Lady K

Obianuju let out a shaky breath as she found her way up the stairs. The maids had told her that Jeremiah had refused to eat anything again. It had been exactly three days since he confronted Benjamin and he got trapped in his room. How on earth was he rejecting all the food he was given? Was he trying to kill himself? Was he trying to starve himself to death?

She was even more worried about all the bodyguards Benjamin made to stand in every corner of the house. He meant every word when he said Jeremiah was not allowed out of his room or allowed to see anyone. There were guards everywhere. She could count about four of them perfectly lined up beside the railings on the stairs, two on each side. There were three of them in the hallway leading to the stairs and another three in the hallway leading to his room. She couldn't help but wonder why Benjamin thought he needed all those men. It wasn't like Jeremiah was a criminal in his own home but Benjamin was pretty determined to make sure everything he had planned out worked as he had planned it.

She was useless.
Jeremiah was right, she didn't know if she was ever going to be able to muster the courage and strength required of her to stand up to Benjamin. Even after everything, even after all those years, she still loved and respected him even at her son's detriment. She exhaled when she got to the door, clinging on tightly to the tray of food in her hands. She took a deep breath, turning to one of the guards that were standing beside the door and signaling him to open it. He bowed and then turned to the door, he did as he was told. Obianuju took a step inside. The room felt so cold. That was the first thing she noticed, how freezing it was. It was bad enough that the early morning breeze was hideous outside, why did he have to turn on the air conditioning so high?

She took a few more steps inside. It was the first time since Jeremiah's grounding. She found it really hard to bring herself to see him after what happened. She was embarrassed to. She was expecting to see how he made a huge mess of his room considering that the maids weren't even allowed to clean his room but everything was still properly arranged, his bed was properly laid too but he wasn't in sight. She slowly walked up the small flight of stairs leading to his bed and dropped the tray on the bedside table, furrowing her brows and taking quick glances around the room in search of him. He had to be inside somewhere, it wasn't like he had a secret door or something to escape from and besides, with how tight the security in his house was, it was impossible to leave the mansion without anyone noticing.

She heard it.

The tiny moans from the side of the bed. It sounded like Jeremiah. Was that where he was? Beside his bed? She narrowed her gaze as she made her way to him, why didn't she think of it before and why did he sound like that? She found her way to the corner of the bed and gasped when she saw him.

"Jidenna!" She rushed to him immediately.
Jeremiah was seated on the floor, resting his back on his bed for support. His face was the palest she had ever seen on him and his lips were dry, his eyes were dull too. Three days and it looked like he already lost a lot of weight, color and brightness in his eyes. He looked really miserable.

"Mum." Jeremiah could feel how his eyes finally brought some tears into them when he saw her. It was hard to really say those words out loud. He had no strength left to even speak. Each time he tried, he could feel the bile in his throat. It felt like his lungs were dry and his throat too. It was even harder to look at her without seeing her in two places, his vision was blurry and he was really weak to even move. He had been that way for two days and no one even noticed.

"What's wrong?" Obianuju pulled herself closer to him the moment she noticed the state he was in. Jeremiah was always a strong boy ever since he was little. He was healthy. He never even fell sick often except on rare occasions when he had a mild asthma. What was this? Why did he look like this?

"M-um," Jeremiah was only able to call her in a whisper. He was out of energy. Obianuju placed the back of her palm on his forehead to feel his temperature. It was really high.

"You're sick? You have a fever." She told him. "How can they lock you up here when you're burning hot?" Her voice was trembling. "How did no one notice? Are they trying to get you killed?" She could feel the tears that started to well up in her eyes.

"Mum,"

"What are you doing on the floor?" She asked him. "You should be on your bed now. Come on," Obianuju grabbed on to him, helping him pull himself up from the ground and on his bed. It wasn't difficult, he wasn't exactly heavy. She hurried to the table in front of the huge flat screen and picked up the remote control for the split air conditioners. She turned them both off immediately and hurried back to him. She pulled out a blanket from his bed and wrapped it around his arm, squatting in front of him so she could do it properly.

