Love's Second Chance (15 page)

Ofure appeared behind her. “Good evening, sir.”

The pointing arm lowered, and Dr. Sagay’s eyes narrowed. His wife walked forward till she was right in front of them.

“
Good evening, ma.” Kevwe and Ofure said together.

Kevwe tried to distil everything he felt into his voice. “We’re here to apologize to you and talk about what happened to Efe seven years ago.”

Mrs. Sagay looked from one to the other and then nodded as if to confirm Kevwe actually stood before her.

“
An apology?” she asked.

“
I think your apology is to Efe…” Dr. Sagay muttered as he sat.

“
We know she’s out of the country. She gave me your address.”

“
Darling, let’s hear them.” Efe’s mother said, going to sit beside her husband. She whispered to him and then gestured them to sit too. “Kevwe, is this you?”

By then, everyone’s eyes were on him, including Dr. Sagay. He didn’t talk, but Kevwe knew what was expected of him.

“
Yes ma, it is me. I have come to apologize for the past misunderstanding. I did not break up with Efe all those years ago. In fact, I had been in a fatal car accident and was unconscious in hospital at that time.”

The horrible memories washed over him, but it was easier the more he talked. “
It was quite a dreadful crash. The
other vehicle was a huge truck and the driver was drunk to his eyeballs.
The truck knocked us off the road and followed us into the bush. We smashed into a tree but
luckily he didn’t run into us. They rolled farther into the forest and fell into a
gully before the engine exploded. The driver died in the ensuing fire.
My father’s driver also
died instantly.
”

Soft gasps floated around the room from the women. He could feel their gazes, looking closer at his face, noting the scars that had not been there. Kevwe closed his eyes and dragged in a jagged breath. Ofure put a hand on his shoulder. He nodded to his brother’s silent words of concern as he continued.
“
I was trapped unconscious
inside the car with my dead companion till eyewitnesses brought the police, the road
safety officials and the fire brigade who finally cut me out of the wreck.”

Everyone focused on him with bated breath, so he went on doggedly. “Everyone said I was
lucky I didn’t have many major injuries, my right leg was broken only in two places, and the
other limbs just had fractures, but from where I was lying, it was horrible. Some of my ribs were broken or
cracked, and I had a punctured lung which the doctors feared
might be infected.

It was fortunate I didn’t have great cuts or
gashes on my face and body except the few you see now.” Kevwe pointed to the scar on his temple, which could only be seen when
closely inspected.

He took a deep breath, and then seeing everyone quiet, he continued in a low voice. “Ofure had to leave his residency and come back.
He accompanied me as I was transferred to the teaching hospital in Benin after more than a week in LUTH. When I regained full consciousness, I learnt from my father that Efe had
deserted me
because she couldn’t bear to see or live with my injuries
.
After
months of surgery and therapy without her, I finally had to believe it.”

“
What?!” Efe’s mum snapped.
“How could he or
anyone say Efe deserted you? Yo
ur parents told h
er you did not want her anymore
.”
Mrs.
Sagay
spat out the words, only calming down when h
er husband called her name.

Kevwe and his twin exchanged a brief glance. Mrs. Sagay may have accepted Kevwe’s story, and the sight of him and his twin in her home
, but she wouldn’t stand for anything that maligned her daughter.
Everyone was quiet then, and Kevwe mulled the words in his mind. He recalled the first time he’d met Efe’s parents. They’d treated him like family from the start. There was no way Mrs. Sagay would have made up what she had just said.

Alero interrupted his thoughts. “I
wonder how Efe would react if she saw you again. She would be so mad.”

“
She’s already seen us,” Ofure said.

“
How do you mean?” Dr. Sagay asked.

“
Ofure saw Efe two weeks ago, then we met last week and talked,” Kevwe confessed.

“
But she didn’t say,” Mrs. Sagay said in a confused tone.

“
It was just before she travelled,” Kevwe said.

“
I met her when I went to her office for a business report,” Ofure
added, “I didn’t recognize her, and she did not introduce herself. The next week, she came to my hospital
and found me together with Kevwe. It wasn’t an easy meeting.”

“
Oh, Efe, my daughter,” Mrs. Sagay sighed. “How she must have suffered. No wonder she didn’t tell us.”

“
I have to ask why your parents told
Efe you no longer wanted to marry her. Don’t you think it’s strange?”
Gbubemi asked.

Kevwe knew he had to choose his words with care. “I still don’t understand it. I mean, I doubted Efe when she first told me she’d been deceived. I had believed my parents for years, and there appeared no way to confirm her words with my father dead.”

“
Your father is dead?” Dr. Sagay asked.
“When did he die?”

“
He died from a heart attack, three months ago.”

Everyone seemed to release a collective breath.

Mrs. Sagay sniffed, “
You know it’s true what Efe said about your father hating her and not supporting your marriage?”

“
I’m sorry I ever distrusted her. Then, it seemed easier to
believe what I’d always known. I’ll certainly get to the root of the matter this time.”

“
I hope the rationale for the strange
act did not go to the grave with your father.”

“
What of your mother?”
Gbubemi asked
, “If she’s alive, she’s in a better position to shed more light on the matter.”

Kevwe sighed; they had come full circle again. At this stage, he could not postpone the meeting with his mother any further. “She’s in Benin, and we’re making plans to go and visit.
”

“
Efe told me your mother was
kind to her throughout your relationship.”

