TOBI

When I received the call of mom being admitted in the hospital, the first person I thought to contact was her loyalist. Why? It's simple; she's the only person I am sure would not give any excuse. And she's here right now with her friends. If it was a different situation, I would have laughed when one of them mistakenly called her Oil money while pointing at me.

"Hi." She's panting like she ran here.

"Hey. Thanks for coming." I say to her.

"What happened?" She asks.

"I just got here also. They are at one of the VIP wards."

"Alright. Let's go." I raise my eyebrows, motioning to the ladies behind her.

"Sorry. My roommates; Bukky and Tamara."

"Okay." I state, gently pulling her away from them. I excuse myself as we walk slightly apart from them.

"They can't go in with us."

"Alright." It's surprising that she did not object to it.

"They came here because I told them to, though." I guess I spoke too fast.

"Do you want to stay here with them?" She rolls her eyes and eye me. This whole back and forth is not needed right now. Frustrated, I run my hands through my hair, repeatedly. This woman should be wiser than this.

"Let me have a word with them." She finally states. Watching them talk, I notice how they occasionally look at me and frown. What were they really expecting? They are not family and its not even all family that I can allow close to her in her sick state. Her friends make their way to the waiting area and sit there while she walks back to me.

"Let's go." Together, we walk to the VIP wards and locate the one she is admitted at. We are about to go into the ward when the door opens and a man who I assume is the doctor walks out.

"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Bankole. I am Dr. Hamid." The Doctor greets.

"We are not married."

"She is not my wife." We both correct at the same time.

"Oh, sorry, sir, ma'am." He says with a smile. Farida rolls her eyes at him. Display of bad character as usual.

"Can we discuss better in my office?" He further adds.

"Alright." Hope all is well; that's my major concern right now. I feel a small hand squeeze mine and I look down to Farida who is looking at me reassuringly. She smiles a sad one in my direction and I immediately feel comfort. I don't know what she did but whatever it is, it worked because I relax. When we walk into the doctor's office, his countenance changes and my senses are immediately alert.

"Please, sit." He speaks.

"Sir, there is a problem. Your mother's health is deteriorating." We both exchange looks, confused.

"Deteriorating? I don't understand." To the best of my knowledge, she was in a good state of health. So, I really don't understand what he means by that.

"Deteriorating?" Farida also asks, as if mirroring my thoughts.

"She has Appendicitis." Like cold water, I feel a chill feeling run down my spine.

"What?"

"It's at a very critical stage now."

"Has it been long since she has been diagnosed?" I ask.

"Yes. I told her to inform her family." I wonder why she kept it to herself and most importantly why she did not opt for surgery when she discovered it.

"Can we still get a surgery done?" I ask the doctor and his response is an affirmative nod.

"However, I advise we wait till she comes out of coma." He states. When coming to the hospital, I never imagined it to be something this severe. This is because mom frequents the hospital even if it is just a headache she has and on other times, she has a general check up done. This simply confirms the fact that she has been in the know of this. How she did not treat it still remains a mystery to me.

"Won't the condition worsen while waiting? Why not have the surgery now and wait for her to recover altogether?" I ask. It should work nau.

"Having the surgery without her being conscious is quite risky because we need to test her further to know what else is wrong."

"But it can be done, right?" What is this man saying? Or doesnt he know his work again?

"Are you trying to tell me that" My voice is already high pitched and the negative emotions are getting to me.

"What are the chances?" Farida interrupts, placing her hand above mine. I try to pull my hands off but she holds it firmly and looks at me, daring me to take it off. Since when did she become all touchy?

"Her organs are semi shut. It's a 40/60. Everywhere suddenly becomes hot and what he says hit me severely.

"We'll have a word and communicate with you on what further steps to take." I hear her say. Who told her to make that decision?

"Come." She states and I just follow her.

"Look, stop sulking. Each minute we waste is important. So, what would your decision be?" She asks once we are at a place we can talk.

"And why do you think you have a right to make decisions?"

"I am surprised that with the gravity of this situation, what you can think of is who does or does not have a right. That's shallow. What happened to being cordial?" She's extremely calm as she raises her brows at me.

"Look, I am sorry." I apologize because what she said is true. I shouldn't be thinking about that when in fact, my mom trusts her so much. To my mom, she is family. To Seyitan also. Not to me, though. She's a pain that I have to tolerate for the sole purpose of her value as a staff.

"I'll let that slide for now. So, what would it be?" She asks and I am speechless. I need to give this a thought.

"Have you even eaten?" She asks me.

"I don't feel like." I wave off her question.

"How about Seyi?" She asks.

"She's with the housekeeper." I state.

"Alright." What I keep wondering is how she manages to stay calm in all of this.

••••••••••

By the time we are settled and eating, my mind goes back to wandering. The woman in front of me, like me, is not saying anything. She's just eating silently. I observe her face and the tiredness in her eyes. Her friends on the other hand are exchanging looks between the both of us, nudging at themselves and silently hiding her laughter. Now to them, none of us noticed.

"So, oil money, we want to leave o." One of them says and Farida immediately raises up her head.

"Oil money?" I don't realize that I blurted that part out. This is the second time they are referring to her as that.

"Ohh...that's what we call her."

"You're going home?" She asks them and they both nod.

"Okay. Thanks. I'll come back later. Take my car, I'll figure out how to come back." She seems like a different person when relating with them. Even this evening, her countenance is different. I wait till her friends are away before finally speaking up.

"Thank you once more."

"For?"

"Being here." I answer.

"Ohh it's nothing, really. It's Madam we are talking about here. I'll show up in a heartbeat."

"Wahala for who no be her loyalist." I state.

"Please, Mr. Bankole, stop." She says. Her eyes brims and the smile on her lips break into a smile. Her laugh is like music to my ears. I watch as her eyes crinkle at the corners, alongside the laugh. It's fascinating because this is the first time I have heard her laugh. She crosses her hand over her stomach in an attempt to catch her breath.

"I never pegged you for someone whose nickname would be oil money." I state when she stops, her eyes are watery as tears pool at the edges.

"Don't mind those two. They started calling me that when I started working at your mom's." She states, shaking her head with a smile.

"Tobi." I state.

"Huh?"

"Call me Tobi." I repeat, for more clarification.

"Okay." She answers, smiling. She's all smiles with me today. A miracle must be happening somewhere because this is strange, in a good way.

'So, uhm, Tobi." She speaks, clearing her throat before focusing her gaze on me.

"Yeah. I think we should just do the surgery." The decision is one which is hard to make but I am hopeful it turns out well. Farida lets in a deep breath before opening the cap of her bottle to drink water. A little spill drops from the corner of her lips and even in the midst of everything happening, this sight! It is something that would be difficult for me to forget. This is something that is supposed to look messy but with her, I really don't know the word to place it at.

There's something about her. A path too risky for me to start threading on.

AN: Finally. How was the chapter?

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