"I can't believe they let you get like this." She tried to hold back her tears so they didn't fall. "I'm going to get help." She rose her eyes to look at him. "I'm going to ask your father to let you see a doctor okay? You should see a doctor. I'd be right back." She got up to leave when Jeremiah slowly stood up from the bed, dropping the blanket back on the bed.

"Kora," he slid his feet into his slippers immediately. "She's waiting for me." Obianuju refrained from taking another step and turned to him. What was he doing? She watched how Jeremiah staggered down the stairs, heading to the huge glass that demarcated his dressing room from the rest of his room. What was he doing? How on earth was he still able to walk when he looked like that? She narrowed her gaze towards the door and in a few seconds, he walked out of the room with a jacket. "I have to go to her." He started to put it on.

Obianuju hurried to him as fast as she could. Was he going to keep trying to leave the house? To defy his father just because of Kora? How could he leave in his condition? How could Kora be the only thing he was thinking of in the state he was in? Jeremiah stared to hit the door again, totally ignoring the fact that she was making her way to him.

"Open the door." He kept banging. He wasn't done yet. He wasn't going to stop, even if it meant he was going to get all the air in his lungs sucked from him. He was trying to summon all the strength he had left. He always made sure he banged at the door every hour. If he just kept hitting it like that and ordering everyone outside to open it, maybe someone was going to listen. He didn't even have the voice to yell. No one could hear him with the way he spoke weakly. Obianuju grabbed his arm.

"That's enough."

Jeremiah pulled his arm from her immediately, he turned to the door and started to knock again. Obianuju grabbed his arm again, this time, her eyes met his fist. She could see how red they were and how his fingers were bruised from all that knocking. She gasped.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Let go of me!" He snapped at her, pulling his hand away from her again. She was really getting in his way. He eyed her weakly and turned back to the door. He banged on it louder.

"Can't you hear me?" He kept banging. "The moment I'm out of this room, consider all of you dead! Open this door right now!"

"Jeremiah stop!" Obianuju pushed him away from the door. It was a good thing she did, at this rate, it was likely that he could collapse from lack of adrenaline. He had burnt it all on yelling and knocking. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" She wasn't even scared by the way he was glaring at her. She was ready to let him hate her forever for stopping him if it meant he was going to stop hurting himself. "You're not in the state to worry about anyone but yourself. Can't you see that?"

"So what do you want me to do?" He asked her. "Kora needs me! I have to talk to her and make her understand what happened! Am I supposed to just stay here and do nothing!"

"Look at yourself!" She yelled back at him, making sure her voice overshadowed his. "What can you do for yourself or Kora in this state? You look like a walking corpse! Is Kora everything to you? Are you really trying to get yourself killed because of her? What about me? What is going to happen to me if you decide to kill yourself! What can I do when you keep acting like this!"

"Yes," Jeremiah told her. "Kora is everything. She's everything to me, I am nothing without her, my life means nothing without her. I'd rather die than not be with her-"

"Jeremiah!"

"She means the world to me!"

"Jeremiah please!" Obianuju was getting really frustrated and tired of it. Tired of seeing him act the way he did. She was sick of it. "Please stop this madness." She told him, slowly dropping the high pitch in her voice. "If you want to fight for Kora then you should take care of yourself first, take care of your health first. I'm about to die of a heart attack because of you. Should I just die? Would this be over if I just die?"

"Mum." Jeremiah sniffed and hurried to her, he knew there was no need in yelling at her anymore. He just had to talk to her, to make her understand. He grabbed on to her hand quickly. Obianuju rose her gaze to him as she saw a drop of tear fall from his eyes, "Mum please help me." He was crying. "I'm useless here, I need to see Kora. I need to talk to her. I know I can get her to change her mind. I know she's just scared. I have to be there for her, please."

"God, Jeremiah,"

"I'd do anything just-" he shut his eyes for a second. "Help me." His voice broke. "I'm nothing without Kora, I love Kora and I can't lose her. I can't lose someone I care about anymore. I've lost so much. My heart's heavy and it feels like my heart's about to explode. I can't breathe, I'm suffocated and I'm scared I might actually die. Help me Mum please." More tears dropped from his eyes.

Obianuju could feel her heart break into pieces.

