Chapter 15

She remembered the night of her engagement on valentine's day. She remembered the song that Jason wanted for her and how he proposed to her as his words came alive in her head. She looked at her ring as her mind traveled back into that day, and that particular night.

She remembered the song he sang to her as she began to sing
"I found a love for me
Darling, just dive right in and follow my lead
Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet
Oh, I never knew you were the someone waiting for me…" as tears welled up in her eyes, as she saw Jason singing the song to her on that night.

"I'll marry you Jason." Officer Mary replied as she smiled, still in her thoughts when the door to the ward opened and the doctor came out.

"Good afternoon ma, are you the lady that came with the patient?" The doctor asked her.

"Yes doctor, I am…how is he doing now?" Officer Mary asked as she got up. The doctor could feel the anxiety in her voice and the worriedness in her eyes. He felt pity for her but there was nothing he could do. He knew that what could change such a look and make her feel relaxed and happy was the news of Jason being okay but that was now far from the truth.

"How's he a doctor? Is he okay? Can I see him now?" Officer Mary asked him.

"He's doing fine…" The doctor replied.

"Oh thank God. Can I see him now?" Officer Mary asked the doctor.

"Before that there's something I need to tell you." The doctor said to her.

"Doctor can't it wait? I need to see him now please." Officer Mary said.

"We have to talk before you can see him." The doctor said to officer Mary.

"Doctor please I need to see my boyfriend." Officer Mary replied as she pushed the door opened past the doctor and hurtled in. On seeing the condition of Jason, she stopped in her tracks looking shocked.

"Jason?" She asked as she saw him on an oxygen mask as he breathed through the oxygen supporting machine. His leg, stomach and forehead were wrapped with white bandages which had small spots of blood.

"Jason what happened to you?" Officer Mary ran as she went towards his bed and held his hand which had the clip of the drip. The doctor entered the ward.

"Jason woke up ... .Jason…." She cried as she slumped to the ground in tears. She turned to look at the doctor with her tear stained face.

"What is this? Did it get this worse? It's just a bite and he's bandaged all up like a ninja…why is he comatose?" Officer Mary asked the doctor who just sighed as he had his hands crossed across his chest. He had his mediated glasses on and a stethoscope on his neck. He wore a white lab coat with a pair of brown jean pants and blue long sleeves inside.

"That's what I wanted to explain to you before you walked away from me and burst in." The doctor replied to her question.

"I'm sorry…please forgive my rudeness doctor, how is he? Any complications? When is he going to get discharged?" Officer Mary asked.

"Hmmm...I prefer to speak to you in my office. He might be comatose but might still be able to hear us, I don't want him to have a panic attack which could slow down his recovery rate." The doctor said to her.

"What do you mean doctor? What are you talking about? Is his condition really worse? Tell me…" Officer Mary asked the doctor if she was getting scared the more.

"I will but…is there any man that is close to the patient? Someone I could talk to instead?" The doctor asked her.

"Why? What happened to me?" Officer Mary asked the doctor as she tried to sit up.

"You may not be able to handle the news, I can't talk to you directly. Please when there's a man who I could talk to about his condition you can let me know on time." The doctor said to her as he left.

Mary watched him as he left the room. She felt devastated as she turned slowly to look at the condition of Jason. She felt terrible for him as fresh tears welled up in her eyes. Just then, she saw the call of her lieutenant. Her phone rang and she picked it up as she went towards the window to answer it. It was the lieutenant who called to ask about Jason's health after he was told what happened to him.

She started crying as she couldn't control it. The lieutenant asked her what happened but she couldn't say anything reasonable. He promised to come and see them immediately and he hung up after telling her to hang in there and look after him.

She leaned on the wall as she watched the call end and looked at Jason. She was getting weak at heart. She tried to figure out what the doctor had wanted to tell her and why he insisted on speaking to an elderly person. She couldn't figure out anything reasonable as her mind ran wild with imaginations. Could it be that something terrible had happened or his situation was worse?

How worse could it have been that he couldn't tell her? How worse could it have been that he feared she won't be able to take such news with a weak heart? Was Jason going to be alright? All these thoughts ran through her mind as she pulled off her cap and kept it on the stool.

The lieutenant came in and met officer Mary in the ward. He must have found the ward where Jason was admitted in from the receptionist.

"Mary, what happened to him?" The lieutenant asked her as she got up and offered him the only stool in the room, taking off her cap and putting it on the other side of the bed.

