"And Lily. Don't neglect your daughter please." Mom gripped his wrist hard. "promise me you'll watch out for her."
"i will. I will." He muttered. I rolled my eyes in irritation at the obvious lie.
I honestly don't know what mom sees in him. I mean they're both toxic, but at least, mom has some sort of responsibility in her. Shouldn't she at least search for someone that has a little more morals than her? Someone kind of decent. Instead of father who drinks around, beats her and hasn't been responsible for anything me related since I knew him as my father. I'm actually surprised he wants to do this for her because I honestly had the idea that he is happy my mom is no longer able to scold him around the house.
Maybe that's just how messed up marriages are. Maybe I didn't really know much about my parents relationship as I thought.
I fished my phone out from my handbag to check the time. Oh shit. We had just Forty minutes left to get to the bus station.
"Mr Dayo, we don't have much time left, we have to go" i said to my father while going towards my mom's bed to plant a kiss on her cheek. "bye mom" I turned to my aunt and pull her in for a hug. "bye aunt." Before leaving the hospital room.
I placed my palm over my nose while walking the hallway to go out of the hospital. The smell of disinfectant seemed to be stronger in the hallways. I turned towards the waiting area to go seat and wait for my father when all of a sudden, the welcome door burst open, and close to seven people came rushing in with an unconscious person on a stretcher. Hmm. What the hell is going on?
They moved with such haste that I could hardly know what was going on.
"Please help my brother, please!" one of the people, a girl cried brokenly. She looked to be my age or younger. She crumbled weakly on the floor as she sobbed.
One of the elderly men with us here approached her and gently patted her shoulder. "what is the matter? What happened" he enquired softly.
"It's... It's.. my brother" she wailed. "he collapsed few minutes ago... And then he started convulsing before blood started pouring out of his eyes, ears and mouth. As if he's drying up." She choked out. "Phil please don't leave me." She whispered to herself.
What sort of illness is that that makes blood flows out of the body? Fucking weird stuff. The hell is going on?
The ringing of my phone snapped me out of my thoughts. I checked the caller after taking my phone from my bag. It's Anna. My best friend.
"Sup baybi" she said with excitement. She's always excited, she hardly let's anything ruin her mind. She's the most easy-going person I've ever come across. "how's the preparation going? Are you guys on your way yet?" she asked, sadness tinting her voice.
"yeah almost. We came to check on mom before leaving" i lowered the tone of my voice while answer so that I wouldn't startle the crying girl.
"oh, how's she doing?" her voice softened. Anna is a very compassionate person. I guess that's why we fit so perfectly. Where I'm a little piece of shit that tries to act as though I have no emotions, Anna is fucking sunshine, she doesn't hid her feelings and she's never ashamed of expressing herself. "its been a while since I've visited. Work is really pulling me seriously" she explained as though she wasn't here last week. She literally visits my mom more than me. And that said alot.
"She's okay. Still fighting the disease." I muttered.
"That's good. We'll get through as long as there's a will." Her voice picked up the excited tone again. I rolled my eyes even if she couldn't see me. Always the optimis-
"Lily, come on it's time to go" my father called out to me while heading towards the exit door. I hadn't even been aware that he'd come out of mom's room.
"i guess it's time to go." She sighed. "call me when you get there, and make sure you stay out of trouble."
"i will to the first and I'll try to the second" I told her while hurrying to catch up with my father. Why the hell was he walking so fast? He was already out the door and stopping a cab before I got out of the hospital.
"okay, bye love." She said and hung up.
"youre always so damn sluggish. How did I end up having this kind of dumb kid." My father grumbled when I caught up with him. His bushy brows furrowed in irritation.
I turned to glare at him. What is his problem anyway, it wasn't as if I saw him heading outside and still stood. I was on my goddamn phone. I pinched the bridged of my nose to calm down. This wasn't going to work if I keep letting what he says affect me. I'd try my best to ignore him. I just have two years left to tolerate his ugly face.
My father placed his bags in the booth and I also placed mine before we entered the cab and left for the bus station.
It took hours to arrive at Abuja from Lagos state. The drive was so long, I almost felt like passing out. Jesus, how did people do this. I felt so tired. We were asked to wait at the terminal when we arrived that someone would come pick us up.
My father called the line thirty minutes ago, and the person hasn't yet arrived to pick us up. I was getting really upset already. My fingers started drumming on my handbag in agitation. I hated waiting. I hated been tired and also waiting. This is bullshit. I turned to pour out my anger at my father that was seated beside me.
"hello. I'm sorry for the delay. Are you ready to leave?" a very polite voice said at our front. I looked up to see a nice looking dark-skinned middle-aged man standing before me. Thank God. I was about combusting.
"Yes, it's no problem. We are ready to leave." My father replied. My father nudged me to get up while standing up. I picked up my phone and handbag while getting up to follow my father following the unnamed man to a car packed outside.
"where are you taking us?" I asked the driver since we have been on the highway for over ten minutes and it didn't seem as if we are stopping anytime soon.
"That is not your concern. You're here to work not ask questions." The man told me with a little bit of irritation marring his voice. Okay, he's not a nice looking man anymore.
I turned to my father to gauge his reaction, but he was hardly looking my way. I was getting irritated again. Why was everyone acting as though this is a special work. We're hired as professional fucking cleaners. What's the big deal about it?
"you're really not going to tell me where we're going?" I snapped.
"No ma'am" he gritted out. I scoffed. I didn't have time for this bullshit.
I turned to lean my head on window. And minutes later I drifted off into sleep.
"Lily you have to wake up. We're here." My father's voice startled me into consciousness. I opened my eyes to see him already getting off the car. I turned to look around me, trying to see where we were. There was really nothing much to see from inside the car.
"Lily!" My father snapped in urgency. I quickly jumped out of the vehicle along with my bags. They were already walking towards a- a mansion? If I could even call it that. Goddamn! This building is humongous. I hastened my footsteps to catch up with them while getting lost in this amazing view. I didn't even know which part of Abuja we were at, but it looks really private. Like a private little town filled with really big and expensive houses. Weird.
This person is fucking loaded. So so fucking loaded. How did we even manage to secure this job? This is so so beyond us, I thought. There was this ginormous fountain in the middle of the compound. Compound? I don't know if this could be called a compound, Anyways, it had this huge statue of a bull on it with its mouth wide open as if to attack. Wow.