When I introduced Imran's character, I got two comments like *I thought there's an Alfred abi am I mistaken* and another one "Is Imran the same guy that works in a Cafe or Bakery?" by two different readers. Please I find these types of comments very annoying, like extremely annoying because wtf is that? If you can ask me something like that, that means you can ask me "If Dunni is David's ex-girlfriend or if Tania is Nadia's best friend?" And seriously, I'm not even sure if you guys are reading this book at all with those two questions.

Those two comments actually pissed me off. A whole lot.

But then, we move in the helicopter way.

Let's see who the new POV is, shall we?

Bound Wrists, Muffled Screams.

*ALFRED BAMIDELE*

"Kitan," Mom's voice sounded like a lullaby and it made me fall deeper, into sleep, of course, and made me reach for the cover cloth to cover my body even more.

"Kitan," She called out again, her voice sounding even softer than earlier and I felt her gently tap my body to softly caress my face into a deeper slumber.

I sighed in contentment as my eyelids grew heavier and heavier. I've always known food was bliss but sleeping? That was plain heaven on earth.

"Alfred Olakitan Bamidele," She called me by my full name this around, her voice sounding like a sing-song tone and I groaned before turning to the other side.

I loved mom but I wished she'd stop trying to sing me a lullaby and just allow me to sleep peacefully.

"Kitan, that'll be the last time I'll call you, next, I'll..."

"Mummy, please, I've not slept for five minutes and you're..."

I was interrupted by the rough snatching of the cover cloth from my body and my eyes flew open at the same time a huge waterfall sprang from my face.

Jesus Christ.

I sat up with a start, my eyes opening and shutting instantly because of the too-bright fluorescent bulb. Splashes of water made me open them again to see mom standing over me, a bowl in her hands.

"Mummy, why?" I groaned, my voice sounding groggy with the sleep still evident in it, "I've not even slept for 30 minutes."

"No, you've not," Her sarcastic tone made my head jerk towards the direction of the wall clock only to confirm that the time was just indeed 3:42 pm.

"See mummy, it's just three fortyyyyy..." A sudden recollection made me trail off and I stylishly, through the corner of my eyes looked out through the window.

And it was dark.

Very dark.

Our wall clock had stopped working since it struck 3:42 two days ago and I kept forgetting to buy new batteries. I fumbled for my phone on the bed to see that it was just a few minutes to 9 pm.

"Oya, go on, complete the statement."

"Mummyyy!"

"Sonnn!" She mimicked my voice.

"Why did you allow me to sleep for that long? Why didn't you wake me up?" I queried and her reply was an exaggerated and comically eye roll before she turned back, picked something from the table and she carefully placed a covered dish in front of me.

"Considering how I've been coming here every two two hours to wake you and how you've been smiling and turning to the other side each time I attempted to wake you, I don't think you can accuse me of not trying to wake you up." She spelled the words out for me, enucuatied each very slowly as if she wanted them to sink into my brain.

I didn't believe her though. How could she have tried to wake me up three times and all attempts proved futile?

"I sha brought dinner for you," She told me before she removed the lid and a groan escaped from my lips when I saw what it was.

"Mummyyyyy nowwwww."

"What?" She sounded slightly irritated.

Fake irritation sha because there's no way mom would be irritated at me.

"Mum, I said I'm desirous to learn how to make this dish, how could have you made it without telling me?"

Inikinni? She didn't say it out loud but her expression, the way her lips curved up at a corner said it even louder than her words could have.

"And did you not hear the part where I said I attempted to wake you up more than three times? And please, stop using all those teeth-breaking tones and fancy words for me please."

"But mummy, you could slapped me or poured water on me or hit me with any hard object, me, I don't like all these things..." I trailed off when the spoon I had lifted touched my mouth and I tasted the food.

Oh my God!

I ate like five spoonfuls in quick successions.

"Mummy, this is..." I ate two more spoons, "This is amazing, it's still the best food you've cooked yet."

Her eyes rolled comically again but I didn't miss the little smile tugging at her lips, "You say that every time I cook a new food."

"I know but this is..." I ate three more spoonfuls, "This is amazing, I can't..." I ate two more spoons.

"Farabale, Kitan Bamidele, The food is not running away."

"I know but..." I was distracted by two more spoonfuls that made their way into my mouth and mom sighed, and shook her head before standing up from the bed.

"Sha farabale," She dropped a sachet water on the bed, "Don't choke on food please."

"I can't help it, mom," I muttered with my mouth full of food, "You should try to make your food less delicious."

"So, if you end up choking on food, I'll be the one to get the blame?"

"Of course," I was scrapping the plate now, "Who wouldn't want to rush your food after you made it this delicious?"

"That's bad," She replied sarcastically, "I should work on it then."

"Yeah, you should," I brought the plate to my mouth, about to wipe it clean with my tongue when Mom slapped my head.

