Chapter three~ Toby Adewale James Thompson

He was nature's best gift

Yet.....

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He sat at the edge of his bed, facing the glassy windows which viewed the deep blue sky, he was holding a white sheet of paper on his hands in a rather firm grip as he stared away absently. His room was the neat, spacious and simply designed. There were picture frames of art works displayed on the walls as decors while a family photo of three stood at the little drawer beside the bed.

The white sheet was a test result. A result neither he could comprehend but whatever was written in there spelt danger. He knew it cause he remembered the solemn look on his doctors face when he handed the test result to him.

"I'm sorry about this Toby, but we'll have to double our therapy sessions to prevent it from getting to stage three..."

He gulped hard as he stared longer at the paper. This was the umpteenth time he had stared at the test result and he still couldn't get the scary thought of leaving his mum, his only family behind cause of his terminal illness which worsened rapidly.

He thought about his mum, the lady had been through grief, she had bore the pain of losing someone before and he didn't want her loosing another. He didn't want her to loose him, to him, she was his only treasure and he was hers. 

His mum was a fashion designer who was from the western part of Nigeria she had married his African-American dad who he had lost to cancer when he was 14, they had basically lived their whole lives in U.S and had only just returned to Nigeria when he lost his dad.

He trailed his mind lane back to when she did come rubbing her hands on his dark curly hair like he was her little puppy and how she usually loved pecking his cheeks as though he was still a baby.

Her cuddles, her funny jokes, her face whenever she gossiped, the way she stared into his eyes whenever he said something intriguing as tho those eyes were a fat load of gems and even when they went on dates. She held onto him like she never wanted him leaving, the more he thought about it, the more unconscious smiles stretched out on his lips.

Funny how some people thought they were both dating each other but gross!

Triple gross!!!

Not like his mum wasn't beautiful, but he couldn't imagine him and his mum 'kissing passionately' and maybe having sex.

Nah...the more he thought about it, the more grosser he thought it to be.

They were best friends to each other. She was his mum and he was her son, there wasn't any other figure in their little family except his grandfather and extended cousins,  so they had grown so close to each other that they could be likened to a two peas in a pod. 

And now, he had this illness that seemed to take life out of him, worsening rapidly as the days grew by, he feared.

He feared at what may happen to him.

How his mum might cope living alone, God forbid that to be the case but then he couldn't help wandering over to the ugly thoughts of death.

"Wale, Adewale!" A high pitched incessant voice with a notch of foreign accent snapped him back to the present.

Yep, she was the only person who insisted on calling him by his native name.

He furrowed his eyebrows a little, fighting the urge to stop himself from smiling at the owner of the voice who hadn't made her presence known but had continued hollering on top of her voice.

"Wale!" The mahogany door flew open with a loud 'wham', causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation as he faced his view to the quite chubby lady who was quite light skinned donning an ash baggy pants and t-shirt with a white crocs flapping her feet.

She was in her early forties but she looked alot younger than her age. Her Large afro curly hair was packed in a bun with a lacy band wrapped around it.

"Jesus mum! Can you quit shouting and barging into my room like I killed your damn cat. "

The woman shot him a look, her plush lips rose to a pout as she eyed him.

"You shouldn't remind me of my cat...I'm still mourning it.”

" Um, my bad.”  he knitted his brows, it's been almost two years since she lost her cat but she still says she's mourning the poor thing.

"I hope that whosoever killed my cat would be haunted down by it's ghost."

A grin plastered itself on his lips as he raised an eyebrow at her, “c'mon mum, do animals have souls? I think once they're dead, they're gone.”

"Nah...animals who were murdered brutally still seek vengeance so their souls hardly fade away.”  his mum tsked

"Seriously? How about the meat we all buy in the marketplace?"

She spared him a 'duh' look as she replied "I'm pretty sure their former owners who betrayed them are paying the price somehow."

" Ever heard of a vengeful animal before? Nah, i don't think you have so let me tell you about mama Ezra's experience with a vengeful animal,” she continued.

Her eyes gleamed in excitement as she sat beside him on the bed, curving her beautiful lips into a smile as she spoke to her son who stared at her in utter admiration. She was pretty much of a talker.

"Mama Ezra had once killed a chicken who had its eyes wide open as it was being slaughtered, she and her family had this sumptuous meal with the chicken and later at night she had a dream when the dead chicken had visited her with a bleeding neck and an open wide eyes...."

This time he laughed so hard that his whole body reverbrated the sounds of his laughter as he clutched his hands around torso. His adams apple bulging up and down in pure excitement. He had momentarily forgotten that a few minutes ago he had been brooding over the thoughts of him dying.

"Don't laugh, that story was creepy." his mum chided, smacking his arms playfully with a smile resting on her face.

"No it's funny...it's probably Mama Ezra's mind that was messing with her tho." he replied still laughing.

"After eating a whole sumptuous meal?"

"Of course, she's probably the one who had the chicken killed so her mind could play games with her."

"Well, you're right, but I still believe my cat is probably hunting whosoever that killed its poor soul.” his mum conceded with a pout.

"You're being superstitious.”

She shrugged, feigning an innocent look, "what can I say? I don't mind being superstitious when it comes to my dead cat”

This time he laughed again in reply, shaking his head at her. She was adorable, no wonder his dad always called himself 'lucky' cause he obviously found the right woman to set the vibe whenever he was down.

πππ

"What were you looking at?" she asked, gesturing to the paper he held earlier on his hands to which he tried to duck behind him. The laughter had slowly died down.

