had a few things to tidy up. I was about to leave.” Rissa did not like how he was sizing her up. He licked his lips indiscreetly.

“Would you mind discussing some files with me. I’ve been told you are the research wiz in your department.” He said with his eyes trained on her chest. Rissa was becoming even more uncomfortable with the turn of events.

“Sir, if you don’t mind we could discuss them on Monday.” Rissa replied warily, the office was eerily quiet...

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