Hard.

"Mummmmyyy,"

"Sonnnnnn, how many times have I told you not to do that habit again?"

"When your food is that delicious..."

"Gbenu dake, olounje iya, apart from food and sleep, what else do you know?"

I stretched to my fullest height on the bed with a proud grin on my face, "Mummy, you're talking to a..."

"Je n gboro jhare, ta lo fe ma fi yen ko lobi obe je?" Shut up, who do you want to impress that one with?

"But Mummy, you don't know the value of what you have now, it's only when..."

"Gbe gbogbo enu dake jhare, cho cho cho, afi ejoor yii sha, shey enu o kin ro e ni?" Shut up, you don't know more than talking? Doesn't your mouth pain you?

"But you look nice sha," I changed the topic, "The gown looks nice on you, did you just get it? I've not seen it on you before."

"Ohhh, really?" She walked to the mirror hanging on the wall to admire herself and she even twirled around, "It was Madam that dashed me."

Ohhhh.

Madam didn't dash.

We both know that and we've both chosen not to talk about it.

The madam would rather pack the clothes she was no longer in need of, dump them in the refuse bin, or watch the people that work in the house pick them up because they couldn't watch clothes that were still in good condition and were still way better than the high-grade clothes they'd buy at bend down and select section of Yaba waste away like that.

And as if that wasn't enough, the madam would still expect them to thank her.

It was one of those many things we don't talk about.

"Stop drooling Kitan, we both know I'm pretty."

Yeah, she was. She was really pretty with the clearest melanin skin I've ever seen, a face devoid of any blemish, and stature that didn't look like she had given birth to a 14-year-old son. She didn't look like anything she had done through, she didn't look like the years of struggle, pains, and toils she had gone through and was still going. Even though she now had a stable job that paid more than she had ever received, even though we now have a stable roof over our heads, she still had to go through all the beration, downgrades, and loud yellings from the madam over the slightest and smallest mistakes.

But she still smiled through it all.

I've never met someone who was more positive, who focused more on the positive sides, who never allowed all the wrong things in her life to dampen her spirits. Even after going through the worst of beratings, she'd still do her chores with a smile in her face and a smile on her lips.

I've never seen anyone like her.

And she was quite robbing off on me.

Whether I liked it or not.

"Yes, you're pretty Mummy, I guess you got the good looks from me."

That typical Inikinni, what's this, expression made its way to her face again.

I chuckled, "Mummy, you can't even deny that, we both know..."

"Gbe gbogbo enu dake jhare," She started to pack my plates, "Ma fi ejo pami." Don't kill me with talks.

I jumped to my feet too, "Let me take the dishes to the kitchen na."

"No no no, ma worry, just go back to your sleep, you have school tomorrow and besides, I still have some cleaning up to do."

"Go back to sleep ke? Mummy, I slept for more than 5 hours already, how can I go to sleep again?"

She rolled her eyes again and I heard the You that you can sleep for 10 hours during the day in that expression, "Go and read your books then."

I took the plates from her hands, "Ko need Ma,"

"Alright oo, if you say so."

"We both know you can't even say no to..."

"EARTH TO YOU!!!"

Two similar-sounding voices shouted at me accompanied by two snapping of fingers, jolting me back to the present.

I was standing behind the counter in Cakes and Creams with one, no two, okay, one girl in two bodies staring suspiciously at me while I could feel confusion starting to choke me.

How's it even possible for one girl to be in two bodies?

My eyes latched on the two bodies as my brain tried to figure out a difference but there was nothing. They had the same purple cover veils draped on their heads with black inner caps slightly peeking out, their foreheads looked the same, had the same almond eyes, slightly pointed noses, perfectly full lips as if they spent millions on lips care and even a tiny beauty mark slightly above their lips.

Maybe I was hallucinating.

My hands automatically touched my eyes to rub the illusion away.

But the girl or girls were still there with a big What's wrong with this one? on their faces and their hands crossed over their chests.

"There's nothing wrong with your eyes," Two but totally the same voices came from them, "We're twins, two different people."

How're they even saying the same things at the same time with an eerie automation that made them seem like they're human robots?

"Wow, you guys are twins?" They looked like they were the same person that they couldn't be mere identical twins. They looked like a splitting mirror image of the other person, especially with the beauty marks on both their right and left cheeks respectively.

A smile grazed my lips when I realized what they are. I've never seen mirror twins before so it was fascinating, yet a bit eerie to be staring at one right now except that with the way the twins were staring at me, they didn't seem like they were fans of Kitan Bamidele at all.

"So, this is the infamous Alfred that the girls have been going on and on about?" They asked with an obvious disdain but that wasn't even what got me. What got me was the fact they were saying the same thing at the same time.

I understand that mirror twins share uncanny similarities but this level of similarity? It was scary.

