[ AIN'T YOUR MAMA BY JENNIFER LOPEZ]

Nishola turned to Matthew. She suddenly remembered that Mathew's third name was Dotun and some of his friends called him Dot.

"Its really you" Nishola said her eyes wide.

"Let me tell you a story" Matthew said with a smile.

"To think that I was assigned to a junior school class is annoying" Matthew said to Joel.

"They are easier to control and that makes your work easier" Joel replied as he walked off.

"Jerk" Matthew mumbled.

"Snr Matthew, good afternoon" Tofunmi greeted.

"Afternoon, how may I help you? You are in the class I was assigned right?" Matthew asked.

"Yes I am" Tofunmi replied with a pure smile.

Matthew smiled back at her urging her to state her business with him.

"I'm a big fan of the basket ball team, Snr Damien is my idol" Tofunmi said

"Ohh" Matthew said with a smile.

"You and Snr Joel, Snr Kay and all others too, you all are great players" Tofunmi said as she pushed a notebook towards Matthew.

"Could you please sign here?" Tofunmi asked.

Matthew couldn't bring himself to ignore such a pretty girl's request. He collected the notebook and signed on it.

"Hang around, Joel and Damien will come around so they'll sign for you too" Matthew replied

"Really?" Tofunmi asked with excitement.

Matthew couldn't mask the amused smile on his lips.

"Sure" Matthew said

"Thank you so much Snr Matthew you are the best" Tofunmi replied as she jumped away in excitement.

Matthew laughed heartily as he watched the girl interact with her classmates. She had a smile on all the time and even when one if them insulted her, she ignored it.

Matthew chuckled as he shook his head. The girl was extremely beautiful, her small hands complimented her frail looking body. She was so small and Matthew could bet she didn't weigh up to 40.

Her lashes battled up and down slowly as she explained a few things. Her small mouth easily formed a pout whenever someone complained

"You shouldn't be ogling her so openly" Joel whispered as Matthew groaned startled

"Stop doing that okay?" Matthew said

"She wants you both autographs" Matthew said with a small smile

"Tofunmi" Matthew called out as Tofunmi hurried over.

"Hello Snr Damien, Snr Joel, its nice to meet you" Tofunmi said.

"So Matthew here said you are a big fan of basketball" Joel said.

"Yes, I am. I've never missed any of matches before, I even stay after school to watch part of your practices sometimes" Tofunmi replied.

"Whoa! That's nice" Joel said with a smile.

"Bring your jotter, we'll sign for you" Joel said collecting the jotter from her.

Joel wore a smile as he signed and passed the jotter to Damien.

Damien wore an expressionless face as he signed and streched it towards Tofunmi.

Tofunmi was excited and in the process of collecting her jotter from Damien, her hand scratched the steel spiral used to bind the jotter.

Blood gushed out of her hand immediately.

"Holy shit" Matthew breathed out as he immediately pressed a finger on the cut to reduce the bleeding.

Tofunmi wore a smile "Its no problem, I'll go to the clinic now" Tofunmi said.

"No problem?" Joel asked on horror.

Damien frowned when he noticed colour draining from the girl's face.

"She's going to faint, let's rush her to the dispensary" Damien said.

Few seconds later, Tofunmi dropped unconscious. Matthew quickly caught her with wide eyes.

"What the fuck is going on?" Matthew growled as they ran to the hospital.

"It was just a small scratch, one wouldn't bleed at all but she was bleeding seriously, is that normal?" Matthew asked holding his head.

Damien shook his head "I don't think it is" Damien replied.

"Nurse Mimi, is she okay?" Joel asked as soon as a nurse stepped out.

"She's fine" Nurse Mimi replied as the boys walked into the ward.

Tofunmi wore a smile and sat up immediately.

"I'm so sorry for scaring you and thank you for bringing me here" Tofunmi said.

"Its okay" Joel replied waving his hand.

"Do you have an illness that makes you bleed so much? You lost quite a lot of blood" Matthew said.

Tofunmi nodded "I'm a leukamia patient" Tofunmi replied stunning the boys.

"Ohh.... " Matthew whispered.

"I'm sorry I asked" Matthew added.

Tofunmi laughed slightly "Nah, its cool. Just treat normally not like some sick child, I'm totally fine" Tofunmi replied.

