-----------------♥-----------------

ain't just prayin' for no reason
I give thanks for the days, for the hours
And another way, another life breathin'

-----------------♥-----------------

^^^

Stale smell of drugs, disinfectants and illness-this was what the hospital smelt like. Horrible. like death.

And he didn't feel scared

Nurses on scrubs and doctors with their coats and sthestcope hanging on their neck filled the hallway, walking frantically about. There was the emergency whirling sound causing everyone else to instinctively clear the way for a stretcher carrying an almost dying woman into an emergency ward.

The hospital was vast. And the oncologist department was like a vast world of it's own with different wards having different individuals. Some had a bunch of kids smiling at a board and a lady who had a book that looked like a children story sat in their midst also talking and smiling while, another ward had grown-ups all circled around, sitting and talking and laughing at intervals. The support group for cancerous patients...he was never interested in attending

Toby took long strides through the hallway, it wasn't the long soberly strides he usually did whenever he walked on this particular hallway, this time, his feets seemed to have more strength...maybe it was because he couldn't wait to get away from the hospital, he greeted a few nurses with a smile on his way back from the chemo

The nurses had smiled back-they always smiled warmly at him, it was quite hard to tell what their smiling signified: perharps he was dying soon and they're glad to have known him or maybe, he shouldn't feel so sad afterall, we all gonna die someday or maybe he was getting better and they can't wait to not see him again, besides, they may be tired of his presence and they needed new handsome faces which will flirt less with a smile at them (like he usually did. Like he was doing now)

He pushed open doctor Lewis office, the cool air from the panasonic air condition accompanying a faint smell of citrus greeted him. The usual stack of toys were hurdled together by the side of the office and doctor Lewis in usual white coat draped over his black trousers and tee, thumped intensely on his laptop. his clark kents glasses hung on the bridge of his nose.

He looked quite fashionable

"Hey doc!" He greeted

Lewis raised his face up, a huge grin spread widely around his face "Toby! So good to see you...you look good "

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Lewis affirmed "you look brighter than the last time you came here, I must say it's a good sign" Lewis said with a sincere cheery tone

"Really? I thought I was was gonna be looking more like a sketch of myself..." he replied and Lewis laughed

"Let's say a happier sketchy self " lewis teased and Toby laughed

"So." He called out sharply, averting Toby's full attention to him

"How was today? How do you feel lately- I mean I know you look happier but I'm just asking 'bout your health...do you feel pains in your joints and how's the fever?"

Doctor Lewis asked, taking a notepad and a pen ready to jot down whatever it was Toby was going to report

"Lately I haven't felt any pain...I mean, I did. But they weren't extreme. I feel alot dizzy and a bit weak...it's like I'm feeling my whole body crumble inside of me" Toby reported

Lewis nodded, scribbling somethings down

"you went for the chemo, right?"

"Sure"

"Do you experience nose bleeding and hitched breaths..."

"Nope. It's been like quite a while that happened"

Lewis gave a small nod again, "that's well... good I guess. You just have to keep up taking the drugs, come around for check up and eat right. AND!" He raised his voice slightly whilst looking at him like he was some kind of skeletons brought for close examination

"No more alcohols!"

Toby's eyes widened "did my mum tell you that?"

"Yeah, apparently" lewis replied in a dry tone

"Damnmit man! She didn't have to, I already got scolded "

Lewis raised an eyebrow "you did? By who? Sarah?"

"Nope." He popped the'p'

Lewis clicked his teeth in a way that seemed like he was thinking deeply

"Wait! Did you get a girlfriend..." he trailed off

"Not yet. She's not my girlfriend yet "

Lewis nodded, his lips curved into a mischievous smile "Ah! Not yet? I see. How's she like tho?"

Toby grinned "Alot more than I can describe"

Lewis chuckled, "man I didn't think you were gonna take me seriously the last time I told you to get a girlfriend "

"What?..no..She's not my girlfriend yet, I don't even have a girlfriend "

"Yet" Lewis smirked ,wriggling his eyebrows at Toby who feigned a groan, struggling to keep his face from breaking into a smile

"Can we just...stop talking about my personal life? "

Lewis shrugged, holding his hands up in mock surrender

"I will, if you didn't look like a 15 yr old boy who just got disvirgined by his first love"

"Wha...what the...!" Toby could feel his face turn crimson in embarrassment while Lewis laughed carefreely

"See, you're doing that again... Stop keeping your face like that"

"Like how?"

"Like the guy who just recalled his first kiss..."

Toby stood up groaning "ok I'm done here...freakin' Molly! " he yelled,hopping onto a beanbag couch neatly by the coner of the room, startled at the sight of a white fluffy cat looking at him with sea blue eyes

"You have a cat too?" He cried out, taking a glance at the cat which seemed to glare back at him

Lewis grinned, squatting to give the cat a pat "her name's Charlotte "

Toby rolled his eyes, staring at the little cat who also seemed bewildered by his presence. "Oh great. She has a name "

"Charlotte's actually a stray cat who could have almost been hit by a dangote trailer..."

