She had spent most of her day with her ex- lover. Years had passed and still the feeling stays the same. Olatunji has always been in her heart. Adedolapo, her husband, was the nicest man she ever knew, he loved her, took care of her and he did all he could for her but Olatunji never left her heart. Olatunji was her first love and definitely her true love, she had done Adedolapo a favour by naming their son after him so to appreciate him for all he did for her .
5:30pm and her sons were not back yet, they had told her everything would be alright but she still had the strangest feeling of fear. She had prayed over and over again for GOD to protect her sons.
6:00pm and they are not back yet, it’s not late yet but her fear had grown bigger, she decided to call Dolapo but his number was reading unavailable so she called Wale who didn’t pick his call. She began to pace up and down the room, imagining the worst. Then a knock on her door, she knew it wasn’t any of her sons, she recognize their knocks so when she opened the door and saw Olatunji, she knew something bad had happened.
Olatunji: Please dress up we have to go!
Mrs. Martins : (shaking) What happened to my son?
Olatunji: There was a fight at the party, he got injured.
Mrs. Martins: Which of them?
Olatunji: Dolapo
She dashed into the room, tears falling uncontrollably as she looked for what to wear. “Lord Jesus! Please save my son she prayed in tears.
***********************
Her car had been used to take Dolapo to the Hospital with Femi driving. She had never seen him drive that fast, he seemed shaken by what happened, though she still felt he had something to do with it. Wale had carried his brother with tears in his eyes, he hasn’t altered a word since, he had Dolapo’s head on his thigh, another guy who had volunteered was with him at the backseat. She sat at the front with her palm on her face, wishing this horrible nightmare would end soon.
They got to the hospital and Dolapo was quickly wheeled to the emergency ward. None of them was allowed in so they all had to wait, pacing up and down at the hospital entrance.
Bidemi got down on her knees and started to pray for her beloved.
Femi held a piller for support, biting his lips and wondering if he has just instigated a murder.
Wale kept walking around, peeping through the windows at intervals, hoping to see what’s going on inside with no success.
Wale: (Towards Femi) You bastard! You did this to him. Better pray nothing happens to my brother because if he dies in there, i will strangle you with my bare hands!
Femi: Wale please…. i didn’t mean for this to happen. I……
Wale: (cuts in) Just shut up! What did you have in mind if not to kill him….. i swear to God, i will kill you myself!
Bidemi In tears) Please both of you just stop already. Stop fighting! Fighting was what got us here in the first place! Dolapo is lying life-less on a bed in there clinging unto his life, the last thing he needs is us fighting out here!! Please stop fighting… please!!
Wale fumes and walked away as Femi tried to hold Bidemi who forcefully shoves him off. Finally the attending resident came out to address them as they all gathered waiting to hear the news.
Doctor: We need to get personal records and identification of the patient. Is anyone of you a family to him.
Wale: Yes! He’s my brother
Doctor: (opens a book and brought out his pen) Name of patient?
Wale: Dolapo Martins Junior. Last name is martins
Doctor: His age? Wale: He’ll be 20 in 3 months time
Doctor: okay….that means he’s still 19. Is there any medication he has been taking? Any reoccurring illness? Or a significant past medical record that we need to know about?
Wale: No sir! He hardly gets sick sick sir.
Doctor: Okay… The thing is, Mr. Dolapo Martins has lost quite alot of blood which needs to be replaced as soon as possible. We’d give him blood from our blood bank but we need donors to replace the ones that would be given to him. Do you have any volunteer donors that you can think of?
Wale: Fine! I’ll donate mine.
Doctor: Good! Have you made any blood donation in the past six months?
Wale: No sir i haven’t!
Doctor: OKay we’ll give you a form to fill then. However, your blood needs to be tested first.
Wale: I’m a virgin, i don’t have HIV
Femi: (laughs) Wow… you’re a virgin??
Wale: shut up!!
Doctor: (Laughs) No i didn’t mean that. Although, it’s one of the tests to be carried out too but what i meant was testing your blood to see if you’re eligible and if your blood corresponds with the patients blood.
Wale: Oh! Okay sir
Doctor: However, The patient needs two pints of blood and by law, we are required to take one pint of blood from a donor, in other words, you will need to find another donor with yourself inclusive.
