𝟑𝟎 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥

~~ 73. ~~

She couldn't count how much the woman hurt her physically, emotionally, and mentally.

She looked away from her, staring at the ceiling above to stop the tears that had gathered in her eyes from falling.

They didn't deserve her tears. None of it. She thought to herself.

She was just grateful for how things turned out. She didn't have to come back to the same house to beg in poverty and misery.

She was a proud woman. A fulfilled woman who made it without any man in her life. She singly trained her son throughout his teenage years to adulthood and all through his education without a single cent from them. And it had made her the proudest mother ever. She had achieved her dreams through her only son who had been rejected.

And she will forever be grateful to God for that. For how things turned out.

"Can I see him now?" Was her reply. Her voice was flat and void of emotion.

And the tone of her voice had shocked Mrs. Beatrice. But she was quick to recover and she looked around at her family before nodding. Then she leads the way asking her son to stay behind with a gesture of her eyes. And he nodded in understanding

"This way." She said quietly and Mrs. Jolaoluwa followed suit. "What about... your son?" Beatrice asked politely.

You don't have any right to ask about him or talk about him either. That was what came to Mrs. Jolaoluwa's mind and what she wanted to say. But she didn't. She tried to force herself not to get mad that she was mentioning her son.

So, she said instead.

"He is okay. And there is no need to get your hopes high. He is not coming."

Mrs. Beatrice paused to look at Mrs. Jolaoluwa. Then she spoke. "Please, can't you..."

But she was cut short by Mrs. Jolaoluwa's sharp tone. "You have no right to tell me anything. Neither what I should tell my son. He is a grown man and he can make his own decision and that is... he isn't coming here. And there is nothing any of you can do about it." She turned to a door which they were standing in front of. "Is that his room? "

"Yes." She answered swallowing hard. She realized how powerless she was before Mrs. Jolaoluwa. She was at her mercy. Her whole family at that.

Their problems were because of what she and her husband had done to an innocent woman - her - years ago. And the solution to their problems is to receive her forgiveness

She watched as Jolaoluwa walked past her and entered the room.

The first thing Mrs. Jolaoluwa noticed when she entered the room was the sleeping figure on the bed with the machines above the bed. She walked further into the room. And Lawrence was laying on the bed, old and fragile, almost lifeless with different ropes passing through his body and machines reading his vitals beeping quietly in the room. He was looking older than the last time she saw him on TV.

A lady that should be in her mid to late twenties sat on a chair beside him on the bed. She was staring at him lying on the bed, eyes red and swollen and also filled with sadness. It's like she had been crying but had got tired.

She ignored the lady and went to sit on a chair by the other side of Lawrence's.

"Does he..." Mrs. Jolaoluwa was still saying when the lady jerked her head toward her. She was shocked because she held her chest. It seems she didn't notice her come in. "Sorry that I scared you."

She didn't say anything but just dropped her hand and stared at her.

"I want to speak to your father." She said.