Gabby walked into the dining hall and almost made a U-turn back to her room. Sitting at the far end of the room was Mary and some girls, probably her friends. She was not in the mood for a confrontation today; she just wanted her day to start well.
She turned and was about to make her way back to her room, but on second thought, she had not harmed anyone; she had only tried to help, although the situation had gone awry. So why should she feel ashamed or have to run away from another person?
With her head held high, she made her way to the counter to place her order, after which she received a notification beep alerting her when her order was ready.
She turned to survey the room for a place to sit for breakfast but was surprised to see that the hall was almost full compared to the previous day, except for two empty seats by the door, which she hated the most.
She sighed and made her way toward the remaining seats, but someone else had the same idea as her and was already seated in her intended seat halfway into her journey. She turned to head to the other seat, and boom, someone else was already seated there too.
She sighed again and turned around to see if anyone was almost done with their meal, but everyone seemed relaxed, chatting, and enjoying their meals.
Suddenly, she heard a voice calling her name. She turned to the direction of the voice and noticed that it was Mary, the event director from the previous day, who was calling her.
Mary was mouthing some words and making some weird
She shook her head at the gesture but smiled in gratitude and turned to make her way back to the counter to change her order for the food to be delivered to her room. She was not going to put herself in the midst of unknown people, which would make her very uncomfortable.
She wondered why Mary had beckoned her to join her table. She hated being in uncomfortable situations; she was not one to freely relate to people, except when it had to do with business, which required professionalism, and that she was very good at.
Upon reaching the counter, her beep vibrated, signaling that her order was ready. She was about to request the meal to be packaged and delivered to her room when she felt someone standing very close to her.
She turned and was about to inquire about the unwanted closeness when she noticed that the offender was Mary, who smiled at her. She returned the smile but raised her brows in question as to why she was standing so close to her.
"Hello," she waved. "I and my friends," she gestured to the group of ladies sitting at the far end of the hall, "would like you to sit with us. I noticed that all the seats are occupied; it has not always been like that, but because of the weather conditions, people are much—"
"So sorry about yesterday; I was under a lot of pressure, and I know I might have acted rudely toward you at some point. You have to understand from my perspective, a worker had been injured, I had panicked, and had not handled things properly. I sincerely apologize."
"So you will be sitting with us, right? We would really enjoy your company," she said, while staring at Gabby with her eyes wide open with expectation.
Gabby stared at her in bewilderment; the lady sure had a working tongue. She had rattled through her words like water. What a wonder, thought Gabby.
She sighed and was about to reject her offer when the waiter came with her tray of food, which Mary snatched. Gabby groaned in frustration at any of this; she really hated people touching her things.
She grabbed her tray from Mary and turned to head to the table where the group was seated. She ignored Mary, who was trailing behind her, smiling cheekily like a goof.
Upon reaching the table, she made her way to the empty seat remaining and got herself seated before saying a quick hello to the people seated around her, then proceeding to enjoy her breakfast because she was really hungry.
A few spoons into eating, she realized that the table was very quiet. She raised her head and noticed five pairs of eyes staring at her. She was really confused as to why they were staring at her unless they did not appreciate her sitting with them.
She turned to look at Mary with accusing eyes; she had been the one to drag her into this, saying her friends would really like for her to join them at the table. Mary just smiled, cleared her throat, and introduced her to the group.
"Guys, this is Gabrielle," she paused and turned to look at Gabby for confirmation. Gabby just kept staring at her until she asked.
"Gabrielle, right?" to which Gabby nodded in confirmation.
"Yes, guys, this is Gabrielle, and Gabrielle, these are her friends," she pointed first to the dark-skinned girl, who was African American, and called her "Alessi." Next, she gestured to a pretty-looking Asian girl, "Clara." The next was a Korean girl, "Kim," and the fourth girl was an American girl, "Alexander." They all waved at Gabby, who felt the need to reintroduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Gabrielle Lawson, CEO of Gabriel Fashion Closet and also the head of Lawson Enterprise," she said.
