C H A P T E R  T W E N Y - T H R E E
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Normani had known without a shadow of a doubt that she needed to get back to the United States as soon as possible and couldn’t wait for the next eight days to use the original return flight. The earliest return flight before then was two days after she’d checked into the Sheraton Hotel.

Those days passed in agony. She couldn’t bring herself to leave her hotel room, too heartbroken to face the outside world and too miserable to talk to anyone. She had to dig into her precious savings to book this new flight and she had no idea how she’d make up for it but knew she’d worry about it once she was back home.

Come hell or high water, she would not reach out to Keith for help. Joseph had already been so gracious and kind to have booked her room for three days on his card and he’d assured her over the phone that she didn’t need to pay him back and if she needed to stay longer, he would cover it for her. No one but Anika knew she was returning early and that was only out of necessity.

She’d lost count of the tears she’d shed in the past few hours. She felt as though she was reeling from the Earth’s axis and didn’t know how to make it back to the centre. Everything had fallen apart and the man she’d loved for close to two years of incomparable bliss had to be left behind. Things could never go back to how they’d been before, it was over. The only relief she had was that this break up didn’t hurt as much as her break up with Arabella. She didn’t feel as though the world was over.

On the day of her return flight, Normani had woken up in the late morning hours and had gone through the motions of getting ready.

Sometime between when she was trying to have a few bites of brunch before the cab she’d ordered through the hotel would transport her to the airport, her phone started going off with incoming calls. They were all from Keith.

She ignored them as she had ignored the one’s he’d sent for the past few days.

The cab arrived at 11:00 and once her luggage was stored in the boot of the car the driver began to drive towards the highway. The nostalgia that assaulted her was almost too much to bear and her heart felt crushed under it.

She couldn’t help but think of the first day she’d been on this highway, when summer had stretched beyond them full of endless possibilities and joy. She could remember the awe that had touched her face the first time she’d laid eyes on Nigeria, how unburdened and in love she’d been then.

Her phone started going crazy with messages again and she ignored them. After another twenty minutes, her phone went off again and she intended to answer it and tell Keith to stop bothering her when she realised that the call was coming from Joseph.

He hadn’t spoken to her since he’d told her about booking her hotel room for her and she wondered what was going on. The call went to voicemail but soon after, a text came in from him.

Joseph : Hey, Mani, there’s been an emergency, please call me back as soon as you can.

Her heart froze. An emergency? Her mind immediately latched onto the worst case scenario and imagined that someone had died. With shaky hands, she dialled his number and waited for three rings before he picked up.

“Hey.”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“There’s been a horrible accident, Mani. It’s about Matilda.”

“Oh god,” Normani replied and it felt as though all the air in her lungs had disappeared and she was choking.

“Is she alive?”

She wanted Joseph to reply with a definite and enthusiastic ‘yes’. No other answer would’ve been satisfactory. She wanted him to tell her that she was being dramatic and that whatever had happened wasn’t as serious as death.

“Barely,” he replied, “she was with a friend and got knocked down by a speeding driver right outside their compound gate. She’s lost a lot of blood.”

“No,” Normani whispered, horrified and shaken to the core. Goosebumps lined the flesh of her arms even though it was a hot day and her teeth chattered, “not Matilda, she doesn’t deserve this.”

“I know my family is the last group of people you want to deal with right now, but I know Matilda needs you.”

“I’m on my way, please tell me the name of the hospital.”

“St Agnes hospital, it’s only a few kilometres outside of Wuse.”

“I’ll be there,” she replied.

×

The atmosphere in the ER of St Agnes was tense and filled with nervous anticipation.

As soon as Normani entered the room, she heard the loud wails of a woman who was being held by someone she assumed to be her husband in one corner of the room. In the other corner sat the entourage of people she’d spent her summer with.

Mr and Mrs Ikande were seated on the scruffy plastic chairs alongside Keith. Ayoola sat a little ways away from them with her head bowed and Joseph stood aloof and alienated from the rest of the group.

Another couple and sat with them, along with another little girl that looked to be Matilda’s age. The little girl was crying and her father was comforting her.

Joseph was the first person to notice Normani and he walked over to her and encompassed her in a quick hug.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey, thanks for coming.”

Normani nodded just as Keith walked over to them. The intensity of his gaze burned into her and she stiffened when he came close enough to hug her.

