Ours

Chapter 3: Bye bye school.

Months flew by and finally graduation day was here. We were done with all the school works and the extra luggage that came with schooling. The day was filled with nostalgic feelings. Those who will shed tears did, some parents were disappointed while others were elated by the works of their wards. As I stood with my friends and family taking pictures, I couldn't help but watch with a smile on my face as some cute couples posed for the camera too. Subconsciously, my mind drifted to that face that I can't seem to forget like the hundredth time that day.

AJ who was present with her three month old cute baby boy Myron, saw the look on my face and reminded me of how stupid I was rejecting proposals from respectable people because of a someone whose name I didn't even know. No one understood what I saw in him that very day. I have never seen a gentleman in this age display such godly qualities like he did that fateful sunny January afternoon. I believed in the fact that when you want something, you try and get it. Determination has always been my number one quality. Let me tell you what I saw that day. Who knows, you might side with me.

FLASHBACK.......
"please, this wasn't intentional. I'm sorry. Calm down please". These were the words of a distraught, middle aged woman who realised she had forgotten her purse at home when it was her turn to pay at the cashier's desk. I must say, the cashier was very rude but who am I to blame her. Humanity has gotten to a point where its hard to tell what is true and what is not. Everyone in the queue had varied opinions on the matter. Some sided with the cashier that the woman is a fraudster, some thought it must really be an honest mistake while others like me, stood unconcerned about the issue. There were the group of teenagers also complaining about how their time was being wasted. admist the chaos, 'he' came from the left wing of the shop. He managed to calm both parties down and settled the bill for the woman and offered to carry the things to her car. I, just as the rest of the onlookers, stood with our mouths agape at the calm and chivalrous nature of the guy. Most of the teenagers were concerned about his looks, no surprise there. His calm aura was what made me fall so hard for him right there. I can boldly say it was 'crush' at first sight. I didn't make the attempt to approach him though because society says its not the woman's place to make the first move.
END OF FLASHBACK.
Right at this moment, I regret not approaching him that very day. Back to my graduation. We wined, dined and took pictures till we literally couldn't do anything any more. Time came for us to depart. I was certainly going to miss my friends and my room mate. With tears in our eyes we all left for the house. The next agenda was to wait for our national service posting. The first two weeks was spent at home eating and sleeping. Social media was my companion. one fine monday morning, three weeks after my graduation, I received a notification from the national service scheme secretariat office on my phone. I immediately put my delicious bowl of fufu I was enjoying down, and opened the message. It read;
" Dear ms. Ria Brown,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been posted to the amazing Gracie children's hospital at Labadi in the Greater Accra Region. Click on the link below for more details."
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I was beside myself with joy. It has always been my dream to become a pediatrician, so I believed going to the children hospital will really help me get to my aim quickly. I phoned my bestie to share the good news with her as well as my friends. The rest of my day was spent shopping for work outfits with my mom. I phoned the hospital and was asked to report to work the following day. Wow! I so wasn't prepared for that but who am I to complain. You know the kind of feeling where you are overjoyed that you can't even sleep? Well, that was how I felt that night. I spent the whole night tossing and turning in the bed thinking of how work will be like. At exactly 5 am, I was up and bustling trying to get ready for work. Everyone in the household were shocked I was able to wake up that early on my own. Armed with my lab coat and name tag, I set off to work. I prayed to God to let everything go on smoothly. At exactly 7am, I arrived at the hospital. With, faltering steps I entered the reception area. A nice looking lady whose tag read "Patricia" took my files, scanned through and directed me to consulting room 10. My preceptor was in that room waiting for me she said. Ding! Dong! The bell sounded as I pressed it. "enter" my preceptor said , from the other side of the door. I did enter and oh, what a beauty my eyes beheld. A very beautiful young lady sat before me in a nicely decorated office. There were toys here and there paintings of random stuffs children like on the wall. Seeing those made my nervousness go away immediately. I got to know her name is Tabitha. She took me through all the necessary protocols and decided to show me around the hospital since there were no patients coming in that morning. I could count at least fifteen consulting rooms as we entered each and every one so she can introduce me. As we neared the last door, she told me to stay away from the person we are about to meet if I didn't want the wrath of all the nurses because apparently they all want him. Even the married ones." Eiiiii" I retorted. "Prepare to be mesmerized at beauty. In that office sits the epitome of beauty itself. Try not to drool and don't say I didn't warn you". She said with a smug smile on her face. I just smiled and got ready to see the Greek God behind that door. She knocked and we entered. meet my new assistant Ria Brown, she said. He shook my hand and replied" its a pleasure to meet you beautiful. I am Dr stanley Affum, the resident Gynecologist. " he even added a wink at the end of his statement. I withdrew my hand and replied, 'nice meeting you too'. After having a brief conversation with Tabitha, we took our leave. The next stop was ward rounds. Seeing sick little children always break my heart and make me wish I could do something about their pain. There was the usual little conversations about my background and hers as we strolled from ward to ward. She was like an open book that even though I was meeting her for the first time today, I felt like I have known her since. Lunch time was here finally at 1:30 pm. Yaay! I was so famished. I stepped out with Tabitha( she requested I drop all formalities and refer to her as Tabitha. Just in case you were wondering) to grab some lunch at the hospital canteen. We enjoyed a nutritious bowl of beans, plantain and gari (proper Gobe) accompanied with some fruit juice. she suggested we relax with our remaining ten minutes of lunch break. We started talking about our favorite movies and the conversation gradually shifted to boys. She asked if I was seeing someone. I laughed and said yes I was, but the person lives in my imagination. We both had a good laugh over that comment. Just when we were about to dive into another conversation, someone cleared his throat behind us. We turned simultaneously and there stood Mr Greek god( Dr stanley) in all his glory. In his hands, he held two brown paper bags.

