Axel stopped by Kiruddu hospital after work, making his way to the ward which his sister shared with a dozen other patients..
"Owulila otya kati?" (How're you feeling), he held her forehead.
"Mpulila mbikoye" (Im fed up), Rachel mumbled.
"Toyogera bwotyo" (Don't say that!)
"Gwe tokoye..?" (Aren't you?)
"Nedda. Ndi mukulu wo. Nkola kati era tujja kujanjaba owone. Atte mama tomugamba bino kumwelalikiriza.." (Of course not. I'm your brother. I have a job now & we'll get through this. Don't be telling mom this to worry her)
"Kale" (okay), Rachel rolled over to rest.
Axel pulled her blanket to cover her to the shoulders. It was his time to spend the night at the hospital so he crouched on the checkered floor between beds, pulling out his phone to pass the time.
He saw Max post pictures of his bar outing with Joseph. He admired the fun they had, nothing like he'd ever had with anyone. His idea of fun had always been hurting others.
It got his mind wandering, pondering over the volume of people he'd scammed & robbed, which was now at an end.
Joseph owned him now & anytime he could change his mind about telling his brother. That would spell the end of him, which would spell the end for his sister. He wanted to do everything for her as he'd always done so she could have a life.
Calculating how much he needed to pay back Joseph, it was well over a million. It would take him a year to clear the debt but he decided to start small.
The next morning, he got Joseph's number from Max's phone as it charged, deciding to send him some money.
Dejen was back in Kampala for holidays. While in Mombasa, a modelling agency had scouted him & he'd just done his first shoot, sharing the news with Joseph..
"These are good", Joseph swiped through the catalogue on Dejen's phone. He was seated on the left foot of his bed. "You're a natural!"
"Ha really?", Dejen chuckled, taking out a jumper from his closet.
"Yeah. You'll be big in no time"
"Which do you think is better?" he put it on, walking over to his bed. "I want to post.."
Joseph heard a message buzz from his phone..
"Huh" he beamed.
"What?" Dejen asked.
"Someone just sent me 100k!"
"Who?"
"They're not in my contact list.."
"Haha use it fast!!", Dejen smirked.
Joseph phone rung..
"They're calling..", he smiled. "Hello?"
"Good morning sir. Its Axel.."
Joseph could feel himself boiling
"I'm the one who sent the money. I want to pay you slowly.."
"Leave it!", Joseph swiftly hang up, resting his phone aside
"Whats wrong?" Dejen was perplexed.
"Argh just someone who owes me..", Joseph frowned.
"Okay. So which do you think I should post?"
"So they rejected all these?" Joseph swiped again.
"Uh huh", Dejen crawled closer to his side.
"But they're nice", Joseph insisted.
"Not enough for the mag.."
"Let me first look through all", Joseph added.
"Alright", he picked up a remote turning on his screen. "So how's school going?"
"Iss cool"
"Computer science, right?", he flipped through his xbox.
"Yeah"
"Man that's tough"
"Not really. What do you plan on doing?"
"Err don't know yet. But I won't college here"
"Where then?"
"UK...SA.., my folks are alumni there..."
"Bet you don't even need to pass...", Joseph sneered.
"Why?"
"Coz your job, its already there..."
"Done hating?"
"No no I'm just saying", Joseph chuckled. "That's how it is, you know regardless.."
"Still. I gotta pass before I can join the family business", Dejen clicked Call of Duty.
