HER

29. Balls and Raging parties

The idea of attending a dinner that wasn't at her school didn't sit well with Rahmat.  Not because she didn't want to attend it but because she wondered if these dinners were not for students only.
Somehow though, Richard had convinced her that there was no problem.

The dinner did require an evening dress though, so she enlisted the help of Hauwa to help her shop for it. Hauwa suggested that they live by Shola ' s motto, 'make it sexy'.

The dress she ended up choosing was a yellow off the shoulder dress with a cow neckline.  It didn't have the regular mermaid style bottom. It was figure hugging but it flowed to her ankles, it didn't flare out at the bottom and it had a slit at the back.
Her hair was a mess and she  didn't feel comfortable leaving it  out. So she opted for a yellow beaded turban to match the dress.

Did Richard like to go all out Sometimes?

Definitely

For the life of her she didn't understand why he would rent a car when they already had one. It made her wonder how he would survive when they got to Port Harcourt. She hadn't let him in on all of her plans yet. Like there was no way she'd live in a house as big as this one in Port Harcourt

She wanted a normal life where they lived in a two or three bedroom apartment not a duplex and they paid rent with a car that conserver fuel instead of one that drank it all away.

She wanted them to work for their money not just feeling obligated to spend it. She hadn't told Richard yet. Maybe because she was afraid he'd decide he didn't really like Port Harcourt anyways.

The semester was drawing to an end and Richard had defended his project before hers, hence the dinner. She had her final defence in two weeks, not that she wasn't nervous or anything,  she was pretty sure she would kill it.

Richard was the one graduating in December.  Which technically was just a couple of weeks away now. Rahmat wasn't sure her graduation would even be thought about till the following year. Perks of attending government school.

The car pulled up beside what seemed to be the red carpet. Rahmat was stunned. She had never been to a college dinner like this before. Her school never organised one for them. Now she kind of understood why Richard was going all out. The place reminded her of an actual red carpet she saw in movies. Bright lights,  lots of people, lots of sponsors,  photograpers, amazing dresses. She was glad Hauwa had cajoled her into buying this particular dress because she was sure she'd have come up short if she'd picked a dress herself. And maybe she did regret wearing the turban a little bit. Just a little bit.

Richard linked their arms together as he they climbed up the stairs into the hall. A girl standing by the door point in them across the room. Richard turned in the opposite direction seeing Mark on a table alone he headed there instead.

"You look lovely Rahmat" Mark said pulling out the chair beside him for her to sit. She took the seat dropping her purse on the table.
Richard took the seat on he left, so she was sandwiched between the two guys.

"Have you told Mark? " She whispered to Richard

"No"

"Why?" She asked

"He'll probably take it badly go off his meds have an episode then guilt trip me into staying back" Richard mumured.
She could tell he'd been thinking of this a lot.  Mark hadn't had an episode in years,  but what's to say that this would not cause one.
Richard sighed, Rahmat wanted to let it go. But she couldn't help felling a little jealous. Richard was Mark's only friend and hated to think that if he were asked to chose that he wouldn't chose her. That he'd chose Mark.
Maybe  her friends had a point, but she didn't want Mark to be gone from Richard's life, she would never do that to him. She just wished somehow, that he'd chose her.