“
That’s why I found it hard to believe that…that…”
Kevwe stumbled.

“
She stood by and allowed your father to bully my daughter?” Mrs. Sagay completed.

“
I’m so sorry,” Kevwe said finally.

“
Your mother took your ring away from Efe and said nothing to you, not in all these years.” Dr. Sagay did not bother to mince words. “The best way to show you’re sincere is to confront her and get the truth.”

“
We were ringside spectators, and I tell you, your parents’ deceit nearly cost Efe her life and a future in the United States.”

**

16

Lagos. December 4, 2009. 9pm

Kevwe was exhausted by the time they returned to their Festac duplex.
He’d promised Dr. Sagay he would put things right.
Before they left, Efe’s parents had given them
Nneka’s address and phone number
in Abuja.
At home, he and Ofure
spent a few minutes munching on some cold sandwiches while watching television. In the bedroom,
Kevwe unbuttoned his shirt with one hand while rubbing his swelling left jaw with the other. A tension headache was also on its way
.

“
That young man packs quite a punch.”

“
Sorry,” Ofure replied. He stopped suddenly and clapped his palm
to his forehead, “My God!”

“
What is it?” Kevwe asked, striding over to his brother’s side.

“
What happened back then, I remember it more clearly now. I have to tell you this, it’s about the day you woke up.”

Kevwe imagined his brother’s
thoughts as Ofure narrated them.

Ofure had returned to Nigeria a day after Kevwe’s accident with no one having to tell him about it.
During a hospital round, he’d
felt as if a truck had fallen on him, and knew then something terrible had happened to his twin. He left soon after, and was at the airport the next day ready to board
any available flight
to Nigeria. The call had then come from his parents, to tell him of the accident
. Road safety officials contacted them with news that Kevwe was LUTH, and they were on their way to the Lagos. Ofure arrived at the hospital the next day.

Kevwe lay in a coma in the hospital, and it could have gone either way, but on the third day he regained consciousness. While their parents returned to Benin, Ofure remained at
his brother’s side. Kevwe’s injuries had
an effect on his body and inflicted him with a serious headache.

Their father insisted Kevwe be treated at the Benin hospital while waiting for a trip out of the country for
physiotherapy, so
Ofure accompanied Kevwe on the military helicopter which moved him. Ofure was happy to see an orthopedic specialist and a dedicated nurse with all the needed equipment there.

The day they found that Efe had deserted Kevwe, Ofure and Ugome had just been to see him in hospital before driving back in the rain. W
hen they entered the house,
Ugome propped the large umbrella they’d used beside the door and headed to the kitchen.
Ofure
closed the front door behind him, calling for their mother.

“
Welcome. Did you get the drugs?”

To his annoyance, Ugome followed their mother into the hall. Though Kevwe had never mentioned her, she was supposed to be his girlfriend. Ofure found her clingy nature irritating. She’d also refused his offer to drop her off on the way from the hospital.

“
Who was that leaving with Dad as we arrived?”

“
Mr. Edewor?” His mum stopped at the sitting room doorway.

“
No. There was another car ahead of Dad and his friend.
I drove past them near the gates when we came in.”

“
Are you sure they left from here?”

“
Yes, I’m quite sure.” Ofure searched his mother’s confused face and continued,
“It was a girl, and she looked familiar
…
”

“
Oh, it must have been...” Mrs. Mukoro began.

And then it struck him, “Isn’t she Kevwe’s former girl?” She looked different from the pictures he’d seen, maybe because of the rain.

“
Yes, it was Efe…”

“
Did she want to see him? Is she on her way to the hospital?”

“
No. She doesn’t want to see Kevwe. Your father said Efe came to return the ring your brother gave her.” His mother stretched out an open palm, and a narrow ring gleamed. “
Efe heard of Kevwe’s injuries and says she cannot be tied to
a crippled man
. She wants to leave and has broken up with Kevwe
.
”

That couldn’t be true, Ofure thought in shock at his mother’s first sentence, but her next words barely registered as a sudden pain sprouted and intensified in his skull.

He moaned.
In his head, Kevwe screamed,
“No...
No!”

Ofure grabbed his head in his hands and staggered to the nearest wall, his breathing coming in ragged bursts.

His mother and Ugome were beside him immediately. “Ofure, are you alright? What’s happening?” his mother demanded.

The shrill ringing of the phone in the living room pierced the air. Ofure bounded to the phone with long steps. It was the
nurse their dad had paid to take extra care of Kevwe at the hospital.

“
What is it?” he asked her.

“
I’m not sure. Your brother’s temperature and blood pressure just shot up and he
woke up screaming,” the nurse said, adding, “I want to call the Neuro team. I’m supposed to,
once Kevwe regains consciousness.”

Ofure slammed the phone on its receiver, and not even waiting for their mum or Ugome, he dashed into the rain, and drove like crazy to the hospital. It took about ten minutes, but he when he got to his brother’s private room, Kevwe was still screaming. Ofure ordered the two nurses in the room out and tried to calm Kevwe. But first, he had to control himself. He took deep
breaths and let them out slowly before placing his palms on Kevwe’s shoulders. Gradually, Kevwe stopped screaming, opening tearful
eyes.

“
It’s not true,
is it? Where is Efe? I want to
hear it from her.”
Kevwe
tried to sit up, but the bandages and wires on various parts of his body
wouldn’t let him.