OPEN HEART SURGERY

A STRANGE BED

Dressed in a funny looking gown with the sexlessness of a nun, she stood by his room door switching her gaze from his face to the beautiful girl on his bed, and back to his face.

“You need to get back to work." Nene reminded, and gave him her most understanding smile which Zak never really liked, since it made him look transparent before her.

“Nene, please don't say anything." Zak said.

Nene's smile became wider and spoke louder than words. "I won't." She knew something no one else knew. The blond had stolen her baby boy's heart and even Zak was unsure of what was happening to him. She could tell from the first day Zak had brought Nicole to the house, it was obvious to her from the way he talked and acted around her. Zak sat on the bed next to Nicole, lost in her beauty as he listened to her heart beat with the stethoscope. "Is she okay?" Nene asked.

“She'll be much better when she wakes up." He said, as he got up to leave.

“I'll take care of her," Nene assured him. Zak had no doubts about that, after all, that was what she did best. His mother had taken Nene in, consoled and given her succor after the loss of her son and her husband to a ghastly motor accident. She had babysat Zak from age one, until he left for boarding school. Nene had become so attached to him that after his mother's death, she could no longer leave but felt obligated to stay and care for him and for everything else he cared about.

“Baby boy, when did Fada say he will be back?" Nene asked. She had become family and had given Zak the name 'baby boy', and since she called The General, 'Fada', Zak had also grown up to find himself calling his father, 'Fada'.

“I thought he told you?”

“He only said he might be going to Kaduna today." Nene said.

Zak gave a sigh of relief. "That means he won't be back until weekend.”

“I don't like the attitude you're putting up with Fada." Nene said. "You're treating him like an enemy.”

“Maybe that's because he hasn't been able to tell me why he has declared her an enemy.”

“You know your Father always gets his way, I suggest you talk with him and come to an understanding."

Zak smiled, "I suggest you talk with him and let me know what i need to understand."

Nene knew her baby boy was as stubborn as Fada. Whenever father and son had misunderstandings, Nene was the referee and the umpire. Her role also included housekeeping, cook, friend, adviser, observer, teacher and nurse. She watched Zak leave for work reluctantly and a smile came on her face and sent joy to her heart. Her baby boy was finally in love, that was one prayer point of hers, answered.

Hours had gone by before Nicole turned, stretched, and struggled to open her eyes. She did not realize where she was immediately but she recognized the man sitting before her. Did I slump? Did he take me to the hospital? The bed was too big to be hospital owned. Nicole thought. Another look at the medical bookshelf, and then the wardrobe, she also noticed a chessboard and a computer on the table. The picture of a woman and a child, probably her son, hung on the wall. A painting of Zak! That instance, she realized she was in his room, and sat up abruptly.

“How do you feel?" Zak asked.

“Where am I?" Nicole replied.

Zak studied the color on her face. "Do you expect me to believe you don't know where you are?" He said, with his eyes still fixed on her. She knew where she was but what she really meant to ask was why she was there. She had slept off in the car but why didn't he just take her home?

Aunt Rose had traveled to Mbiaso and wouldn't be back until weekend and that was Dara's opportunity to paint the town red. Maybe he did not want to leave a sick girl alone in such a big house. She thought about that as well, and added loving and caring to his resume which she built daily in her mind. "Why didn't you go to work?" Nicole asked.

“I did, and I came back." Zak replied.

“He came back five times," Nicole's eye brows shot straight up in the direction of the voice, at the head of the bed, Nene stood with a smile. "He came back five times to check on you." Nene emphasized her point.

“How long did I sleep?”

“Four hours," Nene replied. "And how do you feel?”

“I'm fine and I feel like sprinting."

Zak smiled. "That's good news.”

Nicole looked at him suspiciously. "Wipe that smile off your face. You drugged me!" She attacked.

“That's what I do for a living." Zak replied, still smiling.

“I'm sure his intentions were good, to make you feel like sprinting the moment you woke." Nene said, in Zak's defense.

“Thanks to both of you but can I have my bag and shoes," Nicole said. "This bed is strangely more comfortable than a bed should be, I really don't want to get used to it." She threw her feet off the bed, matching her words with action.

“If you really love my bed that much, maybe we could share it, or I could trade it." Zak said, staring at her with that blank look on his face that usually meant a million things, but Nene was also the one person who could single out its true meaning.

“She must be hungry now. I'll need the both of you to come down for some food the moment you're done." Nene said, as she excused them.

Nicole returned his stare. "When I left California, sharing a bed with you was not in my agenda. So if you were to trade it, what would you trade it for?"

“I'll trade anything for your heart." Zak replied. He had played it right and she had fallen into it, but maybe Nicole was just playing along as well.

"The price of a wooden bed, is that all my heart is worth to you Zak?" Nicole retorted.

Zak had no idea she would turn his words against him. "I only said that to make you ask what your heart is really worth to me." Zak said. "Do you really want to hear it?”

She had not expected him to give such a sincere response. "Yes, I want to hear it." She really wanted to know if she was just one of those women he wanted to treat nicely, take their clothes off, and dump them nicely.

“Your heart is worth more than the price of a gold bed with silver frames and diamond studs. It's worth more than my heart, body and soul nailed on the cross upside down." Zak moved to the bed, gently held her hand entwining their fingers. "Beautiful, you're worth more than all I own, you can only be a gift because you're priceless, and I love you Nicole." He whispered, with fire in his eyes and sparks in his words.

His fingers fitted the spaces in hers with accurate perfection. His touch transmitted romantic waves through his fingers, setting her whole being on fire. 'I love you Nicole'. She had heard those words countless times but never with such passionate sincere intensity which went straight for her heart and made it sprint, beating faster than her mind could carry and her brain could interpret.

An unexplainable fear sparked in her eyes, she opened her mouth but the words wouldn't come out. Grabbing her bag and her shoes in her hands, down the stairs, through the front door, out the gate, on the street, she headed for plot 137. It was a fascinating sight for the soldiers who watched the blond race through Ezimma Street, bare footed. She wanted to scream for help but that would be pointless because no one would understand, since no one could see what a monster of a love that was right behind her. So she ran with her unspeakable fears, even faster.