I got to the hospital, my hands still trembling and my mind all over the place.
There were a thousand things going through my head and I prayed, God, I had prayed so hard on my way, prayed to God that he wasn't hurt, that he was okay. I was scared and my fear grew even worse when I noticed the press in their tons crowding the front door of the hospital, trying to push themselves in while the security struggled to keep them out. It was chaotic.
There was no reason for it not to be anyway. One of the country's most important people was shot on live TV and every agency wanted to get on top of the situation first. It was crazy. I knew this hospital like the back of my hands. I had come there a couple of times, and spent hours trying to get inside the moment I was told that Jeremiah had been admitted when I got out of NDLEA's cell.
I was told that Jeremiah's family owned big shares at the hospital so they frequented there a lot, that was their family's hospital. It was quite difficult for anyone to get in at this point. I had also heard that the VIP section of the hospital was on a security lock down since they were brought in. No one was allowed to go inside or out except they were VIP patients.
I turned around quickly, backing the press before anyone noticed I was there. I mean, I was still on the top ten most talked about list in the country. Everyone still talked about the girl that was raped and mistreated by the Orji's. My name had to practically be in everyone's mouth especially since I had refused to grant any press meetings or interviews ever since. The last thing I needed was getting them to turn their hunger for popular news to me. I tugged my face cap that I had bought from the supermarket on my way once again so it rested above my face, lowering my head just enough to hide my eyes. I bit on my lip hard, shutting my eyes for a second so I could think of a possible way around the situation. I had to get into that building without being noticed, I had to see if he was okay.
I started to hear Sirens.
The screeching sound of car tires followed shortly after and that was when I opened my eyes to see the ambulance that rushed into the huge compound. I watched some nurses rush out of the front door immediately, while some men in uniforms pulled out a stretcher from the ambulance. There was a wounded pregnant woman in it and it looked like it was an emergency. They were hurrying towards me, trying to get into the hospital obviously, pulling the stretcher as fast as they could with each of them around it's edges.
From what I observed, there weren't any relatives of the patient beside her. Her other side was totally empty so I found my cue, it had to be it. I hurried to the stretcher as fast as I could and held on to it. The nurses were too occupied trying to stop the bleeding to even notice me so I buried my face at my side so I didn't have to look at anyone. I was a bad actor so I knew that if I did, the chances of getting caught was obviously going to be a lot, the good thing was that no one really cared about the situation or the lady on the stretcher to even be bothered by us. They made way immediately so we could pass through. We pushed the stretcher to the door and the security let us pass through it.
Wow.
I let myself breathe again.
It wasn't hard at all. No one had noticed me, not even one person. It looked like I wasn't a bad actor after all.
You thought outside the hospital was chaotic, inside the hospital was way worse. It was like everyone was affected by the shooting. It was like half of all the doctors and nurses were on their toes and running towards the ER.
The ER, that had to be it. That had to be where they were, Jeremiah and his father. I became so weak even thinking about the possible things that could be going on in there. I found myself taking slow steps towards the ER without even knowing it. My legs were trembling and my heart beat had suddenly gotten so slow and irregular but I still wanted to know, I still wanted to see for myself, I wanted to be there through all of it. Someone was shot but the news didn't tell us who. All I had was my ability to hope and wish that it wasn't Jeremiah, oh good Lord forgive me for even being so selfish but I couldn't help myself. I couldn't even begin to imagine what I was going to do if Jeremiah was the one everyone was trying to save. Surprisingly, no one was trying to stop me as I approached the white door.
Everyone was too busy trying to save their VVIP patient to even be bothered by little irrelevant me. You should have seen the team of doctors rushing in and out of the ER. I mean who wouldn't want to be associated with saving the life of a member of the Ozor household? This could be a massive investment and turn of events for them just as much as it could destroy each of them if anything were to go wrong.
I felt a cold chill pass through my spine the moment I got to the long hallway leading to the emergency room. I could barely see a thing but I could hear my own footsteps. There were really tall stern looking men in suits; bodyguards, guarding every corner of the long hall and a great number of them forming horizontal lines a few paces in front of one of the door. There were people behind them. I could hear soft paces and tiny whispers. I tried to look, I needed to know who they were and then I saw a small glance of him, Jeremiah's older brother. He had quite a height that even the bodyguards couldn't block. That had to be them, that had to be the Ozors. Jeremiah had to be there, he had better be.