"You're not even that fine sef," They spelled out for me, shocking me to the ground with their bluntness as they kept staring at me as if I was some specimen in the lab, "What's now the big deal with your face that the girls are always gushing about you and sending your pictures to the group every day?"

Wow.

I stretched to my fullest height and I allowed the signature Alfred's charm that always did the charm to slowly spread across my face.

"So you mean you girls don't find my face..."

They interrupted me by parting way and gently pushing another girl forward in between them.

"Make our orders please, we already brought him back to life for you."

The new girl's eyes met mine and she muttered a barely audible hi before focusing intently on the imprinted price list on the counter.

It was her.

The girl I met the other day.

One that we both thought we'd never meet again, at least, not outside the confines of the place we met.

But who ended up turning out to be Nouman's sister?

Funny how life works in mysterious ways.

"So, we are going to have..." She started, still not meeting my eyes and I could tell that it was intentional. I had concluded that it was the shock of seeing me in her brother's house that made her dash into her room and locks herself up but when she stayed locked up for more than five hours and I even had to leave earlier just so she could come out, I started to doubt if it was really because of that.

And now, the fact that she couldn't even meet my eyes was another confirmation.

But why? Because the girl I met was a completely different version from the purple veiled girl that was staring intently at the counter.

"So, we'll have three big donuts and three zobo drinks."

"Ehn, you and who and who will have those things you just mentioned?" The twins reacted before my brain could even process the order and while we were still at it, they grabbed and turned her body so she was facing them.

"Please, Nazeera Baby, who and who are you ordering donuts and zobo drinks for?" They queried while saying the same words at the same time and with the same expression.

And God! It was too scary.

"Us now," She replied to them, sounding like a child.

"Us now," The twins mimicked her, their expression turning into that of mockery.

"And why will you order donuts and zobo drinks for us?" One of them, thank God for that, asked and I relaxed because it was starting to get too eerie having them say the same things at the same time.

"Donuts and zobo drinks sound like things broke girls will buy on a friendship date like this," The other twin buttressed.

"And besides, during Hadiza's date, you ordered the most expensive menu at RareRelish..."

"And now that it's your turn to sponsor us, you want to buy the cheapest things for us..."

"Or is it because we asked you to make our orders?"

"Because we trust your palete and we know that you have better taste in foods than us?"

Wawu! I just kept looking back and forth at the twins. So, if they weren't saying the same words at the same time, they were completing each other's statements.

What a wawu something!

Must be really pleased to be in Nazeera's shoes.

"But I already explained to you guys that I was broke." She explained to them, her voice sounding like she was at the edge of tears and I didn't understand why that made me smile.

"But how can you be broke?" They were back to talking at the same time, "Is it not just to put a call to your daddy and your account will be overflowing with money?-

And besides, have you not been flaunting your brother's card since we resumed? So how are you suddenly broke?"

"But I thought I told you guys," She brought her voice down as if she didn't want a fourth party to hear but I could still hear her without straining my ears, "that I've already reached the limit on his card."

Wawu.

My first thought, my first reaction to her words and demeanor wasn't even something I wanted to process, at least not with her because she and her brother were inarguably the nicest people I've ever met.

The twins looked like someone just dumped them in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Wow, so you mean to tell us that you've reached the limit?"

Her reply was a prompt nod.

"But how's that even possible? We've barely even spent a month in school."

"Well, with Nazeera Baby, everything is possible," The other twin answered, "I'm sure she spent all  the money buying the latest kitchen equipment and her BTS merches."

"Must be nice to have a brother that you can spend his money like this."

"Please, I'm hungry and I can't eat donuts so what are we going to do?"

The other twin nudged the one that just spoke, "Haba now, Hadassa, we'll have to eat the donuts and drink the Zobo, what option do we even have?"

"And there's nothing wrong with donuts," Nazeera promptly supplied, "They're actually my favorite..."

"Says someone who's campaigning for us to eat donuts," The one that I now recognized to be Hadassa sassed.

I cleared my throat to get their, attention again.

She slowly turned back but she still kept her eyes on the counter.

"Your brother has a tab here so you can add your bills to his tab."

She lighted up immediately. Like, it seemed like someone just flicked the brightest bulb on beneath her skin and in her eyes with the way her head jerked up and I was welcomed by the brightest smile in her eyes and on her lips.

She didn't look anything like the girl that had been avoiding eye contact since she walked in here.

"So Oppa has a tab here?" She asked conspiringly and I took it that Nouman was the Oppa so I nodded.

"Yeah."

"Oh wow," She beamed, "You could have said that since morning."

"I could have but you've been pretending I wasn't here.-

So I thought you probably didn't want me to talk to you or something."

The beam in her eyes disappeared immediately and she looked away from me once again, "No, it's not that, it's just that," She met my eyes again, "I just never thought we'd see each other again, not to talk of you being my brother's best friend."

