FED UP [Xxi]

(...continued...)


                Mabel dried herself and came out to check who was calling, just as Cynthia’s phone rang a second time. It was their mother.
  “It is mummy,” she told Cynthia.
                She allowed it ring and stop. She checked her phone and confirmed it was still her mother that called.
  “Who knows why she is calling?” Cynthia asked.
  “Maybe she just wants to know how we are doing.”
                Mabel dialed her mother’s line. She picked and talked to Mabel with worry in her voice. She asked why they were not answering their phones. Mabel told her she was in the bathroom when the call came. She asked if Cynthia was with her. Mabel said she was. Then she asked why Cynthia also did not pick her call. Mabel told her Cynthia didn’t know her phone was ringing. She insisted on knowing the truth, whether there was a problem. Mabel looked at Cynthia to know if she could tell their mother what had happened to Cynthia. Cynthia gave her a nod and she told her mum what happened to Cynthia. Her mother shouted and asked where they were and what they wanted to do about it. Mabel told her that she had taken pain reliever and that they were on their way to see Dr Obinna. She said she would meet them there. Mabel told her not to worry, and that they would see her later in the day. Their mother asked to speak with Cynthia. Mabel handed over the phone to Cynthia and went to dress up. Cynthia reassured her mother that she was fine. Then she hung up.
                When Mabel was done, Cynthia managed to stand up.
  “Do I need to bath?” she asked Mabel.
  “No. Allow the balm to do its work,” Mabel replied. “Moreover the time Dr Obinna gave us has passed, so we don’t have time to waste again.”
  “So I will now be smelling balm balm.”
  “Chuka is not here to notice.”
                Cynthia chuckled.
  “Who cares?” she said. “What about other people we will meet on the way?
  “We will take drop straight to the hospital”
  “Ok.”
                Cynthia wore back her top and adjusted it.
  “Please give me your perfume,” she told Mabel.
  “What I have is cologn and not perfume,” Mabel replied laughing.
  “You are not serious,” Cynthia said laughing. “Please give me whatever it is you have let me hide this balm odour.”
  “Don’t you know where it is? Take it in the drawer na.
  “You keep changing where you keep it na.”
  “My dear, my friends don’t know how to use another person’s perfume.”
                Cynthia sprayed the perfume until Mabel told her to stop.
  “You want to finish it?” Mabel asked her.
  “Just help me check if I am still smelling balm balm,” Cynthia said.
  “I told you not to worry about it.”
  “Ok.”
                Cynthia took her handbag and gently walked towards the door.
  “Are you feeling any better?” Mabel asked her.
  “Yes. The massage and pain reliever worked.”
  “Is there still any need going to see Dr Obinna again?”
  “Yes, let’s be sure there is nothing to it.”
  “Ok.”
                When they were set, Mabel locked up and they left. Cynthia managed to walk well to avoid answering questions from people. As they stood on the road waiting for a cab, a car drove to the front of the compound and stopped. They did not bother about it. Then Mabel heard someone call her name. She looked well at the driver. It was a lady she knew very well.
  “Margret,” she said and went close to the car.
  “Where are you going to?” the lady asked her.
  “I am taking my sister to see a doctor.”
  “Eiyaaa she is not feeling well?”
  “It’s nothing serious.”
  “Ok. Come in let me drop you.”
  “Are you sure about this? You don’t have somewhere else to go?”
  “No. It is you I came to see.”
  “Ok. As long as you promise not to ask me anything.”
  “I can’t promise you that. Get in first.”
                They laughed. Mabel beckoned on Cynthia to enter the car. Mabel helped Cynthia enter the back seat, then she sat in front. She told Margret the hospital where they were going to and Margret drove off.
                Margret was Segun’s cousin sister and a long time friend of Mabel’s. It was actually through Margret that Segun got to meet Mabel.
  “I felt bad when I heard what happened,” Margret said.
  “I thought you said you will not ask me anything about it?” Mabel said to her.
  “I did not ask you a question na.”
  “But you expect me to respond.”
  “You have to respond o. I can’t come all the way to see you in vain. I need the full gist from the horse’s mouth.”
  “I am now a horse abi.”
  “You can keep playing around all you want. You will still tell me what I want to know.”
Mabel sighed and asked. “What did you hear?”
  “Segun said you left him for no reason, after all he did for you.”
  “What!” Mabel shouted.

  “He said you stopped picking his calls and that you said you are fed up with him.”

(...to be continued...)
Nedu Isaac

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