Two days later.
Outside, the morning air was crisp and cold. It had rained last night.
Izabelle cleaned her tears with the back of her hands, her body was from shaking due to the cold, her beautiful eyes which were always filled warmth and brightness was now filled with grief and sadness, she tried to stop herself from crying, but her tears wouldn't stop rolling down, all she wanted was to see Harry, her brother being hale and healthy again.
Amidst the tense and exhausting situation, she walked hurriedly with the little amount she was able to get to the doctor's office.
She sniffed in air before knocking on the doctor's door.
"Come in." A voice echoed inside the office.
As Izabelle walked into the office, her mindset was to plead with the doctor to give her more time to get the remaining money because she knew the amount she was able to raise won't be enough to start the operation.
"Good morning madam", " Good morning, sir." Both of them exchanged pleasantries.
"I was able to get this." Her heart beat wildly as she stretched her hand, handing the doctor an envelope, because she was scared the doctor would reject the money.
"Go and pay at the…" He suddenly paused between his words.
"Excuse me, madam, how much is this?" The doctor couldn't help but ask after noticing the small amount of money she was holding.
She nibbled her lower lips in fear. She was finally asked the question she was avoiding.
"Four hundred and fifty thousand naira, sir." She answered in a very low voice, as if speaking to herself.
"What!!! Don't you know how much you are suppose to pay, we are talking about millions of naira and you are here with just four hundred and fifty thousand naira, not even up to a million, who does that?" The doctor's voice sounded so loud that it looked as if he was yelling at her.
"Am sorry we can't start the operation with this." The doctor said and threw the enveloped money on the table.
Izabelle tears started flowing uncontrollably again. Her round soft cheek became wet with tears.
At that point, the little hope she had in her earlier vanished.
"Please help me, sir, this is all I have." Her words and tears rolled out at the same time.
"Am so sorry madam, there is nothing I can do to help, kindly understand that I am a worker in this hospital, I don't own this place, so I can't treat your brother unless you deposit the required amount of money."
"Another thing you need to note is that you have just a day left, or else your brother is gone. You can leave now to look for the balance, because other people are..."
Knocks on the door interrupted the doctor's word, and a nurse came in.
"Mr. Tony wants to see you, sir."
"Oh.. Tell him to come in."
"You need to go now, madam, as you can see other people are waiting."
She didn't even bother to clean her tears again, she let them rolled down, just the doctor's mean attitude was enough to make her cry for a whole day, she stood up from the seat she was offered and walked towards the door.
She was about to open the door, when someone opened it from outside but she ignored that and walked out of the place, she didn't even notice that she brushed shoulders with someone.
Afterwards, she headed for her brother's room and opened the door gently, but she noticed that he wasn't asleep. He just lay on the bed, wincing in pain.
Izabelle bag fell from her shoulder as she rushed towards him.
"Harry." She called his name out of fear, he turned his head slowly and looked into his sister's eyes, tears rolled down his corner of his eyes, the sight of her brother crying made Izabelle's heart shatter as she felt so helpless at that point.
His body had become pale and his lips, so dry and whitish.
"Iza...Belle, I don't want to die." Just by hearing her brother sounding like that made Izabelle scared to the core.
"You won't die, Harry, I promise you, you won't die, we will live together and achieve what our parents couldn't achieve, I promise you, Harry." Tears flowed uncontrollably as she spoke.
"I will do anything to get the money for your operation." She moved closer and hugged her sick brother, and the two wept uncontrollably.
After Izabelle left the hospital, she kept walking on the road with no destination in particular, just racking her brain for a solution but nothing came up, she became so lost in her thought that she couldn't even hear cars honking again, just lost in her own world of thoughts.
Old memories flooded in. Her life has always been complicated. At the age of seven, death took her parents away, then she felt like she won't be able to continue living but Charlotte her only friend and Harry gave her reasons to continue living.
Harry acts like he is the older one, always protecting her while charlotte acts like she's her big aunty, taking care of all her needs, unknown to them, Harry was developing a brain tumour.
He suddenly fainted a day before yesterday and Izabelle rushed him to the nearest hospital, not a hospital she could afford, now she couldn't even afford to pay for a bed in the hospital not to talk about money for the operation, just the thought of Harry leaving her alone in this world made her body shiver.
