The Evil Called Love - Episode 4

 

This is the umpteenth time mother is falling sick, anytime she gets better, she falls ill again. Fummi really can't say what is going on, and honestly she didn't care. She just wanted mother to get well.
She rushes off to fetch her mother water to help her take her medication. Nobody really plans for things like this, they just befall us.
Pain is how we know we are human, and Fummi sat there being the mother to her mother, as she forces her to swallow tablet upon tablet till the dosage was over. It was frustrating, she knew but, if there's was any chance of getting better, the whole dosage needed to be taken.
What mother had was not new, it had been with her even before father died . Her father. The man who just by the honk of his car horn made the whole house happy.
He never came home alone, even on days he said were "very bad" he always came home with something.
He bought Fummi a lollipop everytime he came back, he said she was going his baby(that was their thing, their father-daughter thing.) Even after she was in tertiary level when he died in that ghastly motor accident, he planned on continuing that habit till she was no more, only that he beat her to it.
It's a good sign for a parent to die before the child. " The right order of the world"

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/the-evil-called-love

. But her dad was too good to die, he didn't deserve death, sadly even good people must die.
His death was the kind of visitor you don't plan for but must make room for whenever he comes, it was unexpected to see the man that ran towards our door telling us that father was hit by a truck and had sustained "minor injuries".
Injuries that when mother saw them she had to faint. The nurses must have thought it was romantic to attend to mother by the next bed closest to father's, because when I came in that day, I almost collapsed to therefore make it an awkward family picture.( Father, mother and daughter, lieing side by side).
Father's death did a number on mother, you know the way there's always this one song that you can't get enough of, even if it was 30years in the future? That was mother's Condition after father's death.
She loved him so much his absence sickens her.
Her sickness became constant. You can't really blame her, Fummi was an only child, not that they didn't try, they did. But staying in school didn't help mother, because all she did with her time asides working was think of him.
She had married her best friend and losing him almost made her lose herself, and that is why Fummi couldn't lose her mother; she was her everything.
" Stop staring into the ceiling and take this cup away" her sweet alto voice revived Fummi from her trance and brought her back to their sitting room.
She smiled at her mother, she was weak and yet would not show it. Rather she pretended she wasn't really sick and blamed Fummi for abandoning her studies and coming home.
African parents are the worst, they never give room for emotions. 
It was like the colour "black" alone demands one to be strong. Judging from history.   
Another thing was Paramount, 'African parents never apologized'.
Fummi smiled to herself as she wallowed in her thoughts, I hope we don't become the very things we complain about she said more to herself than anyone else. But deep deep inside of her she knew, she sknew there was a wrapper tieing, child shouting, never satisfied, yet always complaining African mother. And that truth was not at all bitter, she was only to wait till it gets to her turn.
She returned from the kitchen after dropping the cup to come sit with her mother, even when she said she can't wait to go to school during a "joke argument" with her mother that morning, she loved the fact she was home.
The smell of air was different, the food was different(even when she was the one who cooked both at home and school), the space was different, the people were different, no classes, no lecturers, no Bukumi(she secretly missed her best friend that they always talk three times a day since she left), no Dele troubles, no Alfred.
"Alfred!" She said a bit louder now because his name brought a sting with it, a sting of remorse. She did not tell him before she left, she checked the time it was just some minutes after nine.
9:05pm! " I can still call him I guess" the rhetorical question was not only replied with silence but also snores from her sleeping mother, who now rests peacefully on the couch.
"Ring Ring"
"Ring Ring"
She impatiently waited for him to pick up, she had missed him( a little).
She secretly wondered if like her mother she could marry her best friend, she and Alfred under one roof would be laughable yet lovable, it would be dramatic and also romantic.
It seemed almost perfect, but then it's Alfred. So she shrugged off the idea.
"Hello" his voice hammered through the receiver.
"Hey Alfred, how was class today?" She asked and almost immediately regret her clumsy choice of conversation topics.
I mean it's been three days since she last spoke to him and she didn't even tell him she was leaving, she only hinted her more mother was sick before she skedaddled.
