Fulfilling Wishes - Episode 7

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Andy stood in front of the mirror, checking out his beards as he had done seven years ago, in that same room. This time, Ruthie was not behind him, he was alone, waiting to be summoned by his father. He had just gotten to Abuja that morning just to see his father. He needed to assure him that everything was fine concerning his proposal.

He looked around the room that had accommodated him for many years, it was spotless, even though Ruthie was older and was doing lesser work now, and she never lost any of her touch. He caught a picture of himself in a frame on the wall, it was during his graduation party, he was standing beside his father, He laughed at himself for the cap on his head seemed a little oversized covering a bigger chunk of his forehead . Even though he and Reeva had tried so hard to find his size, they were unable to, so he had to manage the one on his head even though it kept falling off so many times.

He sighed, walked back and sat on the bed as he held the frame in his hand; he found another, when he was sixteen years old holding the cup he had won for his basketball team in his college days.

During that time, he never thought he would fall in love with any lady, let alone propose to her, it was his nightmare, he didn’t want it, he couldn’t go through everything his father had gone through but now, he was thinking of how he and his fiancée would start living together without upsetting his father. How had he gone from an innocent boy to a full man? How time flied!

A gentle knock on the door interrupted his thought.

He chuckled

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. If someone had told him years ago that a day would come that Ruthie would knock on his door to seek his permission before coming in, he never would have  believed that.

“Please come in’. He said, standing up as the older woman walked in, smiling excitedly as she saw him before they finally embraced.

“It’s been so long Ruthie,” he said as they both sat on his bed.

Ruthie kept on admiring him here and there. “Wow! You have finally become a grown man.” She said and they both laughed. “I have missed you so much Son.”

“Same here, Ruthie. How have you been?”

“I am fine my darling. Your father is still with his associates.”

“Those bloody meetings would never end right?” Andy asked jokingly.

“I fear it would not.” Ruthie replied and they both laughed. “So, in our last conversation, you said something about a girl?”

Andy nodded.

“So, tell me more, how did you two meet, tell me everything.”

Andy laughed. “Do you think we will have enough time for that before father calls?”

“Well, we can start from somewhere,” she replied.

“Well, I am not going back today so, don’t worry, we will have all the time to discuss that. I promise.”

The woman smiled excitedly. “I am glad, I have actually missed hitting you.”

At this Andy frowned. “Try that and  I will sue you to the end of this world.” With this, they both laughed until a knock sounded on the door.

“Yea.”  Ruthie stood up to get the door, it was the butler, he muttered something to her and Ruthie gasped.

“What is it?” Andy asked, rushing to the door.
“I am afraid sir, your father has just been rushed to the hospital.”

“What!” Andy looked at both of them and shouted. “Let’s get going, what are you still waiting for?”

XXX

Andy waited in the waiting room with Ruthie and some other people who came to check their loved ones.

The doctor was yet to attend to them and he was beginning to lose his mind.

“Can’t we just know what is actually happening?” Andy shouted out of frustration, luckily, a doctor came out from one of the rooms.

“Hello sir, please calm down.” The doctor said as he approached them.

“Just tell me what is wrong with my father.” Andy ordered as calmly as he could. Almost immediately, his phone began to ring, it was Reeva. He picked it. “Baby, not now, not now.” Then he ended the call.

“Your father had a heart attack and he is still under an intensive care, so I will need you to calm down.”

“Is he going to be fine?” He asked.

“Well, I am not promising anything, I just want you to go home and keep calm, we will give you a call once it is time.”

“I am not going anywhere, I will be right here.” Andy declared, moving to take a seat.

He watched as Ruthie walked to the doctor, said something to him and the doctor nodded and walked back to where he had walked out from. After this, the woman approached him.

“He will be fine Son. Let’s just wait; we are not going until we talk to him that was what I told the doctor.”

As they both sat down, his phone rang again. Out of frustration, he picked it.

“Hello baby?” He couldn’t hear what she was saying properly but he could tell that she was asking for a permission to do something and without thinking, he replied.