"It's nothing....just....."

"Toby Wale!" She called in a warning tone causing him to give a deep sigh of resignation as he handed the test results to her.

She scanned the paper carefully, her fingers clutched tightly at the edge of the paper as she continued to study the paper with an impassive expression, he watched her steadily as she continuously ran her gaze over the paper, he knew what was going through her mind, he knew she was as scared as him but she never let it slide up her expression.

"Wow! It gets worse." she said in a low tone.

"And I keep getting scared," he revealed. She tugged the paper behind her, adjusting her sitting position so she face him properly, her bland expression quickly masked up with delight.

"Should I tell you another story of the vengeful ghost animal?"

Toby faked a scowl before breaking into guffaws, his mum smiled at him as she watched him laugh out so hard.

"C'mon mum! No!" He bawled out.

She quirked her brows up with a smirk formed on her lips, "what? Are you scared?”

"No...it isn't even scary, more like funny and that was kinda exhilarating." he countered.

She stretched her lips into a full smile, sighing in deep relief, “great! I'm glad you feel relieved. Life is already too short to live in fear so instead of thinking about weary things, let's use our time to spare ourselves a cheerful spirit."

He lowered his eyebrows, "sometimes, i just can't help thinking about what will happen if I....." he trailed off, swallowing the bitter lump which hung on his throat.

"Try to stop thinking about it then and staring at it over and over again like it was some gold mine.”  her voice took the lively notch which she always had.

He drew his head backwards in mock disbelief, “ don't stare at it like it's a gold mine.”

She chuckled, "yeah you don't, but duh! I noticed it every time you stared at your phone in the church, and when you suddenly became gloomy, I knew the test result was out and it was quite bad, but what I didn't know was that you had a copy with you already...."

"Mum...."

"Nah, it's fine. What I just want us to do is to stay strong, believe in God for help and fight this sickness courageously." she soothed, palming her hands gently at his behind.

"We can do that right? "She asked rhetorically.

Her voice wasn't wavering abit and her expression still remained bland as she spoke, making him to ask himself again if she was even scared? Scared about him dying, the thoughts of being alone? If she was, then she did a good job concealing her fears. She was his only will to live and no matter what happens, he hoped they will get through this, together.

Pulling himself to snuggle up to her, he gave her a bear hug, muffling against her ear.

" Thanks mum you're just what I needed right now."

"Hmm hmm..Mummy's boy, you could've just said you needed me to hug you...better go and get yourself a girlfriend oo." she teased with a sneer, a playful smile gracing her beautiful face.

He quickly withdrew himself away from the hug with a playful scowl on his face, "you just had to kill the moment."

She shrieked a laughter, drawing her head backwards and her eyes turned upwards as she continued laughing.

"Speaking of girlfriends, let me tell you the main reason why I came here..." she paused, slowly putting the laughter to a stop.

"We're going to a soiree this evening."

"Okay...." he drawled making her to give him a look.

"It's our neighbors' who's having one and she actually invited us."

"Cool...so you want me to meet their daughter?" He asked cautiously.

"Wale, you know I love you?" She began, suddenly turning dramatic.

"Mum I'm not doing this with you...."

"Yeah, I don't know what you're doing but i hope you know I love you? " she asked, looking at him as if waiting for a confirmation to her question which he actually confirmed by giving a positive nod.

"Yeah..I know you do, and I do too but if you're tryna pair me up with someone..that's a no no. I'm not doing that, never.”

"Yeah you aren't cause I'm not ready to see you being all eating alive by her beautiful glares ..." She paused him. 

"Wait what?!"

"You heard right...I love you so much that's why I can't consider pairing you with Mrs Dera's child...Nah." his mum tsked.

He sat up straight, this time quite surprised at his mum's reply.

"What's up with the girl?"

"Nothing much, she just gives me chills yunno, with her icy mean look and scary beautiful glare ish" his mum shivered dramatically making him chuckle.

"So what about the me getting a girlfriend something? "

"Oh...April Waje is coming over to the soiree and I want you two to patch things up."

He let out a loud groan,covering his eyes with his hands in displeasure. April was a teenage model celebrity who happened to be his last girlfriend and she wouldn't just let him be even after they broke up.

His mum knew about their whole dating thing was a huge fiasco but she thinks April is a nice girl and alldat and they could still patch things up.

"Mum..."

"But before that..." she quickly cut in, walking to his closet and stuffing out a neatly packed wrap. With a smirk playing on her lips.

"I designed the outfit which Mrs Dera's daughter Is going to wear for the soiree" she spoke up, staring at the white package in her hands.

"She's not a gown type of person, judging from her personality the first day I saw her, she's more like the type to wear trousers around, so I made this jumpsuit for her.”  his mum said with a smile, looking up at her son's face.

"Sounds interesting.”  he muttered to himself which his mum heard anyway.

"I think she is. Besides, she's not actually scary like the monster kind, but she's the type who clearly uses her icy stares to say 'KEEP OFF, YOU DON'T WANNA GET HURT.' his mum replied, raising her voice a little at the last line of her sentence which caused the both of them to laugh.

"She can't be that bad...c'mon mum."

His mum shrugged,  "Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, you're delivering this clothes to Mrs Dera so get dressed and get outta here alright.”

He groaned, palming his hands on his temples as his mum glared at him.

"Go so you can come back on time so we could go for the soiree and," she paused, turning to Toby.

"Be careful and remember to come back in one piece." with that, she walked out, closing the door behind her and leaving the exasperated toby to the Miss Icy.