Chapter 83

While it seemed that Olivia had forgotten all about Mike and  was enjoying herself with Brains, Mike was so much in pains for all that he was going through. His friends seem to have left him on his own. Brains has refused to respond to his messages, he had sent him several times but there was no response. Olivia was no where to be seen, he never expected her to get to that level of anger that she wouldn't come see him. Though had some level of belief that it might be due to the inspection of the goods and the processes that were involved. He was more concerned with getting okay completely, especially regaining his speech. He no longer limp his leg, that had been corrected, his sight was okay too. He sat up on his bed, thinking of all these and wishing he could reverse the hands of time. Pat was seated in a chair opposite him, he looked at her and had compassionate for her. She hadn't left the hospital since she arrived, an indication that she cared about him. He began a journey back to the good old days, when he they newly met. 

If there was anything to describe what Mike shared with Pat, the word will be love. They were the envy of whoever knew them. They would go everywhere together, except work. The weekends were always filled with fun, they would visit the gym to keep fit, go to the laundry, visit the Cinema and a while lot of other exciting places. There was love and mutual respect for each other, Mike would come home to a readily made delicious meal. Most times, he would go to the office with food. His colleagues were often jealous of him, they would tell him how lucky he was having such a woman as a wife. Pat was looking very beautiful at her youthful age even though she was still beautiful, she caught the attention of many young men who never knew she was married. Most times too they would hang out for drinks and other times they would go clubbing. Pat in such occasions, would be jealous when those ladies at the club would be beckoning on him and calling him handsome man. All those good times me and experience suddenly fizzled away just like that. Gradually Mike began to search for his wife, the more he searched, the more the gap that existed grew wider. It continued to grow wide to the point that he couldn't tell if he was married. That was when his life took a new turn. He began to stay late in the office and often times hang out with his friends. It was also within that time that he thought of having affair outside his marriage. He would resist the thought and rush home, but his return would be met by either the absence of his wife or a very sad and cold welcome. He would stay late night and think of what may have changed his wife, his only saving grace from the stress of the next day would.be nature which would call him to sleep thereby taking his mind away from the thoughts. He could remember waking her up one night to discuss whatever may be the issue, he was ready to accept his fault if there  be any and make amends where necessary, but all effort and questions met a deaf ear. He couldn't find who to confide in,  being that he couldn't place what the problem was. Pat made matters worse when she graduated from not being available, to keeping late night and subsequently she began to sleep outside in the name of business. Mike could also recall that he paid for spy to follow her up just to know if there was another man having affair with her. When the result came negative, he decided to also verify by himself. When all his moves and findings clearly show that her business and pleasure times were with her fellow women, Mike took a leave off the case and allowed her be. He never knew he ignorantly handed her a the freedom she desired to explore. Although before it got to that level, he had felt there must be something he could do to get her attention back from wherever or whatever was distracting her. He began to shower her with gifts,that was when he bought her the first car. Pat would accept whatever he did with whole heart, although he later doubted if she was being real then. If it were not so, then he wouldn't be blamed for not knowing what was happening throughout that period.  He continued to give her gifts and made her several promises. When he figured out that the change he was seeking, was far fetched, he then focused his attention and energy to having at least a child. This he felt would also change her and draw her closer home. Immediately he moved to that area, it looked as if the whole attitude grew worse. It was then all kinds of excuses began to come regarding their sex life. It was either she got stressed at the business place or she wasn't on the mood. He would talk and make other necessary efforts to convince her, but she wouldn't be moved. To show him how serious she was, she then moved into a separate room to stay off his advances. Uptill this moment, Mike never suspected her of being bisexual not to talk of gay.  He continued to manage the situation, until Olivia came into their home. Sometime, he felt Olivia's presence was to his advantage, this being that he doesn't know how to play the hide and seek that goes with women and married men. He knew that if Olivia was staying in a hotel, he may not have gone to the length he found himself now. Sometimes he felt Olivia was the one pushing him to herself. Other times she displays some attitude that would make him doubt that. 

Pat was seated quietly watching Mike. She never knew that a lot was going on in his heart. All she knew was that he looked unusualy worried. She picked up a piece of paper and asked him if he was okay, He nodded his head in affirmative. She didn't bother asking much questions again. The only thing he could hold on as probably what would be the problem, being his inability to speak yet and being in the hospital for that long. She knew he hated being sick, not to talk of being admitted and spending days and weeks. She decided to call back his attention from wherever it had gone. 

Would you need anything Mike, she asked. 

Mike suddenly recalled himself , he knew he had been thinking, but he wouldn't know how long he had been doing so. He looked at Pat, where she was well relaxed , not wanting her to feel embarrassed, he intentionally demanded for water. Pat hurriedly got him water, she picked up a cup, and served him the water. 

Olivia and Lucy took their time to have their breakfast, they were not in a haste to leave the lounge. They felt so much comfortable with Brains and the environment. This was evident as both of them seemed to lean very close to him from both sides. They were seated on the both sides, Olivia was on the right while Lucy was on the left. When they were through with breakfast, Brains paid the waiter and they walked slowly out of the lounge. Brains could see that he was succeeding at attracting Olivia's interest towards his side, he was also happy that Lucy had in no way thrown spanner to his wheels of progress. He would rather take all the time in the world to win back Olivia's heart that rush and mess up the plan. His.plan was to head to his room allowing them to move on, but Olivia suggested they go see a movie in the Cinema. He felt it was too early to do that and tried to hesitate, but the ladies insisted. There reason being that the place would not be crowded. Brains had no option than to accept. 