Bidemi: (Cuts in) I’ll do it! I’ll donate my blood for him.
Doctor: I’d rather we make it a male donor. Ladies lose blood during menstrual flow, so even if we will accept you as a donor, it has to be the last option.
Femi: I volunteer to donate
Wale: I won’t have your bad blood flowing in my brother’s vein you idiot
Doctor: Do you have someone else in mind boy??
Wale: (looks down) No sir! Doctor: It’s settled then. One more thing, i hope you’re both are up to 18 years of age..
Wale & Femi: Yea sir!
Doctor: Okay then. Report to the blood bank just around the corner, the nurses will attend to you.
Bidemi: Please sir! Can i see Dolapo now?
Doctor: The patients needs alot of rest now, okay? He’s stable but the loss of blood has made him weak. He needs the blood quick, so lets do that first.
The Doctor walks away. Femi looks at Wale and asked..
Femi: He said the blood bank is that way abi?
Wale: You know what? I need to go to the blood bank alone. You, on the other hand is very easy, all i need is to look for a very sharp cutlass, cut your big head off, turn u upside down and collect. your blood into that big red bucket over there
Femi: Emmm…. That’s not funny Wale
Wale: Do you see me laughing?
Bidemi: Both of you just go already
5 minutes after Dolapo and Femi left for the blood bank, Mr Olatunji and Mrs. Martins walked in. Femi had told his father where hospital was, though he had doubts in his mind why his father would come to the hospital for a boy he doesn’t even know.
Bidemi: (faces Mrs. Martins) Good evening ma!
Mrs. Martins: (fumes) Good evening? What is so good about the evening ehn? I’ve always known your relationship with my son would end in chaos. I told him to stay away from you. See what you have caused now! You silly girl Bidemi begins to cry….
Olatunji: Take it easy Mary! Don’t shout at the innocent girl. I’m sure she didn’t plan this to happen. She’s already hurt so please don’t make it harder on her. (Faces Bidemi ) Wipe your tears girl and tell us how Dolapo is doing? Have you seen him?
Bidemi: (still in tears) We haven’t seen him. The doc said he is stable but weak and he needs two pints of blood. Wale and Femi had volunteered to donate a pint each. They went to the blood bank. Olatunji made a facial gesture to Mrs. Martins who shrugged and sighed
Mrs. Martins: (sighs and pull Bidemi closer) Take it easy ok? I was just angry. Let’s just pray for my son to have a quick recovery. Sorry my daughter
Bidemi: (wipes her tears and force a smile as she buried her head on Mrs Martins’ stomach) Thank you ma
Olatunji looked on admirably and couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the past, Mary has always have that special touch of making people happy. She has a good soul and can be easily forgiven even when she hurts anyone. His thoughts were cut short my the arrival of Wale and Femi. Wale moves forward to hug his mother. Mr. Olatunji pulls Femi by the collar…
Mr. Olatunji: I know you did this, you this idiot
Femi: No daddy! I did not stab Dolapo. One of my friends did, i asked them to stop it but they did it anyways… I’m sorry Dad.
Mr. Olatunji: Tomorrow you will take me to their house. Femi’s reply was interrupted by the Doctor’s arrival, who wasn’t looking very happy with the results held in his hands.
Doctor: Please, Gather around we have an issue
Mrs. Martins: Doctor what is wrong? I’m his mother!
Doctor: Okay good. Madam, I’m afraid one of the boy’s blood cannot be collected because…..
Wale: (cuts in) I knew it! Femi has a bad blood. What does he have? HIV? Syphilis? Or is just that there’s too much hatred in his blood.
Mrs. Martins: Wale keep quiet! Please Doctor continue…
Doctor: The patient is of Blood group 0- (0 negative ) . People with this blood group are known as the Universal donors but they cannot receive blood from any other group except 0-. The test results from both blood came back and Femi’s blood group is 0- but Wale is of blood group A+. Only Femi is eligible for the donation.
The only ones who weren’t surprised were Mr. Olatunji and Mrs. Martins even the Doctor looked a little quizzled. Mr. Olatunji spoke
Mr. Olatunji: it’s alright Doctor, I’m 0- too so i will donate my blood. Now Wale began to look at his mother with a million questions on his mind. As soon as Femi and his father left for the blood bank. Wale turned towards his mother.
