Fulfilling Wishes - Episode 9

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Andy opened his eyes as he felt a light tap on his arm.  Quickly, he opened his eyes, it was Ruthie and in her hand was a cup of tea which he handed to him.

“Andy, you need to go home, bathe and have a good sleep.”

Andy adjusted and sat upright. “I can’t Ruthie, I want to be here when he opens his eyes, we haven’t even heard anything about the success of the operation. I am so scared.”

Ruthie sighed and sat beside him . “You being here won’t do any good. I will stay here and I will call you as soon as the doctor says anything. Do you understand?”

He nodded. “So you want me to go home?”

“Yes dear and it will be best if you call your girlfriend and tell her what is happening because she must be worried sick.”

“Her friends are around, I doubt if she even remembers that I am anywhere. I will be fine.” He said, standing up. “Please call me as soon as he wakes up.”

“I will, dear.” Ruthie replied, patting him on the back as he embraced her. Finally they pulled away and Andy began to walk out of the hospital.

He was tired and every muscle in his body ached terribly. He was really worried about his father

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. He shivered as the cold morning air touched his skin when he got outside, he had spent the night at the hospital and didn’t even remember how he had dozed off.

He spotted his Bentley behind a red benz and he walked towards it. He pressed the button on his key and the car unlocked. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard someone call his voice.

“Andy.”

He spun around, hoping it was one of the nurses that had called him but was surprised to see who it was.

“Maggie?”

The lady walked towards him hurriedly.

“I wasn’t certain if you were the one, I had to be sure. How are you?”

Andy nodded, squinting his eyes as the lady got closer. He had no idea why his ex would be there at that moment.

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

“Oh, my father told me that your dad had an heart attack and he wanted me to check on him since I was around and he is several miles away.”

“Oh.” Andy said. He remembered their parents were good friends, that was one of the things that had brought them together those years back until he broke up with her.

“Thank you. I appreciate it. How is your dad?” He asked.

“Fine.” She replied. “He feels bad that he couldn’t be here. he hopes to come and check on him as soon as he gets back from his trip.”

He nodded. “No problem.” He wandered the last time they had seen, oh yea, that was when he and his team had defeated her team during her cousin’s case.

“So, are you going home?” She asked.

“Yea. Urm, Ruthie, wants me to get a good sleep.”

“Wow! Ruthie, I remember her, she still works for you?”

He nodded. “Yea, so that is why I am going home.”

“Okay, do you mind if I tag along?”

Andy knew she was going to ask that. “Like I said, I want to go home and sleep and I would really love to be alone right now.”

“Sure I understand. Maybe later.”

“Ok.” He replied and then entered the car and turned on the ignition key.

XX

Andy collapsed into his bed and shut his eyes. His head banged seriously and he was too tired to even go out and get drugs, He desperately prayed that sleep  should take over him but nothing happened. His mind began to play tricks on him, keeping him awake. First, his mind wandered off to his college days when he had been in a relationship with his ex. He never had any intention to date her but her problem was  too much , she was always around him and all over him. He was sure that she had a huge crush on him and he didn’t really like her,maybe because she was one of the mean girls of their class, she was always one of the richest, so most girls in  the girls were always trying to please her and the boys were always around her.

He remembered when she had challenged him oneday in front of the class , saying, he was gay, all because he refused to kiss her. He really hated her, she was a total bitch. She was mean to most of the unpopular girls in the class, she was also a bully and most of the girls used to be afraid of her. She asked him out and he rejected her so many times, then she reported him to her father, saying, he was always mean to her in the class. This turned out really messy as his father later heard of this and called him-

“Andy, is whatever I heard about you concerning you and Maggie true?” His father had asked.

“I don’t know what you might have heard about me but if it came from Maggie, that slut, please forget it. “

This made his father furious, especially with the word ‘slut’. He immediately believed everything and forced him to apologize to her, he did and to make his father happy, he had taken her on a date. Unfortunately for her, he broke up with her before the end of that month. They were just not compatible and they fought a lot especially when he refused to tell her the ‘L’ word even though she made every effort to hear him say it.

“I am not ready for this Mag!” He had snapped at her after they just finished making love in that same room many years ago. He stood up and began to wear his trousers.

