Driving a hard bargain
Scheming waitress Rachel puts her job on the line if it means winning her boss Lehasa’s heart.
Sassy student Rachel (Lesego Marakalla) is using her waitress job as a way to hook her blesser. And she’s got a foot in the door: she’s been eyeing her handsome – and more importantly, rich – boss Lehasa (Cedric Fourie) since she started working at his Café Rovuwa in late April. But there’s a problem stopping Rachel from landing her sugardaddy: Lehasa’s no-nonsense business partner Cindy (Phophi Mudau), who knows all about Rachel. They go way back to Turfloop and have been fighting over men ever since. There is no way Rachel is beating Cindy this time and on Thursday 11 May, Cindy hands her employee a three-month probation contract. “It’s never existed before at the restaurant,” says Lesego. “Rachel is irritated and makes it clear to Cindy that she’s there to play hardball.”
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Rachel isn’t backing down without a fight and starts plotting immediately on Friday 12 May to get some alone
time with Lehasa, who’d hired her in the first place and without telling Cindy. “She waits until it’s closing time at the restaurant and when everyone leaves, Rachel manipulates Lehasa into offering her a lift home,” says Lesego. While Lehasa thinks that her actions are just a “little crush”, he has no idea that Rachel’s into him until she cops a very inappropriate feel on Monday 15 May. “Although Lehasa is used to women giving him attention, he’s offended and quickly puts Rachel in her place. Lehasa isn’t romantically interested in her at all,” says Lesego. Not that Cindy’s aware, which is why she’s eager to get rid of Rachel at the restaurant. “Cindy won’t stop until Rachel is gone, but Rachel has a few tricks up her sleeve. She wants Lehasa – as a means to his money – and she’s not going to let up,” hints Lesego.
BACK OFF
While Lehasa’s rejection is a surprise, worse is on the way. Before she’s even able to test a few other seduction skills on Tuesday 16 May, Lehasa reprimands Rachel for trying to lead him on. Lesego adds that “Rachel isn’t a bad person. She just makes bad decisions, especially when it comes to her [poor] financial situation”. Deterred, Rachel turns to her other tactics on Wednesday 17 May: blackmail!
She demands money from fellow varsity student Kwaito (Clement Maosa) – if he refuses, she’ll tell his new crush and her roommate Glenda (Nozipho Langa) about his troubled past. “She’s in need of money and she’ll do whatever it takes to get some,” says Lesego. Turns out Rachel’s going to have to go to plan C, because Kwaito lashes out at her threats and tells her to stay away from Glenda or else!
PARTNER IN CRIME
Rachel ropes in her equally shady bestie Emkay (Mlungisi Mathe) on Thursday 18 May and they “find the info they need to rattle Lehasa’s cage when they hack into Lehasa’s emails. Right in front of them is detailed info about how he conned Rachel’s Turfloop acquaintance Sonti (Pearl Maimela) with her nut business in February 2017. Rachel confronts Lehasa later that day and drops hints about what she knows,” teases Lesego. Lehasa refuses to even listen to Rachel, but like a shark in the ocean, she smells fear. And that is all Rachel needs to realise that her dreams of swimming in money could be around the corner.