I know, right? Then, I thought she'd just become a face in the crowd, someone I'd probably never see again but now, she was Nouman's sister.

And I was going to see someone who had seen me at my lowest almost every week.

I wasn't so sure if I could deal with that.

But still, I plastered the biggest smile on my face, "It's not that much of a big deal, and thanks for..."

"Nazeera Baby, are you going to place our orders, or are you going to continue flirting with the cute part-timer?"

The way she instantly looked horrified took me completely unawares. She turned back to the girls who were busy eyeing me as if they have a score to settle with me or something.

"Flirt... What do you guys mean by flirting?" She said the flirting with so much emphasis and carefulness as if she couldn't believe that they'd associate a word like that with her.

"No dey disguise boss," They started to turn her body towards me again, "Just make our orders."

She muttered some incorrigible words to herself, her eyes skimming through the menu list before she finally looked up again.

"So we'll have the marble yogurt cake, three strawberry banana Nutella sticks, three banana waffles, and three avocado milkshakes."

Talk about going from the cheapest on the menu to one of the most expensive.

"You can add two cake parfaits for us," The twins added from behind her and she nodded.

"We'll add three cake parfaits to it like that."

Nouman's money.

"Alright, you can go and have your seats, the orders should be ready in 10 minutes."

"Okay," She wasn't looking at me again, "Thank you."

They all started to turn back.

"We have a new boba drink for testing, do you guys want to tr..."

"No, we don't," The twins all but snapped at me but Nazeera's eyes softened into a smile and she eagerly leaned over the counter.

"Really? Me I want."

"Sure, lemme just," I turned and brought it out from the nearest fridge, "Here you go."

She instantly took it from me, her fingers brushing against mine and her eyes lighting up as she took in all the intricate details of the drink.

"Yeppeuda" She cooed as she briefly touched the pink tea bear on the drink and I got confused. The word she just uttered didn't even sound like Hausa.

"What's that?"

"I mean it's pretty." 

"But that's not Hausa."

"No, it's Hangu."

My brows quirked unquestioningly, "Hangu?"

"Yeah, Korean."

"Ohhh," I nodded in a confused understanding, "You speak Korean?"

"Bits and pie..." She started to answer but she was interrupted by the hands that grabbed her two hands.

"Save all the flirting and conversations for later, Nazeera..."

She turned back to them, "We're not..." But they hushed her and they dragged her away from me to sit in a corner.

I kept watching them as they both simultaneously pulled out the same chair and she beamed at them before sitting down and they both took their seat opposite her but my eyes remained intently on her.

She was pretty.

Even though I was hardly myself the first time we met, my brain had still subconsciously picked up the fact that she was aesthetically pretty.

She had a cute and very innocent face that made her look like a child and there was something inexplicably alluring about her face, something that'd make someone get carried away while staring at her face.

Like I was doing right now.

She was laughing hard at something the twins were telling her with her head thrown back and the unrepressed sound coming out from her core.

And it was quite a sight to behold.

"Boss," I heard Chioma's voice from beside me at the same time she nudged me. I turned to her.

"I'm done with the orders, where's it going?"

"Table 17, those Muslim girls." I tilted my head towards them and she stepped out to walk towards them.

My eyes remained on her as she walked closer and closer to them when an alarm suddenly went off in my head.

The alarm made my eyes widen, made it suddenly hard to breathe, made my palms suddenly sweaty, and made me turn around so my back was to the cafeteria.

I couldn't exactly think of what was causing the intense panic brewing up in me but my mind was going to one person.

And just one person.

My right hand reached into my trousers' pocket to fetch my phone and immediately I was able to bring it out, it fell out of my hands because they were shaking too much.

I inhaled on needles as I bent to pick it up and the damned phone had actually gone off.

Fuckkk.

I subconsciously started to pace while waiting for the phone to come on and the more I waited, the more dread and panic were clawing at my chest, compressing my lungs and making it excruciatingly hard to breathe.

And today of all days, this moment of all moments, the goddamned phone decides to take this fucking long to switch back on.

I clenched the phone and was this close to slamming it against the wall out of frustration when it finally came on.

My relief, if I felt any was only temporary when I was slapped in the face with 15 missed call notifications.

I knew who it was, deep down, I already know who it was before I opened the notification but still, when I confirmed it, my breaths ceased.

I stood still, frozen with fear and panic making me feel waves of dangerous shocks coursing through my entire body as I stared at the devil's notification on my phone. She had no business calling me today at all but she had called, not once, not twice but the whole of fifteen times.

That means something, that thing I've always been dreading must have happened.

"Boss, we're running..." I tuned Chioma out completely as my vision blurred and I felt my legs starting to give way beneath me that I quickly had to lean against the nearest wall. My shaky hand raised the phone to my ear but I was met with only silence and it was then I realized that I didn't dial her number.

