Open Heart

Chapter 30: God has heard

EVER SINCE I GOT from the hospital, I've been cemented in my room, crying and silently screaming for hours. This resulted in a throbbing headache.

I couldn't sleep. The constant knocking on the door for a minute now didn't help either.

I knew that if I occupied myself, it would take my mind off things, but I didn't want to pretend. I had every right to worry, to think, to cry.

Samuel was in a coma. A fricking coma!

And I knew there were complications with these things.

Realistically, there were so many maybes involved. It scared me.

Positive thoughts, Fa.

The knocking continued, forcing me to get out of my head.

I didn't want to be interrupted in my depressive state. Also, I knew whoever was on the other side of that door only wanted to help me at this time, even though leaving me alone would've worked just fine.

But I'd want to do the same for any of my loved ones that were hurting.

With this thought, I invited the person in.

"I was curious to see how long you'd make me wait."

"Oh, Luna!" I blubbered. My throat was dry, and my voice was croaky.

It felt like I haven't seen my best friend in years. It was almost as though I was too occupied with work and life that I hadn't had the time to spend with her.

She dropped her things on the floor to cuddle me into her arms. "Shhh, hon. Everything's going to be alright. Samuel is going to wake up from his coma, and you both will start preparing for your wedding in no time."

Face planted on her lap, I said with a sniffle, "He has to come back, Loons. I can't lose him. I..."

"You won't." Her voice was firm, like she'd never meant anything more in her entire life.

"He'll come through, and you'll have the wedding, a great marriage, and a beautiful family. All the things we used to talk about when we were kids, you'll have them with Samuel."

"I don't want to talk about the future right now." I sat up too quickly, causing the pounding in my head to increase.

"Okay, then tell me about the past two weeks. How did Sam propose? How's work? And tell me that girl that looks like Marcus is not yalls actual sister but maybe like a cousin or something."

I don't know how I forgot to tell her that.

Luna was updated with every detail of occurrences that occurred in my life recently. She listened more than she spoke, and when she did, it was to make her solicitous comments.

At one point in our conversation, I asked why she didn't pass through the window. She responded that she was done jumping through windows.

Metaphorically, she meant that she was done hiding and wanted to do everything correctly this time.

She was thinking about officially starting up her event planning business. Most importantly, she had moved back to her parent's house until she could afford to move independently.

Okay, Luna. Way to go!

While I was enjoying my anniversary with Samuel, Luna was breaking things off with Pablo. She finally found the courage to stop defending him and her obsessive assumption that he would change.

I didn't leave it unknown how proud I was of her. "Sometimes...a lot of times, your first love isn't your last. You'll find someone better."

"I guess." She slumped her shoulders. This time she was the one crying. "I guess I got comfortable with the monster I knew because I knew what to expect. It was better than being with a monster I didn't know."

I took her hands in mine to give them a shake. I wanted to reassure her that everything would be okay, and just like that, I had an epiphany.

It got me thinking about how everyone was telling me that it would be okay—thinking about how my usual optimistic self wasn't feeling very merry.

I was being more practical and realistic, which was okay. However, I needed to think of all the things, both good and bad, that can happen and ways to go about them instead of sulking.

Shaking Luna's hands again, I said, "Loons, the next man isn't gonna be a monster. Be careful with your words. The tongue is powerful."

I then questioned how her parents reacted to having her return home, especially at midnight. She responded that they could care less about the time. They were too ecstatic to have their prodigal daughter safe and in one piece.

We spoke of many silly things that only a best friend would understand.

In the end, I found myself laughing. My headache had also faded. It looked like all I needed was my best friend to make me feel like everything would be okay after all.

***

Naturally, when I called Samuel's father, he flew in on the next available flight, which, unfortunately for him, happened to be two days later.

His first stop was straight to the hospital and along with him was Samuel's best friend, Kunle.

"Baba, welcome. I'm glad you had a safe flight," I greeted, teary-eyed. I wanted to run up to him and share a hug of comfort with my future father-in-law, but for our safety, we kept a distance. "Hey, Kunle."

I had spoken to Kunle a few times over the phone, and what I had gathered up was that he and Samuel were the perfect definition of opposites attract.

It was also Kunle's parents Samuel introduced me to via call as well before we had that big argument about me not knowing his parents.

Baba adjusted the beaded chain around his neck that looked well with his red and black traditional Igbo attire.

"My daughter, you look tired. Have you slept?" Baba himself looked like he hadn't had much sleep.

"No, not really," I confessed, then immediately started to fill him in on everything since we didn't stay on the phone call long enough for me to give him a detailed explanation of what happened.

It took everything in me not to ball out in tears. I stopped every few minutes to breathe out the knot in my throat.

Baba patted my back with an understanding nod. "May God continue to bless you, my child. Thank you for being at Samuel's side."

"Wow," Kunle breathed out. "Talk about divine intervention." He had an English accent, but it wasn't as strong as Callum's. "Whatever the reasons for Sam signing a health care directive, giving you permission to handle medical issues in an emergency, I'm glad he did."

It was a movie we were watching that brought up the conversation of the worst-case scenario medically for Samuel. I had my parents around, who were able to make decisions for me if I was unable to speak for myself. As for Samuel, he didn't have any direct family around that we know of, and his dad lived in another country.

The time it would've taken to wait for Baba to get from Nigeria to Florida could've resulted in death. As for me, I couldn't make any decisions because we weren't married unless there was proof that Samuel allowed me to. That was why Samuel did a health care directive that saved his life yesterday.

And thinking about this divine intervention that Kunle mentioned, I broke down crying.  "I'm glad Sam did, too, Kunle."

I blew a raspberry and leaned against the wall. "It's day two of seeing him in a coma. God, I hate seeing him like this."

Samuel's father rested a hand on my shoulder. "Don't be discouraged, my daughter. God has heard. My son, your husband will be fine."

"Yes, he will," I agreed, and I believed it.