I WISH

She did not pay cognizance to the pair of eyes starring at her as she ran across the hospital hallway. Even the smell of hospitals that made her nauseous was not a concern to her. She saw a nurse seated at the reception. 

“Good afternoon, I’m here to see Jude Tamuno,” she said in one breath.

The nurse looked up at the fair complexioned lady standing before her. She could guess the lady was in her early twenties. She was wearing a brown fitted gown and her hair was scattered all over the place. Her eyes were swollen from either crying too much or not having enough sleep. She had a beautiful round face despite how tired she looked. “And you are?” the nurse asked finally. 

“Jemimah…….Jemimah Kamson,” the young lady replied, wondering why the nurse was looking at her that way. Do I really look that terrible? she thought to herself.  

“Are you family? We have strict instructions not to allow anyone except family,” the nurse replied. 

Oh no! I won’t be able to see him, Jemima thought. “Yes, I am family. Can I see him now?” 

The nurse raised her brows. “Really? Well, you have to wait till….”

“Wait till when? I told you I am family. What am I waiting for? I had to fly all the way to Lagos to see my cousin and you’re here telling me to wait? Do you know how stressed I am? Do you?” Jemima yelled. “Why am I even wasting my time talking to you? I need to see the Director here. I’ll tell him how disrespectful you’ve been to me. I need to call my aunty right now,” she brought out her phone and began to dial a number.

“Shuoo! Take it easy naaa…..I’m only following hospital procedures. There was no need to shout,” the nurse said angrily. “You should have just said he’s your cousin. Follow that hallway down, you’d see Ward 23. That’s where he is.”

“Thank you,” Jemimah said and walked away.   

That was close, she breathed out heavily. She had just thrown a fake tantrum to get what she wanted. She had not flied from anywhere and was definitely not a cousin to Jude. She had to say all that so she could see him. 

She saw her reflection on her phone. “God, I look terrible. No longer people were looking at me somehow today,” she muttered. 

She quickly combed through her thick hair with her hands and packit up as much as she could. She used a white handkerchief in her small bag to wipe her face.   

Ward 23, she thought. She stood there for a while, took a deep breath in and pushed the door open. 

Her heart bled from what she saw. Jude was on lying on the bed with his eyes closed. Different tubes were attached to his body. He looked more pale and thinner than she remembered. The room was silent, save for the machines beeping. 

She sat on the chair beside his bed and held his right hand. “Jude,” she whispered, hoping he’d open his eyes. She knew he wouldn’t but still hoped. “Jude, can you hear me?” she called again. 

Jemimah placed her head on his hand and wept bitterly. 

When she was done crying, she raised her head and looked at him, using her hand to touch his face lightly. She smiled weakly. She remembered how she used to love touching his face. 

“Jude….. I don’t know if you can hear me…..” she began, “…..but I’m here. Jemmy is here.” He was the only one who called her ‘Jemmy’. “I didn’t know,”she began sobbing again. “I didn’t know you were in this critical condition. It was Hannah who told me two days ago.

“She told me you had an accident and….and….” she wept some more. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to come yesterday but I didn’t know if I would be allowed to see you. I didn’t want to see your mum. But I wanted to still see you. Do you know I had to lie to the nurse? Hopefully, no one would come in until I leave.”

Jemimah was quiet for a while like someone deep in thoughts. “Jude? Jude, can you hear me? Please, don’t die. Please, come back to your family. They need you. I….I need you. Please, come back. I have so much to tell you. I wish….I wish I had told you earlier….”

She heard voices coming towards the room. She crawled under the bed and waited, hoping it was not Jude’s parents. The door opened but no one came in. “There’s no one here,” she heard someone say. The voice sounded like that of an elderly woman.

“She said she was his cousin, that’s what she told me,” she heard the nurse she had spoken roughly to say. 

“But there’s no one here. Maybe she got it all mixed up. Just be careful when next someone comes like that. She could be anybody else for all we know. Be very careful.”

“Yes, Mrs Richard.”

“When Sharon returns, tell her to come watch him for a while and take all the necessary information for the hour. Should anybody else come to see him and you’ve never seen them before, tell them to see me first. Okay?”

“Okay, Mrs Richard. I am so sorry.”

“That’s okay.” The door closed. 

Jemimah waited for a while to be sure they were really gone before crawling out. She took her seat and held his hand again. “That was close, right?” she chuckled.

“You know, I wish I had not left the way I did. I wanted to tell you before going but your mum….” she sighed. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I wish I had told you, maybe written you a note or something. Or maybe even pick your calls. I didn’t know what to say to you.” She exhaled and caressed his face. 

“Jude, I…..I love you. I really do. I should have told you when you told me you loved me. I don’t know why it took me so long to tell you this. I wanted to tell you….”

“Why didn’t you?”

The voice startled Jemimah and she jumped from her seat. “Hannah….How did you….where….”

“I was in the bathroom,” Hannah replied. “If you loved him like you claim to, why didn’t you tell him?” Hannah was her closest friend and Jude’s younger sister. She was slim, tall and dark skinned like her brother. Her face was set and Jemimah could feel her eyes piercing her soul.

“I…. I couldn’t. He’s your brother.”

“So?” Hannah asked, her hands akimbo. 

“He….you know why. He took care of us since we were little. He was….he was like my brother. And we both agreed not to date our brothers. Family was out of it.”

“That was when we were little, Jemimah. Long, long ago. You know how Jude felt for you. I saw the way he looked at you, the attention he gave you. We all saw it.”

“He did the same for you too,” Jemimah said. 

“How thick-headed you are!” Hannah exclaimed. “He was in love with you. And I could tell you were in love with him. You never told me he told you how he felt about you,” Hannah said, moving closer. 

“I…..I didn’t know how to tell you,” Jemimah muttered and looked longingly at Jude. “We just clocked twenty when he told me. But I…..I didn’t say anything. I should have told him. I thought I would be betraying you.”

“Oh Jemimah, I’m so sorry,” Hannah said, hugging Jemimah. “Did you leave because of my mum?” Jemimah kept quiet. “Tell me the truth, don’t lie.”

“Yes. I don’t know how but she knew we liked each other or maybe someone told her. I don’t really know but she came to me and said I should leave Jude alone and allow him concentrate on the family business. So, I went to stay with my aunt and didn’t tell either of you where I went. I missed you so much, Hannah. I miss Jude, too. Please, tell him to come back. I love him so much,” Jemimah wept in Hannah’s hands. 

“Don’t worry. He’ll come back to us. Let’s remain hopeful, okay?” Jemimah nodded and left with Hannah. 

They did not see Jude’s fingers moving. 

P.S: So far, I’ve been unable to load the picture for this story. Network issues. Do bear with me. 

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THE END.