“Calm down man,” Kamal said, even though he didn’t feel very calm
himself. Derin was pacing up and down, pausing every few seconds, his
eyes darting furtively around at each stop, as if expecting Awazi to
emerge from the spot he looked at.
Derin had come to him that morning to ask him to help beg Awazi, and
he had harangued Derin after hearing the story of what had happened.
They had rushed back to the house together, but met it locked from
outside. Once in the house, Derin dashed into the open bedroom and met
it empty. They had gone through every room in the house, shouting for
her, but she wasn’t there.
“Dude, calm down and let’s call her,” Kamal said again to the pacing Derin.
Derin reached for his phone and came up with empty air. It was only
then it dawned on him he had left his phone in the house in his rush to
get Kamal. He quickly scanned the living room, but didn’t find the
phone.
“Kamal, can you flash my phone? I can’t find it,” Derin said.
Kamal attempted to dial the phone, but couldn’t get through. Derin
began searching methodically in the living room and when he didn’t find
it, he moved into the bedroom. There on the bed was the phone.
He picked it up but immediately saw it wasn’t his own. He had bought
the phone for Awazi on their anniversary when she had kept whining about
using an older BB than his own and his own was older than hers.
“She probably took your own phone, thinking it was hers,” Kamal thought out aloud, speaking what Derin himself was thinking.
Derin dialed Awazi a couple of times but the phone rang out.
“We just have to wait, man” Kamal said to Derin.
And so, they waited. Or rather, Kamal waited, while Derin paced.
******************************************************************
Rasheed came out of the doctor’s office, with a small fireproof safe.
The weight of the small item made him sweat even in the AC of the
corridor. He entered the conference room, with the two women waiting,
staring intently at him.
He carefully placed it on the table and then produced a strip of
paper from his pocket. From it, he retrieved the safe combination and
slowly dialed it. The safe opened with a crack and in it was a plain
brown envelope.
By now, they were all standing, gathered around the little box. With
measured movements, Rasheed extracted the document from the envelope,
waved it a little and simply said “Haruna’s will”. When he unfolded the
document, he was in for a shocker. “This is not the will I prepared,” he
said.
“So is it genuine?” Bintu asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It is. This combination to this safe was only known to Haruna, and
it was only by following specific instructions I retrieved it. The will
is dated last week Thursday, the day before that ill-fated meeting. He
changed it without telling even me.”
“Well, let’s get on with it now, shall we?” Bintu said.
He went through all the preliminaries mechanically until he got to the meat of the matter – the sharing.
“To Bintu Mogaji, I give my 8flat house in Bodija as well as
12.5Million Naira in a fixed deposit with Wema Bank as well as the lands
in Abule Egba, Lagos.
To Hakeem, I give my 5 bedroom duplex in Agodi as well as the 4Flat
house in Agungi, Lekki. A trust fund will be set up with my lawyer,
Rasheed Sanda and Bintu Mogaji as the trustees. The annual yield of the
fund will be paid to Hakeem for his upkeep. When he does decide to get
married and have children, 20percent of the fund will be liquidated and
paid out to each of his children when they reach the age of maturity.
To my friend, Rasheed Sanda, I give all of my Ibadan land. He has
been a true friend and will use them better than I could ever do anyway.
Finally, to Mr. Derin Banwo, I will my hospital, Omega Clinic. From
where the elders go, I would like to see how eager Mr. Banwo would be to
destroy the hospital, sack all the staff that depend on it and all the
patients that have years of treatment and history with it, now that it
belongs to him. Maybe he will then understand the cruelty behind his
seeking to destroy all that I had worked for all my life.”
The will named Rasheed and Agatha as the executors of the will.
“Wow!” Agatha said, when Rasheed was done.
“How could Haruna name this woman an executor? And give me just one
house in this Ibadan? To spite me? Rasheed, are you sure this will is
real?” Bintu said indignantly.
