Mart redrew from her, pulling by the mini table.“I guess you've not eaten~ let's have this, huh?” he said, a smile lingering on his face as he helped her feed.
While she chewed on her food, Lilia's thoughts crossed her mind again. She decided to ask Mart about her.
“ Have you in any way heard from Lilia?~ she seems to be out of reach ever since she left.”
“ Yeah, this morning~ she called, checking up on you.” He answered as he swallowed his food. “ I heard, she tried your line severally but to no avail.”
“ Really?”...That's odd~” She seemed quite jumbled in thoughts but Mart instinctively hopped in on noticing how worked up she looked.
“ Well~ don't get worked up over this..” He reassured. “ She might be right. The network might be pretty bad and you comprehend, she needs to get used to her new environment, studies, and all that. I'm sure she will contact you soon~ just finish your meal for now, huh?”
Without a word, she nodded and continued her meal. Hours later, the doctor came in for her routine check-up and helped with her medications as well.
“ You're so brave and fought generously to survive~ you did well...” He complimented. With a smile, Aims bobbed her head.
“ Thank you, sir,” She said.
“ How long will it take for her discharge? ” Mart queried as he turned to face the doctor.
“ This week, I guess~ thus if her condition remains stable.” He continued, facing Mart as he handed over a few prescriptions to him. “Please make sure she doesn't stress up to enable a speedy recovery.” He cautioned to which Mart gently gave a nod.
“ I'll see to it, thank you.”
That said, the doctor took permission from them and retired to his duties again. Aims' face momentarily tensed with trepidation ~ she looked nervous and pale.
“ What's it ~ are you feeling any pain?”
“ Vicky...Vicky and her friends~” She faltered, her voice panicked. “ What happened to them?~ were you able to get them?”
“ Yes, no cause for alarm. They're in police custody now and will soon be present in court.”
Her gaze instinctively relaxed on hearing the news. With a sigh, she leaned back in bed with the help of Mart. “ That's good to know. " A sense of relief dawned on her foreboding.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
It's been a year after Aims and Vicky's gang issue which gradually died off with time and took a healing turn for Aims. She had spontaneously come to terms with the fact of being left behind as the sole survival of her family.
It's true the saying, time heals~ both her psychological, emotional, and physical healthwise seem to have improved a lot with the help of Mart and Mrs. Gifty, his mother who had been her pillar so far.
The busy sun had already shed its rays across the room~ It was 11: 15 am. In one corner of the room, where the mini office desk was seated; sat a focused figure who was busy over the phone. He turned and twirled with laughter momentarily ~ It was a Saturday so there was not much to do.
“ Mart...?~ Mart! , can we talk?” a voice invaded from down the stairs.
“ Sure, Mum..I'll be with you shortly,”
“ Is that mum?” Aims instinctively queried when his shout died off.
“ yeah...let's call later, then. I've got to attend to her.”
With that said, the call was dropped, and Mart hurried off to the hall. Just when he got to the stairs, he admired the mid-aged woman from the distance. Her back was facing him so she didn't realize when he got in~ just the sudden wrap of a hug around her waist announced his presence. On noticing each other, they both chuckled, sharing mother-son moments.
Soon after, the room was thrown into awkward silence as they settled on the sofa. Mart realized the nervous and indecisive look in her eyes. She seems to have a lot to say but doesn't know how well to go about it.
“ Is everything alright, Mum?" He finally asked after several thoughts.
“Umm, well, yeah...” She smiled, taking his hands to her. “ Just a little something to discuss with you, I hope you understand. ”
Mart was thrown into a state of dilemma~ not knowing what to expect and how his decision was going to affect whatever it was. But he just hoped it wasn't something beyond or above his power or expectation.
“ Sure, shoot...” He said with a smile.
“ Your dad wants us to join him in the city since you're done with high school. He wants you to further over there in one of the Universities.”
This didn't go so well with him. That was totally out of his expectations~ he had no plans whatsoever to move away from Aims due to her situation- he had the promise to keep. What would she do without him?~ those were the thoughts that kept shooting at him.
“ No... Mum, I can't .” He blunted, rising to his full length. “ I don't want to join Dad; I don't want to move to the city.”
He sighed, his chest tightened with emotions. There are things he still needs to do around~ he needed a way to make her understand his point as well. In an attempt to make her realize his agony, he gently settled back in his seat and reached for her hands.
“ But I can still continue my education over~ there are a lot of good Universities around. Can I look into one?...oh, and your business too, huh?” He tried to reason but she seem to have finalized everything.
“ No need for that...It's all sorted out.” She hinted without an excuse. Gifty was kind of lost on the reason why he kept holding back. In a moment, she thought.
“ Is this about Aims?” She briefly asked.
“ I can't leave her here all by herself~ she needs me.” The words just found their way out.
“ You can call or visit in your free time if that's all there is to this lecture.” She expressed, feeling a little riled. “ You already know our reason for staying back all along and since you're done with that, we need to move back.” She sounded peeved.
“ End of discussion, young man~ I think you should be getting ready. We'll be moving out tomorrow morning.”
“ You'll have to leave without me, mum...sorry.” He shot out of his seat and stormed out in rage.
“ Mart?- Mart, come back here.” She shouted after him but then, he waved a cab approaching to a stop and hopped on. Gifty watched the car fade away in the distance. She sighed in distress.
“ Goodness, such a nut~ what am I to do with him.” She lamented, her hands clasped together in prayers as she started up to the sky. “ Please keep him safe.”