By the time Brian dropped me off, it was really late and mom was already asleep so I tiptoed upstairs in order not to wake her because I know she's a light sleeper. Once I'm in my room, I take off my heels and massage my feet on the rug.
I don't even get out of my dress before immediately picking up my phone to call Tomi.

After Brian invited me to the party on Thursday, I told Tomi and she was all for it, making me promise to call her when I came back.

Since it's 1:27 in the morning, I'm sure she's asleep so it's not a surprise she answers on the fourth ring.

"Hey lovebird, how'd it go?" I scrunch up my nose at the name she just called me.

"Lovebird?"

"Yeah that's what I said." She says and I can hear her yawn loudly obviously not bothered about my discomfort.

"We're not a thing." I huff trying to defend myself.

"Whatever you say, but I know a couple when I see one or rather hear one because I haven't officially met him." She chuckles and I just roll my eyes.

"You're just really dramatic."

"I am not and don't leverage on this to change the topic. I asked a question earlier, how did it go?" Too happy to pick offence at her snarky comment, I sink into my bed and smile dreamily.

"It was wonderful, the best night of my life Tomi." I sigh, taking a lock of my hair and twirling it around my finger.

"Fill me in girl!!" She screeches.

"The party was to celebrate the twentieth year anniversary of his company and it was absolutely lovely." I twirl my hair round my finger further. "I didn't know that he was the managing director."

"Are you serious?" She shrieks and I wince.

"Okay Tomi you've gotta stop doing that!" I massage my ear trying to get rid of the ringing sound caused by Tomi's high pitch.

"I'm sorry but I was just surprised that's all." I nodd and smile remembering how I had reacted almost the same way when he told me; only I didn't scream his ear off!

"I know right, I was also surprised." I chuckle.

"He's quite humble." She adds.

"I said about the same thing too and he shocked me with his answer." I flip onto my front and prop up my torso with my elbows.
"He said that he'll always help a friend in need because God blessed him as the managing director not for himself but to bless others. I mean who does that." I tried to sound carefree but inside was a totally different story.

"Christians." She says flatly. "Only Christians do that."

For the first time in years, I agree with her.

I ran through my memory for every genuinely kind hearted, affectionate and lovely person I had ever met.
Dad, Mom, Tomi, Max, Aunt Talia, Uncle Tom, Sam, Mr. Blake, Cecilia, Stella, Mr. Stanford, the preacher on television, the brown eyed old lady in the ambulance, and Brian.

They were all Christians.

How come I never noticed? I've been surrounded by only the best people in the world and they were all Christians.

Oh dear.

I have been blinded so much by rage, hatred and anger that I couldn't see.
I had willingly forgotten all the years I spent in church, the few years I spent learning the word with my dad because I was hurting.

I need a life; a real life.

"Maya are you still there?" Tomi's voice rings through the speaker in a worried tone and I blink, just realizing she had been calling my name.

"Y.. Yeah, yeah, I'm here." I stutter.

"You just zoned out on me there."

"I'm sorry, I was just distracted."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay, so anything else?"

"Yeah, at the party, I met his boss who owns the company and is also a Christian. Funny right, because on the menu there were only alcohol free drinks available so I had to choose one for the toast."

"Oh my dear Lord!!" Tomi chortles and I don't have a hard time imagining her rolling off her bed while laughing. If there's one person who laughs like an animal, it's Tomi. "That is so lit. I already love them. Is he married with kids?"

"Yeah, his adult kids you mean. They manage the company along with Brian, I met them too. Wonderful people I must say." I purposely leave out the part that Danielle absolutely looked like a goddess. Don't know why though, I just do.

"Oh that's even better. I would so love to meet them one day. I need more juice, feed me more." She snickers mischievously and I shake my head.
If Tomi wasn't a Christian, she would be a professional gossip.

"We also waltzed and I thank goodness I didn't embarrass myself."

