The Pink Clouds

chapter 5

The next day, Richard went to his lectures early in the morning as usual. He was the first person to be in the lecture theater. He sat in 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 lecture hall, Paul quickly walked in before him. 

He quickly walked and sat on the seat Richard reserved for him.
"Late again, huh?" Richard nagged.

"I went to bed around 3 am. You should be glad I'm here now," Paul laughed.
"Well, you better get yourself together," Richard advised.
"Alright dad, I will take note of that," Paul responded jokingly.

The Prof. walked to the podium and soon 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 falling-out," 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," one of the girls said.
"She started it. I was talking to her the other day, and she cold-heartedly left me for some random guy like I no longer exist."

"So that means you were jealous," another girl claimed.
"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. "

Despite all his explanations, they still insisted he was at fault. Around 2 O'clock, Richard walked back to the dorm.

He made some noodles with eggs. By the time he was done eating, it was already a few minutes after 3 O'clock. He got ready and then took off for Prof Grace's house. He walked for about 10 minutes before arriving at the house. He rang the doorbell and was very surprised when a little boy opened the door.

"How may I help you?" the little boy politely requested.
"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.
"Where else do you expect me to live?" the boy replied.
"I'm just surprised; I never knew she had a little boy like you," Richard smiled.
"Yeah I get that a lot."

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 seater cushion with a headphone in her ears while going through her phone.

She was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. 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 looked up, Richard quickly looked away with his heart beating faster. As far as he could remember, he had never felt like that around any other girl. He tried and composed himself as he walked to her. She quickly sat up when she saw him approaching.

She removed the headphone and stared at him angrily. At that moment, Richard somehow started feeling scared to talk to her. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and pretended to be going.
"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 as well, 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 respect your mother, you will cooperate with me. I want you to know that I don't have an interest in you," Richard bragged.

"I'm tired of this bullshit," she said and stood up. She walked into her room without even looking back.

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

"I know you 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 dared him from her room.

"You know it won't end well if I do that," Richard responded, but she ignored him.

"So please come out and let's get done with this already," 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 dialed 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 front of the house. She walked into the house angrier than Richard had ever seen her. "Rebecca!" she shouted upon entering the living 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 slap her daughter because of him. Suddenly, Rebecca placed her two hands on her 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 added. 

She then turned to Richard and instructed him.
"Go and sit at the dining table and wait for her to come out with her books."

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 bad about you again," Prof. Grace warned and left the house.

Rebecca laid her head on the table and kept crying. Richard was 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 could rip your head off," Rebecca said out of anger.
"It's okay if you hate me, but please let's just do what your mother wants to avoid further complications."

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

When Richard noticed how unproductive the lesson was, he decided to end it.
"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 dorm. 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 lay 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 had some assignments to do. He took his laptop with some of his books and left.