"The doctor didn't tell me anything about his health. He said he needs to talk to a man about it…thank God you're here, maybe he can talk to you." Officer Mary replied.

"Why couldn't he just tell you?" The lieutenant asked.

"He said something about me being weak to receive the message, please come and talk to him, let's hear what's wrong with Jason…sir I can't lose him…not again." Officer Mary pleaded as tears ran down her cheeks.

The lieutenant could understand what she must be passing through. Mary had dated two guys before meeting detective Jason Berly. Both of them died on an assignment in the police force as they were both police men. Two years after the death of her first boyfriend, she met with the second one.

They met at a dinner party and started dating but only dated for three months because he passed away. He died in a helicopter crash. Officer Mary felt so heartbroken as though the world had rejected her. She was still feeling heartbroken because she still loved him.

Relationships couldn't stop one from carrying out their work and duties so Mary had to continue with her work. She went on assignments both dangerous ones and easier ones, during one of those she met with Jason Berly who was a detective. He had come in a transfer from Enugu to work in Maiduguri as a detective in LCPD.

They had gone to solve a kidnap case which almost cost the life of Mary. The kidnappers had set the house that they had used on fire and escaped. Everyone had ran to safety except for Mary who was late to have escaped before the door was covered in high flames.

She wasn't fast enough to get to the door when the others had left as a tall pillar had fallen on her leg, causing her an injury as she couldn't get up. The rest of her team thought that she had already run out but when they noticed that she wasn't with them, they contemplated going in to save her as the flames had grown wild.

The fire service was called but they didn't arrive on time. Detective Jason Berly couldn't allow her to risk her life. He found a big temple that was used to cover an old rickety car just near the house. He took it and soaked it into water in a big drum. He covered himself with it as it stinked so hard but he had to endure the smell and ran towards the fire burning house.

The rest of the officers tried to stop him but he was too strong for them as he pushed them away and went through the fire to save her. Everyone's heart froze in fear as they watched, waiting for them to get out alive. Jason coughed as he got up to the building. He called out her name to hear where she was so that he could go and meet her and save her from there.

"Officer Mary! Mary, are you there? It's my detective Jason, can you hear me?" He called out to her severally as he searched for her amidst the smoke and flames.

He saw a figure that looked like a human as she tried to get to her. She was covered in burning flames but he managed to find his cat. She coughed weakly as she even began to cough out blood. Jason unbuttoned his uniform shirt as he used it to cover her nose.

He carried her in his arms as they got out of the burning building. Fire service had just arrived as they saw the appearance of a man walking through the fire and someone in his arms, they rushed closer to them to assist him. Jason laid Mary on the floor and gave her CPR, which happened to be their first kiss before the ambulance team arrived.

Mary had fainted already as they tried to revive her before the ambulance arrived and carried her away. Jason was being praised for his bravery in risking his life to save one of their own. He was loved by all and everyone wanted to be close to him. Jason was handsome which made ladies flirt around him but he wasn't just the guy that wanted ladies around. He loves to hang out with the men and keeps his privacy to himself.

Jason checked up on Mary when she was still in the hospital. When she was discharged and had resumed work, she came to thank him and gave him a gift which was a bottle of wine for saving her life. Jason then suggested she keep it and bring it over to dinner as he was treating her for dinner.

That was how their love story began and since then, they've been lovebirds. They went through many hardships, trials and many difficult times but fought through it together. They had almost broken up but everything got fixed and they got back again. Also sir jg the robbery case that he got shot in the leg, Mary couldn't bear to see him in pain and now this time that things had begun to get worse when they were close to swing their relationship by getting married, his life was hanging on the line.

Mary wept as she couldn't lose Jason, her one and only favorite lover. She has noticed that she loved Jason more than anyone that she had dated before. Jason had been her soul mate and she wanted to spend eternity with him but now, she was on the verge of losing him. The thought of that weakened her the more.

"Don't worry Mary, he'll be fine. Look after him, I'll go and see the doctor." The lieutenant said to her as he left the ward after he was sure that she had dried her tears.

He went to see the doctor as he closed the ward of Jason. The office of the doctor shared an adjoining corridor as that of Jason's ward. The lieutenant knocked on the door as he was asked to come in.

The doctor and the lieutenant exchanged a few discussions and shared the bad news to the lieutenant. He told him that Jason's left leg was infected with some poisonous toxic fluid from the bite that he got and he may not be able to walk again properly for some time. The lieutenant's heart sank on hearing such news. He couldn't believe his ears as he scoffed.