‘Why didn’t you pick my calls or reply my messages?’ Henry asked after a long time of silence. Omotara’s wound had been redressed, she had her bra worn halfway and the black trousers she took from Jumoke’s wardrobe.

Henry was seated on the one seater sofa facing Omotara directly, with less than one metre distance between them.

She placed her gaze on his face on hearing his question, her eyebrows were raised and an angry look formed on her face. ‘Why should I reply your messages when you were busy searching everywhere in the house, even the places you knew you had no business with?’

Henry stared at her in shock for a while. He expected that she would know somehow that he accessed the hidden files on the system but he couldn’t still understand the reason for his shock. Maybe it was the way she presented or how early she did, he couldn’t ascertain.

‘I didn’t search everywhere; all I worked on were the files available on the system.’ Henry finally found his voice and tried to come up with an excuse.

‘Those files were hidden, you had to break through the security before you could access them.’

‘Yes, I did but I did not tamper with anything there.’

‘But why did you have to?’ she asked, getting up to her feet. She picked her bag in one hand and the box in another. ‘What do you intend to achieve? You want to sell me out?’ she slammed angrily and began to walk away.

‘Tara, how could you think I’ll ever sell you out?’ he followed her immediately.

‘No need for this,’ she stopped and turned to him. Henry took the box from her as it almost fell with the way she turned. She eyed him and continued. ‘I’m in no mood for arguments now, what I need now is to rest more.’ she turned and continued to walk towards her room. Henry followed behind slowly with the box.

‘I’m sorry, ‘ Henry apologized after they got to the door. She turned to him and gave him a dry look without speaking. ‘I was just curious,’ he added.

She eyed him and pushed the door open. He followed behind and went straight to drop the box at the same place he took it from. She was already undressing when he turned, she had taken off her bra and was pulling down her pants. Henry turned his back quickly to her as his eyes met with her bare butt.

She threw the clothes towards the other end of the bed and turned back towards Henry’s direction. She walked past him and entered into her bathroom, leaving the door open. Henry turned again to the other side even though he wasn’t facing the open bathroom door directly.

‘I’ll just stay out, I’ll make something for you to eat.’ Henry said and proceeded hurriedly towards the door.

He stopped as he touched the door knob, he thought he heard his name but he wasn’t sure. He listened for some seconds before turning the knob. He heard his name again. ‘You called me?’ he asked from where he stood.

‘Yes. Ermm… I wanted you to help me with something but just leave it for now. You can go,’ she replied.

Her reply was followed by the slam of the door.

_________
For hours, Stephanie silently awaited the return of Dave. She stared eagerly at the door anytime she heard footsteps approaching and would hope the door will open and Dave would come in but the footsteps would just fade away the same way they started. But as the activities and noise at that section of the hospital increased, she could no longer hear when someone was approaching any longer
Exactly by 12:13pm, she saw the knob turn and in came a doctor and two nurses. She hissed in disappointment and turned her face away. The doctor and nurses proceeded towards her and stopped at her bedside.
‘Good afternoon miss,’ the doctor greeted. She recognized his voice as the voice of the young doctor who had been in charge of her from the start.

‘Good afternoon doctor,’ she turned her face to them and replied the greeting. The doctor was smiling at her when she turned but she felt betrayed by the smile. He looked and behaved like someone who meant well but was conniving with the police to carry out illegal activities.

‘You don’t look too happy today,’ the doctor remarked.

She stared directly at his face as her eyebrows gathered together. ‘You’re just meeting me for the first time, so how do you know my happy look?’ she asked dryly.
‘Oh!’ he blinked, remembering now that she had been drugged and wasn’t going to remember his face. ‘I’ve been the doctor in charge of treating you since they brought you here.’

‘Who brought me here?’ she cut in.
He stared at her carefully for some seconds before answering. ‘The police,’ he finally said.

‘They said I was kidnapped.’
‘Yes, you were.’
‘And I was in coma for how many days?’ she asked in an investigative tone.
‘Just three days,’ the doctor answered with a frown. There was a brief silence.
‘Your mother called, she would arrive today and you’ll be discharged when she comes.’ the doctor said.
‘Oh!’ a smile appeared on her face but faded away slowly. ‘But why haven’t I been allowed to speak with her?’
‘You just came became conscious this morning, remember?’

‘Oh! Thats true!’ she faked a smile.
‘Now, sit up right so that you can take you drugs.’ he said calmly and motioned the nurse standing by his left to step forward.