We met the other day." He interrupted before she could even finish. She looked at him in a queer manner because she didn't remember meeting him before, but he was too busy unpacking his tools to even notice. Professional and classy was his watchword, and he always came accross that way. "Please turn down the fan" he said to one of the ladies standing by, who he presumed was one of the bridesmaids. "I'm going to make you the most beautiful bride ever." He exclaimed. He guided the bride to sit by the window. She resisted and tried to protest, but he assured her that she need not say a word. "But, I'm not..." "You don't have to worry about a thing." He cut her short. "I'm a professional." He boasted in a very debonair manner. " My work speaks for itself. Don't say a word, until I'm through." "But..." She protested. "Let's start with the lips. Seal your lips please and quit complaining." She did as was told and kept quiet while he worked a first layer of ruby-red lipstick onto her lips. It was bland but colourful. He had only just begun. The other ladies in the room were giggling to themselves. Some inside joke perhaps, he presumed and continued his work, paying no attention to them. "Next, were gonna to do a little magic to your skin." "Wait..." She protested some more. "Look, there's no time to waste. I have another bride waiting for me across town." She sighed and rolled her eyes as he began to pat a layer of foundation on her skin. Then he topped it with a few dabs of Mary-Kay powder. "Look, Richard. I don't..." "Shhhh! Don't interrupt me while I'm working." She hushed up again for the next five minutes while he perfected her skin. "Now, its time for my specialty," he declared. " I'm going to make your eyes sparkle like you've never seen them before." The ladies in the room were still giggling to themselves and observing as this ritual went on. They could see the apparent frustration in the bride's shoulder as she patiently bore with the rigours of the bridal make-up session. "Close your eyes please." Ashama directed. She did so. He began to apply BM Pro eye-liner to her eye lashes. He sprawled out some more tools from the toolbox and selected a sharp razor blade to begin work on her eye-brows. "Look Mr. Ashama, I really appreciate your work but..." "No buts until I'm finished," Ashama cut off. " This is art, and you will see it when I'm through." She fell silent again. Richard finished lining her eye-brows and voluming her lashes. He added a little shimmer to her eye-lids mixed with a tint of faint pink to compliment her skin tone. He kept dabbing; a little here, a little there. Until 2 minutes later, he said "one last thing to do." The lady, already tired of protesting just kept quiet as he applied a layer of lip gloss to give her lips an added shine. All this while, the ladies continued entertaining themselves in the background. And so, after 10 minutes of gruelling, fast paced work, he declared, "Aha!" He was done. Now for the moment of revelation. He always enjoyed this moment; when the bride would see herself in the mirror and be amazed at her own reflection. He handed her a medium size hand mirror, and stood back for all the bridesmaids to marvel at his work. "Wow! I look amazing!" She exclaimed upon seeing herself. All the other girls agreed and cooed in accordance while admiring her. "So you see..." Richards said proudly, "I'm a professional." "There's only one problem though Ashama..." Ashama was taken aback. What? Problem? With his work? How dare someone criticize his work? "What is the problem?" He demanded. "is it the eyes? You don't like the eyes? Or is it the lipstick?" "No, not at all. Its not the make-up." She replied. At that moment, he could hear the restrained giggles of the girls in the background climb to a fever pitch. He wondered what they found so funny. "So what is the problem?" He asked. " And why do those ladies keep laughing?" She replied, " that's what I've been trying to tell you since Mr. Richard...I'm not the bride. My sister is. My twin sister" All the girls burst out in an uproar of laughter, just as the real bride came out of the bathroom dressed in her wedding gown...ready for her make-up session.
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