SILVER LININGS (Christian Romance)

12

The days swiftly flew, it had been three days since Junior was discharged from the hospital.

Phoebe sat on the plastic chair adjacent Jane and crossed her legs, her eyes beamed. “I got a job with a law firm.”

Jane stared at her in surprise. “When, how?”

“I couldn't believe it too,” Phoebe nearly screamed. “When I received the mail that I'd been picked for the interview, I thought it was a scam until I decided to go. The interview turned out to be real and today, I was employed.”

“This is great news, we should celebrate this.” Jane screamed and hugged her.

“We will,” Phoebe winked.

“I am so happy for you sis.”

The next day, Jane took a bus that headed for Mile One market, she wanted to buy some foodstuffs.

She settled on the squeaky seat of the bus. The smell of damp and sweat from a man's clothes pervaded her breathing space. She held her breath and let her head rest on the front seat's arm, that way, the smell would reduce.

It was one of the problems public buses came with. Sometimes, one got lucky and sat with people with zero bad breath and body odour while other days turned out to be just so unlucky –like today.

Moments later, a man, who was supposedly a preacher cleared his throat and burst into a gospel song, she cringed and frowned.

When he was done singing, he opened his bible and began to read from John Chapter three and verse sixteen. It was a popular scripture and it made Jane cringed again.
She rolled her eyes, she had heard it numerous times but failed to see any truth in it.

Jane plugged her earphones and increased the volume. Bob Marley was playing. She relaxed and bent her head. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the music.

The preacher was a man supposedly in his forties. He wore a white shirt and a black tire which accentuated the black trousers he wore. There were strands of white hair on his head and he held a black medium sized King James Bible in his hand.

As the bus neared her destination, the preacher prayed and began to share some tracts. She knew this because his lips had stopped moving.

The man stretched his hands to give a gospel tract to her but she shook her head, indicating she did not want to collect.

The man retrieved his hand but forced a smile. “Jesus loves you,”

When the bus arrived at the market, she alighted and walked towards the driver's seat, she stretched a hundred naira note to the him.

The driver shook his head. “This Oga don pay for you.”

Jane peered slowly and found Derek seated, he smiled and alighted from the bus. Her eyes widened.
He had been seated at the front, probably viewing her from the front mirror and she didn't know.

Derek opened the door and alighted.

“Hello,” he greeted with a smile. “We meet again,”

“I didn't know you were in,” she stated.

“How is Junior?” he asked.

“He's fine,” she replied. “What are you doing here?”

He furrowed his brows and looked around. “This is a market Jane, what do people come to the market to do?” he asked.

He looked at her, she was dressed in a maxi gown and she tied a scarf over her head. She held a folded small sack in her left hand.

He smiled. “You look like a real market woman,”