Hannah's heart skipped a beat as the man stood on top of the secret place. She could literally feel her own heart beating at the spot. The man looked around and told his partner "Let's go. He's not here"
Hannah breathed in relief after the men left her home. She went to the window and when she saw that they were far away, she went into the storage. She opened the secret place and carried Alexander out of there.
Alexander was pale with fear. As he was in the secret place, vivid memories of his experience came to his and when he felt someone stepping over the small door, he felt suffocated and his heart almost jumped to his mouth when he heard the man's voice. It was the man who came to the hut once a while.
Hannah stayed with Alexander till he fell asleep. She pitied the poor boy and wished he wouldn't have to go through all the pain alone. After he fell asleep, Hannah went to her dressing table. She opened one of the drawers and brought out her phone. She wanted to reach out to his father, so he could come get his son. She didn't know how to reach the senator herself but she suddenly remembered that one of her friends still worked in the hospital where the senator's late wife was delivered of her baby. She heard that was the hospital the senator visited for medical check-ups, so she figured his information would be in the hospital. After checking through her contacts,she finally found her friend. She forgot that she had saved her friend's name as "Madam Bursty" at the time she was jealous of her friend for having bigger burst than her. She smiled as she dialed the number. After a while, the person on the other side spoke up with a pretty loud voice
"Hannah!!!! You're still alive" the person on the other side said jokingly
"Yes, I'm alive and I'm breathing fine, Precious" Hannah laughed and said
"You! I've called you a number of times. You never picked. This one that you're calling me now, what do you need?" Precious said, in her lazy voice
"My dear friend, you know me well. I told you that the reception is bad here so it'd be hard for your calls to get through, and yes, I do need something " Hannah said, getting serious
"You could've moved back here but you insisted on staying in your grandmother's house. Anyways, what do you need? Anything for you, my love" Precious said and laughed
Hannah laughed. She had known Precious for a long time now. They met each other at their orientation camp and they've been friends ever since. She was a reserved lady but Precious was very outgoing.
"So...you remember the senator who's wife died while giving birth in the hospital back then. I need his phone number and it's pretty urgent" Hannah rushed all her words
Precious, on the other side, was quiet for some time, then spoke up "So, you want me to give you a patient's personal information??"
Hannah slowly said"Yes??"
"You know that's wrong. What if I'm caught doing it ? Do you know what would happen to me?' Precious asked
"I know, and that's why I'm asking you. I could have asked other people but I know that you're the only one who can do that for me and keep my secret safe. Please please please, I'll owe you big time if you do this for me"
Precious kept quiet on the other side and after a moment, she spoke up"I'll help you, but you owe me big time "
Hannah was overjoyed "Thank you so much, Precious. I love you " she said as she showered her with kisses over the phone.
As Precious was about say another thing. The line disconnected. Hannah checked and saw that there was no signal. She thanked God she was able to put forward her request before the signal went off.
Few minutes later, a message came into her phone. It was from Precious. It read "I'll send you the number tomorrow. Don't forget you owe me". She smiled and said "Silly girl"
Hannah then went to her room and laid down on the bed and stared at Alexander who was sleeping peacefully. Before she knew it, she had slept off. When she woke up, it was really late. She went to the living room and sat down on th chair. She wanted the sleep to wear off her face. She brought out bread from her refrigerator and prepared hot tea. It was cold outside so she figured it'd be nice to eat something warm that night. She went to wake Alexander up and brought him to the dining. Still feeling groggy, Alexander sat at the table, said his prayers half heartedly and started eating. Hannah watched him as he ate and she slowly ate herself.
After they were done eating, Hannah told Alexander "If you're still sleepy, you can go in to sleep"
He then asked " Aren't you going to sleep, ma'am?"
"I have some things to work on in the workshop, so I'll be sleeping late" she said
"Okay, Can I come watch you?" He asked
Hannah was surprised. Even Layla had never asked to be in the workshop. She hated the smell of herbs but seeing as this little one wanted to watch her work, she was happy
"Alright, but you must promise me not to touch anything"
She said
Alexander excitedly said "Okay " and followed her into her workshop. When she opened the door and turned on the lights. The sight was amazing. He was expecting to see a shabby place filled with herbs but what he saw was a room which looked like a laboratory. There were beakers and bottom round flasks filled with liquid substances. There were cabinets running along the sides of the room. On top of those cabinets were plants, placed side by side. By the window, there was a wash basin in which discarded substances were washed down. There were bottles filled with powdery substances on the table in the center of the room.
"WOW" he exclaimed. Although he had been more of a tech lover, seeing the way the workshop was made him fascinated. He became curious
"Is this where you make your herbs?" He asked
"Yes, obviously" Hannah said and laughed
Alexander then said "I thought herbs were made by just mixing several roots together but why do you have a whole laboratory for it?"