I brought the phone down again, initially dialed the number that was before hers because my vision was getting too blurry and I could hardly see a thing before I hung up and successfully dialed her number this time around.

Dear customer, the MTN number you're trying to call is currently not...

I cussed underneath my breath as I redialed the number but I got the same automated reply over and over again.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

I didn't even know how I got out of my apron but I was flinging it and storming out through the backdoor.

**********

My heart was in my throat and my whole body was drenched in perspiration when I finally beat an insane Lagos traffic to get to CMC.

I dashed inside, dashed past the hundreds of people milling around in the waiting room, bumped into a few workers carrying some stuff and I heard some yell some instructions at me to slow down but my legs were incapable of stopping or even slowing down till I got to where I was heeded.

Only then did my legs come to a total standstill.

I dashed into the general female ward and my eyes instantly went to her bed but just like I feared, she was not there.

She was not on her bed.

And I stopped functioning.

I couldn't see or hear anything, couldn't feel anything but the sheer emptiness of her bed. It was devoid of life, of her presence. The bright red beddings were a stark difference to this dark blue own that was carefully tucked in beneath the bed with the surface crisp and neatly outlined.

Even her bedside shelf was devoid of anything, not even that favorite book of hers that she was always reading.

I came undone.

The pounding in my ears intensified making everything they were saying in the ward sounded like a distant blur mixed with a loud metallic sound. My heart grew heavier and heavier that I feared that it was going to pummel me to the ground out of the sheer weight of it and before I knew it, I was doubled over, with my hands on either of my knees.

She was gone? Just like that?

A muffled sound that sounded like my name came from very far away but I wasn't even capable of paying attention to it.

"Kitan," My name sounded very loud in my ears now and someone pushed me by my shoulders and I jerked into a standing position.

It was Nurse Ife, the woman who had called me 15 times.

"Kitan, where have you been? I've been calling you since morning."

She sounded so chill, so nonchalant, nothing like someone about to announce a... I couldn't bring myself to think it, not with my mom in its context.

"I... Mummy..." My words didn't sound like mine, they sounded shrill, like something that has been out of use for years.

"Yes, your mummy, I was calling you to tell you that we have the approved list of the patients that got in for... See long story cut short because I have to go and attend to a patient, your mom has been transferred to a private room on the sixth floor."

I exhaled and with how long it was, I knew I must have been holding it since I saw 15 missed calls from her.

I ran my hands over my face, feeling a wave of calmness wash all over me. My face cupped my face and I exhaled again into it.

I wasn't ready.

Not yet.

And not ever.

But private ward? Sixth floor? How? It costs a fortune to keep her in a general ward and I still couldn't afford to do that. Nouman had always wanted to help, he didn't even mind paying for everything but I couldn't collect a dime from him, but after everything he had done and was still doing for me.

Nurse Ife was already walking away.

"Wait Ma, sorry, what do you mean she has been transferred to a private ward?"

"Kitan, I already explained to you to you that the same foundation that has been sponsoring your mom and some other patient's bills upgraded some of the patients under their care to private wards."

Wow! That was all I could think as she walked away. The foundation, the anonymous foundation had been taking care of mom's bills and some other terminally ill patients for more than 2 years now.

And it was funny how there was no anonymous foundation before I came to know a guy called Nouman Hussain.

I stopped in front of room number 107, my heart jumping into my throat again but this time, it wasn't out of the kind of fear I had felt earlier, it was a different kind of fear, a different kind of weakness.

One that I could never get used to.

My hand tightened around the knob, untightened and retightened again and I mentally prepped myself for her.

And the fact that I had to mentally prepare myself before going in to meet my own mother broke me, made me rest my forehead against the door, and made my eyes burn with unshed tears.

We've been at this for years but I couldn't fucking get used to this.

A sound at the far end of the hallway made my hand subconsciously press down the knob and before I knew it, I was in the room and staring at her.

Her frail body was clad in the blue hospital gown with her back turned to me and the sight of her did something to me.

It completely cut off my airflow.

That was how difficult it was for me to breathe.

The sound of the door must have alerted her of a presence and she started to turn slowly, her breaths coming out labored

"No mummy," I cleared my throat, "I'll just come to the other side."

My legs suddenly became too heavy to lift and I had to force them to move. The more I walked to get around the bed, the harder it became for me to breathe, the harder the sudden weight in my chest was trying to pummel me to the ground.

I wasn't trying to see her but I couldn't just stop my eyes from noticing how frail and... Skeletal she had gotten.

I saw how her wrists had gotten so thin and small...

And I saw how energized she was, how she preferred to do the laundry with her bare hands because the washing machine won't just clean them enough.

I saw how she was barely noticeable on the bed, how her body was made up of bones and hollowness.

