The only thing that was heard in my Pretty Pained Nail Studio was the buzzing of my drill bit. This was my life and passion. Creating pretty even when I’m in pain. I started doing my own nails in my junior year of college. After other girls saw how amazing my own nails looked, they asked if I could do theirs.
I never charged more than thirty dollars for a full set and fifteen for a fill-in. It wasn’t like I could hit people over the head as an unlicensed nail technician. After a while, my little dorm room nail studio was a place females came to get their nails done and just talk. It wasn’t gossip though. It was a place where they could talk and know that it wouldn’t go outside the walls of my dorm room.
By my senior year, I had a consistent client base which helped me be able to invest in better supplies. I enrolled in YouTube University to learn better techniques. I practiced consistently on my plastic hands. My senior year was tedious as I pursued my bachelor’s in business administration (entrepreneurship) and a minor in psychology. The balance between school, clients, and managing bad menstrual cramps was all I had time to do.
It wasn’t until I graduated that I had the time to do the needful to become a licensed nail technician. From that pointon, I worked out of various suites and shops to build my brand and clientele. It wasn’t until 2021 that I found the purpose in my business after I was formally diagnosed with endometriosis. I sat down with my mama and best friends to tell them about my plan to expand my business. Without hesitation, each of them invested in my business.
I had just moved to Charleston and built a beautiful home on a three acre plot of land. A year after I moved to Charleston was when I committed to Derrick. I met him initially when I moved there and he installed my internet. All the months I spent dating him before we committed, I should have saw the red flags.
I took a moment and pulled myself out of my thoughts to watch the judgmental look on Nicole’s face while I did her nails. Everyone knew that when Nicole was quiet, she was eating, sleeping, judging, thinking, or plotting. She double blinked, then said, “Yeah, I think you’re about to play around and lose a good man.”See.
I chose to ignore her and drift back into my thoughts about the business that I built. It was hard not to think about how far I’d come from the dorm room nail girl. It took two more years before I purchased my twelve by twenty shed with cash and started to outfit it to be exactly what I wanted Pretty Pained to be. I thanked God that I had the wherewithal to buy the land that I did because I was able to set my nail studio up next door.
Lacie’s husband’s friend’s father did all of the work on my shed at a steep discount. He considered me family because of my connection to Vince. I was able to register my location with its own address since where I bought the land, I had to create the street name anyway because it was undeveloped land when I bought it. My business and home were both located at 2019 Pretty Pained Road A and B in Charleston, South Carolina.
When you visited my studio, you could expect a relaxed atmosphere of soft lighting, smooth music, and various hues ofpinks. I personally didn’t offer pedicure services myself, but the service was offered through a young lady, Jocelyn, who worked in my studio. All she offered was pedicures and they were to die for. Our arrangement was that she paid me a flat rate of five hundred dollars a month. Jocelyn’s calendar was just as busy as mine.
“Did you still want those 3-D butterflies?” I asked Nicole after I glanced at one of the many butterflies on my walls. Nicole was the girl that loved elaborate nails and I loved that for both of us. Anytime I wanted to try something new, she was the client that I called.
Nicole sucked her teeth. “Now you know I do. What you trying to make bad decisions all around? You want to treat Tafari like a fuck boy and not give me my butterflies!”
I scoffed. “Girl, I will unevenly file your nails if you don’t stop fucking with me. I’m not treating my man like a fuck boy. I just don’t want him to have to deal with?—”
My words were rudely cut off by Nicole. “Sis, you sound dumb as fuck. I know for a fact based on ear hustled conversation between Tafari and Jordan that he sees you as his end all. You’re talking about you don’t want him to have to deal with whatever when that is the man that should see you at your fuckin’ worst. You hid the worst from that fuck nigga for too long and when he showed his ass it was far down the road. No part of my spirit believes that Tafari is a fuck nigga, but I still need you to show that nigga the worst now. The sooner he can see, the easier it will be for both of you to adjust to how to work within that worst.”
I plopped back in my seat. I knew she was right, but that didn’t make it any less scary. It wasn’t even the period and cramps that scared me. If it were just that, I might have been alright. One of the main fears that I had was having to sit thisman down that I felt like I wanted to be my forever and tell him that I may not be able to have children.
I wanted children more than anything. With every miscarriage that I had while I was with Derrick, I saw the light dim in his eyes. When Chasity darkened my doorstep those years ago, I was hurt, but I couldn’t say I was shocked in hindsight.
“Fine! I’m supposed to meet him at his restaurant, and we are leaving from there. It shouldn’t be that bad though. My period is light right now, but the cramps are starting to pick up,” I told her.
She reached out, grabbed my hand, then looked at me with the softest expression. “I promise you, Tafari is built for you. He’s a Seasons boy. They are built for the tough shit. Trust me, I know.”
There was a brief pause before we both chortled. Yeah, she would know. Jordan had a fucking nut on his hands.
A New Dawn. . .
It was like the second I stepped foot in& Ish Restaurantafter Nicole dropped me off, my cramps turned up. They were so fucking disrespectful. There was a specific booth that my baby assigned to me when I was there. I wasn’t there fifteen minutes before food was in front of me. It took another ten minutes before Tafari came out to kiss me all over.
He was not shy about his public displays of affection. I never knew that I would love that until I had it. If you had eyes, ears, and a brain there was no confusion that I was Tafari “Man Man” Seasons’s woman. After he kissed me and made sure that I was alright, he went back to doing what he did. One of the cooks called out, so my baby was in the kitchen tonight.
The whole time I sat there, my cramps tussled with me. I had on my portable heating pad, so that was some relief. I took some ibuprofen before I came here, but Lil Bitch was fighting against them like they were Tic Tacs. Tafari knew something was wrong when he came out and I barely touched my food. My baby knew I didn’t play about my food, especially when he cooked it or it came from his restaurant.
On our way to his house, I let him know that my period was about to come on. He asked if I needed anything from the store before we went to his house. I came prepared for anything . . . or so I thought.
His lips on my neck lulled me out of my sleep. His hand rubbed my back. “Baby, wake up.”
I moaned, then brushed my hand over my cheek where he kissed. My eyes slightly opened to see the time on the clock.Two twenty-seven in the morning!“Baby, stop. I’m tired.”
It felt like I had just gone to sleep after an assault of cramps. Tafari rubbed my back until I fell asleep. I tried so hard not to let him know how much pain I was in, but it was a wasted effort.
He kissed my temple. “I know, baby. Let’s get up and get in da showa. You bled?—”
My eyes shot open as my back lifted from the bed. I pulled the covers back to see the horror that I left on his sheets. My tears sprung from my eyes. “Oh my God! Oh my God,” I said through my tears as I rushed to climb from the bed.
Before I could fully get out of the bed, I was pulled back. My body instinctually turned to face Tafari. He cupped my cheeks in his hands. “Aye, aye, calm down, baby. It ain’t that serious.”
I moved my face from his hands, then got out of the bed. “It is that serious. I knew I shouldn’t have spent the night knowing my period was about to come on. Now you think I’m nasty and don’t want to be with me.”
