THIS MORNING, I got an urgent call from Boma, asking me to come down to the hospital. So I got in the car and took the two hour drive, with my heart in my throat.

I briskly walk through the hallway, unaware of anything happening around me, until I get to Children's Private Ward Fifteen and turn the knob.

The room looks like the nurses just changed the sheets and there is no drip hung or anything.

She was supposed to be discharged today, where is she?

Her bag is packed, lying on the bed, next to her phone. I walk over to the bed and pick up the phone. 12:15pm.

"Boma?" Nobody answers back. "Bo?" I walk to the bathroom and knock. No reply. I turn the knob and peer inside, she's not there. "Boma?" I walk back to the door and to the nurse's room.

The three nurses on duty look up with stressed faces not ready to take any more stress and I force a smile. "Bomate Lawson, ward fifteen, she called me but I can't find her in her room."

The nurses force back a stifled smile and point behind me. I follow their fingers to find her sitting in the lobby, faced away from us with her laptop and headphones.

I chuckle, shaking my head. "Thanks." I nod at the nurses but they're too stressed to reply.

I walk towards her, before sliding my hand over the headphone and pulling it over her bun. She looks up and smiles, blue eyes sparkling.

"I thought something had gone wrong. You sounded urgent."

She laughs, standing up. "It kind of was. My mom needs to get a married life so I told her not to pick me up."

"That could pass as urgency?" I ask as we walk back to her room.

"Well, if she's going to get married, she has to do married things and hospital runs don't fall under the category. "

I take a breath, exhaling it with a shrug. "That's right. I'm just happy that you're good."

She laughs, pushing open the door as we walk into the room. "Were you busy? I'm sorry if I. . ."

"Oh, not busy, just putting our visas and the last few arrangements in place for tomorrow. "

She nods her head in harmony with an expanding smile. "Our trip," she says. "It's still unbelievable."

"It is. Quite different from what I had in mind for coming back to Port Harcourt."

"So what did you have in mind?" She asks, putting her laptop and headphones away in a backpack.

"My pure intentions were to see you again and just. . .you know, relive old memories, but then I came and fell in love," I say.

She laughs. "You say it like it's beyond your control. "

"Obviously." I laugh. "But I don't want to control it either."

She shakes her head with a smile that completes everything. I grab her bag while she picks her phone. "Thank you," she says.

I nod. "So we cut the road then?"

She looks around, inspecting for any belongings she might have missed. "Yes. All good."

When we walk out of the room and into the lobby, she excuses herself to the nurses room and I text Chinny. I hear them ask her to take care of her health and they're all wearing real smiles. She responds with 'yes, I will.' Then walks back to me. "Done," she says.

I hold her hand as we make our way out of the lobby.

"B baby," a round bright skinned elderly nurse with a huge backside and a bright smile walks up to us.

"Good afternoon, Matron." Boma says, grinning widely as the woman pulls her into a warm hug.

"Good afternoon, ma." I prostrate. The nurse smiles, patting me softly on my shoulder.

She turns to Boma, "B baby, so you wanted to leave without showing me our in-law?"

I chuckle in disbelief. Did she just. . .

"No, Matron." Boma smiles, "he's just my friend."

"Friend?" She spares me an amazed glance, "how are you my in-law?"

I chuckle, unable not to, I haven't seen Shy Boma in ten years. "Very well, ma." I smile.

"You're welcome to the family." She says, still smiling brightly in her sharp purple lipstick that matches the brooch hooked to the left side of her white uniform.

"Thank you, ma." I bow again.

She turns to Boma. "B baby, don't fall sick again, oh? This one that you're travelling with our in-law." She throws me another glance and I burst out, I can't help it. If all nurses were this hilarious, hospitals won't be such a gloomy place. The matron laughs too, I'm sure she can't help herself. "Enjoy your trip my dear, but don't play too much. Take good care of your health. You know your triggers?"

Boma nods, still smiling.

"That's good." The matron says. "Take care of my baby girl, you hear? If you use her to play ojoro," she pulls her ear. "You'll hear from us. All of us, all the staff in this hospital," she emphasizes.

"Yes, ma," I nod.

"Alright then, B baby, greet your mom for me, tell her I still owe her wedding gift. "

Boma nods. "I will, Matron."

She pats me again before walking into the nurses room.

"B baby," I mimic the nurse. It earns me a stare from Boma. "In-law like me." I hang my arm around her shoulder. She drops it, rolling her eyes and stomping to the elevator.

We walk out to the car and get in. I drop her bag in the back seat.

"At least, I can smash it now." she buckles her seatbelt.

"Yes, you can, but not while we're inside." I add.

"Can I ask you something?" she says.

"Sure. Anything."

"Is the trip a gesture of . . . you know, goodwill because I'm hanging by the thread?"

"Boma," I say. "No. Hell no. It's purely for my pleasure. I've always wanted to travel the world for my eighteenth birthday. I told my mother and she didn't oppose me, so who else would I want to see the world with?"

She smiles, breathing out. "I just wanted to know."

I turn on the engine and drive out towards the gate.

"I have another question." She says.

"Shoot. "

"How did your father die?" she asks.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

She nods. "I've always wondered."

"He was killed that friday, I don't know if you remember but your mom and her friend were planning a party for Frida."

She chuckles. "You remember?"

"It's pretty hard to forget the last thing that made sense in your life," I reply.

"Aww," she purrs.

"Do I continue?" I ask and she nods. "So when we got home, he had been shot multiple times."

"You saw him?"

I take a moment to pull the bloody picture out of my mind. "I did. It was horrible. I'm only beginning to recover from it."

She reaches out to squeeze my hand on the steering wheel. "I'm so sorry."

I pick it up with my free hand and drop a kiss. She smiles again before shoving it in her sweater.

"Anything else?" I ask.

She thinks for a while. As we drive past a vast area of palm trees.

"How rich are you?" She asks.

I laugh. She laughs too. "I recently asked myself that question and I found my answer on Google, it didn't know the exact figure but it's a huge fortune," I say.

"Wow." She says.

"But I'm not legally rich yet," I add.

"How, I don't get."

"Most of the wealth is still legally bound to my father, until I'm twenty then I get thirty percent and if by twenty five I have not attained my MBA, the remaining seventy percent goes to charity."

"No way. Is that the New York thing your mom was talking about?" She asks wide eyed.

I nod. "She wanted me to get it done this year. I said no."

"You're going to wait till twenty?" she asks.

"Yes."

"What will you be doing till then?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I ask

"What?" she asks, I can't believe she's honestly oblivious.

"You." I say and she laughs.

"Okay, I'll try my best to hang around till then."

I call her and she slowly turns to me. I say, "I have one rule for our trip."

"Let me hear it," she says.

"We don't talk about death, ever. Not even once, not at all. Understood?"

She bends her head, laughing. "If you say so."

"I can tell something is off. What's on your mind?"

"I'm fine," she exhales.

"Well, I have a surprise for you and I know you're going to love it."

Her eyes open, then she squints. "I have to give it to you, you cook up the best surprises. So can I get a hint?"

"I'm not taking you straight home," I say.

She laughs. "I'm going to scream kidnap at the next police checkpoint."