“Ok, no problem, do whatever you need to do, I can’t talk right now.” He said, ending the call.

“Well, was that the lady?” Ruthie asked, giving off a cocky smile.

Andy looked at her and forced a smile. “Yes.”
“You know you are yet to tell me about her right?”

He stared at her in disbelief. “Ruthie! This time?”

The older woman smiled. “Of course. Tell me how you met. At least , with this we wouldn’t even know when the time will pass and we can see your father.”

Andy looked up towards the place where the doctor had come in, he was hoping he would come out again but no one did so , he looked at Ruthie, realized she was really serious and he actually had nothing to do to get himself occupied till the doctor comes out again. So he shrugged, leaned back and began to narrate how he had met Reeva many years back when he had just gotten to law school.

He could still remember vividly that he had never paid any attention to her during their first year. She was the joke of the class because she was always wearing colorful cloths instead of the normal suit that was recommended for the class.

He chuckled as he recalled her first day. She was in a pink tank top and white panties. Her hair was in a pony tail and she had a pair of glasses with pink frames. He had never seen such type of glasses before except at the beach or at a frat party. When she had entered the class, of course everyone had laughed at her.

“You know what got me interested in her?” He asked Ruthie who shook her head.

“She didn’t show the slightest care. She was laughed at and called names but, the next day, guess what she wore?”

Ruthie smiled and thought for a while. “Pajamas?”

Andy almost laughed out at this. “She is not dumb she is just weird. Well, she wore a white gown and a pink pair of sneakers. I don’t even understand how someone can combine those, I mean!” He threw his head back and laughed. “I mean, imagine amongst more than 100 students in the class where everyone was wearing suits, she wore a white short gown,. The gown was really sexy and fitted her perfectly.” He said, as he remembered how the gown had accentuated her curves. Even though the ladies laughed at her the next day, some of the guys actually winked and even whistled and believe me, she grew even more popular.

“So, what happened?” Ruthie asked.

“Well, I didn’t actually ask her out that day. She actually realized that she was breaking most of the school codes like she had told me, so she started dressing like the rest of us and soon, everyone stopped making fun of her and she blended in.  I later forgot about her until our second year when some of us, were chosen to help one of her school lecturers, a renowned solicitor in solving a case. It was one of our practicals and it was our first time of working on a real case. There were four of us. We had to be spending most of her school times with Diana, that was the name of the woman. A very successful attorney and one of her lecturers as well.”

His mind drifted back to when everyone of them had met in Diana’s office but she was not on seat that day. He recalled getting to the office and meeting two male and one female students. He recognized the lady. She was one of the most brilliant girls in the class and was mostly known for showing off. It was said that her grandparents, her parents and everyone single person in her family line had studied law even though not all of them were successful.

There were more than 100 students in his class so he couldn’t recognize the other two. He only muttered greetings when he entered and the guys replied but the girl only nodded.  After this, he went to find a seat beside the lady who seemed to be deeply buried in the magazine in her hand.

Shortly after, Diana entered the room. She was a tall black woman on a low cut with a slender body, she had smiled on seeing her new students.

“Wow! You are all looking so dashing. Look at all the fine men we have here. “She joked and later welcomed them one by one.

“I thought I was supposed to have four students, what happened to the remaining one?” She had just asked when the door opened and Reeva stepped right in.

“She was looking so lost and sweaty. You could tell that probably she lost her way and had been trying to find it for the last two hours.” Andy narrated.

“So what did Diana say?” Ruthie asked and he continued.

“Well, I guess she is here.” Diana said as Reeva stepped in.

“I am so sorry, I got lost.” Reeva explained and the other students laughed. Then he couldn’t understand why they kept laughing at her. The truth was that, she was a beautiful woman who seemed to be struggling with everything pertaining to the school. Even though she was having a hard time settling down or getting used to everything, Andy knew that for her to be selected along with them, she must be doing really well.

