Chapter 20: Chapter 20

~Akeyla’s POV~

One million! How could one just offer such an amount of money without thinking twice? I really could not understand these rich people. If I get paid such an amount of money for a whole year, that would do more than a lot for my mom and I. If I hadn’t been able to stop myself, I would have agreed to his offer when he mentioned such an amount of money.

I took the card he had given me out of my bag and stared at it again; Chairman of The Bolaji companies, Martins Bolaji were written on it and his contact number was written below it as well. I heaved a long sigh and placed the card on the table. Impersonate someone? I have never done a thing like that before. There was no way that girl, despite the fact that we looked so alike, could have similar personalities with me. So, it would be very hard to act like the way she would usually acts. Impersonating her would mean I have to move in with her family and leave mine, which I could not do.

I wouldn’t do it, forget the money but I… I just can’t.

“Akeyla?” I heard my mom’s voice call my name and I turned to the direction of the door.

I smiled at her as she walked into my room. “Hey mom.”

“I didn’t know you were back. What happened?” She asked with a curious expression on her face.

I scratched the back of my head. “Um, I closed on time today. My manager said I should go home and rest because I have been working too hard." I lied smoothly again. I guessed I had become perfect in the field of lies.

“Oh, that is very considerate of her. Let me fix you something to eat.” She said and turned around to leave but I stopped her.

“Don’t worry mom, I will fix something instead.” I smiled at her.

“You just came back from work, you should rest.” She shook her head.

Oh this woman was making me feel guiltier for lying about my work. She turned around to leave again but before I could reach for her, she paused and winced hard while clutching to her head. My eyes grew wide and I rushed to her in worry.

“Mom, what’s wrong, are you okay?” I asked her as I placed my hand on her back.

She raised her head up and smiled at me but I knew the smile was faked. “I’m alright; it’s nothing.”

I stared at her with a worried expression still not convinced. “Are you sure?” I asked her.

She nodded at me with a smile on her face. “Yes, darling. I’m alright.”

“You should relax mom, let me fix us something.” I said and started walking out of the room but she grabbed my wrist.

“Let us fix us something together then.” She suggested with the smile not leaving her face.

I chuckled, “Alright then.”

We started walking out of the room and just when we reached the door, my mom paused again and when I turned to her, I saw her holding her head and before I could reach for her to ask what’s wrong, she suddenly collapsed.

My eyes grew wide in shock and I screamed, “Mom! Mom!” I fell on my knees and lifted her head up but her eyes were shut.

“Mom? Oh God! Someone help!” I screamed out and when it occurred to me that it would not be easy for anyone to hear me, I stood up to my feet and took my phone from my table before I dialed on it to call for an ambulance.

I went back to my mom who lay still on the floor and I lifted her up in my arms with tears streaming down my cheeks. “Oh mom, please.” I managed to lift her up on my back even though my legs were wriggling and I carried her out of the house. I bet before this ambulance would come, it might take years, so I couldn't wait for it.

Just as I managed to carry my mom outside, two of our neighbors ran over with worried expression on their faces.

“What happened, Akeyla?” Mummy Bisi asked.

“She… She…” I tried to talk but I couldn’t as the words couldn’t form.

“Its okay, wait here let me find taxi so we can take her to the hospital.” Adam said before he ran off to go and stop a taxi. Oh thank God I had neighbors like this.

Without wasting time, he already directed a taxi over and they both helped me carry her inside the taxi.

“Let me come with you.” Mummy Bisi, offered and I nodded quickly before the both of us entered the taxi.

“She will be fine Akeyla, don’t worry.” Adam said to me through the glass of the car before the taxi driver drove off.

After few minutes, we arrived at the nearest hospital and my mom was rushed inside. I sat down at the waiting area in panic with my trembling hands while mummy Bisi sat beside me patting my back.

“She will be fine, Akeyla.” She kept saying to me and I could say nothing but nod my head.

After a while, the doctor walked over to me and I sprung up to my feet. “Doctor, how is she?” I asked him quickly.

“She’s stable now.” The doctor said to me and heaved a long sigh of relief. Oh thank God.

“What's the matter with her, doctor ?” I asked him as I wondered why my mom suddenly collapsed. Could it be because of her hypertension? I made sure I bought the necessary drugs for her and the doctor told me that as long as she was consistent with the drugs and avoided thinking too much and stress, she would be fine. What then went wrong?

“Well um… Let’s talk in my office.” He said.

I swallowed hard and nodded my head before I turned to mummy Bisi. “I will be back mummy Bisi.”

She nodded, “No problem dear. I will wait here.”

I followed the doctor to his office and took my seat opposite him. He placed his stethoscope on the table before he turned to me.

“Well um… your mother is suffering from stage 3 brain cancer.” He said suddenly.

I stared at the doctor in shock and disbelief as I heard him said that. What was he talking about? My mom only had hypertension and if she was suffering from anything else, the doctor who will always visited for her treatment would have told me. My hands trembled and I shifted in my seat.