And I saw how she was robust, how the years of struggles couldn't hold anything to her plump body and fresh skin.

I saw her face, saw the hollowness in her cheeks, the chapness on her lips, and the light that had forever gone out of her barely opened eyes.

And I saw how she was full of life, how there was always a smile in her eyes and on her lips...

I saw how each little movement was so excruciatingly painful for her, how her breaths became even more labored as she tried to drop that book that she was always reading on the bedside table.

And I saw how agile she was, how she could multitask and do some many times at once, and how she rarely got tired.

There was a pain building up from inside me, a pain mixed with rage and fury so strong that it made me want to bash my fists into the nearest wall, made me want to scream my lungs out.

This was so fucking unfair. So fucking unfair because mom was the last person that deserved to be holed up like this, that deserved to be in this much pain, that deserved to be counting down to her death.

She deserved so much more than what life had offered and was offering her.

"Kitan," She called out to me slowly, her mouth moving with a slowness that tore my heart to pieces. She couldn't even use any part of her body without feeling intense pain, without using all her energies.

And it was obvious that just because she called my name, it seemed like she was running out of breath with the way she was heaving and her chest moving up and down.

This was why I only liked coming in the morning. At least, after her shots in the morning, she was always more energized than now and we could talk without her using her energy.

"What are..." She trailed off, her face contorting into an intense pain that squeezed my heart and her breathing become even more labored.

I clenched the metal of the bed to support myself.

"Nurse Ife told me about the upgrade in the room so I came to check it out."

"Ohhh," She nodded slightly and I forced my eyes off her to look at the room.

It looked like a VIP room with its size, a television, a set of chairs, nearly all the medical equipment in the ICU, flowerbeds, a humidifier, and all.

I swallowed again. What would I... Where would I be if there wasn't a Nouman Hussain in this world?"

"But I..." More loud breathings and groans. I turned back to look at her, she had her eyes closed and face contorted into pain. I wanted her to stop talking but I couldn't bring myself to tell her that.

"Get me... The pink pill please." She was finally able to get a full sentence out and I wordlessly took the pink pill from her tablets. I knew what's up next so I adjusted her bed till she was in an upright position and I had to help her use the pills.

I popped the pill into her mouth and made her drink from the warm water that more than half ended up trickling down her chin anyway and I had to wipe it with a napkin.

I adjusted the bed again till she was laying down and I hovered around the bed, watching her drift in and out of consciousness, watching her chest heave up and down and I could feel rage and fury build up in me yet again but there was nothing I could do, nowhere I could channel them to so they turned to an intense pain that made my eyes burn with tears, that made a line roll down my left cheek.

I couldn't get used to this.

When she finally came back to, I was sitting and watching her face, watching all the lines and hollows in them, watching the sunkenness, watching the face that used to belong to a beautiful vibrant woman, watching the face of the only person I have.

The person I'd have to say goodbye to in a couple of months.

"Kitan," She didn't say it with much struggle this time around because the pill was already working its magic, "You're still here?"

How could I leave when you used the pill you were only allowed to use once in a while because you wanted to talk to me? But I didn't say that, I only nodded slightly.

"Oshey, Oko mi."

I only nodded again and I looked away from her to look at the room that I was sure even the architectural details were already imprinted into my head with how much I've stared at it since I got here.

I knew or rather, I was learning even though I didn't want to, that these were the last days with mummy, that I had to make them count, that I had to make them memorable for her, for us. I couldn't take away any of her physical pains but I could lessen her emotional ones, then I was going to have to do anything to lessen them.

I was going to have to do anything to put a smile on her face.

"Are you... Do you like this new room?" I asked her, not surprising myself with how chill I sounded because I was already used to it, I was used to feeling some miserable and fucked up inside and still have a smile on my lips and in my words.

"I don't jhare," She turned slightly sideways with muffled groans so she'd be able to see my face clearly, "It's just me here and it's boring, at least, in the general ward, there are more people to keep the room lively."

"But at least, you have," I tilted my head towards the book on the table, "You have the book to keep you company."

"Kitan," She chided softly and I muttered inaudible curses underneath my breath.

She sighed but I knew she was going to let go.

"But I'm grateful for the foundation..." She coughed and I say up, thinking it was going to be a wheezing and coughing episode but it was only once.

I relaxed.

"If not for them and their support... God bless whoever they are."

I couldn't tell her that it was my friend, that it was the same guy who dropped in once in a while to check up on her, the one who had been so nice to me since we met.

The one whose existence I still find it difficult to believe.

I couldn't tell her that because some things were just better left unsaid.

We didn't say anything for a while and the only sounds in the air were her ragged breathing, the distant noises from the streets, and the occasional buzz of the air freshener.

"Alfred," She called out after a while and I knew what was coming next. She never calls me by my first name unless she wanted to discuss something important.