"Ermm, Ermmm, I went to starbites for lunch and decided to grab you two something".

Tabitha took hers but I declined mine with the explanation that I was full. She eyed me and took mine from him as well. I muttered a thank you though as he left. "You are welcome" he replied.

Hey girl, next time when there is food involved, don't resist it sis. That's breaking the sister code rule one. Never, I repeat, never decline food because food is life,said Tabitha.

I shook my head and laughed. But ahaaa! earlier on, when I introduced you to him did you honestly not see him flirting with you or you didn't care.

Ei, madam were you not the same person who warned me to stay away from him? Anyway I realized he was flirting but have you met me? I have a heart of stone oh. I'm a hard girl. Besides I know trouble when I see one, I replied.

She commented on how I was the first girl she's seen who isn't throwing herself at him. We headed for the office since lunch time was officially over and proceeded to do what we, NICU dietitians do in the hospital. The rest of the day flew by and by 5pm, we had closed for the day. Tabitha lives at East legon while I lived at Teshie so it was impossible for her to drop me off. "Bestie calling, Bestie calling' siri repeated. I picked up the call and as usual I launched into talking about my day, not forgetting to add Mr. Greek god. Little myron started crying in the background so we had to end our conversation. I was basically at the main entrance now. As I stood waiting for a public transport, a sleek car with tinted glasses parked right in front of me. The driver rolled down the glasses and it was Mr Greek god, Dr. Stanley.

"Where are you heading towards'? He asked.

I replied that I was headed towards Teshie. He replied that he lives at Nungua hence he can drop me off. I would have declined the offer but considering his expression when I rejected the food earlier on, I decided to accept. Through out the journey, he tried to woo me but I politely turned him down. I told him all I could offer was friendship. I was surprised he decided to call a truce and accepted to be friends. He was sincerely a nice person to be with. He got me laughing hard at his lame jokes and bad voice when he decided to sing. He dropped me off at my junction and promised to pick me up on his way to work tomorrow.we exchanged contacts and I bid him farewell. I walked the rest of the journey back home. Everyone was ecstatic to hear about my first day at work that questions were throw at me immediately I entered the room.

"How was work"?,

"oh baby you look tired, did you have a good day at work "?

"Did you meet any fresh boys'?

It was only natural the last statement came from my younger sister. Yes, yes I'm tired, I want to rest please and you small girl, what do you know about boys? Leave me alone. With that I entered the room and shut my door closed. I fell on the bed and sighed in relief. Working wasn't an easy thing oh. Just when I was starting to doze off, my phone started to ring. Arghhh! Who's calling me at this time? I checked and it was an unknown number calling. "Hello hello"...