Nia left after rejecting my proposal. She said I was not a compatible match for me and that I was holding her back from her dreams. She couldn't have the decency to just tell me of the reason why she cannot marry me, and that is really upsetting. I walked back home to my parents in the rain and could still not believe that she did not look back not even once to see the situation she had subjected me to.
As I walked back home, I decided to pass by my father's shop to see if he was there. My intention was to inform him first before heading back home with him probably, so he could help me spill the heartbreaking news to my mother. I could overhear the voice of my father from afar and that brought a whole lot of questions to my head. This is unlike my father, no matter what the circumstances might be, his voice is the last thing you would hear, so this came as a total surprise to me. upon my arrival in front of his shop, I saw him arguing with a woman accusing one of his sons. To my father, he thought she was talking about my elder brother, and he had to tell her that my brother would never bother or be of nuisance to anyone. This continued for a while but to my surprise, it was Nia's mother. She has come to warn my father so he would warn me not to take any more steps closer to her daughter. She was so furious and was speaking to my father in a very disrespectful manner, and that I could not take. I immediately interrupted and told her to speak to me instead, and that I would not condone any sort of disrespect towards my family. Everyone came out of their shop to see what was happening and that bothered me more than any other thing. Nia's mother continued speaking and finally said before myself and my family that her daughter is engaged to Ermias and someone like me from a low class will never be befitting her daughter.
"No body gives a damn of who your daughter is engaged to", I said to be angrily.
"No one has any intentions to disturb your daughter again, so I will urge you to vacate this premises respectfully", I added.
After that incident happened, and right before my very eyes, my father had a heart attack, and I was stunned by the incident. I would never have forgiven myself if this had caused my dad's life. I turned back watching her mother as she drove away, meanwhile my father was lying in my hands almost lifeless. I was very incensed about the whole situation and that made me pledge to myself that I don't care how long it's going to take or what it's going to take, but I will make it no matter what.
Years later, after tedious hard work, I earned the position of senior engineering officer at the same mining company, which excused me from working directly under the mine. I was elevated and I have begun living the best of life I have always dreamt of. I have a really huge position and that makes it obligatory upon me to attend to almost all the top partnership companies that we had.
I took one of our partners to the mine to go see what we do. The recognition given to me upon our arrival was overwhelming and I was proud of it. We took the elevator, went down into the dept of the mine located beneath the grounds and they were happy with all that was happening there. I could not hide my happiness and had to express happiness at that proud moment.
"Good work Jayden", the man said to me.
"For what?", I asked in return.
"We have come across a lot of engineers before and none of them was lovely and loved by his subordinates as you. You are really a different one", he said to me.
I was really glad and was left awestruck by his words. They meant a lot to me, and I could not be more grateful to him. He wonders why my subordinates love me that much and are always presenting me with gifts, but all I had to tell him was that if you work open-heartedly with people, you are sure to live to enjoy the fruit of your seed. He was also astonished by the response, and we continued with our walk in the mine. We continued with our conversations, and he immediately asked, out of the blue, if I had someone that I love. It did not go so well with me, and it had to take a few seconds before answering his question. I still could not take the pain of Nia's name popping up my mind whenever I am being asked such a question, but of course my answer was no. He advised I get someone to love and who will love me back, and probably settle down with that person, as we have just one life to live, and we should live it well. I became a bit uncomfortable with the conversation and had to change it as fast as I can.
We have come to a halt under the mine, when I told him we have not dug to this side since we have some dynamites blasted a while ago, and we await the checks to see if there is any gas leakage from the blast. He understood and suggested we take our leave to continue the rest of our business conversation in the office. And right before we left the underground, some engineers began to shout that there was a gas leak from the blasted area. At this point, all we had to do was evacuate the place to our safety zone. I began to shout, ordering everyone to put on their mask and run towards the safe area. I got my mask out, blew in some air to help with my breathing and went inside to make sure everyone was out from the blasted area of the mine, and to my surprise, I got stuck under the rubble.
It was in no time, the whole place was filled with ambulances and the fire service, together with some rescue team, to assist in the rescue process of the workers. Of course, there where television station present at the scene to make coverage of what was happening at that moment.
I have just regained consciousness but was still under the rubble. I could not believe that I was stuck with some workers who are seriously injured while others are still unconscious. At this point, the only option left was for me to either help them out of the rubbles or save myself before things get worse for all of us. I decided to help all the unconscious workers with the little energy left in me, carry them one after the other behind my back, through any open exit I could find, and probably come back in with more helping hands. I scream on top of my voice, as loud as I could sound, to tell the others there is an open exit from the west side of the mine.
The news has reached almost every corner of the country. Families who had their relatives working at the mine start to crowd the place, and those living from afar have to watch everything on the television. Nia was in her painting shop, as usual, drawing portraits of people. She suddenly heard a breaking news on the television and immediately got frozen and dropped the cup of coffee she was holding, but she was the least of my worries. The news had already reached my father, as he watched it on the television from his shop, and immediately got a shock of his heart again and went unconscious. My brother struggled to help him get on his feet and with the help of our neighboring shops, he was successfully taken to the hospital with no consequences.
Back to the mine, a senior engineer, who had the same position as mine, realized there was a movement on the crane that helped with the easy movement of items at the mine. He quickly drew the attention of the rescue team tother with the rest of our colleagues, and they ran to our rescue. Our partner who has come for the inspection of the mine has been injured and also got stuck under the rubble. I quickly ran to him, and I saw him lying down motionless, but thankfully to the first aid education I had during my studies as an extracurricular activity, I was able to revive him while I took him on my back and headed to the exit. The teams start to descend to our level, as they rescue the rest of the team while I helped our partner out of the mine. I could not believe my eyes as the whole place was filled with family members, the rescue team and the media. I did not see myself as a hero, but I was the hero to the rest of the crowd.
The house has been a morning stage as the whole family have gathered, together with Layla, with the fear that something terrible might have happened to me. I was immediately attended to by the paramedics present at the scene and also was immediately interviewed by the press. It was claimed that there was no count of death in the explosion and the rescue was successful. I was asked if it was a miracle and all I could say was that I had to call my family, probably they must have been scared. I was handed a mobile phone, and I immediately call them, and it was a great relief to hear my voice.