“Woman, you better watch that your tongue. If it wasn’t for that
tongue, we would still have Haruna with us, instead of being here
reading his will.” Rasheed thundered.
Bintu cowered and became quiet after that. Turning to Agatha, Rasheed
said “now, we need to get the grant of the Probate to execute the will
properly. Congratulations to your son, for now owning the hospital he
wants to destroy. My chambers will formally inform him of this
development, but you can do so informally.”
With that, he gathered up all that was on the table and left, with
Bintu quietly following. They were gone for a full five minutes before
Agatha finally got around to calling Derin.
**********************************************************
Awazi was all dressed and racing to stop a cab. Samir had tried to
talk to her, but she had just kept pushing him away. She had to get
home, and fast, before Derin. If he was already at home before she got
home, she would give herself away, she was sure of that.
Then Derin’s phone rang and from the ringtone, she guessed who it was
– her mother in-law. Had Derin called her? What did he say to her? Was
she calling to tell her to leave her son’s house? These thoughts ran
through Awazi’s mind as she contemplated whether to pick the call or
not. “I’d rather at home than here in the taxi,” she said out aloud to
herself. The phone rang out.
********************************************************************
Derin paused from his pacing at the sound of the gate opening. It
happened every time he heard that sound. He was hoping it would be Awazi
each time, and had been disappointed all the times so far. This time
however, moments after the gate, they heard the burglary proof opening
and Derin knew it was her.
The moment the door opened, he said with relief “where under God’s
heaven have you been Awazi? I have looked everywhere for you.”
To Awazi however, Derin’s relief sounded like an accusation.
She shot back “and where did you go too Derin? I came out of the room
to talk to you less than ten minutes after I’d been in there, and you
were nowhere to be found. You run off every time we have an issue Derin,
you always run off on me.”
“Babe, I didn’t run off. I was afraid and worried, and I thought you
would listen to Kamal if you weren’t going to talk to me. So I went to
get him”
“Hi Awazi,” Kamal said, and she noticed for the first time that he was also in the room.
“Oh God, I’ve been such a fool!” Awazi exclaimed.
Kamal interjected “No it’s my friend that has been foolish, but we’ve talked and he would do right now. We…”
“So it was Kamal you went to and not Ope,” Awazi said to Derin, cutting Kamal short.
“Ope? Whatever put that idea into your head that I went to her,” Derin asked.
Derin’s phone rang again in Awazi’s hand, the Sweet Mother ringtone
piercing the air. She handed it over to Derin and he took the call.
The conversation was quick, and Derin’s interjections of “What!” “It
cannot be!” “When did it happen?” “This morning?” “In the last twenty
minutes?” and so on put both Kamal and Awazi on the edge. The moment he
ended the call, Kamal asked “what was that about?”
Awazi’s mouth went dry, believing that the only reason Derin could
have been exclaiming the way he did in the conversation was because
Agatha had somehow found out about what she had done and told him. She
blurted out “I’m sorry Derin, it was a mistake, the greatest mistake I
have ever made and one that I will regret forever. But please forgive
me, I beg of you. For the sake of what we’ve had, I beg you.” She went
on her knees.
“Awazi, what are you talking about?” a surprised Derin asked.
“Whatever your mother told you, at least let me say my part,” Awazi
began, with tears streaming down her eyes. “I thought you had left me in
the room and gone to Ope when I came out of the room and met an empty
house. So I went to Samir…”
“What! You didn’t even wait for one moment, no hesitation! So you
went racing back into your lover’s arms, yesterday night was too sweet,
you just had to go for more abi? Kamal, shay you dey hear wetin I dey
hear?”
“Kamal, please help me beg him, it’s the handiwork of the devil. I don’t know how the anger came over me. Please.”
