Dared Home

Chapter 7

(Adams POV)

"His name is Adams, Ma. He’s the one who paid Safiya’s hospital bills. He saved her life. He’s a good man."

Mina's mother's face tightened. She dropped the gift basket back onto the table with a definitive thud. "A man who pays a bill for a woman he does not know is not just a 'good man,' Mina. He is a man with an agenda. What does he want?"

"He wants nothing!" Mina insisted, her voice rising in defense. "He's kind. He's generous. He's a successful editor, he has his own life! He just saw me crying in the hospital as I tried to call you and your numbers were not connecting, and I was stranded—no one to call for assistance—and Safiya was dying. They needed $2,000 to initiate her treatment.

He was with his friend, a doctor in the hospital, so he decided to approach me to enquire about my condition, and after explaining to him, he decided to pay the bills."

"Okay. Good. Thank God for that, and thanks to him. But people in need are everywhere!" Her mother fired back, her own voice gaining volume. "Why you? Why did his help not stop there, but continue with a driver and all of these gifts?" She spat out the last word as if it were something dirty.

"We connected more because someone who saved me and my sister’s life is more than just ordinary. I appreciate everything he has done for us. I will always appreciate him.

We have no family or friends here to run to in terms of need or call our own. So I made him a friend, a brother, and someone to look up to. He is a good man, and he deserves everything kind and good from me, because we can never repay him, no matter how we tried.

He's intelligent. He respects me." Mina finished irritably.

"Okay. Respect?" Her mother challenged harshly. "I'm not disputing that, but what are you doing with him, or what do you want from him? I just need clarity. A man who respects you, brings you food, gives you gifts, talks to you, assigns a car and driver to take care of your movement, comes to the hospital to check up on you, cares about you and your sister, and plants ideas in your head with poetry books! This is not respect, nor is it ordinary, Mina. This is shopping."

Mina felt the blow of the word deep in her gut. "Mama, that's not fair. That's enough! Can't you see this man saved your daughter's life?"

"It is not enough!" Her mother stepped closer, her eyes boring into Mina's. "Love that comes from a hospital gate is built on pity and desperation. It is not real. It is transactional. He paid for a service, and now he expects to collect it back. Is that what you want? To be a receipt? A line item in a rich man's account book?"

"You don't know him, Ma!" Mina's voice broke, tears of frustration welling in her eyes. "You reduce everything to money and market transactions! What if he sees more in me than that? What if he sees a mind, a person, a human? What if he does not love me, but is just a good man?"

"And what does Tunde see?" Mina's mother's question was a swift, precise strike, and she continued. "Tunde sees a wife. A mother to his children. A partner. He sees a future built on solid ground, not on a hospital charity foundation! His family has already spoken to us. It is settled."

"It is not settled for me!" Mina cried out. The rebellion was now out in the open. "Tunde is a good man, but he... he doesn't see me. He sees a good teacher, a good woman. He doesn't set my mind on fire. He doesn't make me feel..." She trailed off, realizing her mistake too late.

Mina's mother's face went very still. "Feel what, Mina?" She asked, her voice dangerously quiet. "What does this stranger make you feel? Important? Special? Is that all? He makes you feel like you are too good for the life you have? For the good, steady man who has waited for you?"

"No, Ma, that's not—" Mina responded irritably.

"I will tell you what this is." Her mom interrupted, her finger pointing accusingly at the orchids. "This is a fantasy. A beautiful, dangerous fantasy. And when he is tired of this game, when he finds a new woman from a new hospital gate to rescue, where will you be? You will be here, with your heart broken and your reputation in tatters, and Tunde will be gone. You will have nothing left but to cheaply go around looking for a reasonable man to marry."

The stark and brutal picture her mother painted left Mina speechless. It was her deepest fear given voice.

Just then, Mina's phone buzzed on the bed. The screen lit up with a single word: Adams.

Her mother's eyes flicked to the phone, then back to Mina's horrified face. Her expression was a mixture of triumph and profound disappointment.

"You see?" She whispered, the fight gone from her voice, replaced by a weary sadness that was far worse. "The bill collector is calling. Answer it. But remember my words, my daughter. A love that begins in favor may not end with favor. It is not our destiny to please a stranger and forsake the insider."

She turned her back and walked over to help Safiya with her slippers, effectively ending the conversation.

Mina stared at the buzzing phone, Adams's name a beacon of light in the sudden darkness of the room. Her mother's words echoed in her head, a chilling counterpoint to the thrill she felt at his call.

She had defended him fiercely, but her mother's skepticism had been planted. It had taken root. And as she reached for the phone, her hand trembling, Mina felt the first cold trickle of doubt seep into her heart.

"Is this a grand love story? Or was it just a transaction, a line item waiting to be collected?" Mina muted the phone, and the terrifying question remained echoing in her soul. Her breath caught in her throat.

She picked up the book, leafed through a page, and placed her hand inside, finding herself in utter confusion. "Is he what I thought, you know?" She went on mumbling in silence, and the words were out of her mouth before she could retract them.

"What I do know is that he is a good man, and not everybody could do what he did. Even if it is transactional, he saved my only sibling’s life, and he deserves a chance."