Chapter 5

The next day, Richard went his lectures early in the morning as usual. He was the first person to be in the lecture hall. So he sat at the first seat and watched as everyone walked in. 

He was expecting to see Janet, but she didn't come even after their lecturer arrived. As the lecturer was about to walk into the lectures hall, Paul quickly walked in before him because the lecturer does not allow anyone to walk in after he has.   

Paul looked around and noticed an empty seat beside Richard and he knew it was reserved for him. He quickly walked to Richard and sat on the seat beside him. 

"I wonder what you always do in the morning that makes you come late for lectures," Richard nagged.

"I have been asking myself that too, but I couldn't come up with an answer," Paul responded. 

"Well, you better get yourself together or you regret it later," Richard advised.

"Alright dad, I will take note of that," Paul responded jokingly.

The lecturer walked to the stage of the hall, and soon he started his lecture.

About 15 minutes later, Paul leaned on Richard and whispered in his ear. "Tell me what happened between you and Janet yesterday, I heard you two had a fight," Paul said.

"Let's talk about this after the lectures," Richard replied.

"Alright, if you insist."

Immediately after the lecture was over, many of Richard's colleague's began asking for what happened between him and Janet. Most of them thought he was unfair towards her and he was being arrogant.

"It was never my fault, besides, I wouldn't have argued with her if I had known she was sick," Richard responded. 

"How could it not be your fault? We have all seen how you ignored her other day as if she wasn't talking to you," one of the boys said. 

"Hey, why are you all blaming me for what happened to her? Had it been you have seen how she ignored me the other day, you won't blame. 

We talking in front of Hall 3S, but immediately after seeing another boy, she left me with no goodbye. And what provoked me most was the fact that she ignored me while I was calling, pretending I wasn't existing," Richard explained.

"So that means you were jealous," one of the girls surrounding him said. 

"No I wasn't, I was provoked. Had it been she sent me off in a nice way, I wouldn't have been pissed off," Richard explained.

Despite all his explanations, most of his colleagues still thought he was at fault and he didn't blame them because he was told that she was seriously ill because of him. Around 2 O'clock, Richard walked back to his room in the dormitory.

He cooked rice and beans and ate it as his lunch. By the time he was done eating, it was already some minutes after 3 O'clock. Immediately he was done eating, he headed towards the staff quarters. He arrived at Prof. Grace House's about 10 minutes later. He rang the doorbell and he was very surprised to see a very little boy opening the door. 

"How may I help you?" the little boy questioned.

"Is the Professor around?" Richard asked.

"If you are referring to my mother, then no," the little boy responded. 

"Do you live here?"Richard asked the little boy. 

"Yes, of course, I'm her son," the boy replied. 

"Oh I'm sorry; I never knew she had a little boy like you. So where is your sister?" Richard asked.

"She is here," the boy said as he opened the door for Richard. 

When he entered the living room, he found Rebecca lying on a three sitter cushion with a headphone in her ears while going through her phone.

She was wearing a black shirt and blue trousers. Richard couldn't resist noticing how glamorous she looked. At that time, he forgot about his position and couldn't stop himself from staring at her.

When Rebecca turned, Richard quickly looked away with his heart beating faster. As far as he could remember, he had never felt like around any other girl. He tried and controlled him himself as he walked to her, and she quickly sat up when she saw him approaching. 

She removed the headphone from and stared at him angrily. At that moment, Richard somehow started feeling scared to talking to her. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and pretended to be going it.

"Where should we have the lesson," Richard finally asked after about a minute. 

"I don't know," Rebecca responded.

Richard stopped operating and looked up into her eyes. She was still glaring at him angrily as if he had murdered her entire family. 

"Look, Rebecca, I don't like this lesson too but my respect for your mother is above my personal interest. 

If someone should respect your mother that much, why shouldn't you?" Richard asked. 

"And who told you I don't respect my mother."

"Your attitude towards me says so," Richard responded.

"If at all you do respect your mother, you will cooperate with me to teach you. I want you to know that I don't have an interest in you," Richard bragged. 

"I tired of listening to all these nonsense," she said and stood up and left to her room.

At that moment, Richard tried to call Prof. Grace and inform her of what happened. He hesitated for a moment knowing that it will create more scenes if he does that. He walked to the door of her door and tried talking to her.

"I know you do hate me, but if you don't come out, I will be left with no option but to call your mother," Richard informed. "Then why don't you just call her?" she replied from her room. 

"Because I know it won't end well if I do that," Richard responded. "So please come out and let's do this," Richard pleaded. He waited for about 5 minutes, but she didn't come out or say a thing. 

He then made up his mind and dialled the Professor's number. It rang for a moment before she finally picked the call.

"Give me a minute Richard, I will be there," Prof. Grace said when Richard informed her.

About fifteen minutes later, he heard the Professor's car parking at the frontage of the house. She walked into the house angrier than Richard had ever seen her. "Rebecca!" she shouted upon entering the living the room. "Get your ass out here," she declared angrily. 

About a minute later, Rebecca walked out of her room. The instance she got to where her mother was, she received a slap on the face. There was total silence in the living room. Richard became totally surprised at Prof. Grace and regretted calling her.

He never thought she could touch her daughter because of him. Suddenly, Rebecca placed her two hands on the face and started crying out loud. 

"Let me tell you something if you don't behave yourself, be ready to receive the worst from me," Prof. Grace cautioned.

"You will never leave this house, watch TV or operate your phone ever again if I don't see an improvement in your grades at the end of this term," she conditioned. 

"Go and sit at the dining table and wait for her to come out with her books," Prof. Grace instructed.

Richard did as instructed, and about five minutes later, Rebecca walked out of her room with her school bag. She was still crying as she walked towards the dining table.

She sat beside him and brought out her Mathematics textbook.

"I will be going out again, don't let me hear anything about you again," Prof. Grace warned and left the house.

Rebecca laid her head on the table kept crying. Richard became speechless and  out of words to say. Somehow, he blamed himself for what happened to her. 

She cried for more than 20 minutes before she finally looked up. 

"You know my mother has never laid a finger until today. She even slapped me because of you," Rebecca said with her face all wet with tears. 

"I know something like this would happen, that's  why I tried to make you understand, but you left me with no option but to tell her."

"I wish you die soon because I really hate you," Rebecca said out of anger.

"Is okay if to hate me, but please let's just do what your mother wants to avoid making things more complicated," Richard replied.

He took one of her textbooks and tried teaching her, but she folded watched him angrily as he was teaching her. 

When Richard noticed how angry she was, he decided to end the lesson. 

"I will be leaving now, I come back the

day after tomorrow," Richard announced as he stood up, but Rebecca did not say a word nor look at him.

He walked out of the house and headed towards his hostel. He arrived at his room looking very exhausted. 

"Are you coming from a lecture?" asked the elderly man in his room.

"Yes I am," Richard replied as he lied on his bed. 

"But you need to eat first before you will rest," the man advised. 

"Alright, I will do that," Richard answered.

The elderly man handed Richard a plate filled with food. 

"Thank you" Richard smiled as he received the plate.

By the time he finished eating, it was already 4:30 pm, and he thought he had no time to rest because he has some assignments to do. He took his laptop with some of his books and left.