I returned to the hospital all tears and sucked into my gloom. My head heaved upon me and I felt withdrawn from this world. What was that? Can somebody remind me what just happened at the Fanny’s mansion?

Am I dreaming or what? God forbid that I marry a mad man. How could they be so cruel and heartless? They knew I was in dire need of the money. They perceived the money meant the whole world to me right now and the only way they could rip me off it was to give me the condition of marrying their mad son.

Who does that? Can you imagine! I can’t picture myself settling down for a mad man all in the name of marrying a billionaire’s son. I was often niggled by its impossibility whenever I thought of it.

Mother’s health was plunging me into all this. I didn’t want my mother to die. Neither did I have money for burial. I was naïve and rudderless at the moment. I would be twenty two in few days and the last factor on my mind was marriage.

What would become of me now?

“You could still scuttle back to the Fanny’s and sign the contract marriage.” A voice said in my head.

“No. No” I mumbled within myself, rejecting the idea of returning to the Fanny’s villa to sign the contract marriage agreement. If I could remember the last time I peered between my legs I was still a virgin. I looked forward to the day I would fall in love, with a handsome looking, responsible man with his sanity intact and before that I would have been through with college.

I couldn’t imagine myself opening my legs for a madman. Oh my God. How would I survive staying in the same room with a mad man, who could bite me to death the next minute? I could feel the palpitation going in my heart and I could tell I was not fated to be married to a mad man.

His unkempt looks were still in my thought. The saliva that smeared around his mouth and unshaven beards still offended my decency. Hmm! no! There must be a way out.

A contract marriage wasn’t the way out and would never be.

I would speak sense into the doctor and he would treat mother on credit, later I will work hard and pay up; I thought.

Did I actually hear myself? Will I be able to pay back half a million dollars? Is it with the dirty looking vegetables I sell?

“Oh my God! I am stuck! No!”

I was swallowed in my predicament when the door creaked, opened, and the doctor pranced into the ward hastily.

I looked at his lab coat and the badge pinned on his chest and I saw his name; Dr. Peter Northwick. He looked elegantly charismatic and easy-going, but inwardly he could be a hard nut to crack.

“Oh Melissa, you are back right on time today” his voice sounded optimistic, and I wanted to take advantage of his contagious smile to demand he treat mother on credit.

“Yes, Dr. Peter,” I said calmly and lowered my gaze, not interested to lock eyes with him each time he dared to meet my gaze.

I wanted to speak yet further when he interposed me, “Do you have the half a million dollars now?”

I kept silent as the wind and fondled with my fingers. Would he ever be smart to know that this girl fondling with her fingers couldn’t afford a square meal let alone half a million dollars?

“Melissa! Am I not talking to you?” he let an emphatic tone and his expression hardened.

I cast a pitiable look at mother, who was on live support now. I stole a glance at mother and wished the doctor could follow my gaze and see enough reason that poor woman shouldn’t ‘kick the bucket.’

Doctor peter ground his jaw at me; indeed he was upset now. “Well I can see you don’t have the money. I believe you can see your mother’s condition; she is on life support. Do you know the meaning of life support?” he queried with his face peered at me as though he was my class teacher.

I raised a furrowed brow at him and forced a nod.

His lips curled when he said, “It means your mother is an inch away from death. I gave you twenty four hours. And by the time now it is eight hours to twenty four hours. As soon as it is time, I will disconnect the life support mechanism and she will breathe her last. That will be her abrupt end. I don’t think you know what autosomal dominant polycystic is.”

I fell on my knees. My eyes swam with tears as I pressed my lips together to fight back sob.

“Please doctor, I beg of you. Attend to my mother on credit. I promise to work hard and pay up later,” I wailed, and clenched on his feet.

“Can you hear yourself? If I may ask; may I know what you do for a living?” he queried, and gave me anxious glare.

“I didn’t want to reply him initially but for the anxiety hanging in his eyes.

“I – I” I stuttered, sniffed repeatedly and got swallowed in shame and peril. Unhesitant, I mumbled, “I am a vegetable seller.”

“Or did you forget to add poor to it? Do you think I don’t know you ar the poor vegetable seller at Rio Hondo Market? Listen up Melissa, or whatever you call yourself. You can’t afford half a million dollars even if you and your generations sell vegetables till the end of time.”

Those words by the doctor ravaged my heart so greatly that I covered my face in shame. Most of the horrible words spoken to me by people often resurrected forgotten nightmares about my poverty.

Indeed the poor were limited in this life and I have experienced it.

My lower lip trembled as I said coldly, “Ok doctor, please attend to my dying mother. Let her just stay alive while I and my generation work for you till the end of time without any salary. Please,” I begged and fell down to his legs.

