Dedicated to _mothawriter_❤❤

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The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? --Psalms 27:1 (KJV)

Life was definitely filled with varying degrees of ups and downs. Sometimes, you even feel yourself floating midway because you just can't seem to find a place for yourself.

And that was exactly how Posi felt at the moment. She felt like she was floating midway between up, happy about the reconciliation between herself and her mum, and down, wondering just why this piece of cruel information had to come now.

She was seated on the floor. Her face awash with tears. She didn't know what to feel. Why was this happening to her? Why now?

"Ayomiposi darling. Did you sleep well? I tried to wake you earlier so you would eat but you wouldn't budge. Posi?" Her mum's sweet voice called to her.

"When were you planning on telling me, mum? Was that why you have been calling me? Why did you wait for so long?" Posi asked as soon as she could form a coherent sentence. However, looking at her mum's reactions, one would think she was just rambling nonsense. And her mum asked her as much.

"What are you talking about, Ayomiposi? What didn't I tell you?" Her mum looked genuinely confused.

Pushing her right hand which held all the pamphlets towards her mum, Posi screamed. "This, mum! This!"

Then, she dissolved into another round of sobs. God seemed to be testing her faith in Him. But wasn't it too early to start teaching her patience through trials? She was still a new believer. Why was He doing this to her?

Abba, this can't be happening.

Still lost in her weeping, she was startled when she heard her mum chuckle. Her head swung up to meet her mum and another wave of anger washed over her.

"This isn't funny, mum. Not funny at all. You don't care how I feel at all. You never have. And I don't know why I bother." She made to pick up her bag and wear her shoes as her mum trailed after her, telling her to wait.

"What, mum?"

"First, it gladdens my heart that you're calling me mum so lovingly. I'm so happy. But what you're thinking is not happening."

Posi scrunched up her face as she repeated what her mum just said. What I'm thinking isn't what's happening.

"So, what's happening then? Or you dying isn't an important thing?"

"That's just it. I'm not dying."

"But you said you had three months and then I saw the pamphlets and you showed up in Lagos suddenly and this is just too much to t--"

"Yes, I have three months left before I have to renew my passport. And I have the pamphlets because I visited an old friend whose son is an oncologist. I'm an executive in a women's organization that wants to invite him to speak at an upcoming program we have. And he insisted I collect all the pamphlets. I had even forgotten about them till I saw them in your hands."

Posi could see that her mum was doing her best to hold in her laughter but she was doing a bad job. She sunk into the chair closest to her and hung her head at her kangaroo-like long jumps into conclusion.

"I'm sorry," she muttered contritely.

"I'm sorry too. For scaring you."

Smiling toothlessly at each other, Posi hugged her mum.

Posi sat up in her seat. She fiddled with her fingers before she said the words that needed to be spoken. "I forgive you, mum. It took me a while to see myself the way God sees me but I gave it all over to Him. And He has been teaching me."

With tears glistening in her eyes, Posi's mum held onto her hands again. "Thank you for forgiving me. And I'm glad you are now His."

This was another step towards letting go of the past. It may not be so easy to forget those hurtful words but she was so sure that all those will fade away from her memory and she will be able to smile about it later.

There were other things they needed to talk about and as soon as her mum placed an order for dinner to be sent up to her room, they conversed as they waited for food. Posi told her about her friends, her work at her studio, how she got saved and on and on. And her mum spoke about her business, how she has been living alone, her church.

Then her phone rang.

Tayo was calling. And her notifications showed that he had been calling for the past few minutes. She had a lot of missed calls from him. She cleared her throat and adjusted herself in her seat forgetting that he couldn't see her.

********

"Hello, Posi."

"Hello, Tayo." She had such a beautiful voice but it sounded deeper than usual.

"Thank God you picked. Are you okay? You dropped the call abruptly and I got worried."

Tayo knew he sounded frantic but he couldn't hide it. In the last few minutes, he had felt like the walls were closing in in him. He hadn't wanted to remember but his mind had been adamant on replaying the doctor's voice who had brought the news of his wife's death to him.

"Is everything alright? Are you safe?"

"Yes yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry for abruptly dropping the call the other time."

"Okay. Okay. I'm so glad to hear you're fine." He truly was.

Tayo moved from his position against the wall towards the nearest sofa to him before sinking into it. He felt all the anxiety drain off him.

