Chapter 9

My short holiday at my aunt's place had come to an end. It gave me enough time to relax and rest away from the pressure I had at school and work. The twins' company I really enjoyed more than anything. They played with my hair. Asked me to play hide and seek with them and it was really fun. I would read them bed time stories each night while I was there. This made me relive my childhood memories. Before my mother and father passed away, they'd always read me bed time stories. They gave each other days, so I knew which one of them would be reading me a bed time story on which day. My mother's last bed time time story was one of the most beautiful among the many her and my Dad had ever narrated to me. That night she began by encouraging me to never give up on my dream of being an author one day. She had never spoken to me like that before. "Laila, my baby girl. You're an intelligent child and I know that one day, you will become the best at writing books. Your passion for reading and learning has never ceased to amaze me. You're so gifted at such a young age. At the time you were a few months old, I noticed how smart you were" she told me. Afterwards she started telling me a bed time story.

"Once upon a time in a land far away, there lived this boy with his parents. They were not very rich like other families but they learnt to be content with what they had. This little boy from a young age wanted to become a medical doctor when he grew up. He was always doing so well in his academics. As he grew and was now in secondary school, he's parents thought that maybe he'd change his career but this boy remained determined to be a doctor. One day, his Father asked him why he wanted to be a doctor and he told his Dad that he wanted to save the lives of people and not see them die because of ignorance. His father was really impressed with this answer and so he knew that his son genuinely wanted to be a doctor not because of peer pressure but a genuine desire. Years passed by and the young boy had grown into a man studying medicine in one of the best universities in his town. He graduated as the best student and went on to work in a rural area because he believed the people there needed more exposure to live better. He was kind to everyone around him and so helpful. A few years later, he became recognized as one of the best surgeons because of the multiple complicated surgeries he had managed to carry out in that rural area with his team members." "Wow mum I really enjoyed the story." "So you see my girl, determination for the right reasons will always produce good results that will also benefit other people. Being kind is good because you never know who will help you tomorrow." "Oh yes mum, I will always make sure I work hard in school so that one day, I will become an author and inspire others. Also, I will be kind to everyone always." "That's my princess" she said with a smile.

After biding my family farewell, I left for my house. When I got there, I decided to clean the house and prepare something to have for dinner because I got there at past 4pm. By the time I was done with the cleaning, I was super exhausted. My house wasn't very big so it didn't take me hours to finish the clean up. It had a single self contained bedroom, a kitchen and a sitting room. The neighbors were friendly too. I freshened up and decided to watch a movie since I didn't have much to do. I settled for a hall mark movie while having my supper. The movie was so emotional and beautiful so I found myself tearing up few times. I hadn't heard from Phil the whole day. I texted him but he'd been offline for hours now. I guess he's busy. I turned off my television and went to bed. I woke up the following morning at past 10 am and was awaken by a loud bipping on my phone indicating a message on my WhatsApp. I checked it immediately and it was a message from Phil. " Babe good morning, how are you? I haven't been so well so I've been admitted to the hospital. The Doctor has carried out a few tests on me and has confirmed I have malaria. I will be discharged this afternoon" I tried to call him but his phone just kept ringing until I sent messages. An hour later, he called me and we talked. I asked him how he was feeling and he kept saying that he was feeling weak. A friend of his was going to drive him home because he wasn't going to be able to drive in his condition." "Baby , I wish your place was close so that I could come and take care of you myself. Have you bought the medicine the doctor prescribed? Get well soon baby, I love you " I told him " Thank you babe, I have bought the medicine already and I have been discharged. I'm just waiting for my friend to come so I can go home" he said. When his friend went to pick him up, I talked to him and pleaded with him to make sure Phil eats and takes his medicine. He laughed and told me he would make sure his friend drunk his medicine. They'd been bestfriends since childhood and were even in university together. It was the first time I spoke to Mark on phone. The only other friend to Phil I had spoken to was one of his flatmates. It so happened that Phil was talking to me in his house then network got bad and now he had to go and sit outside on bis verandah when Solomon passed by. He greeted Phil and I could here him in the background tell Phil that he wanted to know who Phil was talking to late in the evening cause it hardly happened. Phil gave him the phone to talk to me and he greeted me politely. "How are you doing ? My name is Solomon and I am Phil's friend" "I'm doing very well thank you, how are you? I responded "I'm okay too, I just wanted to know who was keeping my friend busy as he hardly does night calls" he said "My name is Laila" I told him "wow, nice talking to you Laila, please take very good care of my friend" he told me "I sure will Solomon and nice talking to you too." I told him.

Phil didn't have many friends. He told me he loved to spend most of his time at home when he wasn't working. He would tell me a few things about his friends from time to time. I was glad that his friend was going to take care of him so he could eat and take his medicine on time. When it was evening, I called to check up on him and he was sounding sick and tired. He told me had eaten and taken his medicine so I told him goodnight and let him have enough rest. The next days that followed I always called to check up on him more than usual. When he got better, I was so happy. He even managed to continue running his business online. Two weeks later, he was back on his feet again and I could even tell from his voice that he was well. We kept in touch and made sure each one of us was doing okay. A month later, he told me his business was doing well. However, while we were still talking, the call cut. It was a network problem. School had resumed and my leave at work was over. I had tests scheduled after two weeks. That night after the call ended, I decided to study for my tests. Two days later , I'm in class sitting and wondering why I haven't heard from Phil. So his gone back to his usual behavior despite how many times I have complained about it. I will just have to wait on him to do the right thing. I have tests coming up and the last thing I need is someone stressing me over the same thing over and over again. On my way home after class, I call my bestfriend and tell her everything going on between me and Phil. She assures me that he will obviously get back to me and will let me know why he has been quiet. I should just be patient. I listened to her advice and focused on my upcoming tests. Two weeks later I'm done with my tests but still Phil hasn't called me yet still not to talk of texting me. I check his last seen on messenger since his WhatsApp does show that and it's showing he was active two hours ago. Now I'm wondering what the problem is. I decide to call him on WhatsApp and he's offline so he doesn't pick up. I write him a message on messenger wondering if he'd see the message cause he had once told me he hardly reads messages there. I write to him asking whether everything is okay. Now it's beginning to dawn on me that something is really wrong. Two weeks is a long time for someone who claims to love you to go by without them reaching out to you. Has Phil decided to ghost me?