SILVER LININGS (Christian Romance)

11

The doctor removed the thermometer from Junior and studied it carefully, then he turned to Jane and nodded. "Your son is stable now. Very stable."

Jane rubbed her hands against themselves and smiled in relief, she gave Phoebe a gentle squeeze. "Thank you doc," she whispered.

The doctor kept a straight face. "You should be careful next time, he was nearly convulsing when he was brought here." he scolded.

Jane nodded and pressed her lips into a fine line.

The doctor turned to Junior and tapped the tip of his finger playfully and junior smiled weakly. "Little man, how are you doing?" he asked with a smile.

"fine sir,"

He averted his gaze to her. "He will be discharged tomorrow," the doctor said. "He's fine. What he needs now is rest, his drugs, plenty water, fruits and vegetables. Gotten?"

"Yes doc," Jane responded, nodding her head.

The doctor walked out of the room and Jane sat down with a satisfied smile in her face.

She plopped her legs under the bed and turned to Phoebe. "I never knew malaria was this serious."

"It is. It killed my uncle," Phoebe gave a quick response, "Man was sick but did not treat it but kept taking paracetamol to deaden the fever pain, when the malaria had accumulated, it killed him."

"That's sad."

"No sickness is too small. The problem is that we Nigerians joke with our health so much and it's bad."

"True," Jane agreed.

Phoebe checked her phone. "I may be going soon, I want to go home to cook."

Jane stood up abruptly. "Yiu have tried for me but please can you stay with him for about twenty minutes more, I want to quickly get fruits and buy food for Junior outside."

Phoebe shrugged. "Okay,"

Jane hurried out of the room and down the stairs. She was at the visitor's area when she spotted Derek coming out of one of the rooms.

They stopped when their eyes met. He smiled and began to walk towards her.

She gazed at his approaching form, his gaits were slow but composed, her eyes trailed his arm and she discovered that the bandage had been redressed.

"Jane," he whispered. "I didn't see you leave."

She stared at him, noticing his full brows and how dark they were compared to his light skin. Derek was not too light skinned, his complexion was close to that of an anthill.

Jane kept mum, at loss for words.

"How's your son doing?" he asked.

She smiled, grateful for the change in direction of the question.

"He's fine," Jane replied with a smile. "Upstairs." she gesticulated with her hands, pointing upwards.

Derek quirked a brow. "Mind if I see him?"

She glanced at him with a narrowed gaze."Yes. Are you sure?"

He shrugged. "Of course, I'm here and he's upstairs. I might as well see him or what do you think?"

"Okay," she said. "Come with me."

Jane led the way and he followed, she climbed the stairs briskly and held the railing as she walked. Derek followed closely behind her.

While her hands trailed the railings, he gazed at her fingers, scanning it for a wedding ring but saw none. He wondered why she didn't wear one.

Junior laid on the hospital bed when they came in, the syringe of an intravenous saline drip was infused into his vein and a lady was seated by his side. His eyes were closed and his chest rose and fell as he breathed.