“What… I don’t understand doctor, brain cancer?” I shook my head abruptly. I am sure he was mistaking. “My mom cannot possibly be suffering from cancer doctor; she has been healthy for a long time and only got hypertension recently."

The doctor sighed and entwined his hands on the table. “Your mom did not collapse because of the hypertension miss Akeyla; she collapsed due to loss of consciousness which was as a result of the cancer. She would need immediate surgery since we can be able to remove some of the tumors, and then she would be placed on chemotherapy to prevent it from developing to stage 4. She…”

“Wait wait wait.” I said rapidly stopping the doctor. I started to pant hard as my hands became sweaty. Oh God, what was happening? Dad… Dad died from cancer as well, what would I do if anything happened to my mom? “I… I had no idea about this doctor. The last time we went to the hospital, the doctor told me she only had hypertension and didn’t mention this.” I told her as my tears were already becoming watery.

“May I ask when that was, miss?”

“That should be about seven months ago.”

“Well, a brain scan was probably not done so that could be reason.” He said to me.

Oh my God. What was this? Cancer?

“What… What am I going to do now, doctor?” I asked quickly.

“Like I said, I would suggest a surgery as soon as possible and then we can consider other methods of treatment.”

Surgery? Oh God. Why was this happening now? How was my mother living with such an illness? Why did she have to go through something like this?

“I am willing to do anything doctor, as long as my mother is fine.”

The doctor nodded, “Alright Miss. I cannot promise you that the tumor would be permanently removed but I do assure you that she would live a longer life if she undergoes the surgery as soon possible and besides, it's stage ”

“A longer life? What do you mean, doctor?”

“Actually, if this gets worse, her lifespan would be shortened but if prevented now, she would be able to live normally as long as she follows her treatment. There are a lot of people who survive cancers these days.”

“Oh God…” My hands trembled. “I… Let’s do the surgery, please.”

The doctor nodded, “Don’t be afraid, she would be fine. It’s a good thing it was discovered early enough, it could have gotten worse.”

I blinked hard as I tried to stop my tears from flowing. “Thank you.”

He typed on his laptop before turning to me. “For the meantime, she would start with chemotherapy and then when you are ready for the surgery, you can come for it but try to be ready in no more than three or four months, so things would not get complicated. Please meet the nurses downstairs.”

I nodded my head before I stood up to my feet and walked out of the office before I made my way downstairs to meet with the nurses.

“The surgery would be about 4.5m; the drugs would be 250,000 every month…” I listened to the nurse name the huge amount of money I was to deposit for my mother’s treatment. Where was I going to get this all money from?

“You can make the deposit for the drug for this month."

Where was I going to get almost 5million from for the surgery in less than four months? Oh God.

“Okay.”

She said as she typed on her laptop before she looked up from it. “Please go over to the cashier to pay for her discharge and get your drugs from the pharmacy after your deposit.” She added.

I slowly nodded my head. “Alright.”

After I paid for the discharge, I also paid for the drugs. I guessed that stranger’s money really helped. I went over to the ward to meet my mom. She quickly sat up on the bed when she saw me coming.

“Akeyla.” She called my name in a low voice.

My clenched my fists tightly as I fought the urge to cry. I went over to her bed which was the fifth bed in the ward.

“Mom, how are you feeling?” I asked her as I took her hand in mine.

She covered my hand with hers and smiled weakly at me. “I am fine my darling. Akeyla…” She called my name again as her eyes became clouded. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that all I bring you is trouble. Ever since your father past away, I have deprived you of so many things in life and I feel so…”

I covered her mouth with my hand as tears flowed down my cheeks. “Stop mom, stop talking like this. You’re not a burden to me and your health matters to me. It’s not as if you want to be sick, it’s not your fault.”

She smiled at me and caressed my hand. “What did the doctor say? I was taking my drugs regularly, I don’t know what happened.”

I smiled at her. There was no way I was going to tell her that she was diagnosed of cancer, no, I wouldn’t tell her. if I hadn’t told them in the hospital to do every single scan they could think of, I wouldn’t have found out about the brain tumor and it could have gotten worse. I needed to find the money as soon as possible but how? Where? Where was I going to get almost seven million from? There was no way I could ask Brenda for such an amount of money, she had done enough for me already and I did not want to bother her. I needed to find a way to…

Wait, I had forgotten about that offer from that man. He promised to pay me a million or even two for a month if I agreed to impersonate his daughter. I could get the money for the surgery in less than four months if he paid me 2million every month. Oh God, I didn’t want to do this but I did not have any choice left. If I was going to solve all this issues, then I had to do that.

“He said you um…” I thought of another smooth lie to tell my mom. “He said you collapsed because of too much stress. He said you need to rest more, a lot lot more.”

My mom heaved a long sigh. “But I don’t do much, how did that happen?”

I smiled and held her hand tightly. “Just listen to the doctor and get all the rest you can get. Don’t worry mom, you will be fine, nothing will happen to you.”

She smiled sadly, “I’m putting you through a lot, I…”

“Shh, that’s enough, mom. It’s alright.”

XOXO