Within the short moment, she had sold a lot of things but still the money was not enough, now the only option she had left was to go to Charlotte, her only friend, she was finding it hard to go at first because she felt she had become a liability to her and she was just an intern in a law firm, so she was not financially buoyant but she was the only one she could think of at the moment.
She checked her bag and realized she didn't have money for transportation, so she had to walk to the place.
After an hour's walk, she finally reached her destination. She dialled Charlotte's number, but she didn't pick up, so she headed to her office.
On getting there, she knocked on the door, and a "come in" echoed in the office.
"Izabelle, how are you? You look dull ," Elvis, Charlotte boss, commented on Izabelle look, immediately she came in.
"I'm fine", she managed to say something, her eyes combed the large office, looking for Charlotte but it seemed she wasn't there, although her eyes did not escape the brown haired man sitting opposite Elvis, looking at her as if he knew her before.
"Charlotte is not here. She just stepped out. You can sit there and wait for her." He pointed to a seat in the office near Charlotte's but far from his.
"I'm so sorry for the interruption, Tony." Elvis turned to the man sitting at his front and handed him some files.
"Don't you think making the contracted wife request for any amount she wants is too much, I mean, she is not even a real wife. What if she requests for a huge amount?"
"You are making me laugh. You should know Raymond pretty well, and you know he is capable." Tony replied.
"Ok then, this area is for the amount the contracted wife wants to collect and her signature, tell Mr. Raymond to apply his signature here, too."
Despite the distance, Izabelle heard everything they said and her brain quickly interpreted it, especially the huge amount of money and contracted wife part, a part of her was interested in it, eventhough she didn't know much about what they were saying, she didn't mind as long as a huge amount of money is involved, but before she could finish processing her thought, the man stood up, and was already leaving, both men shook hands and before she could stand up to approach him, he left.
Izabelle felt like stopping him and telling him that she was interested, but she didn't have the courage to do that, besides, she has not done something like that before.
Her thoughts were distracted by a phone call. It was charlotte.
"My dear Izabelle, how are you? I missed your call."
"Am fine, I am in your office."
"Are you for real? Because I am outside right now, waiting for a cab man, should I wait?"
"Yes, please, wait." Izabelle waved to Elvis and left the place hastily.
Her steps were very quick, she looked for the zip of her bag to return her phone but she collided with someone, it was the man she saw earlier in Elvis office.
Apologies spilled from both of them lips, Izabelle realized the mess she had cause and was quick to bend down to take care of it, her long tender hands picked the paper one by one, while doing that her eyes quickly rifled through it, and she confirmed her doubts, it was indeed a contract marriage, and a not just a huge amount of money was involved, it was any amount of money the contracted wife wishes to collect, she could not afford to miss the opportunity she thought, even though she felt somehow, she had no other option.
Tony watched her as she picked the paper. He was about to help her when she stood up and handed the paper back to him. "Thanks" came out of his mouth, and he turned to leave.
"Excuse me." Izabelle was quick to say, and the man turned back.
She gulped down nervously before talking.
"I'm interested." She pointed to the file he was holding.
Tony looked around as if looking for what she was interested in, then he noticed she was pointing to the file he was holding, he looked at her for some seconds before talking, he shouldn't just bring any girl for Raymond, he thought.
"The offer is only available for virgins."
Izabelle kept mute for some seconds. She thought about her dignity, 'Will it really go like this, but Harry can do more than this for me,' she thought.
With all the courage she had in her, "I am a virgin." She blurted out shamefully and bowed her head.
Tony was shocked and amazed at the same time, 'a virgin?' He asked in his mind.
His eyes scaled her from head to toe as if he would get the answer to the question he asked in his mind by doing that.
As beautiful as she is, how come? it was as if he didn't hear her clearly.
"Did you just say that you are a virgin?" He asked to confirm again.
"Yes, I am." She sounded firm and desperate this time.
"So you want to give your dignity away because of money?"
"I don't mind, sir. I need the money urgently to save someone's life."
Tony was mute for some seconds as he processed what was happening. He looked at her again, the girl looked so innocent and beautiful.
And strangely, he just felt like she was saying the truth.
"Ok, let's sit. I will give you some minutes to think about..."
"There is no need for that." She cut him off.
"I have thought about it and concluded." She said quickly.
Tony sighed. He knew there was nothing he could do to change her mind again. He brought out the papers together with a pen and handed it over to her.
"Just go through it. Everything you need to know is there, after that sign at the back."