CHAPTER 31

SUSAN

Thick clouds gather heavily in the sky, thunder

claps, and lightning strikes. Susan walks around

the house locking all windows and doors firmly,

whenever the sky decides to let down all it has

gathered, it would be a heavy downpour and Susan doesn't want to be caught unaware that's why she left Tade's house in a hurry after her mom's text message came in, informing her that she did a lot of their laundry before she left home for her friends' place, she had begged Susan to go home and fetch them from the lines before the rain drench them all.

Having locked all windows, fetched and arranged

all clothes, Susan gives herself a break and decides to rest. She has been trying to sleep all day long but several happenings around her keep interrupting her. She turns on the air conditioner despite the breezy weather, turns on her dim light, and lowers the blinds as she prepares to sleep. The thoughts of Bode struck her, she knew she had to reach out to him before that sleep comes. She puts a call through Bode, her work buddy who has also become her male best friend forcefully. She hasn't informed him about Henry's arrival in town and her sudden wedding that is in a few weeks. She knows he would also be as shocked as her friends were when she made the announcement a few hours ago, they were all over her asking if she wasn't forced with a gun pointed at her head to make the decision. Nora kept asking a million times if she is sure about it and if she wasn't just rushing to prove a point because two weeks is extremely short and

sudden to make a decision not to talk of plan a

wedding. Susan assures them that she was sure of it and ready, she told them to see it as an answer to her longtime prayer. She further notifies them that most times, the time frame doesn't determine a relationship that would work. She reminded them of her colleague whose wedding they all attended together, despite that she courted her husband for eight years, they had a divorce nine months into the marriage. She emphasized the years they spent together to know themselves very well yet the relationship didn't work. They agreed with her as she gave them no other choice but to be excited for her. Though Tade insists on running a background check on Mr. Nigeria as she fondly calls Henry but Susan objects stating that she knows all she needs to know about him. Chichi had asked her what Henry's plan was after the wedding

ceremony since he isn't planning to stay back in

the country, hoping he isn't going to leave her

behind and travel back to the states to live his life

just as Jide did to Tade. Susan couldn't give a

concrete response because she has thought about it herself and couldn't wrap her head around what Henry's plan is and he hasn't even called her since she left his house. She had assured her friends who were all scared and concerned about her, especially regarding the sudden decision and the timeframe that all will go smoothly. To ease their mind, she informed them that he is the only child of his parents, and being an only child herself, she understands the pressure on him even as a male and already successful young man to get married. After all the interrogation and her full assurance of

her certainty, they had to rejoice with her and

delegate different fractions of the wedding plans

amongst themselves quickly.

Susan's call to Bode disconnected and she tries again, she needs to talk to him about work and share the good news with him. He knows her more than she knows herself and he doesn't hold back the truth even if it is very hard to spill, he also lashes her whenever she needs to be lashed but does it in a friendly way. Even if she most times doesn't admit she adores him, which always results in an argument between both of them, he has been a great friend to her. The dialer disconnected again, this time Susan becomes worried because Bode doesn't ever go out without his phone. She checks his last seen on WhatsApp to realize he hasn't been online for more than three hours which is extremely strange. She checks through her contact list for any of her colleague's contact and was surprised and glad she found Linda's number, she didn't even realize she has her contact on her phone. She isn't close to anyone at the office except Bode who forced his way into her heart, she rings Linda who picks on the first ring "Hello?" she

answers brightly, "Hi Linda, this is Susan" she had to introduce herself because they were never close and this was the first time they would be talking on the phone "Hi Susan, where have you been? Bode has been in the hospital since noon" she informs her without asking, as she is sure that nothing could have made her call her in the first place if it wasn't Bode, 'good guess' Susan had muttered under her breath

"What happened to him? Where is he admitted? Is it the office clinic?"

"Yes, he is at the office clinic, the doctor said it is food poisoning" Linda calls out non-challantly,

Susan panics, she swipes the duvet off her body and dashes for her car key "Poisoning?? Wait! What do you mean by he is at the clinic? Just him? You mean no one is with him?" Susan asks Linda who shoves her question like it didn't matter "it's just food poisoning, he will be okay. I have to go now, I need to cook for my baby" Linda hangs up before Susan could reply, "That's why I don't vibe with this bitch, she is so nasty! And to think of it, Bode is always doing the most for her" Susan swears disdainfully as she starts her car ignition, and turns on the wiper as it has started to drizzle. She drives out at a high speed.