"My, it's such a pleasure to meet you!" "Heavens, I would have come by yesterday, but I had gotten caught up in a Lil something with the family." "This is so exciting." " I'm Hypheena, by the way!" The woman screeches excitedly, bouncing up and down.
Janine eyeballs her studying the woman's facial features. She's a wonderful woman with beautiful Indian texture hair and dark melanin but glowed with it. "Here you go!" Startled, Janine steps back as a cake or pie is put in her face.
"What?" Janine questions, one eyebrow tilted up as she stares down at the product. While she can admit it did look tasty, rule number 1 back home crossed her mind. Never let a stranger feed you food. 'This cake might look sweet but can kill my ass.'
Hypheena smile dims a little bit as she watches Janine stare at the pastry.
"Well, go on take it now, yere looked as if I poison it," Hypheena stiffens when Janine looks up at her eyes narrowing as if she was trying to look for something.
Hypheena could only think that Janine was an intense woman. Janie, on the other hand, shook herself out of defense mode. However, after hearing her thoughts come out of Hypheenia's mouth ain't any way she was eating this. However, to not upset the woman, she accepts the pastry with a fake smile plastering her face.
Hypheena, on the other hand, was happy her pastry was accepted, and a smile once again returned to her face. "I hope you enjoy Ms," Hypheena says but pauses when she realizes she doesn't know Janine's name.
"Janine"
"Janine, my, that's such a pretty name," Hypheena exclaims. Janine couldn't understand how one person could smile so much. 'Her face should hurt like hell all that damn stretching.' One thing she did understand, though that the woman in front of her was unusual. However, Janine was a sweet person, so she moved out of her doorway to invite the woman in. "Would you like to come in?"
Hypheena nods frantically as she follows Janine into her house. When they finally enter, Janine shuts the door, but not before looking out there one more time for any other neighbors. She always thought things like neighbors delivering goodies to other neighbors only happened in movies. Maybe a book?
She pours the pot of oolong tea into the two teacups as Hypheena walks around looking at the house. Hypheena staring causes Janine to become a little uncomfortable, and she decides to tell the woman, "You can have a seat, and don't look around too much.
"You might run into something that'll scare you."
Her voice came out more forceful than she had intended, and Hypheena took a seat at the barstool. Sadden that her sightseeing had come to an end, but it disappears when the most delicious fragrance whips her noise.
Janine had placed a cup of oolong in front of her. Janine smiles a little when she sees the woman's eyes sparkle over the drink. They both take a sip, and Hypheena's taste buds melt. "So delicious, tell me what brand so you buy," Hypheena questions?
"I grew the tea leaves," Janine says, and Hypheena's eyes widen, "Really?" Janine smiles, sitting across as she tells her, "Yea, I don't believe in buying artificial tea."
"OH my, well, I do say that you have garden tools for hands," Janine looks at her, confuse. Was Hypheena trying to offend her? She could only think that the Lil woman better slows her roll before she gets a slap. As if Hypheena could read her mind, she quickly defends her statement.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I was saying you're blessed with the gardening skills." Hypheena eyes linger across the kitchen walls, noticing all the chef man collectors and wine pictures. Janine's thoughts ran loose watching Hypheena eyes trace her kitchen. She wondered why the hell she had to stare so much! Is she trying to judge?
Janine hopes it isn't that fact, even though it wouldn't be surprising. Motherfuckers stayed trying to judge her. They always had something to say, and it was never anything nice. Jealousy is a hell of a drug. Janine felt her defense building back up.
"Wow, your decor is amazing!" What? Just like that, the wall shattered as Janine stared at the woman before her. She wasn't expecting a compliment. Sure her decoration or her Decor was considerable of elegance, but hearing it come from the woman that looks like she lives in flowers and roses touched her soul.
'Well, I'll be damn glad to see that she has good taste,' Janine thinks as she smiles in agreement.
The two talked for the next hours over tea and a cup of wine. They also shared some biscuits that Janine had prepared. Hypheena was interested in the gardening products and the recipes for Janine's earl gray. They joked and laughed, and Janine strangely felt herself opening more to Hypheena.
The woman had a calming aura that gave of a sense of superiority yet welcoming nature. In other words, Janine thought she had finally found a friend to share her thoughts with. Well, some of them.
"So you say you're in sales," Hypheena questions taking the biscuit off the platter. She takes a bite chewing it, and swallowing before continuing. "What type of sales are you in?" Janine played with one of the dry biscuits. She does not understand how Hypheena could request such nasty food. The biscuits were not like any biscuits she'd ever tasted.
