Money matters
Esti returns to a dark time in her life to help raise funds for her son’s cricket tour.
It’s no secret that Beleef waitress Esti (Reandi Grey) worked as a stripper in the past. It was the only way she could provide for her son Thomas ( Vian Singleton) and get him a good education at one of the top private schools in Johannesburg. She quit dancing in 2017 after getting her current job and she’s been okay financially until now, because Thomas needs money for his Australian cricket tour that Esti hasn’t budgeted for. “She is desperate because her life revolves round her son,” says Reandi. “And while she stresses about the money, there is always a solution, although it’s one that she would prefer to avoid.”
LAST RESORTS
Esti is surprised when Thomas tells her that he already asked her former boss at the strip club Lola (Gigi) for funds because he was worried that Esti wouldn’t be able to pay for him. “Esti is a proud woman and wouldn’t like it if someone else had to help her – she will do this herself,” says Reandi. She turns down Lola’s help but there is another offer that she’s got in mind…
LITTLE WHITE LIE
Esti’s boyfriend Marko (Francois Lensley) also offers to help but she cuts him off, saying that there’s no need for it as she’s paid for the tour in full. She also tells him that she’s signed up for cooking classes in the evenings to help her improve at work. Believable, right? “It’s pretty obvious that she is hiding something,” says the actress. “She’s keeping the men in her life in the dark.” Her conscience eats at her, which Reandi says, “Is upsetting because she doesn’t like lying to Marko or Thomas. The longer it goes on, the deeper she gets.”
LIES MULTIPLIED
Esti will have to think quickly because Marko smells a rat when a hotel parking ticket falls out of her handbag and he picks it up. He immediately thinks that she’s cheating on him and he confronts her, explains Reandi. “She does not have a real explanation but the more that Marko talks, the more he actually explains it to himself: the cooking classes are at the hotel’s kitchen. She just nods her head.” Is Esti dancing in the club and taking off her clothes for strange men again? Or is there another, more worrying explanation?