I tried to call his name, I didn't even care. I just had to be sure he was alive. One of the men stuck his hands in front of me to stop me from getting even closer even before I had started. I froze and then looked up at him.
"Identify yourself." He told me.
Identify myself?
I could barely even speak or say a full sentence at that point thanks to my anxiety. How on earth was I supposed to "Identify myself"?
"You're not supposed to be here." He repeated. "Didn't you read the signs? No one is allowed to be here for the next five hours."
But I just wanted to see him. What was I going to do anyway? Throw a bomb in the hospital?
"Aren't you listening?" He repeated. I glared at him. I was definitely not going to leave if he thought I was.
"It's okay Bruno," I froze when I heard someone say from behind us. I didn't recognize the voice but it sounded a really feminine. I watched how the men moved to the side so they could create a pathway for the average heightened girl to pass through. I held my breath as I watched her. She looked about sixteen and had the brightest eyes, kind of like Jeremiah's and managed to keep a really small smile on her face even as she looked at me. Her curly baby hairs looked so perfect and they were L to the laid. I watched how gracious she walked past the men that bowed to her as found her way to me. She looked familiar, really really familiar but I just couldn't picture where I had seen her. She was obviously a member of the Ozor family but I really didn't keep tabs on rich popular kids.
Until I had eavesdropped on his conversation with his older brother, Jeremiah was the only child of Benjamin Ozor that I really knew. I mean I knew he had children, I just didn't know how many or what they looked like.
"You must be here for my brother, Jeremiah."
That explained it. So she was the sister.
"You're his friend aren't you? You're Kora."
How did she know my name- never mind, I could always get back to that later. I narrowed my gaze to the rest of the family gathered in front of the ER. They all had their eyes glued on me and it made me really nervous and uncomfortable. That was Jeremiah's entire family. He even had a younger brother from the look of things. I scanned around again in search of him. Where was he? Why couldn't I find him anywhere? My anxiety and fear grew worse.
"He's not here." I narrowed my gaze back to the girl's. That was a really huge trace of assurance in her voice. What did she mean he wasn't there? My heart began to beat faster. I clasped on hard to the neck of my dress hoping she had not meant what I thought she did. There were a lot of tears welling up in my eyes and my legs had finally lost their ability to stand firm. I found myself bending over and supporting my whole body with my hands on my knee. I had to breathe. I really had to breathe.
How could this be happening? How could he be shot? We just talked. He just told me he liked me and I didn't say it back. How on earth was I going to lose him just like that? How was I going to lose the one person I really cared about? How was I going to forgive myself for not telling him how wrong I was? How I never meant any of the hurtful things I had said to him? How I didn't mean to push him away?
How it hurt me everytime I thought of the reason we couldn't be together?
How was I supposed to forgive myself for not being with him? For not being honest to myself about how I felt about him? At that point, I had realized how much it hurt and broke me to imagine him in that room, battling for his life and how much it was going to break me if he didn't come out breathing. I regretted it, I regretted all of it. I should have told him. I should have told him how much he meant to me, I should have told him how I had so much butterflies when he called me his girlfriend and held my hand. I should have told him how grateful I was to him for always taking my side. I should have told him I loved him, that I loved him with all of my heart. I should have accepted his feelings for me.
"Ahhh." I kept on hitting my chest hoping I could hit it hard enough to force air into it. It was hard crying and breathing at the same time. My guilt was killing me. I still had so much to say to him.
"Kora?"
I froze for a second.
What was that? Did I just hear my name? Someone just called my name and I wasn't hearing things. It sounded a lot like him, like Jeremiah and it came from behind me. Wait, I found the upper part of my body raising itself slowly. Was I just crying for nothing? If Jeremiah had just talked behind me, if he just called my name, it meant that...I quickly turned as fast as I could, my weave and everything else going in slow motion. I hadn't even got a chance to change out of my uniform. I looked a mess but I didn't care.
He wasn't the one in the emergency room. I dropped my hands from my chest immediately as I took a long look at him. The tears in my eyes were on a pause. I examined him for a while, he had his eyes glued to me and there was blood all over his white shirt and green suit. It wasn't his blood, it couldn't be.
Goodness gracious, my heart skipped multiple beats. His eyes were swollen like he had been crying for hours and the look on his face was just...empty, lost. The light in his eyes were almost gone and he looked the palest I had ever seen him. Shock, he had to still be in shock after witnessing what had happened to his father. My heart ached for him.