She looked disappointed. “Why? Why is it so difficult for you? Are you just keeping me for sex?”

He threw her a surprise look. “Look you asked me out, I didn’t ask you out okay”

She sighed and began to pick up the pieces of her cloth. “And he keeps reminding me that every time.”

He zipped up and then faced her. “I am sorry but you need to give me time.”

“Time?” She snapped, “how much time? Do you know how many men are begging to be with me? Do you know there are better men that I should be with right now but I decided to pick you instead and now, instead of you to be at least grateful....”

“Will you keep quiet!” He shouted, angrily. “How dare you say you picked me? Did I come to you? Did I ask you to be my girlfriend? Obviously, you force yourself on me because you like, do not get yourself confused. If you think that there are better men than I am out there, why don’t you go out and be with them? I am so tired of this stupid relationship anyway. This is the worst ever!” He groaned and then left her sobbing while he walked out of the door, slamming the door after him.  As he began to climb down the stairs, he ran into Ruthie who threw him a questioning look.

“What?” He asked, sitting down on one of the seats. “I just hate girls! My father was right, They are so not worth it!”

Ruthie gave him a knock on the head.”Hey, do not think that all girls are as slutty as that chick, we have better girls who will make you happy. You just need to find them.

**** ***

The delicious aroma of fried egg hit his nostrils and he opened his eyes.  The first thing he discovered was that his headache was gone and he felt even better. He stretched his hand towards his phone which was beside his pillow. He gasped as he realized that he had slept for eight hours straight.  It was already some minutes to 5pm in the evening. He scrolled to check if he had any missed calls but found none, not even from his fiancée. Well, that was a relief.

The aroma wafted through his nostrils once more and he immediately felt his stomach turn, followed by some rumblings, he knew that he needed to eat. Ruthie must be back from the hospital.

Quickly, he stood up, grabbed a shirt and walked out of his room.

“Ruthie, I wasn’t expecting you so soon. “ He said as he climbed down from the stairs while wearing his shirt but he stopped when he saw the person putting the food on the table.

“Maggie?”

The lady turned around and smiled as she spotted him.

“I knew you wouldn’t resist the aroma of fried eggs.” She said. “Come on down before it gets cold.”

Andy was speechless. “What are you doing here and where is Ruthie?”

The lady sighed. “Ruthie is still at the hospital, I thought you would be hungry so I decided to come over and make you some food.”

This was crazy, he thought but , he was really hungry so he climbed down the stairs and approached her.

“You don’t think I could forget the address of your  house do you?” She asked but he shrugged and took a seat.

“No, I didn’t think so and I didn’t think you would volunteer to do this act of kindness.” He said with a tone of sarcasm as he devoured the ham and egg. His phone was on the table.

Maggie watched in interest as he ate before she finally took a seat, putting her phone likewise on the table.

Andy ate the food in silence and finished it in few minutes. The butler came over and served him a cup of juice.

“Thank you.” He muttered.

“I am so sorry  sir, I didn’t want to wake you up was why I allowed her to come in.” The butler explained.

“It’s no problem.” Andy replied and the man went back to his place.

“So, what are you really doing here Maggie?” He asked while sipping from the cup in his hand.

“I am here to make peace.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Andy smiled. “Did you have an epiphany or what because I don’t understand what could have gotten into you.”

Maggie smiled. “We used to be friends, childhood friends. Then we grew up and , I began to act out.” She stood up and was moving around the table.

“This very house used to be our playground, we used to be so close, we were inseparable.”

Andy kept listening, wondering what in heaven’s name she was trying to come up with this time.

“Geez, I wonder how that ended. “ He remarked but she only smiled.

“I acted out, I started misbehaving because I got popular and I realized how pretty I was, then.”

Andy chuckled, he was enjoying whatever drama she was acting.

“This is not a drama Andy.” She sputtered, as if reading his mind. “I just want things to be okay between us, I want us to be friends again. Please.”

Andy sighed. “Well, I wasn’t really perfect either too. I was proud and stubborn and so many other things so I guess, we can start afresh.”

This made the lady smile and then she pulled out a seat beside him.

