The house was quiet, unlike how loud it used to be from Kennedy's noise and his scream alongs while watching his cartoons.
Adolph felt the silence foreboding, and their absence.
After spending a couple of hours on the floor since his family left him, he cleaned up his tears and picked up the files that he had littered on the floor before.
"This will be the third time a woman is betraying me. Should I sit back and watch again or should I fight? Atleast for my son this time around" he asked himself and it seemed as if a voice in his head told him to pick the latter.
His eyes ran through the files in his hand once more.
NEW CITY HOSPITAL, ABANGASI.
The heading read and he picked up his mobile phone and browsed the location of the hospital. Next he went over to his room and picked up his wallet. He wasn't going to back out this time around.
This involved his son, his bloodline. He couldn't just believe what he had been told about him by his mother who had been adamant on leaving him. There has to be loopholes in her story. Or perhaps she had created them to be able to walk back into her exes life, now that he had returned richer.
A pang of sadness twitched in his chest. Leaving him immediately he returned, not even concerned about his welfare while he had laboured five years of his life for her, believing she had accepted him and wanting to spend a lifetime with him.
"Do you regret it, Adolph? I told you to leave love and concentrate on amassing wealth for your self, do you regret it?" A voice in his head asked him and he bursted into another round of tears.
"I'll never look back Adolph. There'll never be a reason for me to"Her words echoed in his head again, making it uneasy for him to think straight.
What was it about him that drove women away? It couldn't be money. His first love had discarded him even though he had it all and gave her all. And the woman he found while being moderate had just revealed her own betrayal as well. What was it about him that was so despicable.
He wiped his tears and stood up, his legs trembling beneath him as he headed out of the house when his legs stumbled on something.
It was the toy Kennedy had been playing with before leaving with his mother. He went inside the house and returned with a nylon paper bag, picking the toy up as if it was the confirmation he needed to reveal what he wanted to find out.
For him and now, he didn't care. He just wanted to know. He just wanted the truth and to find out if Kennedy was worth fighting for, or if he'd end up fighting a loosing battle.
"Take me to city hospital, please"he said to the taxi he has flagged down and drove up to him.
Adolph entered and noticed the driver crinkling his nose as he did.
He couldn't tell what the cause was for a while until he noticed the driver spraying air freshener in the car that it occured to him. He was still in the clothes of the previous day and worse was that he hadn't changed while he made breakfast for the family that had now left him. He sniffed himself and recoiled at the fishy smell that emanated from his body.
***********************************
Adolph sat at the waiting section of the New City Hospital, awaiting the return of the doctor in charge of the DNA test he had a requested.
A whirlwind of possibilities raced through his mind and his thoughts consumed him as he waited.
Suddenly, he heard an argument beside him and his curiosity got the better of him.
Standing up from where he was seated, he walked to the side of the hallway and stood by a corner, listening on her conversation that was ongoing between the nurses and a man which happened to have caught his attention.
"Why should my wife undergo a caesarean section? Do you know how much that costs? She hasn't bought me the car I want for my birthday yet and you want me to consent to a surgery that would eat up her meagre income?"
Adolph marvelled at the irony of life. While he was wailing the loss of his family, most especially his son, here was another man being selfish about consenting to an emergency caesarean section for his wife who was to be delivered of his own bloodline.
"Mr Carter?" A voice called from behind him and he turned to behold the doctor motion to him to come over.
As quickly as he could, he turned and began walking to his office, the floor he walked on feeling like hot coals beneath his feet.
"What did you find out? Did the results come out as positive? Was his DNA imprints on the toy enough for the test?....." Countless questions escaped Adolph's lips at the same time.
He was frantic with worry and didn't know which one to ask first, thus, asked them all at the same time hoping for the doctor to answer the most important from his questions.
He scanned across the doctor's face as if searching for a confirmation about his instincts being right but regardless the times he narrowed his eyes and peered at him, his face was still unreadable.
The doctor handed over the rest result in his hand over to him and Adolph simmered the information contained within.
" I'm sorry Mr Carter. But it came out as a negative" the doctor's silent mutter came when he saw the wrinkles forming at Adolph's forehead.
Adolph sighed. He had hoped against hope for this not to happen but like Kara had told, it appeared his hopes had been dashed.
"Where would I make the payments for the services rendered?" He asked with a voice filled with resignation. His face sagged and his eyes were suncken with defeat.
" Right at the finance department" the doctor replied and watched as Adolph made way to move to where he had been directed to. The file in his hand being squeezed tightly.
He shaked his head in pity for him. He had handled the issue far better than most father's who had been in his shoes did. He mentally commended Adolph for his composure.
"Adolph Carter. How much is my bill?" He asked the lady behind the counter as he reached the department he had been directed to.
She searched his name on her computer and then swiped the card he gave her later on her device.
"Is there any woman pending payment for a C-section surgery?" He asked immediately the machines began beeping from a successful payment. He had recalled the conversation he had overheard earlier and couldn't rest his mind.
" Yes. Her husband is yet to consent to her surgery and neither has the fees being paid. She has no insurance" the lady replied even though it was unethical for her to do so. But the fact that he was offsetting his fees and asking after a troubled patient's made her give out the Information freely.
Adolph watched as she swiped his card again. It was going to be maxed out but he cared less. The remaining balance on his card matched the strangers surgery costs exactly. He was somehow helping a new bloodline come to life, that realization alone made him feel fulfilled.
As his card for handed back to him and he turned to leave the hospital premises, he threw the card into the first trash bin he saw. It was the last time he would be needing it anyway.
Next he threw his mobile phone and finally the squeezed DNA results that had read negative.
He came out of the hospital exit and walked over to a limo that was parked by the side of the parking lot.
"Welcome back, CEO George Kendo. The Chairman has been waiting for you for years!!" A man dressed in a black suit said to him while opening the door to the limo.
It was after the limo has covered a long distance he realized he hadn't even asked after the name of the woman he had helped with the last card from his previous facade, and neither was he able to know her look.