"His name is Adams, Ma. He's the one who paid Safiya's hospital bills. He saved her life. He is a good man."
Mina's mother's face tightened. She dropped the gift basket back onto the table with a definitive thud. "A man who pays the bills for a woman he does not know is not just a 'good man,' Mina. He is a man with an agenda. What does he want?"
"He wants nothing!" Mina insisted, her voice rising in defense. "He's kind. He's generous. He is a successful editor with his own life! He simply saw me crying in the hospital while I tried to call you—your numbers weren't connecting and I was stranded with no one to turn to. Safiya was dying. They needed $2,000 just to initiate her treatment. He was there with a friend, a doctor at the hospital; he approached me to enquire about my condition, and after I explained everything, he decided to pay the bills."
"Fine. Good. Thank God for that, and thanks to him. But people in need are everywhere!" her mother fired back, her own voice gaining volume. "Why you? Why did his help not stop there? Why continue with a driver and all of these gifts?" She spat out the last word as if it were something tainted.
"We connected because someone who saves your life and the life of your sister is more than just ordinary. I appreciate everything he has done for us—I always will. We have no family or friends here to run to in times of need. So, I made him a friend, a brother, and someone to look up to. He is a good man who deserves every kindness in return, because we can never truly repay him, no matter how hard we try. He's intelligent. He respects me," Mina finished irritably.
"Respect?" her mother challenged harshly. "I am not disputing that, but what are you doing with him? What do you want from him? I need clarity. A man who respects you, brings you food, gives you gifts, assigns a car and driver to facilitate your movement, and plants ideas in your head with poetry books? This is not respect, Mina, nor is it ordinary. This is shopping."
Mina felt the blow of that word deep in her gut. "Mama, that's not fair. That's enough! Can't you see this man saved your daughter's life?"
"It is not enough!" Her mother stepped closer, her eyes boring into Mina's. "Love that originates at a hospital gate is built on pity and desperation. It is not real. It is transactional. He paid for a service, and now he expects to collect. Is that what you want? To be a receipt? A line item in a rich man's ledger?"
"You don't know him, Ma!" Mina's voice broke, tears of frustration welling in her eyes. "You reduce everything to money and market transactions! What if he sees more in me than that? What if he sees a mind, a person, a human? What if he doesn't love me at all, but is simply a good man?"
"And what does Tunde see?" her mother's question was a swift, precise strike. "Tunde sees a wife. A mother to his children. A partner. He sees a future built on solid ground, not on a foundation of hospital charity! His family has already spoken to us. It is settled."
"It is not settled for me!" Mina cried out, her rebellion now fully exposed. "Tunde is a good man, but he... he doesn't see me. He sees a good teacher, a capable woman. He doesn't set my mind on fire. He doesn't make me feel..." She trailed off, realizing her mistake too late.
Mina's mother went very still. "Feel what, Mina?" she asked, her voice dangerously quiet. "What does this stranger make you feel? Important? Special? Is that all? Does he make you feel as though you are too good for the life you have? For the steady man who has waited for you?"
"No, Ma, that's not—"
"I will tell you what this is," her mother interrupted, pointing accusingly at the orchids. "This is a fantasy. A beautiful, dangerous fantasy. And when he tires of this game—when he finds a new woman at a new hospital gate to rescue—where will you be? You will be here, with your heart broken and your reputation in tatters, and Tunde will be gone. You will have nothing left but to go around cheaply searching for a reasonable man to marry."
The brutal picture her mother painted left Mina speechless. It was her deepest fear given a voice. Just then, Mina's phone buzzed on the bed. The screen lit up with a single word: Adams.
Her mother's eyes flicked to the phone, then back to Mina's horrified face. Her expression was a mixture of triumph and profound disappointment.
"You see?" she whispered, the fight gone from her voice, replaced by a weary sadness that was far worse. "The bill collector is calling. Answer it. But remember my words, daughter: a love that begins in favor may not end with favor. It is not our destiny to please a stranger while forsaking the insider."
She turned her back to help Safiya with her slippers, effectively ending the conversation. Mina stared at the buzzing phone, Adams's name a beacon of light in the sudden darkness of the room. Her mother's words echoed in her head, a chilling counterpoint to the thrill she felt at his call.
She had defended him fiercely, but the seeds of skepticism had been planted. As she reached for the phone, her hand trembling, Mina felt the first cold trickle of doubt seep into her heart. Is this a grand love story? Or was it just a transaction, a line item waiting to be collected?
Mina muted the phone, the terrifying question echoing in her soul. She picked up the book, leafed through a page, and placed her hand inside, feeling utterly lost. "Is he what I thought?" she murmured in the silence.
"What I do know," she whispered to herself before she could retract the thought, "is that he is a good man. Not everyone could do what he did. Even if it is transactional, he saved my only sibling's life. He deserves a chance."