CHAPTER 14: HELP.
JAMAL.
She stared back at me with a confused expression as if trying to process my presence. I didn''t think I
would be courageous enough to actuallye here but after thinking about it all day, I came to a
conclusion that paying her a visit might not be a terrible idea.
"I don''t mean to sound rude or anything but, may I ask what you are doing here? How did you even get
to know my ce?" She asks, with a hint of irritation in her tone.
"Trust me, I would not be here if it wasn''t important. Can we please just talk? I promise, I won''t take
your time." I request politely.
"It''s actually not a problem, I just thought I needed to ask but anyways, you''ll have to give me a few
minutes to dress probably. It''s way too cold out here." She replies, swiftly shutting the door in my face
and it almost felt like she did that on purpose.
I couldn''t possibly say I didn''t deserve it though. I''m not even supposed to be here after everything but I
suddenly felt the urge to get to her personally and talk calmly, hoping she will understand andply
with my decision.
"Jamal?" Her voice calls out, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"You''re good now?" I ask.
"Yes, I am. Can we talk here though? I mean, I would be prefer we go downstairs cause I don''t want
the neighbours eavesdropping and misunderstanding." She says and I shrug nonchntly whilst she
leads the way down.
She stops suddenly by a bench side and takes a sit, immediately offering a sit to me but I''m reluctant to
sit.
"What? You can sit here? Does it look to dirty for your highness?" She drawls with so much sarcasm
and after what seemed like hours of contemtion, I finally sit beside her on the bench.
"What is it you want to talk about? Does it have anything to do with your girlfriend cause if it does, I''m
not interested at all." She spits out with so much venom and I immediately knew Natasha had crossed
the line with her.
"Firstly, she''s not my girlfriend, she''s a friend and no, I''m not here to talk about her but I got your
sister''s message and I''m here to address it and also offer you a solution to it but only if, you will agree
to it." I exin and she tilts her head a bit before replying.
"I''m skeptical about this sudden solution cause like you said, she is your friend. You might see no
wrong in her actions towards me and the solution you propose may not be favourable to me." She
replies, earning a light chuckle from me.
"I highly doubt, I would bothering here if what I had to say wasn''t going to favour you in any way.
As you already know, I can be very ignorant but I know how Natasha is when she gets silly ideas in her
head and I can''t let you take the heat for her insecurities." I tell her.
"Hmm, okay o. Let''s hear this solution you have in mind. I''m honestly fine with anything as long as the
harassment stops." She says with a snappy tone that indicated how quickly she wanted this to be over.
"It''s simple Imade. I have spoken to the director at one of my dad''s constructionpanies and I have
gotten a permanent job for you with three times the pay you earn here. All you have to do now is quit
here and by next week you resume work over there." I say to her and her facial expression switches.
She stays quiet for a while as if trying to soak in what I had just exined to her.
"I''m sorry to ask but why are you offering this to me just like that? You could have just fired me and
saved yourself the stress but why would you transfer me and even worse, give me such a promotion?"
She asks with so much doubt in her tone and I heave a frustrated sigh.
"Is it that hard to take the job? I mean, I don''t necessarily need a motive but if you must know the
motive, take it as a constion for whatever Tasha has done to you."
"I honestly wasn''t even aware that she had transferred you to work under her and I''m deeply sorry for
whatever you''ve gone through." I apologise sincerely and her doubtful expression eases a little.
"She''s the one who has to apologise but I will ept your apology since she''s been this way because
of you. The only thing I''m asking of you is that you please, keep her away from me when I get
transferred. Knowing how jealous she is, she won''t like the fact that her man is helping me out and she
might look for other ways to get to me." She says but I assure her otherwise.
"Tasha only has power at the real estatepany. Anywhere else, I''m fully in charge. So you don''t
have to worry about anything and if something pops up, let me know. Please." I reply and her
previously stiff expression softens.
The dim light from the neighbouring house was all I could use to make out the features of her face and
I must admit, she is beautiful. Even more beautiful than she was ten years ago, although I could tell by
the endless stress lines on her face and eye bags under her eyes that she had being through a lot over
the years.
"I don''t trust you but I have no other choice but to take your word for it." She says with an adorable pout
and I chuckle a little as I remembered just how childish she could be at times.