“So, that day I recognized her to be the same lady that had been wearing those fancy wears which were not acceptable but one thing was that, I never knew her name until that day.” Andy explained and was about to continue when he stopped as he sighted the doctor approaching them. He stood up immediately.

“Hello Mr. Andy, please you can come with me?” The doctor said politely and quickly Andy followed him.

XX    ******************************************Xxxxxxxxx

“Hold on, I don’t understand.” Pristin said, trying to sit right.

Reeva rolled her eyes. “What exactly is difficult for you to understand?”

“You found your fiancée’s credit card...”

“One of them.” Reeva corrected.

“Okay, one of them and you told him that you needed to buy lots of things as regards the bridal shower and he just asked you to go along with it?”

Reeva  scoffed. “Didn’t you hear when he said that? Anyway, he must have forgotten it,  the last time he had come here so, it’s not a problem.”

Pristin had landed in L.A that very day and they were at her place. It was just the two of them as Diana was still caught up at work.

“So, do you know what this means?” Reeva asked, her face brightening up.

“That you could buy anything you want?” Pristin replied questionably.

“Well, of course silly but this means that our wedding is coming up anytime soon.”

“Yea but you are yet to pick a date?”

“That would be in the next three months as I have predicted so there won’t be a reason to rush anything.”

“My boyfriend would never give me his credit card.” Pristin lamented enviously. “I am so jealous of you, he is really taking care of you.”

Reeva chuckled. “Yes he is. I am so lucky to have him. Now I can start listing out the things I need for the wedding, the wedding planner, even center, food, drinks. Decorations and so on before I move to personal things.”

Pristin sighed. “Aren’t you two supposed to be doing this together?”

“Well, that is why I have my friends, right?”

Pristin smiled and lifted the drink on the table, bringing the cup to her lips. “You still haven’t told me how you met.”

Reeva looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yea, so start.”

Reeva leaned back as she began to remember and explain how they had met so few years ago at the law school.

It was the first time she would be entering a real court of law with her colleagues. Few of them have been assigned to help Diana with her case so as to learn one or two things. That morning, while they waited in their seat as everyone entered one after the other, perhaps it was because she was nervous, she couldn’t understand, but she just had to go ease herself for the third time that morning. She could care less about what her colleagues would say, she was just so nervous. They had all had sleepless nights concerning that case and she had really worked her ass off, it would be so unfair if they ended up losing.

When she got to the ladies room, she splashed some clean water on her face before walking down the passageway that led to the courtroom. While she walked, some people, about four of them entered the passage from the other direction and that was when she saw him-

“You saw Tony?” Pristin exclaimed.

“Yea, I did, he was there standing right in front of me all suited up and looking like the motherf**er that he is. He saw me as well and stopped in his tracks, There were few people with him, a lady whom I later recognized to be Maggie, the lady that he dumped me for,  who was representing her cousin, the accused and some other people.”

“Wow! So you both were working against each other?”

“Yea.” Reeva replied.

“Please continue, I can’t wait to hear the rest.”

So she did.

When Tony saw her, she was as shocked as he was. He was behind a female lawyer and the accused that were both walking ahead of him, then he was followed by four other people. When he stopped, everyone stopped. Then the female lawyer turned around to face him.

“Why are we stopping baby?” She asked and that was when Reeva knew that she was the one he had left her for.

“Urm, I’m sorry, I just saw someone I know.” Tony said, still looking at her. Then the lady turned to face her and Reeva had the chance to properly look at her. She was a redhead, tall and really stunning, nose like a button and expensive suits which hugged her perfect figure.

“Please don’t tell me you didn’t say anything and that you just didn’t stand  there admiring that bitch!” Pristin shouted.

“I was just caught off guard Pristin.” Reeva explained. “You know that inferiority feeling kicked in so fast that I couldn’t utter a word.”

Pristin heaved a sigh of frustration, “so what happened next?”

“Well, remember we were talking about how I met Andy?”

Pristin nodded.

“Yea, so, this is where your answer comes in.” Reeva replied and continued.

