Chapter 17
"Man, you look so fresh this morning. I bet your height was a splendid one because I just saw Ashlyn running out of your mansion on my way in here." he spilled over the words that were in his head, but his friend came down the stairs, his look was not like that of someone who had enjoyed his night so he was forced to ask what the matter was and Blaze, breathing in and out in solo, called out his maid to come over and get their breakfast orders before he could begin to narrate the dilemma in which he had found himself that night.
"Yes, then," Grace responded walking towards them in the living room, and at the sight of him, Blaze ordered her to please bring something for them to drink first while she makes some prawn sauce with white rice with a little quantity of chilly pepper.
Grace nodded in affirmation to his orders and with her stares plummeting on him, she greeted him as well with a smile as beautiful as she was just as she had always had and he who was fun of Grace, he reciprocates her salutation back and as well as asking for her night was and she asserted that it was splendid.
Caught in between the scenario that was going on, Blaze was not finding it funny that he was hitting on his maid or so it was looking but knowing that he was like him, he had to cut it short immediately.
"Hey you, what are you smiling at so awkwardly?" Blaze raised a question with his eyes gaping at his maid who quickly regained herself and with her mouth moving to ask what kind of drink they would love to have, Blaze, told her to get back to work immediately which she obeyed and was about leave but he called her back and in an angered tone, he asked,
"You are already leaving, have you taken our preference as concern the drinks?"
"I am sorry Sir I was about to ask that but..." She was been cut off by Blaze who told her to be a glass of orange juice for him and turning to him, he instructed that a glass of lemon juice be brought to him.
"Lemon juice this early morning when I haven't even eaten yet?" he demanded but Grace, knowing that her boss had not woken up in a good mood that day, nodded before him and turned her back to her duty post which was the kitchen.
"Man, on what side of the bed did you wake up on today, because it seems like you finally got what you wanted but it was not as sweet as you were expecting. Am I correct?" he raised a very crucial point, following the reactions of his friend that morning, and Blaze, holding his head in his hands, he growled in turmoil at the uncertainty that he was faced with which had turned into a nightmare for him.
Putting in, he told him that he could simply just pay her a quarter of the amount he had promised to give her for her mother's treatment so that she could find the rest somewhere else to complete, or better still, he could just help her mom and change the claws of the agreement to reducing it from her salary each month but Blaze gave him a killer look which made he to agree that there was a problem.
"I am the most stupid person that the earth has ever harbored. She tried showing me the signs but I just didn't see it because I was blinded by my ego to join her in the list of the numerous ladies that I have slept with bro. Now, how do I fix this mess that I have created for myself?" Blaze raised a question in sorrow which only made he gaze at him while wondering what the hell could have happened between him and Ashlyn over the night for him to have such an attitude that early morning.
The doors were closed while her and Ashlyn were left outside in the corridor with their hearts beating faster inside their chest.
"Mother..." Ashlyn cried out with her knees going down in fear of not having to see her again after that operation and her, feeling her hurt, went down as well with her in an attempt to make her feel good in all aspects since she needed so much of it.
"Please calm down okay, she will be fine Ashlyn. All you have to do is to be strong for her, Okay?" she did her best to give her the morale that she needed to be in a stronger mood and that was all that mattered then.
"I am scared okay, what if she doesn't come out alive. What if this is the last time I will be watching my mother in my entire life?" Ashlyn's questions kept on running out of her mouth while her tears kept on running down her eyes and her pain could be felt in those early hours of the morning.
That feeling was a familiar one to her, who felt lie life has never been fair to her. She had lost two good people in life that she had no idea that she was going to be able to live without them talking more if being so strong in the world that they had left her into.
***
Sitting down there on the bare and cold floor, her sanity reflected back to the thoughts that she has been fighting with all her life which were those of the time when her father and aunty had died in an auto crash some years back when she was only a youngster. The scenes were still fresh inside her head as though they had taken place just some minutes again and the wound that was open suddenly, were ones that she could not bear.
She had a vivid picture of her father and his younger sister, who were laying down on the stretcher at the mortuary, all ready to be sent into the cold store and she was back in her school uniform when she met her mother crying and being their only child, she followed them to the hospital.
Life was all rosy for her and she had the same dreams for herself to become a very important person in society, just as the other kids of her age were having as well as the feeling of longing for a more better opportunity to grow up and make her parents proud. But that did not manifest because, Mr. death, the unexpected landlord, came in and took those two important persons out of her life in a twinkle of an eye.
"I am a sorry little girl, but your daddy is in a better place and he is smiling at you right now with so much you in his heart, and her being a smart kid, he told the doctor that her daddy had promised her that there was no better place except when he was with her and they both were playing like they always did.
She was still full of life and her smile could still be seen on her cheeks and taking out her results papers from her bag, She told her dad that she had gotten some good scores hence, the school was offering to send her to go represent them at the final competition and she was happy.
Her words only made everyone in the space to cry out some more as they were so touching and sad. She had not yet realized that her dad was dead.
To her, she thought that he was only slumbering since he had just gotten an accident and was probably tired but when her mother came closer to her with her eyes really red, she asked her mother why she was crying and her mother held her closer with water trotting though her face, including her nostrils and with shaky lips, she advised her not to wait for her dad because he had left them and he was not coming back soon.
The story was not sounding well in her ears and she not discerning the reason as to why they were creaking the same thing, she told them that her father was alive as well as her aunty.
" Okay, if you do not believe me, then wait let me talk to him so that he will tell you that he had promised never to leave us. Never." she spoke out with her hands wiping her mother's face in order not to be catching sight of her tears anymore.
Little girl, walked to her father and with her stare falling on her aunty, she smiled at her before turning again to have a look at her father who was still freshly still laying on the stretcher.
"Daddy, tell these people that you are awake and tell them that you are sad you will never leave me and mommy alone, never," she muttered as she waited for her dad to talk to her but there was no response from him.
That was weird because, knowing her father, she could tell without any doubt that her father was not a deep sleeper so extending her right hand to him, she happily told him to take her result and to check out her good records which she was certain that he was going to be happy with but still there was no reaction.
The doctors that were there, including her mothers' friend Ashlyn, who is Ashlyn's mom, all just stared at her whole they wept in their little corners.
"Daddy, please say something. It is your little princess and I am talking to you." She insisted and that was the moment she had gotten to realized that her father was no longer in the same world as her.
"Please can you take them inside now?" The mortuary attendant instructed but that was not right. She was still in a dilemma and she was finding it difficult to let go of both her father's and her aunts' bodies.
"No, this can't be real, aunty please wake up. My daddy can not be dead, no way to is not true." She cried out and as soon as she did that, It was as though her mother was waiting for a signal before bursting out hers which she had been keeping inside of her right from the moment that they had walked into the hospital.
She was uncontrollable and inconsolable as her eyes followed the direction toward's which her fathers' corpse were been taken it was certainly not the way to their house.
***
"Are you okay, or has my situation, awakened some sad memories that were hidden inside of you?" Ashlyn suspected but she wiped out her eyes with the help of her hands, she forcefully let out a smile saying,
"Hell no, I am super fine. Who will you think that I am not doing okay and that the sad memories of the past are back to hold me down?" she answered back with a question that only made Ashlyn be more suspicious, after the manner in which she had answered the question.
Her trembling lips had failed here while her avoiding any eyes contacts with Ashlyn made it even more obvious. But Ashlyn understanding what was going on, she unexpectedly took her into her arms and with a tight hug, she whispered into her ears that,
"I might not know what it is to lose a loved one okay, but know that you are a bit alone and you have me and my mother, and trust me when I say that, we are going to where I mean it."