Sons and Lovers

Episode 4.

They had gotten to the girls hostel and were discussing whether to find out where Ruth lived and whether they should go and look for her there when Remi’s phone rang.

“What? Why didn’t you tell us?” Remi said to the voice on the other end. “I’m so sorry about that.”

“We’ve been so worried about you,” she said. “Everyone’s here. Fola, Chidera, Peter even your new friend Tomiwa.”

“Ok. Ok. I’ll tell them.”

“Guys, it was Ruth. Her mother’s dead.”

There was a general cry of dismay.

“What happened?”  Fola asked.

“We should have known,” Chidera said sadly. “Her mother had been very ill for a long time.”

“She was dying of breast cancer,” Remi added.

“That’s too bad,” Peter said.

“How is Ruth? Did she sound OK?”  Tomiwa asked.

‘’Of course she can’t sound Ok. Her mother just died,” Peter said reprovingly.

“Well, she won’t be around for some time. Two weeks at least, she said,” Remi said.

“She’ll let us know when the burial will take place.”

“We should go and visit her,” Chidera said.

“I’ll go with you,” Tomiwa said eagerly.

“I’m not sure she’d want that,” Fola said cautiously.

“We’ll see about that,” Remi said.

Peter shook his head and muttered under his breath. “Love stricken young man.”

********************************************************************************************

Ruth sat in the living room staring at nothing. She knew she had to take full responsibility for her father and sisters now. Her father wasn’t talking too anybody. He just sat mute. Her two younger sisters just walked around looking confused. She could hardly think clearly. But she knew that life had to go on. She was glad her friends were there for her. It touched her that Tomiwa had been concerned and had gone to look for her in the hostel. She wasn’t sure what she felt about him yet but it seemed he had potential.

She wished her mother could have met him…

*********************************************************************************************

Tomiwa wondered if he was rushing things fast by thinking of going to Ruth’s house. But he knew what he felt. She was not just any girl. He had met so many different kinds of girls. She was the girl. He wanted to be involved in her life. He wanted to be there for her when she needed him. And now, was an occasion for him to show his devotion.

Fola and the others might laugh at his ardour but they had no idea how he felt.  He had never believed in love at first sight until it happened to him. And now, he was a true believer. He needed her in his life; he was sure of it.

********************************************************************************************

Richard put an arm around a concerned Chidera.

“Don’t worry Chidera. I’ll be fine.”

He had been discharged from the hospital and the echocardiography he had done revealed that  he had an atrial septal defect amenable to surgery.

Chidera was worried.

“Heart surgery? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It’ll be non-invasive, they said. That’s less dangerous,” Richard said.

“Besides, there’s no rush. They said I can take my time and decided when I want to have it.”

“Ok then,” she said not convinced.

“Hey,” he said smiling. “How about we go back to the eatery and finish off our last date?”

“I promise not to choke this time.”

“You’d better not.” Chidera said as they headed to the eatery.

PREVIOUS EPISODE

NEXT EPISODE