"Kora," he called my name again. "Kora what are you doing here-" I ran to him as fast as I could even before he said anything else and threw myself into his embrace and he grabbed me just as I knew he would. I didn't want to make it about myself because it wasn't about me but at that moment, I was relieved, and crying was the only way I could show that. It wasn't even me in that ER or my own father but I was grateful, I was grateful it wasn't him and I couldn't help myself. I grabbed on tighter to him, tighter than I had ever done to anyone and I cried.
"Thank God." I sobbed.
"Kora,"
"I thought I had lost you."
I was really scared and grateful. I could hear his heart beat slowly and feel the warmth in his arms as they wrapped themselves around me.
"Thank God." I buried my face on his chest. That was inappropriate I know, considering the fact that his entire family was probably watching but at that moment, that was where I just wanted to be, right there, holding on to him just like that, just like that moment.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Lady K
They say the devil works hard, but guess who works harder than the devil in this story?
The wife of the owner of a multi million dollar enterprise, whose life was handing by a thread with little or no chances of survival. The wife who dreamt of nothing but being a successor to this legacy or was it her son she wanted to be the first on the queue of aspiring successors for that certain legacy.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Susan shrugged her shoulders. She was going to act ignorant to the fact that she had been staring at Christian every five seconds, calculating her next move, a move she obviously had to make when there was absolutely no one around.
Jeremiah and Kora were at the hospital's church, praying, Kodi and Nicholas had gone to grab everyone something to drink while they waited. And after watching them refuse all advice and attempt to get them to go home and rest, Natalie needed a walk, she needed air. She never really knew how to handle anxiety and the surgery had been going on for over seven hours. She needed a breather.
It was just Christian and Susan now and you know what they say about an Idle man or should I say in this case, woman. Susan had been waiting for the opportunity the entire night.
Christian looked away. He was never really the one to chit chat with anyone especially his step mother. He was never interested in anything she had to do or say. He made sure he kept a cold shoulder with everyone in that house, and Susan was right on the top of that list.
They never really saw eye to eye, so yes, you can understand how weird it was when he caught her staring, but watch what was even weirder, this woman. In all honesty, she actually had the effrontery to walk up to him and sit right beside him.
Yes, you got it right, Christian was just as surprised but he had to act cool about it. He had a lot running through his mind to be bothered by her or anyone.
There was a a great amount of silence for about five seconds. Susan needed a way to start and Christian didn't look like he had any intentions to give her his attention.
"What if something goes wrong?" Susan broke the silence and it caused Christian to stop thinking for a second. He turned to look at her, a big surprise look on his face as he did. "What if the surgery doesn't go as we hope it would."
"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."
What kind of a discussion was that anyway?
"What if he doesn't come out alive?" Like she cared. Susan knew exactly what she had to do and she was going to do it anyway. She knew all possibilities of how everything was going to play out and she was going to make sure she was on top of the situation.
"He is going to come out alive." Christian cut her off assuredly, glaring at her too. He had had enough of her 'what if's'. "That room is filled with the best doctors in the country and they are doing all they can to save my father's life. The surgery is going to be fine and he's not going to die."
Susan raised her brows. Was that it? Did he finally shut her up? Christian shook his head and then turned back to stare into thin air. He honestly didn't want to believe he had heard all of that, he didn't want to listen anymore.
"It's been seven hours Christian." She continued. "The surgery is going way longer than we had expected, plus you heard what one of the doctors said, he got hit really badly and his chances of survival are really slim. We have hired the best of doctors but we have to prepare for the worst."
Christian drew a deep breath and then held it for a second. He let it out.
"What are you trying to say?"
"If anything were to happen to your father, it's only right for a new heir of Benoil enterprise to step forward."
He scoffed and then turned to look at her, a disgusted smirk appearing on his face.
"He's not even out of the ER yet and you're talking about a replacement for the company?"
"If anything happens to your father, the board of directors are going to start pushing for a new leader. Benoil is going to need a new leader and if we don't take advantage of the situation before that happens, we might lose the company to someone who isn't even a member of this family, or what's worse, you could lose the company to your father's bastard."
Christian frowned.
"Excuse me?"
Susan rolled her eyes.
"Oh Cut the crap Christian, you of all people know the person who your father wants to give this company to. It's not you, or Nick, or even me. You know it's him, it has always been him. Despite how he makes us think he doesn't care about him, no matter how many times he pretends to throw him away, we both know that he loves that boy more than anything, especially because he's her son, that shameless woman he spent his entire life loving."