"It's okay, but school is not the same without your fine face Sha" There he went again, the odè was not even angry that she had left, and he was busy acting all cool with it.
"Awwn, Alfred. Thank you so mu........"
"I have taken it upon myself to help you with your assignments and little surprise tests when the need arises, except of course you prefer Bukumi to help you with it" he laughed.
" I'll pretend I didn't hear the part of you saying I should trust Bukumi with my school work" she knew Bukumi hardly did her own assignment.
"You have to still be around soon though, because your bill is increasing" he teased.
"Yéyè! Add it to all my outstanding bills" she laughed. And really that was the first real laugh of relief she had had since she got back.
" I will but just know this time you are going to pay" he stated sounding jovial.
"Alfred, am sorry I left without telling you" she said seriously this time.
"Let's focus on your mother, how is she?" 
" The best is yet to come, but she's improving." She said.
"Am glad she is, take good care of yourself and her, okay! Mummy's girl" he said with a laugh. 
With each time he heard Fummi laugh during their call, he battled with the thought of telling her the truth of who or what her so called best friend was. A snake! But he knew he couldn't tell her this information, as precious as it is, it wasn't what she needed.
Her mother was her priority, and that had to come first no matter what. Besides telling her will devastate her at this point in time.
" I will, take care too" she replied.
" Is that care I hear in your voice" he asked hoping to get a positive response he could hold on to and sleep with her in mind.
"Odè" ( well, he got got something alright!)
"Goodnight" they said to each other as Fummi pushed the red button ending the call, one feeling forgiven and high-spirited, the other feeling guilty.
The information he knew if told could turn things between them to his favour, he couldn't be selfish. Not now!
He shouldn't think of just himself, what about her mother? He had decided not to tell her and that was final.
The next day was a beautiful morning, and as all beautiful mornings at home(their home), Fummi woke up before her mother to attend to the chores and prepare something along side for breakfast so mother can swallow her pills.
She had done everything before 8:30am and had already put rice on the cooker.
After the rice was ready, she set the table and the food on it and walked on to wake mother.
It's 9:00am, mother's room felt cold. She remembered walking mother to the bed last night after she had woken her up from the couch. But there was something different, it were as though mother had not gotten up at night at all.
Funny, mother always gets up at night to pee she thought.
'Mum" she called.
"Mum!" Even louder, still no reply.
"Mum!" This time shaking her, making her heart pound heavily not knowing what to expect.
"What to do? Hospital, how? Who will? She was confused.
This was the kind of confused that was not at all good, it was bad, very bad.
With the help of the neighbors ( who barely knew mother was sick, or that Fummi was around ( like mother like daughter) mother was in the hospital.
The doctor said it was the worst one he has witnessed ( the doctor mother was assigned to after father's death).
Mother was placed on a bed and was frequently moved around, a whole lot of attention was on her to the disapproval of Fummi, who honestly wished she knew what was going on.
She knew mother went constantly to the hospital after father died, she knew mother took drugs occasionally, but what she did not know however was why.
The sickness mother had was kept hidden and anytime she asked mother waved the question ( now it has backfired hasn't it).
So there she was standing in the hospital, lost! ( With no idea what was wrong with her mother, and with only the hope that her mother makes it).
"Fummi" the doctor called looking up from his clipboard.
"Yes" she rushes to meet him Immediately but he gestures to his office and leaves her sautering along. He offers her a seat and takes one for himself.
"Fummi" he started and proceeded to say a whole lot of words that she did not understand.
"However, she will be alright" he continued.
"Just make sure the deposit of #35,000 is made by the end of tomorrow"
"What!" She screamed.
" You Know am a student, and okay is quite humongous."
"Fummi you very well know am aware of that, just call her emergency contacts and get back to me. Like I explained the money will be used......."
She now understood the speech she didn't understand earlier.
" The money was to be used to get new drugs to suppress the ailment before proper treatment can commence".
She wasn't sure she was ready to deal with the emergency (whoever they may be), she only knew one person to call.
" So that's it, I don't know if you can help" she said to the phone.
"Sure! Your mother's health is top priority for me, us. When do you want it?".
" Thanks Dele, am really grateful".

Really sorry for the delay guys, I had a slight battle with malaria. 
And I saw a comment that made me go to work typing immediately.
Please keep the comments coming, and keep liking the story.
I love you guys. 
P s please pray I get better.