Good Riddance... (5)

As they sat in the waiting room waiting for the doctor to come out from the ward to give them the result of the tests carried out and to tell them the fate of their daughter, Tola's mum remembered the events of that morning and couldn't help the tears from falling. Her husband held her hand and squeezed lightly to assure her that all will be well. She sighed heavily and said a short prayer underneath her breath.

The events of that morning came rushing back. She remembered her daughter's smile. She had not seen her daughter faint before. She ensured that Tola had the best of care and was thankful that she had no funny ailment that could warrant consistent visits to the hospitals. As healthy as her only daughter was, she ensured that she got examined every three to four months by the doctor. She could not afford anything going wrong with her daughter; the only surviving child she had. It was one of the reasons why she objected to her husband’s suggestion for Tola to school outside the country. She was over-protective but she had good enough reasons for that.

She remembered sitting on the bathroom floor, holding her daughter close to her chest, sprinkling water, crying and screaming at the same time. She could not lose this child, she could not go through the pain of losing a grown child; not after the many miscarriages she had gone through. Just as she leaned towards her husband to rest her head on his chest, the doctor came calling.
She tried to stay calm, but she couldn't help it. She jumped up from her seat, walked close to the doctor, and asked in the softest way she could...

"How's my daughter?"

Her husband was already standing beside her by then, listening with rapt attention.

"Please follow me to my office" The doctor said courteously.

As they walked to the doctor's office, she held her husband's hands tighter. She tried to stay positive but she knew doctors and their style of breaking bad news.

"Oh Lord, please..." she muttered underneath her breath.

***

Jessica practically ran into the hospital, and almost ran over another patient or visitor; she couldn’t determine which one the lady standing at the entrance was.
“I’m sorry ma…” she hurriedly said as she kept running.

“Jessica, over here…” She sighted Segun immediately and ran towards him.
“How is she? What did the doctors say? What of her parents, have you seen them? Have you seen her? Is she going to be fine?” Jessica asked tons of questions at the same time, she was so unsettled.
Segun patted Jessica gently on the shoulder and moved her to the nearest bench on the corridor to seat.

“I got here as soon as her mum called me but I haven’t seen the doctor or her parents. So, I’m just waiting for them to all come out of the doctor’s office or ward, or wherever they are.”

“Hmmnn…” Jessica just kept sighing. She was really worried. In all the years she had been friends with Tola, she had never heard her complain of common headache, and now she fainted.

***

"Shortness of breath ke? She's a fit child. Doctor, please talk to us. Is there something else we should be worried about?"

The doctor went over the same the results he had gone over twice, but this time, he was even more patient in explaining the causes of dyspnea to the Ajisafes. The worried parents had reassured the doctor that their daughter had no history of any heart or lung disease. She was very fit, she visited the gym almost every other weekend, and ate healthy. At least, her mum made sure she had enough vegies and fruits on a daily basis.
“Just keep a close eye on her. She’s probably stressed or anxious over something. In the meantime, we would keep her here for one or two days for further observation.”
“Can we see her now?” Tola’s mum asked with more calmness after the explanation the doctor gave.
“Of course”. The doctor stood up from his seat and led them to Tola’s ward.

***
“Hey you” Segun said softly.

Jessica just smiled at my weak face. I did my best to smile at everyone that stood around my hospital bed. It was weird though, because I could hardly remember getting hospitalized at any point in my life.

“Hey. Mum, Dad…” I tried to get details of how I got to the hospital in the first place but mum just held my hand and shushed me.

“Shhh… you’ll be fine princess” Mum whispered.

I smiled even wider this time. There was just some peace around with everyone beside me. I sat up in bed and tried to brighten the room, assuring dad, Segun and Jessica that I felt better than earlier that morning. Mum was not having any of my talkative tendencies.

“Please don’t stress yourself with any talking. You need all the rest you can get right now.” Mum beckoned on Jessica, whispered some instructions and handed out some cash to her.

Jessica was out but back in a few minutes with different kinds of fruits and juice. Mum supervised my eating and we all just chatted the evening away, while the nurses and doctor came in intermittently to observe me and make notes.

There was so much to talk about Vic’s engagement party from the previous day and Jessica went on and on about the massive fun she had and all the delicacies she tried. Segun was rather quiet about the whole party and I remembered it was the same disposition he had as we rode home the night before.
Mum and dad were persuaded by Segun and Jessica to go home to rest before they eventually left the hospital. Jessica also had to leave shortly after my parents left and I couldn’t hold her back.

“See you tomorrow, love…” she said as she took a selfie of us.

“Haba. Jess. Hospital selfie again? Please don’t post this anywhere…” I laughed a little, while Segun laughed on and on.

“Thanks dear, for coming. We would see tomorrow, yeah?” Segun inquired.

“Sure thing. Let me hurry…” Jessica winked at me as she hurried out of the room.

I was left with my boyfriend and at that instant, I felt the need to ask about his quietness yesterday and some moments ago when Vic’s engagement party came up as a topic of discussion. So I did.

“Nothing is wrong, and I don’t think I’m acting weird. What’s between you and that Demola guy anyway?” Segun asked non-challantly.

I knew it was about my supposed running off with Demola to get Vic’s dress fixed, because I was sure I had not done any other thing to make my crush over demola super obvious. Or so I thought.

“Demola? Is that what this is all about? I said I was sorry. It was an emergency and I had to get the dress fixed in a hurry. The whole coming back with Demola was just a coincidence. We met outside the gate, and he was able to help me get a good tailor in no time. It’s no big deal, honestly. I really don’t know why you’re worried about him…”

“I’m not worried, okay? Let’s forget about the issue. What is more important now is your health. You need some good pampering from daddy. Come here”, Segun held me close and stroked my back lightly.

“I love you babe and can’t watch anything go wrong with you” he said softly. “You should get an assistant for your business, especially now that the doctor mentioned stress as one of the symptoms”. He continued.

“Yeah, I think I’d get one soon”.
At that instant, my phone rang. It was Demola.

“What took you so long?” I thought to myself as I looked at my phone, ignored the call, tapped on the silent button, and continued my conversation with Segun. When he tried to find out who it was that was calling, I lied that it was one of my clients that ordered a dress.

Don’t judge me. What did you expect? For me to tell Segun it was Demola? I know Segun had been very observant and I must have been very bad at hiding the crush I had for Demola. I’ll concur with him. Getting better and stronger was more important right now. Or what do you think?

***Good Riddance by Faith Tunde-Yara
Photo credit: thinkstockphotos.ca