And the only important thing to her now was something I don't want to discuss at all.

"Mummy..."

"You should go back to school, you're a bright child and..."

"Mummy, I already told you that I don't have an interest in going back to school. There's no point."

"You have your whole life in front of you, Kitan, you're young and..." She trailed off to catch her breath, "The kind of life you're living right now is not what you're destined for, Alfred, you know you're made for big things, you shouldn't dim your lights just because..."

An insane force pushed me off the stool the just because and I found myself walking to the window as if the fresh air would be capable of subduing the storm brewing in me.

Just because?

Just because?

She lay down on this hospital bed, spending her days in unbearable pains and anguish, counting down to her death, and every other thing she had had to deal with before this cancer was just because?

How could she? How could she be so still and calm in the middle of all these?

How?

"Alfred," She called out gently from behind me, "I know how..." Her voice cut a little and I knew the emotions were wrecking her body, I knew the tears were starting to well up in her eyes.

"The fact that you've changed from the sweet little boy to this is causing me more pains than the cancerous cells killing me and the fact that..." More labored breaths and sniffs, "The fact that I'm at the center of it all, the fact that you... you have to put your life on... hold to take care of me, the fact that I made you become like this, it's unbearable Kitan.-

I can't go in peace, knowing that I made you like this."

"Mummy, it's not your fault," I fought the urge to turn to look at her, "You did nothing wrong, it's just..." It's just a fucked up life and a fucked up system.

"No, Kitan, it's all me. I'm the worst thing... to ever happen to you... you wouldn't be in this mess if you... had had a better mother, if only I wasn't your mother, you wouldn't..."

"No Ma," My hands were clamping over hers and I didn't even know how, and when I walked back to her, "You're not..." Emotions were clawing at my chest, fighting for release through my eyes but I wasn't going to cry.

Not in her presence anyways.

"Mummy, I wouldn't... Even after everything, I could... never gave wished for another mother. Stop beating yourself up, it's..."

"Then live up to your dreams and potentials, you're born to be great, Kitan... not to spend your whole life behind counters and... You have your whole life to live, I can't leave you like this..."

I don't even have any life to live without her in it.

"Promise me Kitan, I'm sure there are still some..."

"I promise," I lied because I had no intention of doing anything.

I've gone past that stage.

We've gone past the stage.

"Thank y..." She coughed again and this time around, it developed into an episode of wheezes and loud painful coughs that made her body rise and fall uncontrollably from the bed, shrunk her already frail body, that made her body spasm from pain.

Panic sent my body into overdrive and I didn't know how I pressed a button, how I was trying to hold her body down, how the nurses were pushing me out of the room.

I next thing I knew was that I was leaning over a railing overlooking the hospital's garden but I couldn't focus on the beauty or anything. There were thousands of emotions wrecking my body, constricting my airflow, choking me, paralyzing me.

I couldn't breathe.

And there were thousands of memories slamming into me, memories I'd have repressed if I could, memories that I was relieving every single moment of my life.

The emotions mixed with the memories formed a lump in my throat, choking me, making it hard for a grunt to even come out of my mouth because if I should open my mouth, it was going to give way to the tears I've been trying to suppress.

I started doing the 19th multiple tables from the back to keep me rooted, to keep me calm at the same time my phone started ringing loudly in my pockets.

I silenced it as I continued the recitation in my head but the ringing started again.

And again.

And again.

I brought it out to silence but the name on the screen made me pause, made me consider if I should pick it.

I can do it.

I can do it.

I pressed the green icon.

"Alfred, where are you? I've been trying to reach you since morning."

I couldn't reply.

"What's up, are you there?"

I still couldn't reply.

"Alfred, I can hear ragged breathing, are you..." He sounded worried, "Should I be worried? Are you okay?"

I can.

Tears blurred my vision and I nodded slightly as if he was capable of seeing me.

"I..."

I dissolved.

Into tears.

And this time, except with one exception, there was no one around to hold and comfort me.

**********

The loud knock on the door jolted my attention from my phone's screen that I had been staring at and I frowned because I wasn't expecting anyone.

And it couldn't be my neighbors because I didn't even know them.

And the time was almost midnight.

I got up from the plastic chair and walked cautiously to the door because for all I knew, it could be a thief knocking as if they owned the house.

"Who's there?"

"Open up dude."

The voice instantly made me undo the catcher and turn the key.

Nouman Hussain was staring at me in all his glory and his eyes seemed to rake over my entire body before finally coming to rest on my face again.

"What are you doing here?" Were the unwelcoming words that left my mouth because I couldn't believe he was here.

I didn't even understand how he knew where I live.

"Are you going to allow me in or should I freeze outside?"

"Oh yeah, come in?" It sounded more like a question than a statement but you can't even blame me.

How did this dude get here?