"Oh my God, that's so beautiful." She gasps dramatically.

"Yeah it was." I smiled and continued. "After all that, dessert was to be served but I didn't feel like it so Brian offered to get some fresh air outside. We began talking about a lot of things. I got to know that his boss is more like a second father to him and his two children like his own siblings. They grew up together after his father died." I narrate and Tomi goes quiet.

There was suddenly a heavy silence hovering between the phone lines as I dropped that last sentence.

"You told him didn't you." She spoke up breaking the silence.

"Yes I did." I sigh defeatedly and run a hand through my hair.

"I'm proud of you." She says softly.

"You're not mad?"

"I don't get it. Why would I be mad? You've finally overcome your fears and let it out." She answers innocently, no hint of anger in her voice and I sigh in relief.

"Maybe because I have never really told you and you are my best friend?"

"Nah, I figured you'd tell me when you were ready. I was more concerned about your letting it out than making sure it was me you let it out to."

"What would I have done with my life if I didn't meet you Tomi?" I sigh, feeling tears prickle my eyes.

"Really bad things, I presume. That's why God sent me to you."

"Yeah, I suppose he did." I laugh softly.

"So it's a good night then?"

"What makes you think I don't have more to fill you in on?"

"We've been friends for over two decades, you really think I don't know you that well?"

"Alright you got me, that is all." I laugh.

"I'm really happy for you, I'm glad you had a great time."

"Yeah, bye?"

"I love you." She chirps.

"I love you too." With that, I end the call and let my hand drop unto the bed, my phone bouncing off towards the pillow on the other end of the bed.

I get up, take off my dress and have a shower before surrendering to the drowsiness in my eyes.

I think I'll call off work today because I most probably won't get up early.

                          ※※

"Stella, take her hand, I'll hold her waist." I grunt as the both of us combine our strength to hoist mom up. Finally, we get her seated in the wheelchair.

"Thanks." I gasp out of breath as Stella rolls her towards the door.

"You pay me to do this Maya."

"Yeah but not enough because you insist."

"That is a decision I made personally, it had nothing to do with you." She laughs over her shoulder and pushes open the door with the hand that isn't guiding the wheelchair.

"My offer still stands." I follow them out and shut the door behind me.

"I'm still not taking it!"

"You're so stubborn." I mutter under my breath but obviously she heard me.

"I wonder who's more stubborn, the one refusing to take unnecessary ridiculous pay or the one offering it." She winks at me and I roll my eyes.
I open my mouth to give a comeback but mom cuts in.

"You two stop bickering." She laughs and my mouth stays open midway. I scowl at Stella who is busy snickering away. "Are we going to the hospital or not?"

"Yes mom, we are." I sigh and unlock the kitchen door as Stella pushes mom out unto the pavement.
When mom isn't looking, Stella turns and winks mischievously at me and I immediately stick out my tongue not before pressing my two fingers to my nose under my eyes and pointing them at her. She just laughs and wheels mom towards my car parked under the canopy beside mom's Toyota Lexus.

"No we're using mom's car." I point to mom's car and unlock it with the smart key as Stella pulls open the doors and helps mom in.
I get in the driver's seat and shut the door behind me, starting up the car.

"Be careful." She waves as Mr. Ranch opens up the gates and I drive out.

Even though I'm a doctor and have my own hospital where I work, I take mom back to the original hospital where she was admitted because it'd be easier to follow up on her there.

                          ※※

"Miss Solana, I really don't know what happened but she is recovering fast. As you can see, her face is back to normal and her speech is perfect. At this rate, she would be walking in a week's time."

"You're sure there's nothing wrong that might ensue later on due to this unusual recovery?" I prodded the doctor in charge of mom's medical reports further.

"Not that I know of. The results of the test don't report any anticipated side effects." He peered at me from above the rim of his glasses.

My chest heaved up and down in my attempt to keep my calm.

