PECULIAR CASE

So he didn't reply my chats? Okay ooooo. I won't call or chat till he does. That's  how the first day went by with no word from him. The second day went, still no word from him.She was so furious, she further resolved  to keep the silence for as long as he was silent. By the third day, the voice of reason spoke to her, "are you keeping malice?"
"NO!"
"Did you fight? "
No
"Was there a pending issue ...?"
This time around she took her time to skim through their last conversations before responding to the voice. No friction! No fight! Nothing! No argument. .

Her Last "NO" was barely audible. Apprehension set in. What if? Hah,..
He has never stayed this long without at least a WhatsApp message. She began to worry and by midday, placed a call to him.He picked on the second ring.  He sounded very weak and his voice was croaky.

"Hian! What's wrong with you?"  She asked
He coughed before responding. "Had an accident"
Her heart stopped beating  "How? When?"
"Three days ago"

Ewoo! She lamented.. Regretting her decision and silence immediately. She held herself together for his sake..
"Why wasn't I Informed?" She whispered. This time around a few tear drops escaped..
" you didn't answer your calls"
She couldn't hold back the tears now. "What if.."  kept playing in her head.

"But you didn't call me.."
"The nurse did" he replied, "several times but.." he coughed again..
"I don't pick unknown numbers" she concluded, allowing the tears to flow freely this time around.

She was the last person he spoke with before the accident.
They'd agreed on when he would come over to see her parents along with his older brother to discuss on how to move their relationship forward and they were both excited. They had been courting for two years, and the timing just felt right for them to settle down.
When they hung up, he stood up to leave the restaurant where he'd gone in to get a cold drink and ended up staying for almost an hour talking with her. His phone beeped indicating a message.

When he checked the notification bar and saw that it was she who had sent it, he opened it to read and the next thing an on coming vehicle whose break had failed lost control and ran into him. He didn't even hear the warning shouts because he was unlocking his phone to read her message. His phone fell and the screen and body shattered.
By the time he came to 12 hours later, the person on his mind was Grace. But his phone was condemned. A male nurse agreed to help him contact Grace. He called out her number for the male nurse.

Grace on the other hand never picks calls from unknown numbers so she ignored the calls. The nurse tried for two days and stopped, he even offered to put Alex sim in his phone, a dual sim phone, incase Grace calls but she never did. He ordered for a phone and got it by the third day. He'd barely finished setting it up when her call came through.
She couldn't control the tears when the male nurse took the phone from him and told her all that happened.

"How's he doing? " she asked
"A few broken ribs. He was badly hit but he'll be okay."
 She couldn't thank God enough. She didn't even want to imagine how bad it could have been.
She kept telling herself it could have been worse.. And all because she allowed someone influence her thinking. .
"Thank you " she said to the nurse and hung up.

Her friends insist a man must call you morning and evening, chat you up in between at intervals during the day to show he cares. But Alex has always disagreed with that because his schedule is tight. He leaves his house latest 7:am and gets home earliest 9:30/10 pm. By then he's exhausted. All he wants to do at such times is to eat whatever he finds in his kitchen, take a bath and sleep.
"So where is the time to call you morning and evening? And to talk for hours?" He asked her
"You want me to break down then"?
She saw reason most times but there were days she didn't.

To be fair to him, when he's free, he  calls her and They could talk for hours. Sometimes They even continue with WhatsApp messaging. His type of work demands his undivided attention, so chatting at intervals or making calls in between could cause accidents /injury or even death. As a facility  engineer, once he's working, he gives it his undivided attention.

She has never doubted his love it's just that.. God, she wept as she picked a few things and headed to the train station to go to him.
 She kept thanking God it wasn't more. A few broken ribs she was told. He'll be out of the hospital in no time.
The accident has shown her how a little distraction while at work could actually cost his life.
She's okay with him reaching out to her when he's free. If she has anything important, she would send a message which He usually replied to as soon as he's able to.

"Never again will i use people's opinion as a yardstick for our relationship. I'll do what works for us. Our case is peculiar", she told herself.
"So also is the case of everyone".

That was her conclusion as the train came to a halt in her destination.


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