“You must be insane,” he pulled out his feet from my grip. “Let go off my feet. You have twenty four hours! Twenty four hours!” he beamed and gave me a dirty look.

The door slammed – he had left as thunder.

I wailed, carried mother’s palms into mine as my tears trickled and dropped into her palms.

“How would you feel if the son of a billionaire whose sanity is not impaired is given to you in marriage because his family sees you are in need of money and marrying their mad son is the only price to pay?” I almost chafed at Nurse Stella.

At the time, I had taken my time to know most of the names of staff at the hospital.

And it was the same Nurse Stella that took me to the Fanny’s villa some days ago to see if the billionaire could be of help. She was the only one I could complain to. I wanted to seek her opinion.

All my life I have grown to be jaunty but this time I was losing it. What was going on in my life at the time was more than being trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea.

“I would feel bad and even go crimson. Why would they do that to you?” she intoned, gritted her teeth and let a sullen look on her face.

“The billionaire feels I can’t pay back half a million dollars so the only way I could do that was by signing to a contract marriage agreement with his mad son,” I nagged on, as warm tears burnt my eyes before it trickled down my cheeks.

She rubbed me on the shoulder and petted me. But I was already addle and going bananas. Mother’s ailment had brought upon me conditions I never thought could come my way.

I breathed hard, “That is my condition right now. The half a million dollars needed for mother’s treatment are ready but the price to pay is settling down with the billionaires mad son. Can you imagine,” I complained bitterly and wiped my tears.

My eyes narrowed.

She brought me into her embrace, wiped my tears and stroked my auburn hair. “I can imagine your plight right now. Life has never been fair to us.”

I brought an anxious gaze upon the wall clock and perceived I had just five hours to take a decision otherwise the doctor would do as he said.

That very Dr. Peter I saw some minutes ago was capable of doing what he said. He was mean and cruel, as though the Fanny’s bribed him to blow hot at me.

“But Melissa,” she spoke softly into my face and stroked my long, scattered auburn hair. Her voice seemed to be leaden with some iota of conviction, “What would you want? Would you want to keep to your perception while your mother dies like a kitten? How much can you sacrifice to save the one you love?”

I sniffed and shot my anger-suffused face into her eyes. “What are you insinuating I do, uh? Are you telling me to scuttle back to the Fanny’s and sign to that contract marriage? Is that what you are insinuating?”

She shook her head, “Perk up, Melissa. Steady on. But I am sorry to say this. You just have to do the needful.”

My tears surged faster now. I swallowed hard, and was possessed slovenly by my impending fate. “Are you insinuating I return to the Fanny’s and sign to a contract marriage with the mad son, uh? Do you realize that I am at my prime and still a virgin?” my voice shrieked with sorrow.

She shook her head in pity and suddenly her eyes welled up with tears as she used her handkerchief to dab on it.

“I am so sorry to sound horrible, Melissa. I can feel the pain of a poor girl who is only wishing she could give her mother the best without the stringent conditions of life. Sometimes I wish we could take a leap at life without snapping our bones.”

I was wailing hugely now when what I heard next spiked into my ears.

“You just have to return to the Fanny’s, yes,” she affirmed cautiously, noticing I was going to be mad at her

I pulled from her and blinked nervously into her face. I glowered as I felt her words churn my stomach.

“I …”

She wanted to speak yet further and I interrupted. “I beg your pardon, nurse. Are you advising me to return to the Fanny’s and become the legally married wife of a mad man? Do you know how traumatized I would be? How do you expect me to share same roof, same bed, with a man that is not just insane but violently insane? Do you realize he is the most violent mad man in Rio Hondo? Oh my God …” I held onto my head and stroked it confusedly.

I held my face in total bewilderment and stroked my hair in disgust. How cruel and inconsiderable this life could be. Everything was hitting hard at me now.

“I would feel much hurt if we lose your mother. I would be disappointed in you if she dies while you could have saved her. I …”

“Keep shut now! Keep shut. Just …” my wailing voice interrupted me and choked back my words. “You know what, just go. I want to be left alone, let me think about my life.”

“I… I am sorry to sound horrible, Melissa. I mean well for you. But that is the price to pay if really your mother must stay alive for you.”

“I can’t imagine myself opening my legs for a mad man in the name of marriage. I can’t marry him!” I snapped …

“No, no, you mustn’t do that. All you need to do is sign the contract marriage, become his legal wife. You can share the same roof but not the same bed. You can deny him your body, and remain a virgin. Is he not mad? He has lost his sanity and doesn’t understand the word sex let alone feel horny like a normal, sane, person would?

I shook my head, “No, no, no, I don’t need your conviction anymore. I don’t need it. Oh my God. Why me? Why was I fated for this? Why?”