“Derin, please…” Kamal began
“Kamal, don’t let me fight you! What are we even protecting in this
marriage sef? En, what? I’ve had it, look, Awazi, it is over, you
understand? Go back to you Fulani boy, shebi you people will be speaking
language to each other. And look, if you do not leave this house, I
will leave the house for you.”
“Derin please, I beg you, don’t do this to me.” Awazi said earnestly.
“You are leaving my house, and not one moment later than now. Your
guilty conscience and my God pushed you to confess. My mother only told
me about the death of Doctor Ajanaku this morning and you thought she
had somehow gotten to know about what you did. My mother’s head is
fighting for me.”
“Kamal,” Awazi said, turning to Kamal. But Kamal turned his back. She was alone.
“Derin,” she said “you went to this woman, Ope, years ago, and lived
with her for months. I took you back. In what should have been a moment
of pain and consolation for both of us after we lost precious Isaac, you
went right back into her arms, I didn’t leave, I tried to keep us
working. You didn’t see or share my struggles, how I was nearly running
mad, how lonely I felt. Derin, I have made this one mistake, and I ask
that you forgive and do not leave me alone, this one time. Please.” She
tried to reach out and touch him but he slapped her hand away.
“Listen to yourself Awazi! You are a woman! How can you compare?
Look, there is no point flogging this horse, it is dead, decomposing and
buried. Please go. Just go.”
Awazi saw that she could have been appealing to a rock, Derin’s mind
was made up. She went inside, and began to pack a box. She would pack
light, and hope to return soon.
She called her cab man, and left the house.
**************************************************************
“Aunty Jamila,” Awazi said into the phone, “he threw me out”
“What!” Jamila said, surprised at the turn of events “What happened? I
thought you were going out of the room to sort things out?”
Awazi explained all that had happened to her aunt amid tears.
“Awazi! How could you do such a thing! What has Lagos done to you?
Let me speak with Derin. Do not go anywhere; I will call you back now.”
Awazi waited for Aunty Jamila to call her back. She had bought a
ticket for Abuja on her phone. She needed time away from Lagos, from
these southerners, from everyone. Irrespective of what her aunt was able
to say to Derin now, she wasn’t going back to the house. She was wrong,
yes, but his hypocrisy stank to the high heavens.
Fifteen minutes later, Aunty Jamila called back.
“Awazi, he is a man, he is still angry. I will still call back and
talk to him, but I want you to come here to me in Abuja, until we sort
this out. I’m sure if we give it a week, he will be sufficiently calm.”
She thought about it, in the light of what had been on her mind just as the call came in.
“No, aunty,” she said. “Derin has been doing this to me for years,
and even as recently as last night, and I forgave him, repeatedly. One
mistake, and he throws me out, him and his friend. Aunty, I will be
travelling, but won’t be coming to Abuja,” she lied. She really, truly
wanted to be on her own for now.
“Awazi, stop being rash. It is this your rashness that has gotten you
here. And now, you are about to make an impulsive decision again. Pause
and think!”
“Aunty, my mind is made up. I will keep in touch. They just announced my boarding, I have to go now,” she lied again.
“Awazi, Awazi! Where are you going, you this child?” Aunty Jamila was saying.
“Sanu, Aunty. I’m sorry.” She cut the call and turned the phone off.
***************************************************************
“Derin, what will you do now, the hospital is yours.” Kamal asked.
“I’m confused man, I cannot lie” Derin said, running his hands over his hairless head.
“That man was just a shrewd old man. Now, will you be suing your own
hospital? Won’t you just look absolutely ridiculous to the court? The
two human defendants are dead, and the hospital is yours. No case, my
brother.” Kamal said.
“But I can reject the hospital now. I am not compelled to take it, I’m not under any obligation.” Derin said, perplexed.
