Thorns and Roses

Chapter 15

Eyram had been staring at her phone silently. Intermittently, she had picked it up from the table and made an attempt to call Jake's mother but had always quickly ended the call before it finally went through.

She sat with her chin resting in her right palm as she had propped her elbow on the small dining table in her apartment. Eyram had left Jake's house more than two hours ago but she couldn't seem to put herself together. Her emotions felt like a tiny boat in the middle of a bad storm with short lapses of calmness. Ever since she had unlocked the door to her apartment, she had cried loudly and shouted at nothing. Then she had gotten angry and turned her hall upside down by throwing books, stationary, plastic cups and pillows on the floor. Finally, Eyram had settled in one chair at the dining table, placed her phone before her and stared.

A part of her felt used while the other half did a jubilation dance. She couldn't deny she had enjoyed last night's experience yet her conscience kept eating at her.

'Let's make a truce conscience, let's allow this to slide. No one needs to know about this and I promise I won't go down that road again.' she said loudly to herself.

She paused as if waiting for a response. After a brief moment, she smiled and rose from the chair.

'Now that that's done, let's clean this mess up.' She grabbed her phone off the table and walked to the sitting area.

—*—

Jake's day has begun with an impromptu meeting which had led to two other unscheduled meetings. The call had come in as soon as he had seen Eyram off at the main gate. He had quickly freshened up and sped off to work forgetting about everything else.It wasn't till after his second meeting that he realised he had missed a number of calls from an unknown number. Sitting lazily in his office chair, his fingers lazily tapped his phone screen in a bid to call the unknown number back.

'Hello, good morning.' the voice from the other end began.

'Hello, I missed three calls from this number. May I know who I am speaking to?' Jake replied.

'Please is this Mr Jake Brandful? The female voice replied.

'Speaking.'

'Your wife has been trying to contact you since morning Sir.'

'O' Jake realised he hadn't thought about Esi since Eyram's visit. He cursed under his breath.

'How is she doing?' He asked.

'She is doing well sir. I am walking over to her ward to hand the phone over to her.'

'Please don't...I...I will come to the hospital soon..Later I mean...' Jake stuttered in response. He didn't feel the need to speak to his wife, especially after last night's encounter with Eyram. Thoughts of her body and the events of the past night had consumed his mind through all his meetings.

'Uhh...Yes, please. I will inform her.'

'Thank you...uhh...Do I need to pay for any more drugs or her feeding?' Jake inquired.

'Not that I know of sir. I will have to check her records and call you back.'

'Sure..Sure.' Jake replied with an absent mind. He gently rubbed his hand over his scalp and sighed loudly before continuing.

'Check your records and get back to me then. I will be waiting.' Jake waited for a response and ended the call.

—*—

Esi had been lazily sitting on her bed staring at the TV when the plump nurse walked in. She straightened her back and watched in anticipation after she noticed the nurse seemed to be on a call but hadn't moved from the entrance to Esi's ward. It was the same nurse who had offered Esi her phone to call Jake in the morning.

The nurse paused, replied and finally ended the call.

'Was that Jake?' Esi eagerly asked.

The nurse opened her mouth to answer but shut it again.

'No, please...I came to checkup on you.' The nurse didn't want to be the cause of any quarrel between Esi and Mr Bradson.

Esi slumped her shoulders and lowered her head in response to the nurse's answer. She had thought it was Jake. Last night through to the early hours of the morning had been interesting with Samuel. Getting to know themselves better, cracking jokes and talking about any topic that popped up in their minds had made her miss Jake and their early years of relationship. She ached for the old Jake.

'Your husband will call, don't worry.' Nurse Barbara tried to assure Esi with a forced smile. Esi ignored her and wiped a tear that had begun to drop from the corner of her right eye.

'My husband hates me.' she muttered and broke into tears and buried her head in her palms.

—*—

'Hello mum..I wanted to call and find out if...'

'How was your night with Eyram?'

Jake paused, it felt like his mum had deliberately set Eyram up with him.

'I want to know where Kojo is mum.' Jake insisted. After the call from the nurse at the hospital, he had sat staring at his PC and fantasising about another night with Eyram when he had suddenly remembered he hadn't called to follow up on his son.

Sometimes he felt he had two different personalities. A side that cared about his wife and son and another side that wasn't bothered about anything. The other side wanted to spend another night with Eyram and forget about his family.

'Mum, I will pass by for Kojo after work. Please get him ready. Thank you.' Jake replied and ended the call.

He suddenly felt overwhelmed with guilt. Guilt he hadn't felt in a long while.