So, Tony walked closer to her and stopped few inches away from her.

“Reeva.”

“Tony.”

“It’s been two years, how have you been and what are you doing here?”

“When Maggie realized that no one was speaking, she finally asked. “Who is she Tony?”

“Um, she is the lady I was telling you about. My Ex.” He replied reluctantly, he looked as if he regretted having said that.

Then the woman raised a brow. “Oh! She is Reeva? The one that dragged you to her mother’s house right after we finished having sex together?”

Reeva swallowed. She knew she had to leave but her feet were just stuck.

“So what is she doing here?” Maggie asked Tony, “well, clearly she hasn’t gotten over you cos I don’t understand why she has to be here when we are just walking in.”

Tony threw an apologetic look at Reeva right before Maggie walked closer to her. “So, you are still dumb and not sure about your future and now you are stalking my man, again?”

Reeva wanted to say lots of things. She could still remember how every of her word made her stomach turn but where was she going to start from? Tony had told this woman that she was dumb and not sure of her future? The worst part was that, he was right all those years but she had changed and she badly wanted to screw this woman over but, looking at Tony who was looking at her with pleading eyes, she was just torn into two. She hated her and hated Tony even more...

“I am not here because of Tony and I don’t care what you think about me.”

“Okay, so you are not here to stalk him?”

“No!” She shouted back.

“I remember he said something about you being desperate to get married to him and look at you now, not even a single ring on that finger, I wouldn’t be surprised if you are not even in a decent relationship, you look like the sort of girl who would do anything to get laid.”

That was when Reeva felt the urge to slap her, she had just lifted her hand when someone caught it from behind and brought it down to his lips while putting his arm around her waist. She was stunned.

“Baby, what are you doing? We have been waiting for you.” The guy said and that was when she realized it was Andy, the cute boy she had been crushing on since the first day she had seen him in Diana’s office.

His quick intervention surprised everyone but was surprised Reeva more was that, Maggie looked more surprised.

“Wow! Andy, what are you doing here?” She stuttered, now trying to recompose herself.

“Oh! Hello to you again Maggie. Well, I guess I am here to kick your ass today.What are you trying to do with my girlfriend? Do you two know each other or what?”

Reeva looked surprised at that, but she was enjoying Maggie’s look of bewilderment.

“Your girlfriend?” She asked, a little bit surprised.

“Yes. So if you will excuse us, we really need to go back in.”

“You both are here for the assault case?” Maggie asked.

“Oh yes!” Andy replied, taking Reeva’s hand. “We will both be kicking your ass today,” with this, he faced Reeva, “come on baby.” As they walked farther from them ,he whispered into her ears.”I am sorry to have intruded like that but you looked like you needed a serious help.”

“Yes, I really did and you were perfect. I was about to slap her you know?”

“Yea, I saw that, but us  winning the case will be a better slap on her, don’t you think?”

Reeva blushed. “Right.”

“By the way, I am Andy.”

“I know. I am Reeva.”

“I know.”

XX XX****XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*****XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX********************8XXXXXXX

“Wow!” Pristin exclaimed as Reeva ended her narration, “you should turn that into a movie. I love that sincerely. He was a true gentleman, a shining knight to the rescue.”

Reeva laughed. “ When he and I walked ahead of them, with his arms around me like that as if we have been a couple for years, I felt like I was walking in the clouds. I was so excited.”

“But how did Maggie know him?”

“He later told me that they went to same college and his father and hers used to be in the same golf club. She once asked him out. They dated for a while until she became too controlling and possessive, so he kicked her ass to the curbs.”

“Wow! She must have felt really awful to have found out that you two were a couple.”

“Yes, she was really rattled. So, we later won the case. We beat her team, even though it was our very first practical work.”

“Wow! You later won the case and got the man, double slap on her face.”

Reeva laughed. “My exact words when I went to approach her after we left the court.“

Pristin laughed. “So how did she look?”

“Like a loser.”Reeva replied and they both laughed.