My mom is healed!! I can't believe it, my mom is truly healed!!

I shook the doctor's hand excitedly and turned to leave, immediately rushing over to where mom was asked to wait.

Once I met up with her, I bent down and wrapped my arms tightly around her neck. She raised up her hands too and stroked my hair.

"I love you mom."

"I love you too honey. God is faithful my dear." She said and I nodded, totally agreeing that God had truly answered her prayer.

The doctor prescribed a few more antibiotics for mom before we left for home.
To celebrate, I bought a cake and a few bowls of ice cream from a nearby supermarket.
At home, Stella, mom and I celebrated mom's recovery with the cake and ice cream before sitting down together to watch some Netflix movies on my Macbook.

Later that afternoon, I had to report at work because there was a major emergency and I had to attend to it because Veronica traveled out and Derek was busy with another patient.
The day went by very well but was filled with numerous thoughts swirling around in my head. The most demanding of them all were Brian's words,

"He loves you Maya..."

Strangely, deep, deep down I felt so too, I sighed.

I've just been so confused lately.

I arranged the files that were scattered all over my desk into the lower drawer and locked it with my key.
Just then, my phone began to buzz in my lab coat pocket and I pulled it out.
Brian's name flashed across the screen and I smiled, swiping the answering button and pressing the phone to my ear.

"Hey." I chirped.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine." I kept smiling until my cheeks began to hurt.

"That's great. Your mom, is she alright? What did the doctors say?"

"She's perfectly fine. At the rate in which she's healing, she might be walking in a weeks time Brian. I'm so excited!" I all but screamed.

"That's beautiful Maya, I'm really happy for you, thank God she's alright. Say hi to her for me will you?"

"I will."

"Say, do you mind coming with me to church tomorrow?"
I tensed up once the words left his lips but relaxed again when I remembered all that had happened this week.
Even if I may not want to believe it, he kept his word and healed baby Sophie.
He answered the prayer Tomi offered to him that day when mom was still unconscious.
He answered mom's prayer and healed her miraculously.

I'm smiling today because of him..... I think.
Maybe just one church service; it won't do any harm.

At least I owe him that much.

"Yeah, I'd love to."

"Wonderful, wonderful, I'll pick you up at 8:00 am?"

"I'll be waiting." I giggle.

"Sure you will." His chuckeld in his ever handsome baritone. I could listen to that sound all day. "Bye, see you tomorrow."

"Bye!" Our call disconnected and I stuffed my phone back into my coat pocket.

Mom and Tomi are going to be overjoyed when they hear this.

Maya is going to church. That's something to write home about.

Yup, I'm updating earlier than usual and it's on purpose.
Firstly, I'm trying to round up The Illuminant before the year runs out so I decided to try and speed up the updates to about twice a week.
Unfortunately, so far it hasn't been going so smoothly, I could only speed up to one day before Saturday which means I won't be able to post another chapter this week.
I'll still try to speed up as much as I can in the future but I'm not making any promises; as you can see, it didn't work out this week.

Enough of all that complaining now, I have a treat for you my lovely readers 🤗.
I couldn't post the cast of The Illuminant earlier because I didn't know where to get copyright free images.
Fortunately for me, I stumbled on a site where I could get such images for free and I have the visual cast of The Illuminant ready and set.
Since I can't post a new chapter this week, I'll be posting that instead. Isn't that great 🤗
Yeah I bet it is.

One more thing though; I really want to thank my most supportive reader so far @bridgetaba. She has voted on basically every chapter of The Illuminant and she dropped a very sweet comment here on the Illuminant and on my Instagram page.
This really means a lot to me @bridgetaba, thank you ❤❤❤❤

Here's my Instagram page if you want to check me out @owanta_chinwe.

Don't forget to vote, vote, vote and comment on your favorite characters or incidents. I love to hear from you 😊.

Goodbye for now my wonderful readers,

Chinwe_epistle ❤