"Mum," Jeremiah was literally begging her. "Mum please help me, help me, I can't lose her. I love Kora so much, I can't lose her, I don't want to lose her. Mum please."

Obianuju sniffed.
She couldn't believe she was crying already. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to help him. She was helpless and it broke her heart to see how useless she was to him. She cleaned her eyes quickly and pulled her hands away from his.

"Eat your food. I'll go get a doctor." She hurried to the door.

"Mum," Jeremiah tried to go after her. "Mum please." He had to stop her. Obianuju was the only one on his side at that point. She was the only one that could help him. He couldn't let her leave.

Obianuju knocked on the door immediately.

"Open." She commanded and the lock turned immediately, the door opened.

"Mum!"
It closed back before Jeremiah could reach the door. "Mum!" Jeremiah started to hit the door again as Obianuju rested her back on it, holding on to the neck of her dress as she felt more tears fall from her face. Her heart was torn and felt like it was bleeding every time she heard him hit the door like that and call her name for help. "Mum please, don't do this." Jeremiah's bangs got louder.

She didn't want to help him. She couldn't. She just got a chance to be with him again, this was the only way she could save him. The reason she left him before was so he could be a part of this family, gain power and affluence and never have to worry about anything anymore, she left him so he could get everything she wasn't able to give him and even more. If Benjamin ever found out that she let him go to Kora, he was going to make her leave again and he was going to cut Jeremiah off completely from his legacy. She was useless to him at that point. She sniffed and walked away from the door as fast as she could.

"Mum!"

Jeremiah

My head was banging and my fingers ached from knocking so loudly on the door. Literally, it felt like my entire insides were on fire. I had exhausted myself completely and there was no amount of medicine or drip that the doctor had given me that was going to make me feel better. I had fallen asleep shortly after I got the anesthesia shot to keep me calm. My Dad was going to make sure he did everything to keep me in that room even if it meant forcing me to sleep for over five hours. My rebellion wasn't working. I thought I had done everything I could but nothing worked. He wasn't going to let me leave.

I could hear the splattering sound of rain as it's drops hit my window and glass. It looked like the rain was coming to a stop slowly. How long exactly had it been raining? I tilted so I could lie on my side and look outside through my window. Exhausted was the word, empty too. I couldn't help but wonder how she was doing. If my father hadn't instructed that my phone be taken away from me, I'd have called her a thousand times already. She must have cried a lot. Was she starving herself too like I was? I hoped she wasn't. I could feel my eyes tear up again just thinking about it, just thinking about Kora. The tears in my eyes blurred my vision whenever flash backs of seeing her cry the way she did in front of my father's study crossed my mind. I felt so heartbroken over again. It was all my fault. I shouldn't have let Dad anywhere near her. I should have protected her and not had too much faith in my father. I should not have asked her to go out for lunch with him. I should have just been content and not ask for more. I had forced her into my life and forced her into my family and now she was pushing herself away. Away from me. How on earth was I supposed to even make things right when I couldn't leave my own room? I had to find a way to escape before the wedding.

I wasn't going to let my father put me in a forced marriage with someone I didn't love. I wasn't going to let him do what he wanted. If I could talk to Kora, I could try to make her change her mind. I could fix everything. As long as Kora was not giving up on me, there was no reason why I should give up on her. I couldn't. I let out a shaky breath and then sniffed, feeling as a drop of tear roll down my eyes. I had become so soft and cried a lot since I came back. What was wrong with me?

Click!

I scoffed.
Whoever it was that had walked into my room had better known that I wasn't in the mood for anyone, especially if it were my parents or one of my father's bodyguards. I heard the tiny footsteps approach my bed. I could hear how whoever it was climbed stair by stair towards me. My father's minions and maids never got that close and neither my father nor my mother had that scent. It was only one person that did.

"Wooow." Kingsley let out a loud scoff as he stomped his feet on the ground. It was him, it had to be him. I could recognize that voice from anywhere. I found myself pulling myself up from my bed immediately, groaning when I felt a sharp pain pierce through my skull. Kingsley hurried to me.

"Bro," she squatted in front of me to help me after I let out a groan. "You good?"