"So you being a knight in shining armour had come to its aid, yeah?"

" absolutely accurate" lewis clapped "you can stop acting like a scared puppy now " lewis teased and Toby grunted

"I'm not scared " he argued

"Says the guy on the couch " lewis pointed out sarcastically

"I just felt like resting abit"

"Not you a minute ago, you really made up your mind to leave " lewis smirked

"I got...umm...i changed my mind " Toby was scared of cats, animals even. Sometimes he wondered how his mum really kept up with her cat. Seriously, they freaked him out

Lewis laughed, picking a meowing Charlotte up and stroking it at the back "c'mon, Charlotte's friendly. Absolutely friendly"

"Yeah right" he agreed with sacarsm dripping undertone

"You wanna hold her?" Lewis asked, holding the cat towards Toby

Toby paled "no. No-not a chance"

Lewis scoffed "can't believe you scared of cats"

"I'm not scared!" He maintained

"Tell me that again, when I see you off the couch" Lewis smirked

Toby sighed "for real... I'm not scared...just, cataphobic" he sputtered

Lewis stared at him with a feigned horrified expression, bursting out into a belly laugh

"you're what? Dude what the heck is cataphobic?"

Toby shrugged, musing out a reply "Fear of cats I guess "

"It's called Elurophobic" lewis corrected, piquing his brows at Toby

"Yeah whatever"

Lewis sighed "how did your mum manage to have a cat with with you in the same house?"

"By keeping it away from me" he replied and Lewis chuckled, shooking his head at him

There was a comfortable momentary silence between before Toby spoke up

"she'd love Charlotte anyway...she loves cats "

"I know." Lewis affirmed "She says Charl's too pretty to be a stray, actually she was the one who named it"

Toby smiled- his mum had a thing for cats, it beats his wonder why he never liked them...hol'up! Did doctor Lewis just say his mum what?

He snapped his attention to lewis "my mum named the cat?"

"That's what I just said"

"She already met your cat?!" He asked wide-eyed, a million and one questions swirling around his brain

"Dude. Time to go!" Lewis called dismissively, putting Charlotte away

"But I never asked my questions yet?!" He protested, noticing Lewis pull his glass off his eyes awkwardly as he rubbed the nape of his neck

"We never said anything about me answering any questions" Lewis replied, seeing Toby out or more like shoving him out of his office

"Wait! Are you chasing me away from your office?"

Lewis sighed "you need to rest Toby. Bye!" He said, shutting the door after him with a deep inhalation.

√√√

Toby mused at the thought of his mum and Lewis. Wait! Did his mum really have a thing for doctor Lewis? Nah. Maybe he's just over thinking everything. Besides, they were just friends since it's impossible not to be, knowing Lewis was their family doctor and maybe they had just run into each other and decided to name the fluffy cat 'Charlotte' ? He imagined his subconscious sniggering at him

Shooking his head at his thoughts, he pulled out his phone away from his pocket trousers, an involuntary smile ghosted on his face at the sight of the name Teqs. He had actually put her number on his speed dial

On the third ring, she picked up calling softly "hey Wale?"

He grinned...Wale? It was the first time he had ever heard her call him Wale. And it sounded so different, beautiful. He wanted her to call him that again

"Are you still there? " he heard her voice over the phone

"Yes-yes " he stuttered a reply

"Oh"

"Umm...you busy?" He bit his lips gently, walking out of the hospital to the underground park where his BMW was parked

"Kind of. My mum...we actually wanna go see someone" her tone didn't sound like ahe was excited about seeing this 'someone' and he wanted to ask if she's okay with it

It wouldn't change anything, will it?

"Oh. I'll call you tomorrow" he said instead

She didn't reply right away, he thought he should hang up or not or she maybe disappointed about him easily going off on her -ok wow! That's like too much over thinking

One word to describe it

Neither of them had talked about the kiss. Like it was an awkward topic to bring up, instead, they talked about more weird things and skillfully avoided talking about each other.

Yesterday at school after they ditched mr 'cains' class to spend the hour talking about random things. She had smiled and touched his hands in between- it was an involuntary gesture, he noticed. But he liked it

And there were more things which they skillfully avoided talking about like the reason why April disliked Yara. He knew he'd advised her to try not hating back and he knew he said that because well, he really didn't believe April could do something like that. Besides, Yara never told him a full details ad to why they disliked each other- he wished to know every bit of her but it seemed like the more he tried, the more more she would drift farther and the more he'd want love her broken pieces

-and it felt strange to admit he loved her

"I've got to go now, Wale. I'll see you at school tomorrow " she said finally, quickly hanging up

He nodded, realising she couldn't see him so he mumbled a 'bye teqs' to the thin air, mounting his bike and kicking it off to a start. Allowing its rumbling noise to fill the air while a drove away

***

She sliced the vegetables on a chopper, accompanying it with a few onions, pepper and sausage rolls. It was a swift and skillful movement, like her hands working as fast as a printing machine.

A few minutes into slicing and she threw someone her ingredients into a pot of simmering on fire, fixating her attention to other activities in the white themed kitchen filled up with staffs wearing white uniforms, white caps and nose masks.

