The Right One

Thirty seven

It took a moment for her to realize he was making reference to what she'd said about Tayo. How long had he been paying attention to their conversation?

"Hey!" Hope feigned annoyance. "Don't call my friend a cougar."

He ignored her, turning back to Oke who just looked confused at that point. "Remember, no girlfriends for now."

Hope scoffed, rolling her eyes. Now she understood why Raymond and her mum got along so well. "You sound like my mum right now."

"And a very smart woman she must be," he countered.

Hope rolled her eyes again, deciding to let the issue drop. If he decided to go all motherly on the poor boy, who was she to be caught in the middle? Good luck to them both. "We should be ready to leave soon. I'm almost done here."

"Oh, take your time, seeing as I'm your personal driver now."

She shot him what she hoped could be identified as a coy smile.

True to her words, a couple of minutes later, they were on their way home.

"I'm going to make a quick stop at the orphanage. They're finalizing Jason's adoption process today, and I want to stop by and see how it's going. I hope you don't mind?"

Hope shook her head in response. "Have you heard from Rose recently?"

"No. She's practically gone AWOL. No one has seen or heard anything from her. It's for the best really. Jason deserves a real family; people who would genuinely take care of him, and the couple adopting him . . . Although I've only met them a few times, they're amazing. The joy on their faces everytime they hold the boy . . . I just know they'll take good care of him."

"I hope so too." For his sake, she did.

He nodded, smiling wistfully. "I find it amazing, really, how a boy someone dumped because he was too much of a burden for her could bring such joy to other people. It's sometimes funny how life works, don't you think?"

Hope hummed, silently agreeing. "You'd have adopted the boy yourself if they hadn't found parents for him. Wouldn't you?"

There was no hesitation as he replied, "I'd have tried. I don't know how that would have gone, but yes, I'd definitely have tried. No child deserves to suffer because of undeserving parents."

Hope went quiet after that and he turned to find her staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking that you can be really amazing sometimes."

"No. I'm amazing at all times," he amended.

Hope chuckled. He was such an egotist. "Yeah, yeah. Can I stay over at your place tonight?"

"What? No." Hope frowned at his quick response. At her puzzlement, he continued, "Are you trying to test your mum's patience?"

Right, her mum. She sighed. To think she thought her troubles with her mum over. "There goes my sleep tonight,"she muttered, not quite expecting him to hear.

"What?"

"Hm?"

His gaze shifted to her for a bit before focusing back on the road. He didn't say anything, and Hope thought that was the end of it until he was suddenly parking on the side of the road.

"Why are you stopping?"

"You haven't been sleeping well, have you?" He asked almost accusingly, catching her off guard.

"Wha-- no--"

"Don't lie to me. I've noticed you looked tired, but I thought it was just you recovering from all that you went through but you haven't been sleeping well, have you?" He repeated.