"Damn girl, hold on a sec," the dark-skinned girl exclaimed, with her eyes as round as a soccer ball and her mouth wide open. The rest of the girls had similar expressions, except Mary, who was laughing her ass off.
"Chill, babe, I had that same expression too when I met her yesterday. I was confused as hell when I had a conversation with her; she's the girl I told you guys about.
"She is?" asked Alessi. "She looks prettier than your description, her friend. But she talks funnier, and that you failed to mention," she said, laughing like a broken engine.
Gabby, on the other hand, was confused as hell; she did not know what she said wrong. Her confusion must be evident on her face because the dark-skinned girl (she did not know why she kept referring to her as that, not that she was not good with names or so) turned to her and asked.
"Sweetie, do you go around introducing yourself that way?" she quizzed.
"Yeah, what's wrong with that? That's who I am."
"Nuh huh, babe, you don't do that at all. It makes you sound bitchy."
Gabby shrugged and said, "I have heard that a lot of times. But why do I have to demean myself for other people? I know who I am. That is just who I am; I worked hard for that, and I'm meant to be proud of myself. So why do I have to please others and not myself?"
"Damn, I like this girl already," Alessi said.
"Shut your mouth, Alessi," Kim retorted. She then turned to face Gabby. "Yeah, you worked hard for that. No one is telling you not to be proud of that, but first impressions really matter a lot, don't you think so too?" she asked.
Gabby nodded her head in affirmation because she could totally agree with that, but that still didn't tell her what was wrong with how she introduced herself.
She turned to the group and asked, "But what was wrong with my self-introduction?"
They all had surprised expressions on their faces; Kim's a
She sighed and slumped in her seat. Socializing was just not her thing; that was why she did not have any friends and always kept to herself.
She was deep in thought when she felt hands on her. She turned and saw that Mary was trying to get her attention.
"Don't be offended; we are not saying that you are a bad person or that we don't like you, right girls?" she asked. They all nodded their heads in confirmation. "We are just trying to say that asserting your qualifications when introducing yourself to others is quite intimidating.
"Sweetheart, where I come from, we don't accept nonsense. I love, sincerely love your attitude. I'm a Nigerian, a full-fledged one. We Nigerians are known to be determined individuals, sharp-mouthed; we are proud, a one-man squad when necessary. We try to be ballers. When I say ballers, I mean big spenders, independent ladies, AGBA O, big kiddies."
"Often times, people are quick to judge. They don't care about your feelings or the results of their misjudgment. Being proud of your achievements is a given, but what we are trying to say is, calm down".
"I don't have the right to judge you, neither do they because clearly we don't know you or your temperament. Take it as advice, woman to woman".
" No one likes a know-it-all or a woman who flaunts her wealth or assets. Though it might not have been your intention, that's the way most people would view it."
"Alright, thanks. I did not understand it that way. No wonder people look at me funny when I talk. I usually find it hard to communicate with people, especially when I'm not close to them. To think that I took offense when that psychiatric doctor gave me his card."
The girls looked at each other and burst into laughter. Gabby could not understand the girls. They laughed at every single thing, and their explanations led her into more confusion. But looking at them, they all seemed happy and carefree, things that she couldn't experience.
She had wanted to know what having friends felt like; that was why she had reluctantly followed Mary to the table. She realized that it was not a bad feeling eating with others or actually sitting with others to have a chat, though this was not the kind of setting she had envisioned when chatting and dining with people she had just met for the first time.
She had felt comfortable sitting with the girls. It was not at all like a business meeting, but it sure felt like a gathering of a group of friends, and she kind of felt happy about it.
She did not know that she was smiling until the girls started complimenting her, telling her that she looked more beautiful when she smiled.
They finished their breakfast and disbanded, not before setting a meeting place for the evening, to which she was also invited, though she made it clear to them that she was not certain that she was going to make it to the meeting, with the excuse of having uncompleted work to finish.