She stirred the food, took a spoonful and moaned in satisfaction. It was good-couldn't taste any better not after she had worked hard

"Yum...Miss, this really tastes delicious" a girl clothed in the usual white uniform which had a one star attached to it, complimented with a weird gesture

Sarah turned to her, assessing the girl who appeared to be a junior chef-junior chefs had one star attached on their uniform unlike a senior chef with three stars and culinary managers having a five star like she had

"You should wear your mask if you must talk inside the kitchen. Weren't you orientated before working?" She reprimanded with a serious look etched on her face as the girls smile gradually faded

"I'm sorry "

"Get back to work!" The girl nodded, scurrying away

Sarah gave a sigh of remorse. She had sounded so mean. She's been abit quiescent lately and she didn't see herself getting any relief anytime soon. Earlier, her parents had decided that she supervised the culinary staffs since the present manager would be off on an impromptu trip.

She thought maybe she should give Toby a call and then decided quickly against it. Afterall, he hardly had time to talk to her lately, he seemed alot preoccupied these days

She felt like her bestfriend was slipping away from her and it was just all because of this one girl-

She wished she didn't have to feel annoyed that he was hanging out with someone else other than her. She never thought she'd get this vexed if Toby hung out with other people but seeing Yara and him, it felt like he'd forget she ever existed.

She hated this feeling- so much that she literally groaned aloud

"Are you okay, Miss?" A male chef staff inquired in genuine concern

She took in a deep breath, nodding her head positively "No...I mean yes, I am.."

"You sure?" He prodded

"Yeah sure...and your vegetables look ridiculous, try cutting it into tiny bits " she advised, pointing at the vegetables which he chopped into large chunks.

Sarah huffed, deciding to take a breath of fresh air if not, she might literally growl at each staff-an attitude which even she herself knew was ridiculous. She wished she'd stop feeling ridiculous.

"Hey Sara!" a male voice called out, he was Sam, an assistant culinary manager. His voice was a bit muffled due to the nose mask. Sam said he preferred calling her 'Sara' 'cause it's literally not different from saying 'Sarah'

She managed a small smile at him "hey Sam, how's work going?"

"Lovely as usual" he replied with false cheerfulness

Sarah subtly rolled her eyes. It was so typical of Sam to feign a delightful attitude to his work meanwhile most of them could literally see the grumpy attitude to work which he displayed when he thought no one was watching. Little wonder why she was filling up for the present manager

"Oh that's great" she replied

He ran his eyes through her outfit-blue jeans, ash tee and a pair white sneakers on her feets

"I love your outlook"

She shrugged lightly "oh! Well, it's like my regular outlook"

"Sure...are you gonna be free for dinner tonight?" He asked

What the...the nerve of him!!

She bit back her lips from retorting harshly, plastering a fake smile "are you trying to flirt with your boss's daughter? "

"No..um...not really what you think, it's just a harmless dinner..."

"Harmless, huh?" She scoffed, narrowing her eyes sharply at him "Watch it. You could get fired "

She strutted off, bumping right into a figure that felt like she just rammed her head into a freaking' wall, a pair of glass had hit the floor. She bent to pick them up, letting out a profound hiss

"Ouch! Watch were you're going na? Abi do you still need glas..." her voice trailed off at the sight of the figure

"Seun?"

He grinned awkwardly " Sarah! Hi. I'm sorry..." he trailed off too, probably not knowing whatelse to say

Sarah rolled her eyes, handing him his glasses "you really should quit bumping into me. You're not that blind"

He smiled again, a shy smile. It made her cringe...watching him smile like a simpleton while muttering sorry under his breath. She shook her head to sidestep him

"Sarah,"

She halted, turning to him "what?"

"Do you...do you umm..mind if..we..."

Sarah huffed aloud in annoyance "dude I ain't got patience if you're gonna call me to stutter all day"

He swallowed an imaginary lump "I'm sorry...you wanna grab a drink with me?"

She rolled her eyes, biting back a hiss. What the heck was wrong with everyone? Why did Seun want to have a drink with her? What could they possibly discuss over cans of drinks? Physics and Dalton theory of evolution or maybe Pythagoras theorems

"No" she said flatly, spurning around with out a second glance

For a moment, she imagined a glint of hurt flash through Seun's eyes .She sighed in exasperation, finding her heels swerve back towards his direction which was opposite the window-her favorite spot

She inhaled and exhaled, wondering what it was she should say to him

'Hey Seun, sorry I snapped at you. I'm actually not in the mood for anything right now'

Or 'hey Seun, did you know that big band was discovered in the year 1949...funny right? 'Cause that's not even correct, anyway do you still wanna grab a drink?"

She shooked her thoughts away...they weren't funny, she was blabbering and she was a mess. Plastering a friendly smile as she approached him, she gently tapped his shoulders

"Just a drink right? I don't mind"

Seun's whole face had literally lit up, he was excited and as much as she didn't get why, she felt a calm flush of relief surge through her.

A/n

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