AT THE HOSPITAL

 

Andy opened the door of the room and he stepped in with Ruthie right behind him. He could see his father lying on the bed with several tubes hanging out from parts of him.

“MY GOD” Ruthie said quietly as she sighted her boss in the bed. She quickly did the cross sign.

 Andy’s father had an oxygen supplied placed on his nose which helped him with his inhalation. His eyes were shut and the machine that was calculating his heart rate was beeping softly at intervals. That meant a good thing.

Andy sighed and shut the door quietly after them before advancing towards his father whose eyes were still closed. Ruthie stayed behind, leaning against the wall.

He pulled the stool close to his bed and sat on it. Then carefully, he reached out for his father’s hand. Two tubes were passed into the back of his hand.

“Dad?” He called softly but there was no response.

“Dad?” He called again, tapping his wrist with his thumb. Ruthie watched, praying in Spanish.

The man on the bed stirred and slowly turned his head to the other side.

Andy’s heart was beating rapidly when his father’s eyelids fluttered and slowly, he opened his eyes.

“He’s awake!” Ruthie almost shouted  for excitement.

“Dad!’ Andy gasped excitedly, there were tears of joy in his eyes. “Dad! You are awake, thank God. How are you?”

The father starred at him for a while and then with his other hand, removed the oxygen from his nose and pulled it to his chest. He looked really weak and tired.

“How are you feeling dad?” He asked.

“Mr. Michael, how are you doing?” Ruthie asked from behind.

The man nodded weakly and was saying some things which were not audible enough, so Andy had to bend his ears closer towards his lips.

“I am fine, how long have I been here?”

“Just today.” Andy replied.

“It is not as bad as that of the last time. “Ruthie said and this surprised Andy.

“What does that mean?” He asked, straightening up. “Are you saying that he has had an attack before and no one cared to tell me about it?” HE was looking right at Ruthie.

“But you were in school then Son, we called you severally but you were not picking.”

“That doesn’t mean you should have hidden it from me!” Andy snapped and turned around on time to see his father wince in pain. Quickly he rushed to his side.

“I am so sorry dad, for shouting like that. Are you okay?”

The father managed to nod a few times.

Read " Finding Solace " by the same author ( Tobi Loba )

. “Listen to me.” He groaned.

“I am here dad.”

“Do not be angry with Ruthie, she acted under my orders.” The father explained. “Do not be angry with her, I had ordered her not to disturb you with anything, The doctors did a good job and I was okay.”

Andy sighed. “Okay dad, I won’t blame anyone but we need you to be strong and to be alright so we can go home on time.”

 “I will be fine but this is when I need you to listen to everything that I have been telling you, do not be carried away but beauty, feelings or sex. You are the only person you need to be the best person you can be.”

“Dad. I understand everything you are saying but why are you telling me now when we can get hi=home first.” Andy replied.

“I will be wheeled out to the ICU soon and I don’t know if I will be able to make it and ...”

“Of course dad, why would you say something like that?”

“Because he is trying to be strong.” Ruthie said, finally coming to join Andy beside the bed,
“I need you to promise me one thing Andy.” His father said, coughing slightly.

‘What is it father?”

“You must promise me that you will never try anything like spending excessively on a woman without getting to know her first. They are not worth it. You remember what your mother did to me.”
Without thinking, Andy responded, “Yes father.”

“Good. I love you son, you are a good person and you need another good person who will take you as you are and treat you with the kindness that you are made up of. Marriage is a sacred thing, once you venture into it, then they start to suck the life out of you and leave you into shreds.”

“Father, do not worry yourself, you are going in for that operation and you are coming out of it alive. If my not getting married is what will help you in recovering, then I promise you that I will never take any woman to the altar until I have spent enough time with her to be sure that she is to be trusted. Is that okay?”

His father smiled weakly and that was when the door opened and nurses walked in.
“Remember everything we talked about Andy.” His father said before being wheeled out of the room while he and Ruthie watched and then finally hugged to console each other.