He said no episode 16 – 17

HE SAID NO

EPISODE 16 – 17

Mrs. Grace laid on her side on the hospital bed and turned her face to the white-coated hospital wall, although no visible tears could be seen on her face, she had cried a drum-full deep down in,side, her in,sides rumbled and her lower tummy ached at the same time, Akinwale was seated on an iron chair beside her, he had been waiting for her to wake up all night.

Akinwale had rushed his wife, Grace to Solid Rock private hospital the last night when she fainted after he beat the daylight out of her, what happened?

He came home very late at around 11 pm, and when he could not find his bunch of house keys, he resorted to knocking, Grace who had waited for a couple of hours had already gone to bed with her son, after all, he had his keys and would find his way in whenever he got home,

Akinwale had been knocking for almost 30 minutes before his wife woke up, she was tired after washing a big heap of all their dirty clothes and her entire body ached severely, she slightly felt the body aches again as she dragged herself to the door,

“Didn’t you take your keys?” asked a tired Grace, her white nightgown was already far above her knee as her protruded stomach got bigger every day,

“You are mad!” Akinwale said, pointing at his head, “Yes, you must be very mad for asking such a stupid question, if I had the keys, would I stand here knocking for almost 1 hour? move away from the door old woman!”

“I am not mad oh, I am not, it is not my fault that you misplaced or forgot your key so don’t transfer your aggression on me,” and that was it,

“Are you talking to me?” Akinwale asked, locking the door securely behind him, as he moved closer to Grace, who was already scared, she knew that was definitely in for another drama, only that she didn’t know that it was going to be fatal,

“Are you freaking talking to me?” He barked, he didn’t wait for an answer before he pounced on Grace who was already shaking, as he punched her and practiced all the forms of acrobatic skills he knew on her, she kept shouting and begging for mercy but he didn’t listen. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when she hit her head hærd on the wall, that was all she remembered.

Grace did not want him to know that she was already awake, but a sneeze gave her out,

“Grace, Grace! You are awake, thank God!” Akinwale said standing up quickly, as he rested his arms on her body, “I was so scared,”

Grace shrugged as she harshly flung his hands away from her body, “Don’t touch me, Wale!” she said calmly still facing the wall,

“I am sorry Grace, I don’t know what came over me, don’t worry we will have more babies. I promise…”

“I said, don’t touch me!” she yelled as she turned her bloodshot eyes to him at the same instant,” “You are a mistake that I would regret as long as I live, you killed my baby, are you happy now? “ she laughed hysterically, as Akinwale kept pleading with her to lower her voice, “ You disgust me, I wish I had died instead of my poor baby, in fact, I don’t want to see you, get out!” she yelled, Akinwale must have thought that it was a joke until she sat up and removed the needle that was ins**ted in the fore-flesh of her left hand,

“Get out!!” she yelled again, 2 nurses ran into her room and ushered Akinwale out,

“Please sir, you need to leave. She is in a really critical state right now, as she has already lost a lot of blood and putting her in this kind of condition might worsen her case,” one of the nurses said as she ushered him out, the other nurse tried to pacify Grace who had already broken down into tears, the back of her left hand was bleeding slightly,

“I hate him! I hate him! I don’t want to see him ever again,” she kept saying as the nurses helped her to the bed and she laid on her side again, turning her back to the world. One of the nurses stayed back in case of an emergency.

“I just want to die,” she whispered amidst sobs,

“No madam, you can’t die. You won’t die. Please don’t talk like this,” The nurse said with sympathy,

“Please don’t allow him to come close to me again, please, ”

“I will make sure he doesn’t, I promise. Please just calm down,” she continued, as she cleaned her up and adjusted the needle,

“If you need anything, please use the intercom, so that someone will come and attend to you,” the nurse said,

“Please can I get my phone?” she asked,

“I’m sorry but I don’t think we have it here, let me see if your husband is still around, I will get back to you,” the nurse said as she walked out, she came back some minutes later to tell her that her husband had left,

“But I will tell the doctor so he can reach your husband but if you need to call someone in the meantime, you can use my phone,” she offered,

“Please can you help me talk to my mum, tell her I’m in the hospital, ” She pleaded,

“That’s fine ma, ” the nurse said, handing her an Itel android phone to dial her mum’s number,

“Hello, ma, ”

“Hello, please who am I talking to?” Mrs. Balogun asked she was having her afternoon siesta after church,

“My name is nurse Titi and I am calling you from Solid Rock Private Hospital, ”

“Solid rock hospital, ” she repeated, “Ahn Ahn, is that not my daughter’s family hospital?”

“Yes ma, and I am making this call on behalf of your daughter, ”

“My daughter? Ki lo see? Hope she is fine?” A perplexed Mrs. Balogun asked as she sat up,

“Erhm, we are doing everything to ensure that she is fine ma, ”

“What do you mean, I asked you a straight question, give me a straight answer o jare!” She said,

“Actually, she just lost her baby and…”

“Which baby? What baby are you talking about? Are you sure you are not calling the wrong number? because I still spoke to my daughter yesterday, ”

“Yes ma, I am talking about Mrs. Grace Akinwale. She asked me to put this call through to you and…”

“Yeeh! Ori mi, eleda mi o! My daughter!” Mrs. Balogun yelled as she stood up from her bed and adjusted her wrapper,

“What happened? How come? When did this happen? Where is her husband?” she asked simultaneously, she could hear her daughter crying underneath,

“I am already on my way, I will be there right away,” she said, hanging up hurriedly, without listening to what Nurse Titi had to say, she picked a mismatched headgear that was lying loosely on the bed, and slipped into a casual footwear before heading to her navy-blue Toyota Corolla, although the last time she went to the hospital was when Grace birthed Tobi which was 2 years ago, she still remembered the place vividly,

“Eleda mi saanu mi o! Please Lord, don’t allow anything to happen to my daughter,” she prayed as she zoomed out of her compound.

