7. Marriage obstacle

Lyn's POV

   When I called Abel and he responded, "Hospital cafeteria, by five in the evening". I became dumb and stared at the phone in my hand wondering. Was there something wrong with my hearing, or was there something wrong with the phone or was there something wrong with Abel's reasoning? How in the world could a responsible man act in such a manner? He talked to me as if I was one of his maids. How dare he order me around. Who the heck did he think he was? No man orders Lyn Peters around. I might not be rich but I never worship people for their riches. I chuckled as I started on my phone.

   "Hmm, let me see how he would contact me again". 

   In anger, I blocked his number and went about my day mumbling within myself how dare he. 

    Somehow I found myself checking the clock on the wall from time to time. When we finished with the day's activities around a few minutes to four,  I went home. Yet my eyes still did not stop checking the time. As I showered and played around with my phone it got to half past four. My thoughts kept hovering around him wondering what he was doing and if he was expecting me. All of a sudden I changed my mind and decided to go and face him. I would tell him my mind which would be letting him know that no man orders me around. I dressed up and went there. I didn't want to be late so I was there by eight minutes to five. 

    On arrival, I realized that I was famished. So I ordered juice and a snack since I still had a few minutes before his stipulated time. 

    However, I had barely gone half of the snack when I saw him walking towards me. I nearly choked at the bite in my mouth when I felt his eyes steady on me. He had a slight smile on his face. He seemed glad that I came. He didn't even look like the same person who gave me that silly order hours ago. He was all gentle and charming to the extent that I felt like greeting him with an embrace. I got lost somehow until he said, "Hi" and settled on the chair opposite me. I gathered myself together and responded.   

    "Hello, doctor".

      He found it offensive and wanted to be friendly. All anger within me had disappeared. We had a very nice chat with each other. We got sort of personal with each other and became friends automatically. 

    We continued to see each other from time to time, having lunch or dinner and going out for sightseeing. I watched him work sometimes and he watched me perform sometimes. Then we had our first kiss and many kisses. He told me about his ex and I told him about mine.  

     However, he flared up and wanted to deal with Jerry but I talked him out of it. We fell totally in love with each other.  

    Then, one day I noticed that he was having issues with his breathing. When I asked, he said he was waiting for his test results. Unfortunately, the result wasn't favorable. He had to undergo surgery for the doctors to correct the bad valve. 

   To everyone's surprise, Abel refused to accept the surgery. The parents pleaded but he refused to go for it and threatened to leave the country if they continued to pester him about it. He even said he wouldn't mind if it killed him. I became scared. I couldn't believe what was happening. He had become a great part of my happiness. So how could I let my happiness die? I went to talk to him. He ended up agreeing to go through the surgery on the condition that I would marry him. I accepted. He asked me to have dinner with him that evening at Chris Vanny's. I agreed and at the dinner, he proposed. I accepted. We were offered a free suit for getting engaged in their branch restaurant. We accepted and enjoyed their decorated suit as if we were newly wedded except we didn't get to get down on it because I promised myself to keep my virginity until my wedding night. At first, he felt bad but for the fact that he was a gentle man, he respected my decision but told me that he couldn't wait to have an experience with a virgin wife. 

    Everything was going well. I told my family about Abel's heart problem, they felt sorry for him and wished him successful surgery.

    Unfortunately, when I told them that we wanted to get married immediately, they didn't support the idea. They said he should get treated first. I wondered how to explain it to them. So I found time to speak with my mom with the hope that she would understand. 

    Immediately,  after I mentioned that I wanted to talk to her about Abel, she started questioning me. 

    "Lyn how long have you known Abel?". She asked. 

    "It's been a month plus". I responded.,

    "What, did you say a month? She nearly screamed.

    “Lyn, this is not right, you just met this guy, and you want to get married to him. Come on, you barely know this Abel. Tell me, are you rushing into this because he is wealthy?".I reacted in surprise,

   "Come on Mom, you know me better than that. I don't want to marry him because of his money. I want to marry him because I love him". I reacted in surprise. 

    My mom shook his head in disbelief. I was hurt as I tried to convince her that she should trust me. She asked again, 

    "I heard that your Abel had gone through surgery before, right?". 

     “Well, the fact is that he had gone through two surgeries". I responded 

    My mom exclaimed, "What? Two surgeries. What kind of surgeries did he have? She asked. 

    "It was a heart surgery and a lung surgery". 

    She stared at me as if I was out of my mind. I ignored her expression and continued. 

   "Mom he happened to be born with a hole in his heart but he was okay then. Unfortunately, during his high school, it started giving him issues. So he was operated on to correct the issue. Then 

about the last three years, he had a large pneumothorax, and surgery was used to correct it. It was not a big deal Mom".

    "Lyn, he has had two surgeries and needed to have another one and you want to marry him?". 

   My mom stared at me and sounded so off from my point of view. So I tried to make her understand. She didn't listen, rather she flared up. 

  "No, Lyn you listen to me, Abel is a sick man, can't you see that? He had two surgeries already and is about to have another one. Damn it, something is wrong with his heart!. Who knows how many more surgeries he would have after this one?  I am not in support of this, You are not going to marry him, period". 

  Tears were already flowing down my face as I tried more. 

    "Mom nothing will happen to him and I love him. This is his last surgery". 

    She nearly screamed, "No marriage and that is final. I don't want to talk about this anymore, so end it". She stormed away while I cried bitterly. 

   At that moment my dad entered the house and asked why all the noise. My mom blasted, "It's your daughter, Lyn. She wants to get married to a sick man. He has had heart surgery before and is about to have another one". 

   My dad asked, "Did you say another heart surgery? What is wrong with his heart? Sweetheart, it's a serious issue and besides, you just met him. How can you even talk of marriage now? That won't happen, end of discussion". 

  I felt as if my heart was about to burst with pain. I gave out a painful cry and ran to my room crying my eyes out.