"How are you too?"

"I'm good. So how's your day been?"

"It's been fine. Going quite smoothly. Yeah, so about picking up your frames tomorrow. I won't be available because my mum's in town. But if you don't mind, I could get my assistant to get them to you."

"Oh, that's alright. Family is important. Don't worry about it. I can always come pick them up during the week or at another convenient time."

"Urm, okay. I'm so sorry for the change in plans."

"Ah, no. It's fine really. So, let me leave you to enjoy your mum's visit."

"Yeah, thanks. Have a great night rest."

"Alright. You too. Bye."

Although he had been looking forward to seeing her, he was just glad that she was fine. The fear he had felt when she dropped the call and didn't answer his subsequent calls had been palpable. He had prayed in tongues under his breath. He couldn't even manage words at that time. He had even begun to beat himself up over not having Funmi or Gerald's phone numbers.

I'd have to find a way to get their numbers.

He had felt pure elation when he finally heard her voice. Just knowing she was okay was enough for him.

If anything had happened to her...

"No," he muttered as he shook his head as if to throw the thought out of his head.

Besides, wasn't it too early in their friendship for him to be worrying this much about her? They were just friends. He wanted nothing more but friendship. Right?

Pulling back his thoughts from the journey it was about to embark on, Tayo sighed and truly relaxed since his phone call to Posi.

Right now, he needed to call GP as evidenced by his very tearful phone conversation with Tutu. Apparently, herself and GP had spoken. And according to her, she had thought he was finally going to ask her to be his girlfriend or something along that line. But after he had said he liked her and all, he said he wasn't sure he was the one for her. He hadn't given her any other reason apart from their genotype which was AS. And had concluded that they should just be friends.

Tayo wasn't happy because nobody made his sister cry, not even his friend. And he had a feeling that GP had other reasons for "breaking" his sister's heart.

He had better have other reasons.

Time to intervene. He picked his phone and called GP.

"Hello, bro. I have been expecting your call. How are you?"

"Hello. Good for you. I'm not fine. What is this I hear? Care to explain yourself?"

At least, he could listen to him first before he picked what method he'd use to deal with him for making his precious sister cry.

******

"So," Posi's mum said. If Posi didn't have her pair of glasses on, she would have thought her mum was also wriggling her eyebrows in the exact way Funmi did.

"What is that, ma?" Posi stabbed a piece of dodo (fried plantain) as she stared at her mum quizzically.

"The young man on the phone. Change in plans. Need I say more?" Posi was sure now. Her mum was definitely wriggling her brows.

"Oh my, mum. You're almost as bad as Funmi. It's nothing. Tayo is just a friend I met recently and we had planned to meet tomorrow so I can give him his photo frames."

"Just a friend. Hmm. If you say so," she said, shrugging.

Posi was dumbfounded. How could she have heard only that in all she had said?

"You used me as an escape but I'll be leaving on Monday. So you can call him back now and tell him you guys will hang out on Monday evening." And then, she wriggled her brows some more.

"Oh my goodness, mum! I never said we were hanging out o. I said I have a job to deliver. And why are you leaving so soon now?"

"I have to return as planned because of some commitments I made. But I'll plan a longer visit next time."

"And you will stay with me." Posi paused. "In fact, we will go to my place tomorrow morning. Yes, that's what we'll do."

"Yes, Your Ladyship."

"Well, I seem to have royalty in me as Funmi also calls me 'Her Royal Highness' sometimes. Who am I to deny what everyone sees in me?" Posi said as she dusted off invisible lint off her shoulders.

The two giggled.

She truly felt what God was doing. Yes, she wouldn't have thought the reconciliation would happen so fast. She knew there were still things to consider and talk about with her mum. But for now, they will hold on on those.

Mrs Faleye was truly excited and it was great to see Posi talking freely with her and even scared about her dying.

She needed to talk to her about her father though. She was about to mention him when Posi's phone rang.

Maybe this is a sign that I should hold off speaking about her father.

This Posi's Tayo definitely meant more than her daughter was saying. Posi called him "just a friend", but she had seen the difference in her demeanour the moment she picked up her phone.

I'll probably have a son soon. A son that my daughter who is more than many sons will introduce me too.

With a matchmaking glint in her eyes, she said a short prayer before she smiled at her daughter's enthusiastic storytelling about her besties.