on the uncomfortable
mattress in her one room
apartment.
The mattress
lay
on the floor without a bed and the more she laid on
it,
the more her discomfort.
She had rushed out of her
own house some months
ago and since then; her life
has been a living hell. She
had heard of the visit of
the
officials sent to her house
to get her barely five minutes after her
departure
and she had thanked her
stars for leaving early
enough although her
leaving happened to be the
worst thing that had ever
happened to her. Her
account was frozen so
there was no way she
could withdraw any money. Her
house was seized and she
was left with only one
thing: her car.
She had to pawn her
expensive car for two hundred thousand in order
to secure an apartment.
Due
to the fact that she was on
the run, she left
Lagostotally and got an apartment in
Ogun state. She was only
able to secure a one room
apartment in order to buy
some foodstuff and
clothes cos she had only left her
house with the cloth she
had on.
Hunger raked her tummy
and she grimaced. All she
had left from the bag of rice
she bought months ago
would not last her a week.
All her foodstuff was on
the
edge. Getting a job had proved to be a futile effort
because she had to lie low
for fear of being arrested.
All these happened
because
of Belina. That little witch. Oyinade hissed, combing
her hair with her fingers.
She had watched Belina
on
television barely a month
ago attending a red carpet even with Richard, Tony
and Prisca. She almost
used
her eyes to abort the
pregnancy through the
screen. She made a pledge to have her revenge. She
definitely would do that,
even if it happened to be
the last thing she did, she
vowed.
Tears rolled out of my eyes,
going in the direction of
my
ears. I lay on the hospital
bed, in labour. Sweat
covered my face in the air conditioned room and a
nurse was mopping my
face, with words of
comfort
floating out of her mouth.
I gasped as I took in enough
air, as directed by the
doctor.
"Push", I heard the doctor
say. I gathered all my will
and groaned as I pushed hard. I gasped, filling my
lungs. I had been pushing
and pushing but it seems
like the baby would never
come out. The pain was so
unbearable that I started doubting my ability to go
through it all. I held on to
God, the only one that
could
help me through it all. I
envisioned God standing there with me and I got a
renewed strength. The
echo
of 'push' rang in my head
and I gave it all I could. I
could only feel pain coercing through me like a
thousand knives.
The cry of a baby pierced
the room and swallowed.
A
weak smile was displayed on my face as I weakly
took
the baby from the doctor. I
laughed weakly in tears
as I
stared at the tiny creature I
was holding. The love I
felt
there and then is one
which
I have never experienced before. Even though I felt
weak and semi-
conscious,I
knew that I would not
leave
my baby for anything in the
world. The second I held
him in my arms, I knew I
would love him forever.
**********
********** Ronke grimaced as she
stared at her profile in the
mirror. She did not believe
she could be dressed so
moderately. Her usual bum
shorts pant and showy tops
were not the ones she had
on. Who would have
thought that change could
locate her? She had been
visited by the person known as Christ and
everything about her had
changed. Even though she
had been spending stolen
money, she hadn't been
able to get happiness. She felt more miserable by the
day. She hadn't even spent
quarter of the money.
One day she just stood up
and started walking on
her street in Abuja. What
prompted her, she could
not even pinpoint. She had
entered the church that
always caught her eyes.
Since that day, her life had changed. She stopped
spending the money and
started a teaching job.
Returning the money was
foremost in her mind but
she was too scared to do it.
She hoped that she would
gather that courage after
meeting with the pastor.
She hoped that the people
waiting to see the pastor would be few, being a
mid-
week service. She
grabbed
the small bible she
purchased some weeks ago, put it in her bag and
marched out with a song
on her head.
Richard was becoming
more restless by the
minute. He could not understand
what could be taking
them
so long. He swallowed
hard
as he stared at the door countless number of times.
If he hadn't been so
worried, he would have
known that the time he
had
spent, waiting was not over-stretched.The time
only seems longer when
you are involved with the
patient personally.
His heart skipped several
beats as the door opened. He rushed there, along
with
everyone. Doctor Felix had
a
smile on his face.
"Congratulations sir, you have a bouncing baby
boy".
The once quiet room
became noisy with
jubilations. "And Bell?"
Richard asked.
Doctor Kelvin smiled. He
had
expected that. "She is
resting now"
Richard unleashed his joy
as he yelled happily. He
knelt
down there, giving all the glory to God. He started
receiving hugs from
everyone. He even hugged
his mother without
noticing
it. The last person he hugged was Kelvin. Prisca
lifted Patricia in her arms,
turning round and round
until she became dizzy,
saying 'now you have a
baby brother'. Patricia giggled and giggled, like
she knew what had just
happened.
Kelvin felt genuinely
happy
for Richard and Belina. Belina definitely deserves
happiness and no other
person can give her apart
from Richard. He had felt a
sickening dread during the
waiting period and seeing Richard that worried gave
him cause to panic. He had
kept his extreme worry
hidden even though his
restlessness often took
over him. He still loves Belina.
He
has accepted that they
could be only friends but
that did not stop him from
feeling the way he did. He was content though. It is
better to be her friend
than
have her as an enemy.
Richard finished his
display of gratitude to God, and
headed towards Belina's
room. All the workers in
BRH were full of rejoicing.
Not only is Richard the
best employer you can have, he
is also a friend. The most
humble man you can ever
come by. They had all
prayed for a day like this
for him. Belina was more of a
friend to them than a boss.
If there is anything like a
perfect match, the coming
together of Richard and
Belina would be their own description of a perfect
match. Their childlessness
had affected everyone
and
they never failed to pray
for them. Individually, they
started thinking of what
to
wear to the naming
ceremony
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