"That's a good question. I became interested in traditional medicine but I've always wanted to make those medicine in such a way that people who do not like traditional medicine will be willing to try it" Hannah said, feeling proud of herself
Alexander went around the workshop, careful so he wouldn't touch anything and took sight of everything that was there.
"Alright now, I want to start working. Find a place to sit"
"Okay" Alexander said as he went to where the chairs were and took one of them out. He placed across the table where Hannah worked and sat down.
"I want to help" he said, immediately he saw that she was about to say something. Hannah had no choice but to swallow her words and give in to him.
She had ran out of herbs for constipation so she decided to make some more.
Alexander watched in admiration as she worked relentlessly. At that moment, he wished his own mother were still alive. All his life, he had never felt motherly love, only fatherly love until he met Hannah. Within the few days of her stay, she had shown him unconditional love like his mother would've shown him.
Whenever she wanted to get something that was far away from where she was working, he'd get it for her.
Hannah soon fully concentrated on her work and didn't notice when Alexander fell asleep. After about an hour, she decided to take a break from her work. She was stretching her body when she noticed the small figure sitting across her. His head was on the table and it was obvious that he was asleep. She smiled and went to his side.
"Alex, Alex, wake up" she had gotten used to calling him by the shortened form of his name
Alexander sleepily answered "Yes" and turned to the other side. Hannah looked at the boy and the corner of her lips were raised unknowingly. She carried him and he immediately wrapped his body around her. She carried him carefully to her room and placed him on the bed, careful not to make a sound. She then brought out a blanket and covered him with it because it was chilly.
She was about to leave when he grabbed her hand in fear. Hannah looked at him and saw his face full of fear. She figured that he must be having another nightmare so she sat beside him and calmed him down. After twenty minutes, he seemed to be calm and fast asleep so she removed her hand from his embrace and went back to work. She had a lot to do so she didn't think about sleeping at the moment .
She went back to her workshop and she worked till dawn. After she had worked for hours, she looked at the clock and realized that it was past 4 in the morning. She decided to take a short nap and then tidy up her work since she was already tired. She took the chair Alex used earlier and went to a corner of the workshop since all other tables were occupied. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep. She woke up by the sound of plates clashing from the living room. She rubbed her eyes as she tried to get a clear picture of what was happening.
"It's from the living room" she said. She went to living room to check what it was. She saw Alexander at the dining table, battling with the jar of mayonnaise. She went to him and she helped to open it. She looked at the table. There was bread, vegetables which looked ridiculous in the slices he tried to cut them to. She asked him in more of a sarcastic tone "Are you fixing breakfast?"
Without looking at her, Alexander answered "Yes" without taking his eyes off what he was doing.
He then said "You can go take your bath. I will be done by the time you're done taking your bath. Then you can come and have a taste". He said all that without looking at her. Suddenly, he stopped and looked at her "I know you worked all night, so I decided to make breakfast for you because I knew you would be stressed by the time you were done"
Hannah, still looking puzzled, chuckled and said " I see"
Alexander then added " I don't know how to make anything except sandwich. Our house help taught me how to make it Incase I woke up hungry and she wasn't around then". He then turned back to the sandwich he was making "I have already taken my bath, so you can go take yours now ma'am" he said.
Hannah, laughed to herself and went to her room to take her bath. After taking her bath, she was drying her hair and she thought about her daughter, Layla. Ever since Layla started attending school, she had been helping her out with little things. She really missed her daughter. After putting on new clothes, she brought out her phone as she decided to call her friend, Peculiar.
As she turned on the phone, a message popped up. It was from Precious. It read "08*******19, it was so hard to get this so do not forget that you owe me". Hannah was so excited. She totally forgot that she wanted to call her friend, Peculiar . She was about to dial the number but then she suddenly remembered the reason she brought out her phone. She placed a call across to Peculiar.
"Mommy" a tiny voice met her
Hannah recognized the voice. It was her daughter. "How are you doing, my child?"
"I'm fine, mommy. How are you? I hope you're not sad without me?" Her daughter said
"I'm fine. I've been busy. Are you having fun there?"
Hannah asked
"Yes, Aunt Peculiar has been treating me to good things. It's so much fun " Little Layla said
"I hope you're not neglecting your studies?"
"No, I'm not "
"That's good. Can you put Aunt Peculiar on the line now?"
Hannah said
"Ummm, mommy, she went to visit a friend but she said she'd be back soon" Layla said
"Alright, when she gets back, tell her that I called "
"Okay, mummy " Layla said and Hannah cut the call.
She then decided to call Mr Edward. She dialed the number Precious sent to her and after it rang for a while, someone picked up.