The Elites

Chapter 112

Lady K

Obianuju let out a shaky breath as she found her way up the stairs. The maids had told her that Jeremiah had refused to eat anything again. It had been exactly three days since he confronted Benjamin and he got trapped in his room. How on earth was he rejecting all the food he was given? Was he trying to kill himself? Was he trying to starve himself to death?

She was even more worried about all the bodyguards Benjamin made to stand in every corner of the house. He meant every word when he said Jeremiah was not allowed out of his room or allowed to see anyone. There were guards everywhere. She could count about four of them perfectly lined up beside the railings on the stairs, two on each side. There were three of them in the hallway leading to the stairs and another three in the hallway leading to his room. She couldn't help but wonder why Benjamin thought he needed all those men. It wasn't like Jeremiah was a criminal in his own home but Benjamin was pretty determined to make sure everything he had planned out worked as he had planned it.

She was useless.
Jeremiah was right, she didn't know if she was ever going to be able to muster the courage and strength required of her to stand up to Benjamin. Even after everything, even after all those years, she still loved and respected him even at her son's detriment. She exhaled when she got to the door, clinging on tightly to the tray of food in her hands. She took a deep breath, turning to one of the guards that were standing beside the door and signaling him to open it. He bowed and then turned to the door, he did as he was told. Obianuju took a step inside. The room felt so cold. That was the first thing she noticed, how freezing it was. It was bad enough that the early morning breeze was hideous outside, why did he have to turn on the air conditioning so high?

She took a few more steps inside. It was the first time since Jeremiah's grounding. She found it really hard to bring herself to see him after what happened. She was embarrassed to. She was expecting to see how he made a huge mess of his room considering that the maids weren't even allowed to clean his room but everything was still properly arranged, his bed was properly laid too but he wasn't in sight. She slowly walked up the small flight of stairs leading to his bed and dropped the tray on the bedside table, furrowing her brows and taking quick glances around the room in search of him. He had to be inside somewhere, it wasn't like he had a secret door or something to escape from and besides, with how tight the security in his house was, it was impossible to leave the mansion without anyone noticing.

She heard it.

The tiny moans from the side of the bed. It sounded like Jeremiah. Was that where he was? Beside his bed? She narrowed her gaze as she made her way to him, why didn't she think of it before and why did he sound like that? She found her way to the corner of the bed and gasped when she saw him.

"Jidenna!" She rushed to him immediately.
Jeremiah was seated on the floor, resting his back on his bed for support. His face was the palest she had ever seen on him and his lips were dry, his eyes were dull too. Three days and it looked like he already lost a lot of weight, color and brightness in his eyes. He looked really miserable.

"Mum." Jeremiah could feel how his eyes finally brought some tears into them when he saw her. It was hard to really say those words out loud. He had no strength left to even speak. Each time he tried, he could feel the bile in his throat. It felt like his lungs were dry and his throat too. It was even harder to look at her without seeing her in two places, his vision was blurry and he was really weak to even move. He had been that way for two days and no one even noticed.

"What's wrong?" Obianuju pulled herself closer to him the moment she noticed the state he was in. Jeremiah was always a strong boy ever since he was little. He was healthy. He never even fell sick often except on rare occasions when he had a mild asthma. What was this? Why did he look like this?