“Awelewa, you’re here,” he murmured as he wrapped his arms tighter around her.

His presence used to be such a comforting thing, from the way his chest felt underneath her cheek to the smell of his skin yet now, she wanted nothing more than to be away from him. She didn’t return his embrace and he coughed awkwardly as he let her go. 

“What’s happening now?” Normani asked Joseph and stepped even further away from Keith. She didn’t lose sight of the wounded expression on his face as he backed away and went back to his parents.

“She needs to go into surgery and she needs a blood donor. None of us were a match for her except for Aunty but she can’t give blood because she has health problems.”

“What’s her blood type and what were you’re guy’s results?”

“I don’t know about Uncle and Ayoola, but she’s a blood type A+, I’m blood type B+, Keith is AB- and the family of the friend she was with are all O+.”

“Oh, shit,” Normani replied and Joseph nodded and ran a hand through his hair, “now we’re waiting to see if there are any available donors with the blood she needs.”

A doctor in scrubs entered the room holding a clipboard. He strode over to the large company of people and Mr and Mrs Ikande stood to their feet at his arrival.

“Mr and Mrs Ikande, I’m Dr Oledayo,” he said and shook their hands.

“Doctor, jowo what can you tell us about our little girl?” Mrs Ikande asked beseechingly.

“She is critical but stable. The only hope we have now is if we send her to surgery immediately. Yet as mentioned before, she has lost a significant amount of blood, she will need a donor as unfortunately, none of the samples you have provided will be of use for her.”

“Have you found a donor?” Mrs Ikande asked.

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Doctor, I think I can help,” Normani said. She tried to ignore how awkward she felt with all of them looking at her and cleared her throat.

“I may be incorrect but I think my blood type is O- and that’s the universal donor blood type right?”

The doctor nodded, “yes Ma’am. All blood type O- people can donate blood to any recipient.”

“Okay, well, if I’m a match, I would like to be her donor.”

“The hospital will need to screen you first and get written consent from her parents for you to be able to do that, but if Mr and Mrs Ikande are willing, we can get to it straight away. There’s not much time to waste, Miss Ikande needs to go into surgery as soon as possible.”

“Go and get tested, we will give our consent,” Mr Ikande said to Normani and she nodded and followed the doctor out of the ER and went to get screened.

×

Normani was indeed blood type O- and with the written consent from her parents, she was able to donate blood to Matilda. The procedure itself didn’t take long but Normani knew she couldn’t leave before Matilda woke up.

Back in the waiting room, she found Keith, Ayoola and Mrs Ikande there. Mr Ikande and Joseph had gone to get food for everyone and the other family had gone home.

Keith was already by her side as soon as she sat down. He took her hand in his and stroked her hand with his fingers and she let him. Joseph and his uncle returned a few minutes later. He handed her a large water bottle and a carton of yoghurt.

“They said you’d need a lot of fluids so I figured I could get this for you,” Joseph said. Normani said her thanks and sipped her water in silence.

The tension was so thick in the room that one could easily choke on it.

“Mani, I hope you know that we can never thank you for doing this for us,” Keith said.

Normani shook her head, “I didn’t do this for you, or you,” she said pointing to Mrs Ikande and narrowed her eyes. “I did this for Matilda – who still has her whole life ahead of her and deserves to live it. And I hope that now that you’ve seen how precious life is, you let her live her life and allow her to become who she wants to be. Matilda wants to be a prima ballerina. You have to let her realise that dream, or any other dreams that she has in mind, just don’t take her life away from her, she gets to decide,” Normani said.

In her peripheral vision, she saw a tear run down Joseph’s eye and she saw him subtly nod as if to say, “tell them, Mani.”

Dr Oledayo walked into the room and anything anyone would’ve wanted to say to Normani was interrupted by his arrival.

“Mr Ikande, there is something I need to discuss with you in accordance to your blood test results along with Miss Adeyemi, may I have a private word with you?”

Ayoola looked so startled that she looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Me, Doctor?” she asked and licked her lips. She was dressed in a pair of old blue denims and a faded pink shirt. Her hair was pressed down into a flat, small afro.

She looked more like an ordinary civilian that day as possessed to how poverty-stricken and distressed she usually looked in her ratty clothes.

“Yes. I want to speak with you and Mr Ikande privately.”

“No, we have no room for secrets in this family. What you want to tell them in private they will eventually tell us in public anyway. Say what you need to say,” Mrs Ikande said, watching Ayoola with contempt.

