Deadly as trust

Epilogue

She walked past the lobby to the front door of the hospital still trying her honest best not to look as she really felt.

She smiled, smiled because she was grateful as much as she was hurt, her mind still kept replaying all of what Jamilah had told her earlier so she had the shock of her life when she opened the door.

Her handbag dropped to the floor and she couldn't move.

"J—Jide?" was the only thing she could mutter.

He stood in front of her, one hand stretched to open the door and equally unable to move.

No, it a dream or he's just a ghost. Jide is dead.

"Miriam?"

She took a step back, finally breaking from the trance before moving forward to where he was standing. Then the sound of a slap followed.

His hand went up to his cheek immediately and he winced in pain.

"Ouch, why did you have to do that?" he asked, still dazed by the slap.

"So, you are real and... alive?"

Tears were forming in her eyes now but he looked confused.

"Of course, I am alive."

She took a few steps back.

"So these few months that passed, all this time I felt this pang of guilt, it was for no reason?"

He scratched the back of his head.

"So, you thought I was dead?"

Teardrops fell on her face and she broke into sobs.

"I... I can't believe it.", she sobbed.

He drew her closer and hugged her. Her hands were limp and dangled on both sides.

"I can't believe how much I made you go through.", he murmured as he hugged her tighter.

She only replied with sobs as she couldn't even say anything else much less return the hug.

"Let's get out of here."

~~~

She sat across from him clutching her bottle of soft drink tightly, she had barely taken a sip out of it while he had already gulped down half of the contents of the bottle in his own hands.

She noticed that some things had changed about him — he seemed more free-spirited than usual and a little talkative, talking about everything they passed. He had also lost a little weight and he limped while they walked, a reminder to her that he had taken a bullet injury to the leg but besides all of that she was happy but angry with him as well.

"So, this is you when you are not completely focused on a case.", she muttered but he heard it and smiled, he had been doing that a lot lately.

"See who is talking. I've never seen you so radiant. How did you get your own apartment?"

"After Majoress was put behind bars. They found a lot of money in her custody and paid it to all the night workers in the brothel and they all separated, most joined foundations. I was paid the most money and decided to invest in something but I had to move out of your house first."

He nodded as she spoke before taking a gulp of the soft drink in his hand. She has a lot of questions to ask, she couldn't decide which was first so rather than ask she explained everything that had happened, everything that Jamilah told him. He listened with undivided attention.

"It's like I never even knew you.", she added after everything.

"I'm really sorry for everything you had to go through. When Dayo came to the scene after I passed out, I was rushed to a hospital. You probably thought I was dead and left before I recovered. You should learn to have a little faith in me."

She took a little sip from her bottle. It was true that she was too scared to face the facts after she had believed that he was dead. It would have saved her a lot of trouble if she just went to confirm instead.

"I was... scared."

He smiled back at her, "Don't be. Everything is fine now and as normal as could get."

"So, what's going to happen now?"

They sat in silence for a while after the question. Jide had a new scowl on his face as he began taking sips from his drink. He had thought about it too. What was it going to look like after everything?

"I quit my job and let Dayo take my place.", he blurted out of nowhere and Miriam's head snapped to him.

"Why?!"

"I don't need it anymore. My brother is not alive and I managed to escape alive this time. I think I've served my purpose there, I want to move on and there's one more thing, I'd like to start over."

Start over. She had already started doing that.

"Miriam, I don't think I want to lose you again so I'd like for you to stay by my side."

He had been thinking about it a lot, about what to say when he saw her after all that time. Somewhere along the way, he'd realized he had developed some form of attachment to her and he didn't want to let it go — didn't want to let her go, not now that it had taken two months after his recovery to find her.

"What are you saying?"

He looked at him feet and clenched his fist, willing himself to continue. Miriam had never seen him look so nervous.

"Let's start over, not as a detective and client this time, but as friends. This time I will do my best to make you happy and I promise that there will be no dangerous secrets."

And perhaps, we can turn out to be more, he wanted to add but couldn't find the strength to. He looked at her and found her smiling at him from across the table.

"That's all I want now, Jide. That's all I want ."

He managed a small smile.

Yeah, all we want now.

~~~

Okay, this is the real final chapter 😁

I had it planned from the beginning of the book. Now I'm finally done with DAT, I'll be making some edits between next month and the end of the year.

And as for the students, Who is ready to resume yet?

The bonus chapter thing actually ends. I'd actually wanted to do it for myself initially but I decided to let you in on it first.

So now, we part to meet in my next book.