HER JOURNEY
By Christabel Nwoko
Episode 7
Many weeks had pas-sed and Roland’s three sons and their mother were giving Roland more troubles, gradually Roland had began to develop hypertension without even knowing it.
He had began to consider Collin’s advice of relocating to the United States or United Kingdom but when he remembered Agnes and his daughters he decided to wait till he had reconciled with his first family.
One day, Roland got a call from his buddy Collins. “Guess what, my friend” Collins entered in excitement.
“plea-se tell me my friend, I’m not feeling well, Martha and her sons will not kill me” Roland entered
“You nee-d to see a doctor then, but I have a great news, Chloe your daughter finally responded to the direct message I s£nt to her on her instagram handle” Collins revealed at the other end of the phone.
“She did, what did she say?” Roland responded in excitement.
“I have introduced my self to her and i requested for her phone number, I just hope she s£nds it” Collins entered.
“I’m happy now, you know what my friend, I will come to Lagos tomorrow, I want to be there when you speak to her……I didnt bond with my daughters when they were little because I was always far away because of my job, I watch them grow in pictures but whenever I am around, I always made up for the lost time. I hope my daughters especially Chloe remembers me and the time we once shared together, I know I was a terrible father, my job and my terrible brothers separated me from them” Roland responded and he wiped tears from his eyes and continued. “My friend, I hope Agnes had not remarried”
“That I don’t know, all I know is that Agnes and your children don’t bear your surname anymore”Collins revealed.
Roland felt so bad, he instantly lost the little hope he had of ever reconciling with his first family, within him he had concluded that he had lost his daughters and he won’t be able to reconcile with them. Instantly, Roland began to feel very ill, he began to feel very dizzy and shaky, he didn’t even know when the phone fell off from his hands, Collins who had no idea of what was happening to his friend began to say “Rolly, are you there? Hello?” the next thing Roland slumped on the floor.
His second wife, Martha saw him when he fell and she suddenly began to alert her sons, Even Collins could hear Roland’s wife Martha, screaming out his name. Collins bec@m£ restless and scared at the other end of the phone.
“plea-se Lord, nothing should happen to my friend, oh why did I tell him that his daughters did not take his name, oh what have I done?” Collins thought.
The poor man was so confused and didn’t know what next to do, Collins and Roland have been friends since they were children and they shared a special bond. Collins ended the call and rushed into one of his cars and was heading to the highway and his destination was Ibadan.
“Lord, plea-se save my friend”he prayed as he drove.
On the other hand, Roland had been rushed to the hospital and it had been revealed that he was hypertensive and worst his Coronary artery is blocked and an emergency surgery is nee-ded to rectify the medical issue but first he must deposit at least a sum of five hundred thousand naira.
According to the doctor, a surgeon had been contacted and will be with them shortly but first the payment should be made immediately.
Two hours later, Collins had arrived Ibadan, when he called Martha, the rude woman reluctantly told him the name and the address of the hospital where Roland was admitted.
“The doctor said Roland nee-d five hundred thousand naira for the surgery and i and my sons don’t have that kind of money, Roland your friend had refused to share his properties among his sons when he was healthy, we can’t access his money because he refused to grant us access ” Martha entered at once and Collins told her to s£nd the hospital’s account number so he could transfer the money.
Half hour later, Collins had arrived the hospital and he ran to the doctor’s office without saying a word to Martha.
“Doc. How is my friend, Roland? What is going on?” Collins asked, the doctor could see fear and anxiety clearly written on Collin’s face.
“plea-se calm down, we will do our best, the Surgeon we invited from Lagos is here alre-ady” The doctor responded.
Just as they were conversing a beautiful lady walked into the doctor’s office and the doctor greeted her respectfully. “Madam are you re-ady for the surgery, the theatre is re-ady” the doctor entered
“Oh yes” the beautiful lady replied and the doctor turned to Collins and said
“Mr Collins, she is the Surgeon that we invited from Lagos, she is so good at what she does, I as-sure you your friend is in good hands”
Collins turned to greet the surgeon, one good stare at the beautiful young lady, Collins recognized her immediately, “Paulina”He said in shock.
HER JOURNEY
By Christabel Nwoko
Episode 8
Paulina stared at the middle aged man and wondered if she had meet him before. Even the doctor could see the confusion in Paulina’s face.
“Do you know her sir?” The doctor Entered. And Collins nodded in acceptance. Paulina kept staring closely at Collins, his face was familiar too but still she couldn’t remember who he was. “Do I know you?” Paulina finally entered.
“I’m uncle Collins, your Father’s best friend, the last time I saw you, your mother was hospitalized, do you remember me now?” Collins entered.
“Oh of course I remembered, I was there at the hospital when you gave my mom a brown envelope containing some cash, thanks to you, we were able to eat good meals for few weeks” Paulina replied and Collins stared at her in tears.
“Uncle,What are you doing here?” Paulina entered.
“My friend is critically ill” Collins responded.
“Oh I see, so your friend is the man that nee-ds emergency surgery on his blocked artery? Paulina asked innocently.
“Yes my friend…..your father” Collins revealed.
“What? My Father? You can’t be serious right? No I can’t do this? I can’t save a man that abandoned me and my siblings, a man who abandoned my mother, we suffered alot, even worst he tricked us, he made us believe that he was dead, I can’t do this plea-se, I’m going back to Lagos right now” Paulina entered in tears.
“My child, plea-se don’t go, I returned to Lagos with your father, we searched everywhere but we couldn’t locate your mother or any of you, your father is so sorry, he had no idea of what his brothers had done, they lied to him too and he was a fool to believe them, plea-se forgive him, don’t allow your father die, plea-se find a place in your heart to forgive him” Collins entered he was alre-ady on his knees and he held Paulina’s left hand.
Finally Paulina agreed to operate on her father. The doctor pla-yed a major role in convincing Paulina as he reminded her of the ethics of their profession.
“Madam, our job is to save life, you have to set your emotions aside and do your job, plea-se I’m begging you” The doctor had told her.
Few hours later the surgery was successful and afterwards, Paulina left for Lagos without saying more words to Collins. When she left, Collins began to look for her every where in the hospital, even the hospital’s staffs had no idea when she left.
Paulina was in tears as she head back to Lagos, she felt angry in her spirit. She kept reminscing on the past. Paulina remembered how much they suffered and how ha-rd their mother worked. She thought on many times that she nee-ded a father and how other children would refer to her and her siblings as “Bastards” because no one knew their father.
The thoughts that their father had abandoned her and her siblings because of their gender and married another woman made her more angry. But suddenly, Collin’s words at the hospital began to echo on her mind.
“your father is so sorry, he had no idea of what his brothers had done, they lied to him too and he was a fool to believe them, plea-se forgive him, don’t allow your father die, plea-se find a place in your heart to forgive him” Collin’s words kept echoing in her mind.
“Is he really sorry? His brothers lied to him, I just don’ t un-derstand all that Uncle Collins said at the hospital” Paulina had thought
Roland was out of danger and when he woke up, Collins told him that her second daughter saved him. h0t tears fell from his eyes.
“I owe her my life and I will do everything possible to reconcile with my daughters, they are more valuable to me than those useless sons of mine, I regret everything that I had done wrong and I’m so ashamed. I have realized that every child can be valuable, irrespective of their gender, my sons will have been valuable too if they had a great mother like Agnes, ever since Agnes left my life, my life had never remained the same, I just hope God will show me Mercy, so I can be able to rewrite my wrongs.” Roland said in tears.
End Of Episode 8
To Be Continued