"Just let me know if anything goes wrong. I''ll be on my way now so I don''t make you even more
ufortable." I say to her, immediately getting up and she does exactly the same thing.
"Thank you for the surprise promotion and for actually being fair. I am honestly grateful for it." She
replies calmly and I shrug it off before attempting to walk off to where I had parked my car but the
sudden cry from a familiar voice halts my steps.
"Aunty Imade! Aunty mi!" A frightened Lde screamed repeatedly till she was only a few steps away
from Imade and with the dreaded look on her face, I knew all was not well for sure.
"Olde ki lo sele?" An already frightened Imade questions.
"H...hospital, call, d...doctor, mommy. Help." She stutters a reply hurriedly and those words alone seem
to have been more than enough for Imade''s understanding.
Her eyeballs immediately grow twice their usual size and even under the chilly weather, I could already
see her forehead break into cold sweats. She tries her best to speak but for unknown reasons, her lips
barely produces any sounds and that was when I realised I had toe in and take charge.
"Lde, Imade, get in the car and direct me to the hospital immediately."
IMADE.
The drive to the hospital seemed longer than usual and that only made my anxiety much worse. My
head aches like hell and the only thing I can thing about is my mom. Is she alright? Is she going to die?
Can I even help her at the moment? Thoughts like this took over my mind and worsened my fear.
Jamal seems to be driving as fast as he can and fortunately for me, he asked no questions and he
didn''t even make any attempts to speak to me although I could tell by his repeated side nces that he
was curious and maybe, just maybe worried, although, I could be wrong and imagining things.
"We''re here." His voice informs and Lde and I waste no time before bolting out of the car and
rushing into the hospital with Jamal following closely behind us.
"Doctor, what''s wrong with my mother?" I ask immediately I spot Doctor Makinde standing outside my
mother''s room with a nurse beside him.
"Good evening Imade. I''m going to assume you can already guess why I called for you sote at night.
Like I predicted, the dialysis treatment is starting to fail and your mother needs the transnt right at
this very moment, if not, it may be fatal." He briefly exins.
"As you already know, we can notmenced such an operation until payment is made first and if you
can''t pay in the next thirty minutes, the avable organ will be donated to another urgent patient and
your mother may not be with you for much longer." He adds quickly and I could immediately feel my
world crumble.
"No, no, no, doctor, that''s not fair. Where exactly can we get such an amount within half an hour?
Please have mercy on us na and just save our mother." L pleads with tears streaming down her
eyes, whilst I stood there, feeling confused and lost.
"I''m sorry L, there''s nothing I can do for you at this point. Let me know how it goes within the
stipted time." He replies apologetically and attempts to walk away.
"Doctor wait!" A familiar voice calls out to him and he stops immediately.
"How much are we talking about here?" Jamal asks.
"3.5million young man, and you are?" Doctor Makinde asks with obvious curiosity dancing in his eyes.
"Jamal, you don''t have to bother yourself. You already did enough by bringing us here and I don''t want
to burden you." I blurt out without thinking and he frowns but makes no attempt to reply me.
"Jamal Balogun Sir and I''ll head over to the ount office immediately and settle the payment but
kindlymence with the operation to avoid furtherplications." He tells the doctor before asking
the young nurse with the doctor for directions to the payment office and immediately walking away from
us.
"Well, since the young man has decided to lend a hand, I''ll begin with the transnt. Let''s hope for the
best." Doctor Makinde says with a small smile that didn''t exactly sit well with me but I brush it off as
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unimportant.
"Thank God for Uncle Jamal o. Where would we have gotten that amount of money?" Lde says
immediately the doctor was gone and I sigh lightly, not exactly knowing how to reply to that.
Should I be thankful? Obviously! I can''t even begin to thank him enough for this huge favour that I n
on repaying back but asides from being thankful, I also felt ufortable and burdened.
Now, I''m not only thankful for the new job, I''m also thankful for my mother''s life which means that I owe
him much more than I would like and the mere thought of that bothered me.
Putting aside my messy emotions, I decide it was best to focus on what was important at the moment
and that was most definitely my poor mother, who is currently undergoing a surgical procedure. Any
thoughts of Jamal can always be sort out at ater time.