"You don't know that-"
"Why do you think he brought him back? Why do you think he always tries to save him and his reputation all the time? Even when he killed that girl, he worked so hard to make it go away? The only reason he tried to show us any different was because of him. You might think you're the reason he sent him away and is always being cold to him but it's actually the opposite. He didn't send him away because he felt guilty for what happened or because he wanted to protect you, it was because he wanted to protect him, from you. He did it for him."
Christian scoffed, looking away immediately so he didn't have to look into her eyes and see the affirmation in them. She was lying, she was a liar, she had to be.
"Why do you think he never for once sent him away even after everything he did? even after he disobeyed him every time? He even planned to give him same percentage of shares as yours this evening. What did you think the dinner tonight was for? Did you think your father just invited the press to watch him and his son eat expensive food and smile? Open your eyes to the truth Christian,"
Christian shut his eyes.
"That's enough." He told her.
"Jeremiah is your father's replacement. He's the one the chief has chosen to carry on his legacy, always has and always would be."
"I said that's enough!" He yelled at her, turning quickly to glare at her. He was upset. She was getting to him and she could see it. That was all the motivation she needed. She gave him a second, a second to breathe. Christian took a deep breath and then shut his eyes for a second. He took out his glasses and rubbed his nose bridge. He was starting to have a headache.
"You know I'm right." She continued. "I've spent seventeen years with that man and I know him like my favorite book. You know I'm saying nothing but the truth."
Didn't she ever stop?
"You've worked so hard for that company. All your life, you've done nothing but prove to everyone that you are the future, that you could be ten times the man that you're father is. Your mother literally built that company with her blood and sacrifice. If anyone should be CEO, it should be you, her son, who is being deprived of the life she'd have wanted for him. Are you really going to let him throw all that away? Give it to his illegitimate son? The son of a hotel cleaner? Someone who never did anything right all his life to earn it but party and play while you did all the work? Benoil is yours and you shouldn't let it fall into the hands of the very same person that took everything away from you. Your mother would be rolling in her grave right now."
"Don't you dare," he tried to be as calm as possible. He turned to her. "Don't you dare talk about my mother."
"She built Benoil with your father. Benoil is what it is today because of the sacrifices she made, it is yours to take. She wouldn't like to know that her son let it get into the hands of her murderers. You should be in charge and make sure no one ever takes what's yours away from you. Do you not know what would happen if Jeremiah gets his hands on that company? He would bring her back, his dirty filthy mother, back into our family to take your mother's place. You should do whatever you can to get what is yours by fire or by force. Prepare for the worst or better still, make the worst happen."
Christian scoffed.
He couldn't believe his ears. He was so angry, really angry that he was red all over.
"What about you?" He asked her. "You're so brave badmouthing your precious husband like this and taking my side. I always knew you were a snake but I never knew you were this big of one. What if I just tell my father everything that you said to me when he wakes? He'd be so thrilled to find out how you feel about him and his company."
"But you won't tell him." She cut him off. "You're not going to tell him because no matter how crazy you think it sounds, you want this just as much as I think you do. You're beginning to see that I could be talking sense after all, you did have a meeting with some members of the board weeks ago. I hear you're trying to get them on your side and start a war against your father. I just want to be on the winning team."
Christian paused for a while.
"Why are you telling me this? Come on, I know there is a catch. There's always a catch, what do you want?"
She smirked and then drew a deep breath.
"I heard you're having some difficulties convincing the board and bringing them to your side. I can help you with that. My father used to own one of the top leading brands in Africa after all. He has close ties with some of the boards members. I could bring them to your side, get them to accept you as the new CEO"
"And your son? Why don't you make him the CEO since you have all that power? why me?"
"Oh, Nick is too inexperienced to be a CEO. I have other plans for him." She thought for a while. "What about the sales and finance department? Nick won't do bad as a manager now would he?"
Christian scoffed softly and then looked away. He needed to breathe.
"You'd do greatly as the CEO of Benoil Christian. It is yours, always has and always would be. But to be CEO means that the present CEO can never return to Benoil. He shouldn't come back or you wouldn't stand a chance at all. None of us would."
She gave him a soft pat on his shoulder and then stood up slowly. That was it, she had successfully watered her seed of evil. The look of confusion on Christian's face was all the affirmation she needed. He was thinking, he was considering it. Now all she had to do was sit back and watch it grow and boy oh boy, she couldn't wait.
The smirk on her face grew wider as she walked away from the hallway.