Tbc
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HE SAID NO

EPISODE 17

“I will be there in less than 30 minutes, please pardon me,” Amifel said before she dropped the call, it was a client she booked an appointment with, she called to tell her that she was at their meeting s₱0t already. She ordered for an Uber ride before she sped into the bathroom for a quick bath,

She was mopping her body with her white towel when her phone beeped, it was a new message notification.

“Maybe it’s the Uber driver,” she said to herself as she ignored it. She dressed up hurriedly so as to meet up with time, as soon as she was done, she put her purse, face towel, a jotter, and a pen into her navy-blue bag. She stretched over to the edge of her 6 inches bed and took a quick glance at her phone, she had just received a message from George. It reads,

“Hey, just wanted to let you know that we’re done!”

She blinked a multiple-time, she couldn’t believe her eyes as she gave a wry smile,

“Wow!” she exclaimed, “Wow! So, he couldn’t at least call or do this politely, what a way to end a relationsh¡p,” she said as she debated within her on whether to reply or ignore it,

“This is rude and he does not deserve my response!” she concluded as she wore a black wedge sandal and took a glance at the mirror before stepping out of her room. Her Uber driver called just as she stepped out, he was already in front of her gate.

“Perfect timing,” she muttered,

Her mum was not around, so she locked the doors and kept the keys, as soon as she settled in the car, she thought to call Grace but she remembered that she would still be at work, so she sent her a text instead,

“Babe, there’s gist oh, let me know when you are less busy,” it read,

“Thank you, father!” She said in a low tone as her face curved into a smile.

********************

Mrs. Grace Akinwale was feeling so much better, she had spent almost a week at Solid Rock hospital and she was feeling much better. Even though her husband came around every single day, she refused to see nor speak to him. Her mum stayed with her all through and only left to change her clothes and take Tobi to and from school. Also, her son was temporally staying with her mum.

“ ’Pele’ dear, hope you are feeling much better?” Mrs. Balogun asked as she took her seat on the iron chair beside her, that has been her regular s₱0t over the past few days, she sat on the chair and rested her head on the edge of the bed to sleep every night. Grace on the other hand was seated on the hospital bed with her back to the wall as her legs dangled in the air,

“Yes mummy, I am fine now,” she said, her face was as emotional as it had been since her mother came around.

“Adejoke mi,” she began, she usually called Grace by her native name whenever she wanted to say something really important,

“Mummy,” Grace answered,

“My child, I am your mother and I love you very much. What your husband did was painful, very painful and he has realized that he has been wrong all the while. He called me and he asked me to beg you, if you see his face, you will know that he has changed. He has grown so lean and long, ah, I pitied him,”

“Eeya,” Grace said mockingly as she laid down on her back and looked intently at the ceiling like she was seeing a vision. She was tired of talking about Wale, she and her mum have been arguing about him the wh0le week and she had told her that she does not want anything to do with him anymore.

“Is that all you would say?” she asked as her question was greeted by silence, “Anyway, the doctor told me that you would be discharged tomorrow,” she announced,

“Okay,”

“So, I have told your husband that…”

“That what? Mummy, that what? I have told you a thousand times over, I don’t want to talk about him! is that too much to ask?” she cut in as she turned her back on her mum,

“Who are you turning your back to? Anyway, that is your business, I have told your husband to come and pick you tomorrow,”

“Pick who?” she said as she laughed wickedly, “It’s like you think I am joking, I am not going back to that house, I am not going back to wale!” she yelled, red hot anger with anger,

“Whose house do you plan to go back to or do you want to be living in the hospital?”

“I will stay at your house for a while before…”

“Da pada! Oya swallow it,” Mrs. Balogun yelled, “Stay back in which house? “she chuckled, “ ‘Omode o mo ogun, o n pe le fo’ (a child does not know the difference between what is dangerous and what is not) you cannot come back to my house oh! It is not me that you will disgrace, “ she said as she walked out of her room, slamming the door on her way out,

Mrs. Grace felt like her head was dangling on her neck, she was furious. Why would her mum want to see her miserable? Does she want her dead?

She thought about her life all day, she had sworn never to go back to Akinwale’s house. The question is, to where? She urgently needed somewhere to stay or she might as well remain in the hospital till she figured something out. She was still thinking about where to go when her phone rang. At first, she thought it was her husband but after the 3rd ring she decided to check who it was, it was an unknown number,

“Hello,”

“Hello, please am I speaking to Mrs. Grace?” the caller asked,

“Yes?”

“Thank God! I have been trying to reach you, the last time I called someone else picked and I was beginning to think you gave me a wrong number,”

“Sorry, who is this?”

“This is Grace, a staff of City bank, you gave me your number about 2 weeks ago,”

“Oh oh oh! I remember!” she exclaimed, “ You helped me with my card and all,”

“Yes ma, “

“I am sorry I forgot to save your number that day and thank you so much for the other day,”

“Its fine ma, it was a pleasure,”

“So, how have you been?”

“No problem ma, I am fine. Trust you are fine too ma,”

“Yes, yes, I am fine… I am fine” she repeated as if to assure herself that she was fine,

“Okay ma, I just called to check up on you,” Grace said,

“That was really thoughtful of you, thank you so much,”

“You are welcome ma and enjoy the rest of your day,” Grace concluded before she hung up,

Mrs. Grace Akinwale resumed back to her thoughts, she just told someone that she was fine when she obviously wasn’t.

“It’s of no use telling her, what help could she possibly render,” she thought to herself, then she remembered that she temporarily needed a place to stay, she unlocked her phone quickly and dialed her number. She might be of help afterall…

To be continued…