"You decided to gain a little meat, huh?”
This was the third time someone
felt the need to comment about her weight. That was what made her not ignore
Collins because he can be an asshole when he wants to. Her neighbor’s kid had
called her fat and when she went to pick her favorite burger at Bob’s, one of
the waiter had commented about how ‘siku hizi anakula mali yake’. Being called
fat felt horrible and she found herself answering Collins back.
“Is any meat missing from your
fridge? Do you need me to refund any meat you have ever bought for me? Why
don’t you work on the meat in your pants first before feeling the need to talk
about my weight?”
The moment everyone in the
kitchen gasped is the moment she knew that she had fucked up. Nobody talks back
to Collins. He had an ego so big, he had made a few people lose their jobs just
to feed it. Not even an apology would save this situation. She suddenly felt
nauseous and that her world was getting dark. The last thing she remembers was
Collins hissing:
“You pretentious bitch”
She woke up and found herself in
a hospital with Steve seated next to her and Dr. Musyoki holding her head.
“What are you doing here?”
“I will answer that after you
tell me why your colleagues preferred to call me and how they got my number. I
am not complaining though.”
“Shit. Are you also going to call
me fat? Is that the reason why I am here?”
“Who called you fat? I love you
Rael. You know what I am risking just being here. I do not care whether you are
fat or not.”
“So I am fat. I also don’t want
trouble with your wife please. Kindly call Sandra, then leave me alone.”
“Rael, one of the side effects of
the medication I gave you to fight depression and anxiety is weight gain. Let
us focus on making you feel better”
She made a mental note to throw
away the medication when she goes back home. Rael could not shake her mind off
her altercation with Collins and the fact that she needed to make things right
with him. Just as she was picking her phone to text Collins, an email from HR
came in. She had been taken off all her high profile clients and given clients
that would normally be assigned to an intern. The email also indicated that her
salary would be reviewed downwards now that her responsibility had reduced.
This, according to the email, was to let her recuperate in an environment with less
pressure. The changes were to take effect immediately.
“That son of a bitch!”
“Might you be talking about me”
“Get over yourself Steve, and get
out of this room….you too Doctor Musyoki. I need to be alone”
“We respect you. Come to my
office Steve. Let her rest”
Collins was on a mission to make
her life miserable and touching her salary was sure going to hit her hard. She
had taken a loan for the doctor; she had her bills to pay and was paying for
the medication of her sick dad. She actually needed to call home. Her mum had
tried to call her severally the previous day but she did not pick up. Phone
calls made her very nervous. It is for the same reason that her phone was
currently off. In as much as she needed Steve to leave her alone, he was now
the only person who could rescue her financial situation. Her mind felt like a
whirlwind. So much going on including the image of her being very fat. She had
never been called fat and she did not think she was. Right as she was in the
middle of her thoughts, Sandra walked in.
“Where the hell is your phone
hun? You have scared the hell out of me and so just you know, your mother is on
a Transline from Kisii on her way here. Why are you like this Rael? What
happened?”
“Hi to you too Sandra. Can you
call the doctor? I need to sleep and escape this madness. I have a bad
headache.”
“I am sorry hun. I know that you
are sick. We are just worried about you. Let me call the doctor.”
Rael was off for a couple of hours and by the time she
woke up, she felt so much better and her mother was right besides her. The
doctor had diagnosed her with severe depression and her brain kept shutting
down hence the loss of consciousness. He recommended that she be admitted for a
while and when discharged he recommended that she be with someone very close
with her.
“Nitampeleka Kisii”
“Mum, si lazima. I have a job I
need to take care off remember?”
“You need to be okay first Rael.
I would also recommend that you go far away from Nairobi for a while. It will
help you heal faster.”
“How soon can I get discharged?”
“Two to three days should be
enough”
“Let us do two”
“Okay Dr. Rael”
She switched on her phone to
check whether Collins had accepted her apology. He had not neither had he
acknowledged the text. That man thought he was a god or something. She decided
that she was the last person he was going to bully around. She had to do
something. That man had messed with her source of income and he was going to
pay. She had tones of emails from her clients. The problem with the clients she
had been given was that they had micro influencers and that meant dealing with
very many influencers and it was exhausting. Just as she was finishing up her
last email, her mother walked in. She was a very beautiful woman. Her parents
had been married for more than 35 years and a lot of people assumed that her
mum was Kisii because she spoke Ekegusii fluently but she was in fact a Taita.
She had met her dad while in high school. Her mum schooled with her dad’s
sister, Aunty Kate, in the same high school and they were best friends. Her dad
had come to visit Aunty Kate, met her mum and the rest as they say, is history.
They got married as soon as she completed high school and she immediately fell
pregnant with her first born sister who was now in Canada married and rarely
wanted anything to do with the family. Story for another day. As her mother sat
beside her she noticed that she had lost a lot of weight and she was looking so
frail.
“Mama, why have you lost so much
weight? Are you not eating?”
“I eat but those medicines are
eating me up. It’s like I don’t eat anything”
“Medicines? I thought daddy was
the sick one and the one on medication?”
“Obee! Your dad has never told
you? Why do you think your sister does not want anything to do with us? He
probably did not tell you because he thought you are not his child.”
“What the hell are you trying to
say mama?”
“We had our share of troubles as
a couple after we got married. Your father used to drink a lot and was rarely
at home. He also cheated on me a lot of times and out of frustration and
loneliness, I started to cheat as well. The unfortunate thing is that one of
the men I was with had HIV. I got infected and I infected your dad as well. I
had to confess and things have never been the same again. You kids can hardly
pick it up because we hide it so well.”
“Oh my God! But you said sissy
knows. Why am I knowing of this now? How did Prisilla know?
“You know they are close with
your dad. Once when you were young, your dad came back home drunk, we had a
fight in front of your sister and he told her that her mother was a whore and
had infected him with HIV. Your sister has never forgotten that and she hates
me. Prisilla my own daughter hates me.”
“Why does daddy doubt that I am
his daughter?”
“Infidelity kills trust and as much
as he was cheating and even continued to cheat after catching me, he kept
saying that I must have started cheating way back then and apart from Prisilla,
he doubted that the kids were his. I thought you knew Rael even as you sent
money for medication. Singekuambia if I knew you did not know”
“Am I dad’s kid?”
“Of course you are”
All this was too much for Rael to
process. Her parents were the perfect couple. They were church elders at their
local SDA church. Their marriage was the standard of how she wanted her
marriage to be. What her mother was telling her was not true. She had to be
imagining things. She suddenly felt dizzy and all around her was pitch black.
Do you have thoughts, questions, or personal insights about this week’s adventure? Rael loves hearing from her fans and is eager to see your reactions and responses! Reach out to her directly at: raelendears@gmail.com. Stay tuned and be part of Rael's journey every week.
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