I wailed on with my trembling hands masking my face.

Suddenly, mother’s picture flashed in my head and it was accompanied with a conviction to do the needful. It was more tensed than clamor...

Nurse Stella and I stood staring at the Fanny’s villa while I was still all tears, with heavy sob which shook my entire body. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt sadness cloud my features.

I felt like a kid that was about to be sold for slavery. I was daunted, naive, stolen and abandoned to an impending fate. I gazed upon my scruffy self and swallowed hard at the thought of the decision I was about to make.

Nurse Stella grabbed me into her embrace, only wishing she could really be of help to me at the time. Had it been she could afford the half a million dollars, I believed she would have given it to me without a tinge of rejection.

Although I saw no sense in the advice yet there was an awakening that accompanied it. Yes. My thought was opened into an unfathomable recognition of the fact that once my mother ‘kicked the bucket,’ I would never set my eyes on her again.

She was all I had at the time, my essence, my now and future. She may not know the sacrifice I was about getting to because she was in coma.

But then I wondered what would be her reaction if she should get to find out her only child was made sign to a contract marriage with a mad son to the richest man in Rio Hondo just to pay her hospital bills.

Would she be perturbed? Or would she boil with disdain and ruin? Wouldn’t she curse me and see me as a drab hence forth?

A lot paced through my porous mind as I gazed upon the Fanny’s villa.

“Come on, Melissa, perk up, be of good cheer,” she rubbed me on the shoulder and shook me slightly.

“I… I can’t believe I am doing this right now, can someone wake me up from this nightmare and remind me it is just a mere marriage?”

Tears lined my eyes as I dared to fight back more of it from trickling.

Nurse Stella caught my morose face, wiped my tears and intoned, “Trust me. You will be fine. I will try to check up on you from time to time. You just have to do what I just told you. You …”

I interjected, “You won’t understand the emotional trauma I am fazed with right now. It is easier said than done. Do you think I can share a roof with a mad man without a quest for my body someday? Have you considered the dilemma it will compound on my womanhood?

She shook her head in the affirmative and gave me a wink of assurance.

I shook my head in disapproval. “I don’t believe you do, Stella. I don’t,” I beamed. “What about my safety? I hear mad men could be violent most times, even unexpectedly, I could be bitten, I could be pummeled by this mad man. Do you ever think about that? Do you know the series of harm I would suffer sharing same roof and bed with him? Do you know that mad son of Fanny Luis is the most violent mad man in Rio Hondo?”

I asked as though she had the solution to my predicament.

“I understand your internal squabble. Trust me, I do, but what do you intend to do now? Should we fold our arms and watch your mother die?

She held my warm, teary face, and what she said next really got to me that I felt my heart melting within me.

“I wish I could take your place and fetch you the money. I wish they could sense the beauty in me just as they saw the one in you and make me their mad son’s contracted wife. I would be glad to give in to their demands, just to earn the money and give to you so that your mother could be attended to but I am happily married.”

I sniffed, felt chilled on my face as the whirl wind blew across us. I quickly wiped my tears. I took solace in her words and fought back the pang of fear in me.

She breathed hard and perceived the relief on my face. I hugged her for a time that seemed eternal. I started sobbing again as my thought returned to my shattered countenance.

“Go Melissa,” she intoned, somewhere around my ears, “Dr. Peter is a sadist and an inconsiderable doctor. He would do as he said.”

I snorted into her face and smacked my lips. Words were too heavy for my lips to bear right now, so I said nothing.

“Just try your best and go. I will be waiting at the hospital. As soon as you sign the contract marriage and get the one million dollars credit card, please run straight to the hospital and make sure the doctor see to your mother’s treatment. Autosomal kidney failure is terminal.”

This time I didn’t shake my head. No blinking of eyes. I just stood gaping and staring into her face. I was yet to believe my fate. I threw my gaze at the mansion and returned it back to her. I couldn’t reject the offer yet I wished it never existed.

Gradually I advanced to the mansion, sobbing, wiping endless tears, casting my stare upon the mansion and returning same upon Stella.

She was all tears now. I could perceive the uneasiness in her trembling hands that waved at me. She had put herself in my shoes and saw what I was going to suffer in the name of marriage.

Almost getting to the major entrance, I paused and shivered like the strings on a guitar. I was downtrodden in tears now. My brow burnt with sheer torment. Anybody would have felt same way because marriage with a sane man wasn’t easy let alone a mad man.

“Go on, Melissa, you will finish strong! May good fate smile at you! May the God of the poor see you through in this marriage! He may be mad but his heart is waiting for your arrival! This is more than fate.”

Those words from Stella seemed to quench my restiveness, and then I threw a striking gaze upon the mansion and walked in…