They went back to their various room to change into a befitting outfit for the outing. Olivia chose a very beautiful black gown with a touch of red, that looked sexy on her, she had a high heel shoe.that made her height obvious. Lucy chose a gown too, she made the choice to complement Olivia. Her dress was red with touch of black and also a high heel shoe. While Olivia wore a red shoe, Lucy took black one. It took them a little time to get off the room, as it was normal for them as women to make sure they look their best. Most of the wasted time was consumed by the make up. They had to draw and re-draw the lines on their eyebrow, paint and repaint their face and make sure the color on their lips were shouting. By the time they got through, they stood before the mirror to check themselves out and confirm their confidence level. Meanwhile, Brains was ready and waiting for their call. He wore a carton color Lacoste chinos trouser, with a white long sleeve which he folded the sleeve upwards. On his wrist was an expensive golden colored Rolex watch. He wore a brown flat sneakers on his feet. 

Olivia took hold of the room phone and dialled Brains room, the voice from the control room enquired from her who she wanted to speak to, when she mentioned the number and the name, he told her to wait a minute and in less than the minute, she was put through to Brains. She told him they were ready, and he responded with his readiness too. They decided to meet at the reception lobby on the ground floor. Brains was first to get to the floor, he took his usual position on the seat facing the lift. He sat quietly thinking of what next to do and how to go about it. He needed a very good and workable strategy, that was failure proof especially now that he had made so much progress. He was yet to get a definite plan when the two ladies walked out of the lift. On seeing them, Brains was impressed at their sense and choice of dress. He was more impressed as it grew his ego being that he would be the man for such elegy beauties. It was really obvious from the way passer bus were looking at them. Some had the courage to compliment them while others stole glances and walked away. 

They walked out of the lobby to where the driver they had booked was waiting. They got into the car, Brains chose to sit at the front passenger seat, while Olivia and Lucy sat at the rear seat. Having told the particular Cinema they were going , the driver turned on the ignition and hit the road. It was a very cool and cozy ride, the driver moved slow buy steady, this made Olivia much relaxed, she noticed that the driver drove batter and safer with lots of experienced than those that were working in the Hotel. It didn't take them long before the arrived at the Domino Plaza, where the huge billboard on the roof of the building had it displayed conspicuously, Domino Cinema. They came down from the car and settled the driver, them they walked into the building. On the ground floor was a big board that displayed the various businesses and the floor housing them. When they checked, they saw that the Cinema was on the last and topmost floor. They were led to the lift by one of the waiters, they stepped into the lift and pressed the too floor button. With that, the lift began it's journey up. In less than a minute, they alighted from the lift on the top floor and right in front of them was the receptionist desk of the cinema. Upon enquiry, they were given the information on the movies they had for the day and the time allocated for each. It took them a little time to agree on which one they would see but finally, they resolved to watch a romantic movie; SWEET NOVEMBER.  Brains was about to bring out money for payment of the ticket, when Olivia gave her gold platinum card to the cashier, who swiped it on the machine and tore out the print out with the ticket, she handed them over to Olivia. Having settled that, they proceeded to the door leading to the Cinema. They were checked and allowed in, Brains leading the way, while the ladies followed. When they got inside, they placed their phones on silent in obedient to the instructions on the wall.

Philip woke up after he had taking a little nap that morning, he tried Brains number, and it rang many times, but it wasn't picked. He then decided to call his room line, he was connected, but no one picked. He wondered why Brains wasn't picking his calls. He jumped off his bed, and wore his casual cloth, stepped out of his room and went all the way to the ground floor where he met the receptionist. He asked her if he had seen his friend Brains and mentioned his room number. The receptionist asked him to give her a minute to verify. She called him back after a few seconds, as told him that Brains had left the hotel some few minutes earlier with two ladies. Philip thanked her and walked back to the lift for his upward movement to his room. He was relaxed that he found out Brains was safe, and his whereabout known.  He thought of what next to do, he had wanted to drag Brains along with him to go see Mike, but now that he wasn't disposed, he had to go alone. Some changed into a better clothing, and called for a driver to be ready for his trip. With that done, he stepped out of his room, went down to the lobby and straight to the car. This time, a different driver was to drive him, so he sat in the rear seat reading magazine while the driver concentrated on what he knew how to do best. The ride was a smooth one, except for few places that they experienced traffic, although this delayed them, they were able to arrive the hospital relatively on time. 

The driver asked Philip if he was to wait, and after giving it a thought, Philip felt it was wise that he waited, as he wouldn't know how to get another cab back to the hotel. So the driver waited while he went inside to see Mike. As soon as he got into the room, he saw Mike smiling, he was holding  paper in his hands, which Philip presumed he must have been reading and that might probably be what triggered his smiles. He also noticed that Pat was sitting close to Mike on the bed. So he took the seat opposite them where he sat down comfortably. Mike saw him sit and made a welcome gesture to him, he quickly responded, having understood what the gesture meant. Pat followed up with the welcome, and Philip also responded kindly.