"How can you even laugh and say that?" Joel aaked softly.

"I've known I had leukamia since I was five Snr Joel, I don't plan to wear a mournful face during the few years I have. I'm going to make the best use of it" Tofunmi replied as Damien wore a soft smile.

"You'll be fine" Matthew said.

"I know" Tofunmi replied.

"You have a sister?" Joel asked in surprise.

Tofunmi nodded "She's in SS1" Tofunmi replied.

"Snr Matthew, you bought the ice cream for me, why are you the one eating it?" Tofunmi asked with a pout.

"I bought two, for you and for myself" Matthew replied with a grin.  "I'll send someone to get you more" Matthew added.

"What's her name?" Damien asked.

"Ni" Tofunmi replied.

"Huh?" Joel and Damien chorused.

"Nishola, but we call her Ni" Tofunmi replied.

"Ohh, I see" Joel said.

"I'll come with her for your next practice" Tofunmi said and Damien nodded as he called a junior to buy two bowls of ice cream.

"Three days after, Tofunmi came with you for practice" Matthew said.

"That was when we knew you and stuff like that. Tofunmi was the strongest girl I've ever met in my life. She was in the clinic half of the time, I spent most of my free periods with her, breaks with her for reasons I didn't know. I didn't want to accept the fact I was attracted to my two year junior, someone who had few months left to live, I wasn't going to accept it" Matthew said softly.

"She smiled a lot that each time she smiled, my heart would ache seriously for her. She laughed and never took anything serious. She gathered her courage first to tell me she liked me, I was so confused and I didn't go to see for days. Two weeks. The day I got my courage to see her, I learnt she had been transferred to a private hospital because she needed surgery. She had two surgeries during two weeks" Matthew said pursing his lips.

"She still wore a smile even when she saw me walk inside her ward. How could she still smile? Then I decided, whether she was my two year junior, whether she was going to die soon, they didn't matter, all that mattered was that I loved her, she was my very life" Matthew said as a tear slid down his cheek.

Nishola clammed her hands over mouth as tears fan down her cheeks. Since this whole episode this was the first time she was seeing a tear sliding down Mathew's face.

"Even if I knew the time we had was short, I still held on. Bought all kinds of snacks with high calories for he'd, I even surfed the internet. One day she came to look for me in class" Matthew said.

Matthew's eyes widened seeing Tofunmi standing in front of his class. He jumped out of his seat and walked outside.

"Hey, how are you?" Matthew asked caressing her face.

Tofunmi blushed "Let's go somewhere else, you are embarrassing me" Tofunmi said.

Matthew laughed as he held her hand and they both walked away.

"What's it?" Matthew asked pinching her nose. "How was the checkup?" Matthew asked.

"I've got bad news Dot, really bad news" Tofunmi replied.

Matthew wore an expressionless face as he smiled "Another painful surgery?" Matthew asked.

"If that was it, I would be less bothered" Tofunmi replied.

"So its really bad then, what's it?" Matthew asked.

"Doctor Falana said I have less than two weeks" Tofunmi said softly.

Matthew froze immediately. His eyes blinked on their own as tears threatened to gush out. Matthew enveloped Tofunmi in an hug. He hugged her tightly.

Tofunmi for the first time in her life cried over her predicament. Ever since she knew about her situation, she had planned to make the best of it, who knew an angel who come in the later days of her life?.

Tofunmi wished she had met him earlier. She really wished she had met this angel in form of human earlier. Matthew was the most caring human existing.

He laughed and joked a lot and noticed the very little things that made her genuinely smile. He liked to tease her and make every thing a joke. Whenever she tried to push him away, he had always stood his ground that made her stop trying.

"We'll be fine" Matthew whispered.

"I wish I met you earlier" Tofunmi whispered back.

"At least I got to meet you" Matthew said softly.

Matthew hugged her more tightly as he blinked back the tears threatening to pour out any moment.

How was he going to live after she was gone? What would he do without her?

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jeez.... My eyes are red like shit..... I cried again.....

To the character we never met, the one we only got to meet in the memories of her loved ones....... RIP Tofunmi.....

Such a painful and pitiful love story.... Not all stories end with happily ever after jare......

One more chapter and an Epilogue to go.....

Stay with me....

_ LH _™