I rose my eyes to him for a second and let out a tired sigh. I could even barely keep my focus on him. My eyes and throat still felt so sore.

"How did you get in here?" It was a wonder. My father had made it clear that I wasn't supposed to have any guests. I'm sure Kingsley knew that too, how was he here? How did he pass all that security?

He drew a sharp breath, pretending to think.

"Your mother called me. She let me in as Kodi's guest and Kodi distracted the guards at your door so I could get a free pass."

What?!
I rose my head slowly to him. My mother called Kingsley? How come? It looked like she wasn't going to help me earlier. Not like I could exactly call asking Kingsley to come keep me company 'help'. I didn't need anyone's company, if anything, I needed to be alone. Kora was the only person I needed to see. I looked away.

"You know, when I heard you were grounded, I was shocked to my bones. I never saw it coming. The last time you ever got grounded was after your father's gala and then when Kodi told me what happened-" he paused. "Are you and Kora going to be alright?"

I took a deep breath. That was a question I wasn't sure I had the answers too and I hoped Kingsley wasn't going to push those words out of my mouth. I didn't exactly have enough energy to talk much.

"You know what my brother," he gave me a huge pat on my shoulder and squeezed it, I groaned lightly. "You're in luck today," he got up from my bed and walked to the huge glass, I followed him with my gaze. I watched how a wide smile appeared on his face when he turned back to me.

"How good are your martial arts skills today? Do you think you have any energy left for a fight?

I furrowed my brows. What on earth was he talking about? Why did I have to fight anyone? He rose his phone in the air.

"Back up just arrived." He waved it at me.

Back up?
I started to hear a faint zooming sound from outside my glass and then it started to get louder by the second and a part of me wanted to find out what it was. I found myself getting up quickly from my bed and hurrying to where Kingsley was. I looked outside the window, there was a power bike approaching the house, and it looked like there were two people on it with helmets on.

What the hell-

The fire alarm went off.
I could hear how the entire house had become so noisy all of a sudden and I could hear loud footsteps running down the hallway from my room. It was almost like all of the guards were running towards a particular direction.

"That's our cue." Kingsley hurried back to the bed. I watched how the guards were running to the backyard. Was that where the fire alarm went off at? Was my Mum responsible for this too? I could see how some guards stayed behind. About two of them, approaching those on the bike. They took off their helmets slowly, raising their hands in the air as the men walked closer to them.

Sadiq and Luke?
What on earth were they even doing here?

"Well?" I heard Kingsley call from behind me. I turned quickly. I was still in shock from everything that was happening. "Are we going to help get you out of here or not?"

They were going to help me escape. I watched Kingsley for a while, I wasn't surprised anyway, I always knew Kingsley had by back but never did I ever imagine the day when the illegitimate son of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, and the ex boyfriend of my girlfriend would barge into my house, uninvited with a motor bike to help me escape and probably fight my father's guards so I could go be with my girl. It was like we were casts in a really cool action movie. Enough thinking. I didn't have that luxury.

I found strength again and hurried to the door.
"God, my Dad's going to kill me." I heard Kingsley say as we rushed out of the room.

Kingsley peeped outside first to be sure there weren't any guards left around the door or the stairs while I waited behind the door. He slowly turned to me and nodded. Looked like the coast was clear. This was where we had to make our move before the guards found out that they had been played and started to hurry back to us. I rushed down the stairs side by side with Kingsley, hiding at any corner we could find when we saw guards running from their posts to the front door. The fire alarm was still so loud. I tired so hard to be as discreet as I could, we both did.

Getting to the front door was easier than I thought. The guards were busy running to put out a fire that didn't even notice that I was trying to escape. Kingsley and I froze when we got to the front door. I could see Sadiq and Luke with their hands in the air while they were being interrogated by the two guards in front of them. They had been trying to buy time. Luke was the first to notice us standing there while Sadiq was going on and on about his bike. He was saying a whole of things that didn't make sense just to distract the men, so typical of him. He was always the talker. Good thing he was making good use of it now. Luke gave him a slight push on his side, gesturing to us. The men must have noticed since they turned too.

We were bursted.