He brushed past me and he stepped inside.

Wow.

It took me a couple of seconds to gather myself to lock the door and when I turned back, Nouman was settling himself on the plastic chair and reaching for my phone whose screen was still on.

I snatched it away from him and he veered back in shock.

"Calm down Bamidele, I was just intrigued by the picture."

"Is it your picture?"

"Aaah, mad oo."

I walked around to sit on the bed and I continued to eye him suspiciously.

"What are you doing here at almost midnight?"

"I'd have gotten here earlier if the third mainland bridge's traffic wasn't that terrible."

"It's a Friday, Hussain, what do you expect? Lots of people will be going to and coming back from the island.-

And even if it's not midnight, what are you doing here exactly?"

He turned around on the chair so he was facing me.

"I couldn't get a hold of you so here I am."

Ohhh. He called me earlier today and I've not even thought about how I must have scared him when I didn't say anything on the phone and how I just ended the call abruptly.

"I'm fine, you just called when I was with mum so..."

I trailed off because I knew he must have gotten what I meant. Visiting mom had always been like that. Even when we tried to smile and pretend everything was fine, the big pain had always had a way of rearing its ugly head to the top.

"So, are you saying you came all the way here from banana island because you were worried about me?"

"Well, I was worried, Nazeera said you left the cafe after you received a distress call and I couldn't reach you so I couldn't just stay still."

"Wow," My lips stretched into a teasing smile, "Look at you acting all caring and loving, your future girlfriend is already lucky in advance."

"Shut up please."

"You guys only tell me to shut up when I'm saying sensible things."

"I don't think you've heard yourself before."

I didn't say anything to that. I only watched him look around the room. It was a decent self-contain apartment at Palm Groove, probably one of the cheapest apartments that weren't in the slums but it was still an apartment I couldn't have dreamt of taking before I got the job at Cakes And Creams.

Before Cakes and Creams, I was still begging to sleep in LUTH's corridors and lobbies. I didn't need a house then, I only needed a place to lay my head when it was dark.

But Cakes and Creams happened around the time I met Nouman and it was such a coincidence and surprise because I got an offer of a salary that was almost too much for someone who doesn't have formal training in catering except watching his mom in the kitchen and an upgrade into a semi-managerial position barely 4 months into the job.

Nouman Hussain must think I was really dumb.

"Bamidele," He started, "Isn't going from the mainland to the island every day too much work? I mean you can always move to Hussain Towers and..."

"No no no please," On top of the foundation sponsoring mom's bills, Cakes and Creams, and every other thing? No! "How can I become a self-made guy if I keep taking everything from you? What suffer-head stories do you want me to tell the beautiful kids Nadia will give me?"

"You're very foolish," He replied dismissively before standing to his feet.

"You're leaving already?"

"Leaving ke?" He started making his way towards the bed which surprised me because what was he looking for?

"I'm sleeping here."

"Sleeping here?" I repeated dumbly.

"Shift please," He got on the bed beside and this dude actually made himself comfortable, "I can't return to the island by this time and besides, I don't think any ride would be working."

I couldn't form a single thought. I knew he was nice, maybe even unbelievably nice but he was a guy who had been raised with a silver spoon, who had probably never even stepped into a place like this except maybe for photography jobs and all but now, he was telling me that he was going to sleep here?

I mean, this place compared to his apartment looked like the slums.

"What about your sister? Will she be able to sleep alone?"

"She's doing a sleepover in the school hostel with her friends."

The twins' friends, I assume.

"Now, she's video calling me, this girl calls me at least 2 times a day on video calls if we're not together," He muttered and I turned to look at him at the same time her vibrant, freshly scrubbed face came on his phone's screen.

"Oppa, you won't believe that..." That was all I heard before Nouman connected his AirPods to his phone but I didn't stop watching her.

She was narrating something to him with so much vigor and excitement and all these hand gesticulations that it brought a smile to my face.

I was once like that, that full of excitement and happiness.

That seemed like a very long time ago but still felt so recent.

But whatever because only one thing was certain.

I could never be that boy again.

Hmmmmmm

Nouman and Alfred's relationship though>>>>>

If you guessed that Alfred was going to have his POV, pat yourself on the back and say I'm a spec because you're spectacular indeed.

Alfred and Nazeera 👀

So, what do you think about Alfred now that we've gotten into his head? Did anything change from his you've been seeing him all this while? Did you notice any new things about him? Let me knowwwww.

And what do you think of his mom?

Do I love Alfred? YES!

Is he my favorite character in this book? YES!!

Do I want to marry him? YES!!!

Are you guys going to get another update if you don't find a way to bring Alfred out of the book for me? NO!!!!!!!!!

So get to work, you guys are kuku plenty so I'm sure we'll have a genius among you guys.

See you guys when you give me Alfred Bamidele.

Till then❤✨