“And would you still not look stupid? It is within your power to deal
with the hospital you’ve always wanted to go to court to deal with, and
you refuse to. Will you now go to court to shut the hospital down after
you’ve refused the hospital, when you could easily have done it? Look,
any path you take, you’ll look bad. If you take it and shut it down,
you’ll leave many jobless and be seen as evil, running down such a
legacy. If you take it and keep it running, you’ll look like the
hypocrite who always wanted to shut it down before it was yours, but now
couldn’t shut it down. And if you refuse it, you’ll still look stupid,
being handed the chance of a lifetime to have money and refusing it.
Kai, these old people are terrible.”
“My mum said to reject it, that it would carry a curse, since the two
people who owned it died because of my actions.” Derin said.
“That’s pure superstition bro, and it is not your actions that killed
them. Don’t take guilt for what isn’t yours,” Kamal responded.
“So what should I do? If you were me, what would you do?
“I’d take the hospital, and keep it running. That’s the wise,
pragmatic thing to do. And get an experience doctor to be the Chief
Medical Officer, seeing to the day to day running. You’d retire as you
are, instead of trying to get another job now.”
Derin looked up at Kamal, doubt in his eyes. “You’re sure?” he asked.
“You could pass the ownership to me and find out for sure,” Kamal said, smiling.
Derin attempted a smile and then shrugged his shoulders. “Very well, that’s what I will do.”
Throughout the conversation, there was not a single mention of Awazi.
******************************************************************
17 Months Later.
Derin sat in the conference room of Omega Hospital. Around him was
his team – the Chief Medical Officer of Omega Hospital, Dr. Omololu
Bucknor, the lawyer, Professor Charles Acha and an ashen faced young
doctor, Shem.
On the opposite side, a stone faced Korede Adams and his two lawyers
sat. They were negotiating a settlement with him. Korede’s wife had come
to the hospital to deliver a baby, and eventually, after two days in
the hospital, with her blood pressure rising, the doctors had advised
that they do a Cesarean Section. And Dr. Shem had performed the
operation. The baby had been delivered successfully and the mother
closed up, when she began to complain of tummy pains. It was a long time
before they discovered that she had been closed up with a scalpel
inside her and this had caused the bleeding. Now, her husband was taking
the hospital to court for the matter, and asking that their license, as
well as that of Dr. Shem be revoked.
Try as they had, they had been unable to convince Mr. Korede Adams to let the matter be settled out of court.
“I want justice, that is all,” he had said, eyeing Shem coldly.
His lawyer had said with some respect to the professor “see you in
court sir,” and the professor had told Derin things were not looking
good for them. It appeared Shem had realized the scalpel was inside her
while she could still be saved, but had kept mum out of fear, and that
was what the other lawyers were going to court with.
He went straight from the conference room to the car. He needed to go
away from this madness, from Ibadan. He had relocated to Ibadan to run
the hospital a month after he had taken it over, after Kamal had finally
gone to join his family.
The driver was already running the engine when he got in from the hot
sun and the AC felt like heaven. He was having a splitting headache but
he just wanted to get away from the hospital, its smells of drugs, its
sounds of stretchers and wheelchairs, from all of it. He unlocked his
blackberry and saw that he had waiting emails and a series of waiting
BBM messages. The old Derin would have checked BBM before emails, but
now, he checked his email first. He opened the email. The first was from
Awazi.
(I was tempted to end this episode here but you guys would probably kidnap me, so keep scrolling for the rest of it. >=) )
He had not heard from her since she left his house that day. And
after the way he had spoken to Aunty Jamila, he had been unable to call
her. He tried to call Awazi, but she seemed to have changed her numbers.
He quickly opened the email and here’s what it said
“Dear Derin, I hope you are happy. I hear you are doing well with
Omega Hospital now. The attachment should interest you. All the best in
life.”
Derin opened the attachment, cursing the network for the almost one minute it took to load.
When it finally opened, it was a picture of a smiling Awazi in a
definitely European background, holding a little boy to the camera, his
smile revealing a toothless mouth. It took only that look for Derin to
know that he was looking at his son.
THE END.
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