“I never thought you would want to go for law?” She explained.

He shrugged and gulped down the content of his cup. “I never wanted to, it just happened. I wasn’t picked for many years but dad made me keep writing the exam until I finally got picked.”

She smiled. “You are good, natural.”

He smiled and raised a brow. “Is that a compliment because we beat your ass those years back?”

She chuckled.”Well, you had a good team and you were really good, I think I wasn’t really prepared.” She bluffed.

Andy smiled and took a good look at her. She had grown out of the spoilt brat that she had always been, she was responsible and even looked nicer than before, she was mature.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, a little bit taken aback by his intense glare.

“I am trying to see if there is still a little part of that spoilt brat that I grew up with.”

She chuckled and was about to pick up her phone from the table when she realized that they were using the same type of phone.

“Wow! Look, we use the same phone just like we used to do then.”

He smiled. “ You always liked competing with me, lady.” He remarked and she laughed, using a hand to pull back the hair from her face. This made Andy realize that the ring he had seen on her finger in the court was no longer there.

“What happened?” He demanded, pointing to her finger.

She looked confused at first but then realized what he was talking about. “Oh, we are taking a break.”

“It’s Tony, right? Your engagement was announced years ago, why are you not married and now taking a break?”

“There are more to what meets the eye. We planned to get married after law school but, things happened and we just sort of drifted apart.” She explained.

“So that time when we met at the court, you were only bluffing when you saw Reeva?”

She raised a brow. “Oh, you mean your girlfriend?”

He nodded.

“Well, not really, or maybe I was, you know how much I loved to be intimidating.”

He chuckled. “Yea.”

“That was my last year at law school and things were just going rough between us, besides, that little run-in with you guys really had a huge effect on my relationship.”

“Really? How?”

Maggie sighed. “Well, let’s just say, Tony started having a moment of ‘what ifs’ that night, so it really got me so angry and , things got worse than that.”

“Wow! I’m so sorry to hear that. So, you are just separated, completely?”

“Yea, we decided to part ways. Enough about me, what about you and Reeva? Why are you two not married yet?”

Andy smiled. “We are planning that soon.”

She looked impressed. “So you two are still together, cool. So are you still bent on your ‘no-marriage’ thingy?”

He was surprised. He had no idea that of having spoken to Maggie about that.

“I told you about that?” He asked.

“of course, you seem to have forgotten how close we used to be. The whole thing about your mother which almost ruined your dad.”

“Wow! How close were we?”

She chuckled. “Does she know all this?”

“Who? You mean Reeva?”

She nodded.

“No.” He replied, looking down.

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“There are some things that are better left unsaid for a relationship to thrive.”

“Really? Has she never asked you?”

“Well, she has but I found ways to change the topic so she never gets an answer.”

“Keeping secrets...” She shook her head. “That relationship is....hmmm....”

Andy stood up.

Read " Synder-Ella " by the same author ( Tobi Loba )

. “I didn’t ask for your opinion. Besides, once the time is right, she will know.”  With this, he picked his phone on the table began to climb up the stairs back to his room.

Maggie watched as he disappeared into his room, and then she stood up to pack the used plates back to the kitchen. She hoped that she hadn’t meddled too much in his affairs, she bit her lips. She had just wanted to make peace with him, not get him to hate her again. She sighed; she really needed to work on her attitude.

She washed the plates and put it back in the rack. She remembered every little detail about the mansion, it used to be her second home when she was still a kid, she had been really close to Andy and if not because she became spoilt and uncultured, perhaps, she could have become the next Mrs. Michael and not this lady who clearly didn’t even know anything about him. When she finished with the cleaning, she wiped her hand with one of the kitchen napkins and stepped out, she was surprised when she saw that Andy was already out, he looked clean. It was obvious that he freshened up.

“I am going back to the hospital; would you like to come along?”

She looked surprised; she hadn’t thought that he would even speak to her again.

“Yes, I would like to come along.” She replied, picking up her phone and  following him out of the house.

“I thought you hate me.” She said as they got into the car.

“Why would I hate you?” He asked.

“Because I poked my nose into your relationship.”

He smiled. “I was angry but then, I realized you were right. Maybe you have changed after all.”

 

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