AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT

Seventeen

When she opened her eyes, it was a different place from where she thought she would be by now; Heaven.

But the soft bed and the thing pierced in through her veins weren't the things people see in Heaven, is it? At least she was thought that in heaven, there is no pain.

But she felt the pain in her head. She sat up, slowly and looked around her.
Hospital. From the look of it, she was in the hospital. There was a male head resting on the edge of the bed and she didn't have to see the face to be sure of whom it was.

But as her free hand brushed against it, the person shook and came alert.

Denzel.

She smiled up at him weakly. He gave her a feeble smile. "Hey." She said.

"Hey. How are you feeling? The doctor said there were no internal injuries."

"Oh." Thanks God. I looked around the room as if searching for the doctor anywhere in there.
"How are you?"
I asked.

He chuckled. "I should be asking you. You're the one who gave me a fright there."

"How long have I been out?"

"Since you were brought in here. Which was last night. It is 2p.m."

I nodded again. The flashes of what happened last night came visiting me and I sucked in my breath at the thought of the gunshots. I felt Denzel's hand on mine, pulling me back to reality.
"What happened last night?"

"I. . . I don't know. Last night I was returning home and I don't know if I was being paranoid or something, but I. . .felt someone following me. Maybe it was my own imagination but all of a sudden, this car started shooting at me. Maybe not me or maybe someone else or maybe there were robbers, I don't know. I was trying to escape and I . . .Crashed."
She told him all that, staring at the sheets as if those memories were embedded in it.

Denzel sighed and lowered his gaze. "Its the same thing the others said to the police."

"What others?"

"Victims who were shot too. A family died in that accident last night. They don't know who was the shooter. It seems like a robbery attack as you said. Maybe the culprits were trying to escape, they had to make a distraction."

Janelle sighed. "Oh my God. Those poor people."

Denzel suddenly looked uncomfortable and she noticed it. How he shook his head as if he was trying to forget something.

"What's wrong?"

"I though I lost you." He said. "I was so fucking scared, I though something happened to you."

Janelle was close to shedding tears. "I'm right here, Dee."

"That was a big fright, Jay. When your Nana called me to tell me, I was so. . ."

"Nana? She knows?"

"Of course. Your mum as well. They were here a while ago. Your mum was having a headache and Nana took her home to rest."

Janelle face palmed herself. "This must have been too much for her. I should call her."

°°°

"Nobody knew where Mr. Idris Kolawole was though." Janelle told Denzel, while they sat in his living room. She had been discharged three days ago and her father was buried just yesterday.

There wasn't any information about the culprit who had been attacking her since that gunshot. Janelle's life was coming back to normal as her mum was finally coming out of her room and making herself busy with activities. Although Caroline had refused to go back to the fashion world just so she could be with her daughter for as long as the culprit will be on the loose.