Her Dilemma: In Between Two Dons

Novah’s POV

Pacing about with my lips in between my teeth, I had my back against the wall as a million and one ideas ran through my head at once.

Blinking uncontrollably, I tried to push back the tears that had pooled up in my eyes but it was to no avail as it began to flow down my cheeks in torrents.

Mother had been ill for a while now, causing us to go bankrupt all in a bid to pay for her medical bills and other necessities.

Working around the clock, I tried to keep up with the bills that keep piling up each day but my efforts were not enough.

Just this morning while I was attending to a customer at the mall, the hospital called, informing me of my mother's condition and immediately, I made my way here.

It had been more than two hours since mother was wheeled into the OR, yet no one had stepped out or gone in.

Sliding through the wall to the floor, I pulled my legs to my chin as I began to sob uncontrollably as fear overtook my body.

The attention I was getting didn't move me as I was too depressed to care.

Mother was the only family I had.

Since birth, I had never met with my father. Even after I pestered my mom so much to tell me about him, she wouldn't say a word and so I gave up trying.

If anything happens to my mother, I’m going to be doomed.

Putting my hands together, I muttered a swift prayer to my maker and as if on a cue, the door of the OR flung open and immediately I rose.

Staring at the doctor in charge with a look of fright on my face, I asked, “My mother?”

Flashing me a smile, he peeled off his gloves before grabbing my shoulder, the smile on his face never leaving.

With my heart beating against my chest, I kept my gaze steady as my legs shook from fatigue.

“We should talk in my office.” He said, steering me in the opposite direction but I was adamant.

“I want to see her before leaving.” I said stubbornly but he got the upper hand over me.

Now seated on the chair opposite him in his office, I watched as he flipped through the files that were scattered on his table.

Grasping the warm mug of cocoa he had offered me, I parted my lips several times to speak but words refused to form.

For more than ten minutes, I sat there, watching him as I struggled with my words before he finally decided to come to my aid.

“Your mother is critically ill and needs to be operated on in two hours.” He dropped the bomb shell and immediately, the mug I was holding crashed against the floor.

Grasping the edge of the table with my eyes which were pooled with tears, I asked, “Did you just say two hours?” My voice was shaky as my heart rammed against my chest.

Beads of sweat broke out on my body and I could literally feel them dripping from my skin to the tiled floor.

“You owe a lot of money Novah.” He took a deep breath before picking up the pace, “With my influence, I had been able to cover up for you when the matter arises during our discussion but I can't do that this time around.”

“This surgery is not my specialty… your mother will have to be transferred to the neurosurgery department so she can be operated on…”

The rest of his words fell to the ground as I was too numb to react to a thing.

Fiddling with my fingers, I allowed my eyes to roam around the office for a while as I racked my head which was already hurting.

If I was told when I was still a kid, living the best life with mom in our comfy home that in my early twenties, I would be in a tight corner like this, I wouldn't have believed it a bit.

Overnight, a happy family changed to a mourning one.

“Novah!” Doctor Fernandes called and immediately, I doubled over, holding my chest as my chest as my heart constricted against it.

“Novah! You have to calm down.”

“My mother is going to die.” I cried in anguish, imagining how my life was going to turn out without my mother.

“Come on Novah, don't say that. You always told me about your belief in miracles, is your faith wavering already.” He tried to soothe me with his words, instead he ended up making me even more furious.

“There is no such thing as faith when it's glaring that my mom is going to die.” I yelled with my heart in my mouth.

“Novah… calm down okay. We can…”

“I don't have money for her surgery and no one will lend me such a huge amount of money.”

Exhausted from my demonstration, I pulled myself to my feet, locking eyes with Doctor Fernandes who was staring back at me with a pitiful look on his face.

“I can't watch my mother die.” I mumbled but before he could respond to my words, I dashed out of his office.

Avoiding making contact with people, I walked by the wall with my hands wrapped across my chest.

My vision was blurry as my eyes were cloudy with stubborn tears that refused to return to my glands.

In my absentminded state, I walked out of the hospital, pulling my feet down the alley that led to the road.

“Mom…” I muttered, the good memories we had shared clouding my senses and at the same time making me light hearted.

When I got to the point when her health began to fail, I halted for a moment, grasping my gown with both hands.

“Mom wouldn't be getting the surgery, I don't want to show my face at the funeral parlor.” I muttered.

Raising my head slowly, I watched the speeding vehicles on the road and immediately, an idea popped in my head.

Smirking, I ran into the road without looking for incoming vehicles and at once, a car picked me off the ground.

The warm blood trickling down my face as a result of the hit made a little smile appear on the side of my lips.

“I did it.” I muttered and then shut my eyes, blocking off the screams surrounding me.