The whirling water in the light blue glass bowl in which my feet were placed was tickling the sole of my feet. Against my fatigue and the desire to lay flat on my couch, I decided to drive to Florida nails salon at Melzelstrasse in trier thirty minutes before the official closing hours. My nails had been giving me the side eye for a whole two weeks and had been too busy ignoring them. I preferred this particular nails salon because the service was quick, I dint need to say much and most importantly, appointments were a thing of the past. If I keep praising them this much, I might start requesting for commissions for the explicit marketing and advertisement.

Originally, meaning in my head, I had planned to only have my hands manicured however, upon arrival, I remembered how my toenails had given me the side eye in the morning as I put on the warm black leggings underneath my skirt to protect and serve my legs against the prophesied four degrees from the phoenix news anchor the night before.

Upon request, the ever smiling and nodding Vietnamese lady in front of me had readily agreed to add pedicure to my current manicure session, although I was aware that it was past closing time and that she also wished to be leaving for home just like here colleagues who were cleaning their desks and counting their days earnings, putting on their jackets and saying their goodbyes. That made me feel a bit sad for my shameful request.

six out of the nine female colleagues and one guy had left an the remaining three were heavily discussing something that sounded important. I though it was important as the pitch in their tone increased as they talked even faster and faster… I looked with amusement as I sat there and wondered how some people were capable of always having something to say.

the conversation suddenly came to a halt as one of the lades quickly rushed downstairs. My service provider tried to strike a conversation with me but I was too tired so I only gave her the shortest possible answers. She then decided to hold a monologue about her family and where she lived and her children, I listened, nodded and smiled where it seemed appropriate. To be sincere, I wasn’t sure from which part of Asia they came rom, did she say Vietnam or was it Thailand?, well, I could not recall that part, I should have paid more attention to her monologue.

The trees were in the process of showcasing their colour spectrum of yellow, orange, red and brown as the cold wind made its way through the clothes, then the accumulated fat layer way down to the bone marrow. this meant that we had to brace ourselves as winter was coming. Despite the warm stockings and boots, I was still of the idea that a good pedicure was as important as a good manicure be it in winter of summer time.

I was enjoying the massive black and gold massage chair that was carefully pressing and shaking the loads off my back as the nice lady was massaging the fatigue out of my feet, when in walked a gorgeous young lady whose presence was announced by the sound of the tiny doorbell hang at the entrance. She has full dark ebony hair covering part of her face with flawlessly applied make up. she had on a light brown jacket which she removed and hang on the seat she had been requested to take showcasing her lovely blush dress. she wore black heels and had matching jewellery to complement her outfit.

I realized that I was gazing when she shortly looked over to where we were seated in a gesture of acknowledging our presence. she pushed back the hair that was covering her face as she shortly explained her wishes to the other Vietnamese lady.

From the massage seat, I had a pretty good overview over the entire salon and as I finally had a good view of her face, I could see that hard solid sadness that was surrounding this beautiful and well dressed being. she looked like she could break down and cry at any moment. I had the urge of going over to console her but first of all, It would be weird to just console a stranger and secondly, what exactly was I supposed to tell her? the usual phrases like “all will be well,” ” This too shall pass” or ” there is always a light at the end of the tunnel” seemed too shallow. I just hoped that the manicure would make her feel a little better.

I compensated the services received and walked out into the cold of the night wrapping my coat tighter to my body as I sent up a message and hoped for divine intervention.

Written by Nessa

Foto von Bryony Elena auf Unsplash