“Better yet, let me guess – is Ayoola pregnant?” her glare was accusatory and even from where she sat, Normani felt the scalding viciousness from it.

“No,” the doctor replied, “but if you insist I will speak about it now.”

“Doctor, it’s fine. I’ve nearly lost a child today, nothing you say to me now can be uglier than that.”

Dr Oledayo looked down at his clipboard and sighed, “Mr Ikande it would appear that from the results of your blood test that Miss Matilda Ikande is not your daughter.”

Everyone had varied reactions from the news but the one who was the most stricken was Mr Ikande. His eyes had widened but his lips remained shut tight.

“How is that possible?” he asked.

“Miss Matilda is blood type A+, you are blood type B+, there is no possibility of paternity from that alone, which brings me to my next point. Although you have no match with Miss Matilda Ikande, it appears that you and Miss Ayoola Adeyemi are a perfect match. You are both blood type B-.”

“What are you saying to me, Ayoola is my daughter?”

“It is possible but a DNA paternity test would be needed to give clear results as many unrelated people may have the same blood type but yes, there is a chance of paternity.”

Ayoola screamed. The girl literally wrapped her legs around her knees and screamed. Normani was  immediately by her side and she rubbed her back in slow circles and encouraged her to breathe.

“I can schedule the paternity test for you most possible convenience, sir,” the doctor said and took one look at Ayoola and a look of pity crossed his features and he left the room.

“That doctor is mad!” Mrs Ikande said, “what a stupid and ridiculous thing. Ah, Damola, you know he can’t be telling the truth. There must’ve been a mistake,” she said almost crooning to him. She sat beside him and rubbed his bare arm while he sat still, eerily calm and collected.

“Sonia, Ayoola is Angelina’s daughter isn’t she?” he asked.

Mrs Ikande visibly paled and Ayoola looked up from where she’d had her head bent, “how did you know my deceased mother’s name is Angelina?” she asked shakily.

A tear had made its way down her face out of the sheer panic she’d experienced a few minutes ago.

“Jesus Christ!” he cried and stood up.

“Damola, that doesn’t mean anything! Just because she’s Angelina’s child it doesn’t mean she’s your daughter, do you not hear how ridiculous that sounds?”

“You had her working for us all of these years and you failed to tell me you knew who she was?”

“I-” Mrs Ikande said and walked over to him with her arms raised in surrender, “Damola, please-”

“You evil demon!” he cried and before anyone could stop it, he had his hands wrapped around her throat and was pushing her towards the wall. Keith leaped after them and it didn’t take much effort to pry his father away from his mother.

“I probably don’t need a paternity test will I? She’s my daughter isn’t she? And you cheated on me with Kevin Mase all those years ago and you used your  deceptive and cunning wit to hide it.”

“Damola I’m sorry!” she sobbed as he backed further and further away from her.

“You are not sorry!”

Ayoola rose from her seat and scurried over to Mr Ikande. She grasped his arm beseechingly.

“Master Ikande, abeg, how do you know about my mother? What is going on? Will you tell me, please?”

Mr Ikande sighed. “If your mother is Angelina Adeyemi then she is a woman I was supposed to marry. We were very much in love. You were born around the time we were supposed to have our weeding, abi, you may really be my daughter.”

“But Master,” she replied, “my father was a man named Chiko, he passed away on the same day as my mother, she told me he was my father.”

“Yes, I know all about Chiko,” Mr Ikande said and placed a hand on her shoulder. “But it is possible that she only said that because it was the only choice she had. You may very well be Chiko’s child but you may be mine too.”

Ayoola started to sob and Mr Ikande backed away from her, “I will explain when I return,” he said and left the room.

Normani reacted just in time to catch Ayoola as her legs gave out and she went tumbling backwards. She dragged her body to a chair and fanned her face while Joseph got her some water to drink. Mrs Ikande took one look at them and left the room and Keith was left standing in the middle of the room, torn between whether he should stay with them or follow his parents.

dun dun dun dun! i need to know what you’re all thinking right now! lol, this was one of the very first chapters that i had planned from the very beginning and had been itching to write.

if you enjoyed this chapter please don’t hesitate to give this chapter your stars⭐. also i was in the mood for spoils so this is why y’all got blessed with a double update 🧡

thanks for reading

-dzangie💛