PrimRose

36. Rhys and Abel

"I just thanked him for being a great father"

He stared at me strangely. "Girls are weird. So after saying that the next thing your brain said was 'flight' and you foolishly listened to your brain. I would never understand how a girl's mind works"

I laughed, "Never. Do you have sisters?"

"Yeah. Josie, Anne and Jeiel"
We both walked into the school building.

"Aww. Well I have GG who is a tiny devil"

"Tell me about it. Josie and Anne are the oldest. They are big bullies. Josie lives in Port Harcourt where she's working and Anne is a National Youth Service Corp, serving in Lagos. I don't know if you've heard of NYSC"

"Yeah I have. But vaguely though"

"Then Paul, is schooling here at University of Abuja. He refused to go to a private university. Then there's me and then Jeiel. She's in a boarding school"

"It must be fun having so many siblings"

"Kind of. Sometimes it gets annoying. Then again it gets quiet when they aren't there"

We were at the top of the stairs by the time he was done talking about his family.

"Seems like Paul is around often"

"Sadly"

"What's your relationship with him like?" I probed.

"I hate him but he's my brother"
TRANSLATION: I hate him but I love him. Does that make me a bad person?

"I can imagine. Have you ever said anything to your parents about it?"

He shook his head. "What am I going to tell them? Even if I do Paul will get into trouble"

"So you would rather sacrifice yourself for your brothers sake."

"It's not that easy, Rhys" Abel said sadly and walked into the class before me.

Gold was munching on a bar of chocolate while reading something on her phone with all her attention.

"Why are you always eating? What are you reading?" I placed my bag on my desk and sat down on my seat.

"Simisola Bukola's story" she answered.

"Who is that?" I asked as I removed my sketchpad, pencils, the only textbook and note book I took home yesterday.

"How can you not know her? Her story is trending all over social media!" she stared at me incredulously.

"That explains a lot" I said sarcastically.

"Simisola was a student of a Nigerian university. According to the stories so far" she stared intently at her phone "she was one of the top students in her department from her first year to final year. She was a first class student. In her final year, one of her lecturers threatened to fail her in the course he was taking and the course was a core course.

"He insisted that the only way she could pass the course was if she would sleep with him. It says here that the first person she opened up to was her mother. Her mother discouraged her from doing so. The lecturer started to verbally and psychologically abuse her. The pressure was too much and she gave in.

"He made all the arrangements. She left without telling her roommates a thing. She eventually slept with him. His abuse did stop but she was never the same. It was her first time and he was the BDSM type of guy. She was traumatized, opened up to her best friend a week after the incident and killed herself"

"That's terrible" I frowned deeply. "What ever happened to the lecturer?"

"Her best friend spoke up and her course mates ganged up against him. The man was almost dead by the time security arrived. He is currently in police custody. Her mother is devastated" she narrated sadly.

"We live in a terrible world"

"Hi!" Segun grinned at me.

"Hi"

"Have you thought about what I told you?" he asked me.

I glanced at Gold who was eyeing us suspiciously. "Not really. I can't dance, I have two left feet"

"I can teach you" he quickly offered.

"I'm serious. I don't think I can make any gracious movement talk more of dancing"

"There's a hidden dancer in every one"

I laughed, "Of course"

"I think you should try it" Gold encouraged.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I'll try. If I don't like it after two weeks then I'm walking away"

"Three months" he negotiated.

"Two weeks" I insisted.

"Three months"

"Two weeks"

"Three months"

"Two weeks"

"Two weeks"

"Three months" I widened my eyes when I realized I was tricked.

"Three months it is!" he grinned at me.

"Are you still dancing with him?" I glanced at Derrick.

"Yeah. But I'm still trying to find my way. We have goals we are yet to achieve. It will do us no good if we split up too soon"

"Good thing you've thought about this carefully. At least it will give you a little bit of control over how things go on between you two"

"Yeah. Thanks, Rhys" he said and walked away.

"Who would have thought you had it in you" Gold said and returned to her phone.

"Had what?"

"A therapist side"

I scoffed, "I was trying to help a classmate"

She shrugged and continued munching on her chocolate.