Chapter 29 THE ILLNESS

Pastor Melvin contacted Sobrina almost three months later. She had returned very tired from the hotel where she had passed the night with a man after clubbing last night, and was trying to get some sleep when her cell phone rang.

"Hello, good morning sir", Sobrina responded, acting cool.

"Good morning Sobrina, I've been trying for weeks to reach Lindah without any success, do you know how I can reach her?", Lindah was one of Sobrina's former roommates in school, whom Pastor Melvin had started talking to just to make Sobrina jealous.

"No I don't, her cell phone got damaged back then in school, maybe she hasn't gotten another one",

"Alright", he concluded and ended the call.

Three weeks later, Sobrina's cell phone rang again.

"Good morning Sobrina how are you doing?", Pastor Melvin questioned, things had not turned out as he had expected after the last time he called.

"Good morning sir, I hope you are doing well", Sobrina responded.

"Soby, I am so sorry for what happened between us", Sobrina was silent. Pastor Melvin took all the time he had on his cell phone to beg for forgiveness, and when it finished, he recharged immediately and called back.

"Please Sobrina speak to me", he pleaded.

"I'm sorry Pastor Melvin, I said goodbye to you and I meant it", Sobrina ended the call.

Pastor Melvin was unrelenting, he called every day to plead for forgiveness.

"It is too late", Sobrina responded. She had gone back into the world, lost her chastity and was now a professional hooker. She didn't reveal all that to him, she only insisted it was too late for the both them.

But Pastor Melvin will have none of that, he called every day with the same topic.

"Alright, but know this, things will never be the same again between us", Sobrina finally gave in. It was the best he could get, so he decided to hold on to that and hope that one day, he would be able to make her change her mind, and win her completely back.

Sobrina fell sick again almost a year later, the abdominal pain had returned. She was with one of her sugar daddies on a trip when it began. When it became unbearable, the man gave her some money and she returned to her parent's home, deciding it was the best place to die.

When she got home, she began to treat herself. Of course her parents didn't care. She visited the pharmacy in the estate where they lived. The pharmacy had a laboratory and so she did some tests, they said she had ulcer and hook worm. She began to receive treatment using the money her sugar daddy had given her, the pain was so much so that she requested for a sleeping injection and was given a bed to sleep on, for few hours.

But she wasn't getting any better after some days. One evening, she went to her mother's shop and somehow, she knew that if she didn't visit a proper hospital, she wouldn't survive the night. So she knelt down on her little brother's feet and began to cry, begging him to please call their father and convince him to take her to a hospital. They were alone at the shop and she was weak - bent over in pain. Her little brother called their father and he drove down to the shop on his way from the office, he took her and got their mother. They took her to a hospital where it was revealed she had appendicitis. They were referred to a different hospital where she was rushed to the emergency room. The hospital ran some tests in preparation for the surgery and discovered she had HIV. She told them not to inform her parents, fully aware it would mean a much miserable future for her. She wasn't sure if they kept the agreement.

Life took on a new meaning for her after the surgery, she thought about her feelings for Pastor Melvin and what the future held for them. She was starting to become receptive to his pleas and now this had to happen. She decided it was the end, and doubled her efforts in pushing him away.

She began avoiding his calls, and when ever she visited the University, she avoided places where she would meet him.

Of course, after the surgery she was given two months of peace at home to recover. After which she was pushed off again literally.

Being an introvert, she loved to stay indoors, her father would come and send her out. She started visiting a nearby hotel where she would sit at the poolside until evening and then return home.

She finally left home, when she couldn't handle the pressure anymore.