Smug on the chair in the business class of the plane she was on board, Francine could not love less, the comfort and privacy it provided.
Her savior had given up his space to her without collecting a dime back after canceling his flight and this automatically went in her place, like she had been told and wasn't supposed to pay again.
Tears were streaming down her face uncontrollably but she didn't mind.
No one was in to see her tears and the thought of it made the tears even come down some more.
Her mind drifted off to the first days of her relationship with Jude.
"I saw something in you I couldn't find anywhere else and couldn't let go. I'll do anything. What do I have to do for you to see how serious I am and accept to be my one and only?"
These had been his words when he asked her out. There had been no buts or tales of how it was going to end.
He had proposed to her like a gentleman and she in turn accepted him, wanting to open up her heart once again.
Another year escaped her eyes.
"I saw something in you I couldn't find anywhere else" the words repeated in her head.
" I saw something in you I couldn't find..... Anywhere else" it repeated again.
Ofcourse he did. Her life support patient's heart had been all he needed. It had been what matched his lover's which he couldn't find anywhere and he had to lie his way into her heart just to get her to willingly take him off life support and donate his heart.
He has trusted her with his life and even made her his next of kin as he had no one else to.
If only she knew, then this wouldn't have happened.
If only she continued keeping her heart shut to people, if only she didn't decide to give love and men a chance for once, then this wouldn't have happened.
She smuggled against the cushions and felt the fragrance of the room.
Surely money was good. If only she had dedicated her life towards making it in excess. If only she had wasted her time on something else.
Francine Kasiemobi had just graduated medical school the other year and because of her exceptional abilities and gifted hands during surgery operations, she had been retained as one of the doctors after her internship for the hospital.
A very quick propeller in her medical career.
Jude had dated her two years prior to his betrayal.
Her patient had been under her since her internship days.
It had been calculated all along.
Planned and expected and she who was innocent was left to suffer with a broken heart alone.
And now there was an issue of epinephrine maladministration in her name again.
What doctor commits such a silly mistake and expect the people to trust them still with their life.
She hated the thoughts but still couldn't stop asking.
What about her wasn't good enough?
What about her made life Benson cruel to her. What about her?
The thoughts continued coming to consume her while her tears kept coming uncontrollably.
It kept on till she eventually drifted off to sleep.
-----------------------------
The small house she once called home was still standing upright and in shape even though it was evening.
It was neatly kept, as if there were inhabitants living in her old abandoned house.
She ignited the engine of the new car she had bought on her arrival off.
Francine shrugged off her thoughts of him.
There was no way that would be possible. She didn't sell the house to any estate agencies, and someone else living in her own home was almost impossible.
A thought crossed her mind and she immediately shaked it off as well.
There was no way he would still be in Samdari.
It was too very less dignifying for a person of his calibre.
He should become a famed doctor by now, if not a professor like he had always dreamed of, and so, no way he would still be in Samdari.
Her eyes darted from her grandmother's house to his that stood by the corner. It was also neat. As if it hadn't been long it got weeded and it's flowers mowed, just like the front yard of hers.
Perhaps the new neighbor was kind enough to mow her yard when they did theirs.
She hoped for a good relationship with them if ever they were to cross paths, though deep within her, she genuinely didn't want to cross paths with people she might have to talk to as a norm.
She was only going to be here for a few months before she would work her magic and get the doctors of the branch to sign her form, and Jen she would return to the headquarters and be a thorn in the chairwoman and her son's flesh.
She wasn't going to waste her chances here acting victim. Life didn't care for people like her and she definitely didn't use 8 years of her life, plowing for resources to train herself in school for her to end up at the rural branch of a hospital.
Dragging her luggage along with her, she walked into the house.
The front yards had been swept and this surprised her.
It was as if someone was expecting her arrival and had everywhere cleaned because the mowed grasses still looked that fresh.
But there was no one for her to fall back that did it.
And she hadn't told anyone whether or not she was traveling to Samdari or seeking employment in another hospital, given her proven track records.
The media might talk but hospital's nowadays cared more about successful surgeons to advertise their hospitals with than they were of the rumours surrounding them.
She unlocked the house doors and pushed her luggage inside without entering.
She had to greet her late her grandmother before moving into the house.
It was her routine while locking the doors and moving to the backyard of the house.
She was met with a surprise.
It had been mowed as well.
She wasn't expecting that.
She was expecting to see her grave covered with grasses as it had been long she abandoned Samdari and everything in it.
There were fresh flowers on the grave too.
She picked it up.
It couldn't be the new neighbors and there was no one she could recall who was that close to her grandmother to bring her flowers, as flowers both dead and withering were on her grave.
She heard footsteps and readied herself to run and hide thinking that the media has found out where she was and came after her for interviews and questions she wasn't ready to answer.
"Kasiemobi???" She heard and the flower she held fell at her feet, the thoughts of running leaving almost immediately.
He was still there. There in Samdari.
His voice couldn't be mistaken.
He was the only one that called her by that name in Samdari and with so much emotions in his voice.
The curiosity left her eyes. She wasn't expecting him to still be here ..