VILE

Chapter 47: The Present

Annalise had dosed off on one of the chairs in the waiting room. While Tomike on the other hand was restless, changing positions where she sat, unable to get even a wink of sleep.

She pressed the power button on her phone and it came alive. 2:45am was boldly displayed across the screen. It had been almost four hours since Dayo was taken to the operating room and Tomike was getting impatient.

A picture of herself in front of the equestrian statue of George Washington was still her screensaver after almost four years. The picture was taken in the first weeks she arrived in Boston with Todd. She was happy. Happy about her new life -a new life without her son.

Looking at that picture now she felt guilty. Maybe God was punishing her by permanently answering her prayers. Since she never wanted Dayo around in the first place, now she wouldn't have to put up with him.

Dear God, I'm sorry... Forgive me for taking Dayo for granted, please forgive me.

Tears were now freely flowing from her eyes once again.

God, I've lost too many people. My father before I even had the chance to know him, my sweet sweet mother, and then Iya Bose. Please God I can't lose Dayo too... Please. I promise to take care of him, I promise to love him. I'll even stop seeing Kingsley and focus on being a better mother to Da...

At that moment a thought popped into her head.

Maybe this is happening because I got involved with a married man. God forgive me. I'll never see King again, never!

Just then three people walked in, a lady and two men. They were obviously doctors, all in blue scrubs. They were heading for Tomike and she immediately rushed to meet them half way.

"Mrs Adebayo?" The rather good looking doctor asked her.

"Yes sir, I'm Miss Adebayo" If she wasn't so tensed, she'd have probably smiled at the man.

"Good morning ma'am, I'm Dr Veracruz, and this is Dr Steven and Dr Emily. Your son sustained several injuries and fractions ma'am" he had a slight Spanish accent, which made the words that rolled out his tongue sound funny.

"There was one particularly on his knee which was quite serious, but Doctor Steven here took care of it. He might need help walking for a while but it will eventually heal"

"Okay.. " Annalise was now awake and listening with wrapped attention as she stood beside Tomike, rubbing her arm.

"As for his brain injury, due to the impact on your son's head, there was some swelling as well as bleeding. We did our best to stop the bleeding and we succeeded, but we.." Refering to him and the lady beside him "... decided to induce a comma as that is what would be best for him"

"Wait.. What? My son is in a coma?"

"Yes ma'am. It'll be just for some days until the swelling reduces"

Tomike looked dazed and was unable to comprehend the coma part. The doctor seemed to have noticed.

"Mrs Adebayo, your son is a very strong young man. I can tell you this confidently from my years of experience that he'll be fine. Plus he's in good hands" he put his right hand on her left shoulder in a bid to reassure her. Tomike shrugged it off. Who was he to try and comfort her in such a scary time. She turned to Annalise instead and cried as she embraced her.

"Will we be able to see him anytime soon?" Annalise asked the doctors.

"No, not yet ma'am. He's presently being moved to the ICU. It'll take a few hours before he can get visitors" Dr Steven replied.

"Alright, thank you doctors" Annalise spoke on Tomike's behalf as she was in no position to. As the doctors took their leave, Annnalise and Tomike sat.

"You should get going. We've got work tomorrow and It won't be nice if you are queried because of me"

Annalise slightly raised her phone from her lap as she talked. "I've already sent HR an email"

"Really, when?"

"Right before I dozed off. You were too worried to notice"

"What did they say" Tomike now wiped the tears still lingering under her chin.

"Sofia responded almost immediately, she says you can take your time since it's such a huge emergency. As for me I have to resume work by at least 1pm tomorrow"

"Well you should get going so you can rest well before you go to work"

"And who will stay with you?"

"I'm not a child Anna, I'll be fine"

"You sure?" Her Italian accent was well pronounced in those two words.

"Yes Annalise, I'm sure"

"What about your friend, you know the good looking tall guy"

"Todd?"

"Exactly"

"I haven't even told him. It's usually hard for me to reach him when he's traveling"

"You should still try"

"Alright" Tomike immediately picked up her phone and dialed Todd's number. She knew their relationship at the moment was weird, but she didn't want to make it worse by not telling him something so important.

"Partner! Jeez it's been ages. What's up with you? You've been seriously avoiding me"

Tomike was startled when she heard his voice, partly because she wasn't paying attention and didn't hear it ring because she wasn't expecting an answer and partly because she just realized how long it had been since she heard his voice. Since new years she kept avoiding him and it wasn't so hard. Since he was busy with work and traveling more, they bearly saw in person and mostly spoke through chats.

But there was something different about his voice, it sounded wean and tired, not as excited as it used to sound.

She immediately disregarded it, afterall it was past three in the morning and she probably woke him up.

"You're in Boston?" The only thing she could reply.

"Yeah, yeah. I got back like four hours ago. Just trying to catch up on some sleep. Tomi you really really did me dirty, but we'll talk about that later. How's my g. Wait why are you calling at this time? Is everything okay?"

Tomike couldn't hold back the tears. "Everything is not fine Todd, everything is not okay" now she was sobbing intensely.

"Tomi, Tomi relax okay. Talk to me, what happened?"

"It's Dayo. A car hit my boy" Annalise was trying to console her, but it seemed another floodgate had just been opened and there was no stopping the rush of emotions.

"Where... where are you guys" Todd was stammering. "I'll be right there now. I'll be right there"