Hypheena clears her throat, making Janine look up at her, well glare at her. "I'm sorry you weren't answering; it seemed to be in your Lil world." Janine could only think that her mind was constantly racing or plotting, but Hypheena didn't need to know that.
"I own my own business." "It's a decor business there. We focus on decorating or promoting different products for decorations." Janine answers, finishing off the rest of her red wine.
"OH my, so have you ever promoted Tamisha Decorations?" Hypheena asks eagerly to know. Janine cringed that treacherous company she took their ass to court one year. Janine's company was hired to sell a product; once the sales kicked in, Tanisha's crooked-ass dealers didn't drop her coin.
Although all this shit went down, it never became a candy eye to the public view under law's order. "Yeah, my company dealt with them but never again; their products are a waste of value." Hypheena face contorted in defense.
"That's such a shame they have such magnificent products," Hypheena says, finishing up her last little bit of red wine. "Agree to disagree," Janine snaps back. She sounded rude even though she didn't mean to, but Hypheena looked over the time in her voice.
Janine was happy with that fact; sometimes, she could be vulgar. However, it doesn't mean to sound intentional. It's just her personality. History and history of trauma and pain with only a few blessing memories build her into the woman she is today. Angry, maybe, Strict, possibly? However, Janine had a good heart and would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.
"Are you married," Hypheena asks, referring to the ring on Janine's finger? Janine's thumb and index finger play with the ring twisting it. "No, it belongs to my mother." Janine pauses before continuing, "She's deceased, so is my father."
The ring she wore in remembering her parents was a golden ring with a red ruby in the middle. It is a family generation ring passed down from Mimi to her mother; now, the rings lie with her. Hypheena clears her throat before muttering, and I'm sorry to hear that.
Janine scoffs; she doesn't like when people feel sorry for her. What were they sorry for? They had nothing to do with anything that happened to her. "Don't worry about it." That was all Janine could say. The atmosphere was awkward for a few minutes until Janine asked, "What about you?"
Hypheena looks up from her cup, one eyebrow raised as she clocks her head to the side, "Excuse me?"
Slow is all Janine could think as she tells Hypheena, "Are you married?" Now that Janine feels about it as she observes the ring on the woman's ring finger. Hypheena's face held a faint smile as she twisted her ring. Somehow through that smile, Janine saw sadness.
'I think I hit a nerve, but she was all up in my business!' Janine thinks as Hypheena tells her, "Yes, mam, I'm married." "I'm sure you've already met my husband," Hypheena says, the smile reappearing on her face. Only this time, it felt forced.
Wait for what? Janine couldn't wait a minute; could she mean Demarcus? 'Holy shit, wait a minute, she was the woman that got out of the car. God damn how on earth she managed to tame someone like him!' Noticing her questioning approach, Hypheena quickly rephrases her statement to a more appropriate suggestion.
"My husband's name is Demarcus." "You spoke with him yesterday; at least that's what he said,"
Hypheena mumbles something under her breath.
"OH yeah, the neighborhood watchdog, I did speak with him pretty nice and Handsome too."
"That man ain't no neighborhood watch!" "Truth be told, Janine, he wouldn't be able to watch a dog," Janine laughs at that.
"Come on now, he ain't that bad?" Janine questions, curious. For the first time since the woman been here, she'd heard her cuss. "Shiiit Janine, who you are telling? " "I live with that their man; he can barely watch his ass." Janine bust out laughing; it was funny hearing Hypheena cuss, especially since the accent and good news of her voice didn't fit in with vulgar language.
"Well, most women would kill to have a man like that. He seems very loving." "You're a lucky girl," Janine tells her after letting out a few more hearty laughs, picking up her and Hypheena plates and cups. "Yea, lucky girl," Hypheena says, mocking Janine. Janine looks at her. It wasn't the type of mockery to offend. It was more of an irony.
Janine wasn't about to pry. She had never been the noisy type, and she wasn't going to start now. She washes the dishes, but throughout the whole thing, he couldn't help but wander over to stare at the middle-aged woman. 'Look at her. She's just all depressed all of a sudden! Maybe she could use a good talking to. Wait, what am I thinking? That ain't none of my business!'
Janine contemplated whether or not she should talk to the woman, but before she could come up with her solution, Hypheena spoke up.
"Can I tell you something?"
Fuck! Is all Janine was able to process no backing out now.