Wale: You know mom…. My dad was a great man! From the story you told us
Mrs. Martins: yes he was
Wale: infact he his like a magician…. I saw his death certificate, his blood group was A, yours is AB but you found a way of giving birth to a boy with 0 negative…. Can’t you see that God is really wonderful?? Ehn? Talk now mummy??
Mrs. Martins placed her palm on her face and said. Wale lets just pray for your brother to recover quickly.
Wale: Yes! We should pray very hard. You know Dolapo is a very special boy… A boy with blood group different from both his parents… Abi mom…What do you think??
Mrs. Martins stood up and walked away, hiding her face as tears build up at the corner of her eyes.
**********************
11:12pm .
They all stood around Dolapo’s bed as he spoke in a low voice and told them not to worry about him. Femi and his father sipped Malt and milk given to them at the blood bank. .
Wale: What really happened? Did you see his face?
Dolapo: No i didn’t! It was dark and it happened fast.
Mrs. Martins: We shouldn’t talk about this right now. I bought food at the eatery please get up and eat. Bidemi sat beside Dolapo on the bed, stroking his hands and touching his forehead as often as she could. And for the first time, Femi saw it but didn’t get jealous.
Olatunji and Mrs. Martins looked on at the young love. They had that kind of love once, they were inseparable at that age, they had met at a village festival, Mary had been bestowed to marry the King’s nephew, Adedolapo who was popular not only for being a member of the royal family but also was the most intelligent lad in the village, girls loved him for his money and brain. He, Olatunji was a tout, tall, dark and absolutely handsome young man. His family had a little farm and he hardly knew anything that was taught in school.
On top of that, it is a usual scene of seeing Olatunji being chased around the village by men who had cutlasses in their hands. He was in the habit of going into girls room late at night, entering through the window and spending all night with them, he had so many girlfriends and he decides whose room to sneak into at random. The girl’s fathers waking up the morning and seeing a boy with their daughters in bed would in-turn chase him around the village with cutlass, threatening to kill him .
That was how wayward Olatunji was until he met Mary who melted his heart. He changed his ways for her, became responsible and was glad she loved him back. Lot of times had Adedolapo ordered his arrest and he being thrown inside the dungeon but hours after his release, he’d go find Mary again…..
His thought was interrupted by a nurse requesting that they all leave and allow Dolapo another phase of rest. They all left, leaving Mrs. Martins behind. Dolapo eyes were closed, his mother took a long look at him before sitting down, she placed her head down when he spoke
Dolapo: Mum!!! Is Femi’s Dad My father?? She kept her face fixed on the floor, remained silent and afraid to look at her son.
***************************
The rest of the family had slept by the time they got home. His father quietly entered his room. He himself had alot of questions on his mind about his father and Dolapo but he rather not say anything this night. Femi made his way to the room, picked up his phone in anger and dialled Tunde’s number, He picked after 5 rings
Tunde yearning ) Hello Femi… Why you dey disturb person now??
Femi: (angry) Just shut up there Tunde! Sent you a SMS to cancel the plan and you still went ahead to do it. You almost killed him… Now my father is looking for you and planning to arrest you.
Tunde: (confused ) What are you talking about Femi?
Femi: O boy no try me o! No try me at all. If you expect me to pay you any money i won’t because i told you not to attack him anymore.
Tunde: what money? Attack who Are you talking about the plan to injure Dolapo at the birthday?
Femi: yes!!
Tunde: But i didn’t do it
Femi: (confused ) What do you mean you didn’t do it?
Tunde: No i didn’t do it. We had set to attack but when we got to the venue, i saw your SMS and i told the boys to abort. We wanted to turn back but we decided to eat the rice and drink the alcohol at the party, i made sure all the boys dropped their knives in the car before we entered, we asked of you from the gateman and he came to look for you. We were at the gate when we heard screams and people running, so we had to leave too. But i swear man..i didn’t attack Dolapo. But if i didn’t, then who did??
Femi: Emmm…. Emnm… I don’t know man . He dropped the call. Glad he wasn’t the one responsible for putting Dolapo on a hospital bed but confused about who did. He laid on his bed with only a thought on his mind…. If Tunde didn’t stab Dolapo, then who did??
To be continued