It was 6am.The morning had come too soon and Richard wished he got more sleep. Early that morning, as soon as he left Elise’s room, he retired to bed. He barely slept for three hours before it was dawn. Now, he was out in the cold, trying to distract himself from the rain that was coming down in heavy down pour around him.It had been raining for hours now, the steady patter of water against Richard’s hoodie faded to a dull rush at the back of his busy mind. The thick wool of the hoodie was almost soaked through. He didn't know if it would ever be dry again.Somehow, he wished that the rain could slow down to a light drizzle. Walking under the rain at 6am was not a favorite activity for him and each time he exhaled, a cold mist of air left his mouth. His fingers were numb and he could barely feel anything.He tramped his way along the rutted, muddy trail in irritated silence. It was supposed to be a working day but the street was deserted. Only few people were seen, clutching open
Richard took swift steps away from the railing and he made for his room. The two people in the living room were both quiet as they watched Richard. He went into his room without a word.“Why is he here, Aunt Susan?” David asked Elise’s mother with displeasure. His eyes were still on the door of the room that Richard had just gone into.Elise’s mother, Susan, massaged the back of her neck and yawned. Then, she covered up her mouth with a palm as she said “Richard happens to be Elise’s personal security guard. Are you not aware of that?” She asked.David shook his head. “Of course, Aunt Susan. I know that he’s her security personnel but what’s he doing in your house? Is he not supposed to be outside? Obviously, he knows his way around so fast” He snarled, his voice dripped with sarcasm.A muscle in his jaw tightened. He had wanted to ask Elise’s mother why Richard was in her house, earlier. That was when Richard had just walked in but something took away his attention.Now, seeing Richa
When Richard got up to Elise’s room, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was not easy on his part to be calm despite the anger and bitterness that he felt towards David. Richard stood by the door of Elise’s bedroom trying to steady his breath.His t-shirt had gotten considerably dry and on his way to Elise room, he had dropped the wet hoodie in the laundry room that was along the hallway. The laundry room had most of the unwashed clothes of the members of the residence. Every morning, the staff in charge of laundry would come in and take care of the dirty clothes.Richard knocked on the door of Elise’s bedroom. It was gentle at first, he had a slight fear that, perhaps, Elise was still in bed and he did not want to wake her up yet.After waiting for a few moments of placing his ears close to the door so he could pick up sounds of Elise walking across the room to open up the door, he could hear nothing. It meant one of two things; it was either she was still asleep, not aware that it was
The older woman nodded. “Of course, Honey. I’m very okay” She lied, turning back to the table in her room. She picked up one of the earrings that she was with earlier and she slowly out it on. It was a silver earring that dangled and was long enough to touch her neck.Recently, Susan had developed an insane love for dangling jewelries to the point that each time she went out of her house without any sort of dangling earring on, she always felt empty—or, more like naked.She would not be at ease until she got home and grabbed an earring from her favorite collection of dangling earrings. She loved the distraction that she felt each time the dangling earring touched her lower neck or her neck bone whenever she was lost in thoughts.And then, the beauty. Her jewelries were always stunningly beautiful that she loved to revel in the admiration that she usually got from people around who couldn’t hold themselves back from complimenting her.“Okay, Mum. I’ll be going to school this morning” E
Richard had no idea what she was talking about because of how he was engrossed in his thoughts. He waited for her to continue but she seemed to have finished talking.Elise watched him from the corner of her eyes, “Are you okay?”He nodded.“Okay” She said. “Let’s go then. I presume that the driver is outside waiting for us.” She started walking towards the entrance of the living room. Richard waited for her to go out before he went out too.It was late noon and the three girls were at their favorite table In the school’s cafeteria. There were trays of food and drinks in front of them but instead of eating, they were having an heated conversation. It was about Elise’s relationship with David that had just ended.“Are you saying that you won’t take him back ?” Stacy said as she sipped from her can of juice before she reached out to pick up the little glass jar of candy from where it was at the middle of the table.She sighed. “Your relationship had always been the perfect one. It was w
She rubbed her lips together and stared at the food on front of her. It wasn’t long before her stomach began to growl. The only food which she had eaten that day was the bread which Richard had surprised her with that morning.Even when she was seated at the cafeteria with her close friends in school, she did not touch the tray of food which she bought. Instead, she left it the same way and went to class. Now, she was beginning to get hungry.As she waited for her mother to join her in the kitchen, her wandered away slowly. She was thinking about the announcement that one of her course lecturers had given in class earlier that day. The lecturer had announced that they had to carry out group projects for his course and he grouped them all into threes. Richard had gotten paired with Judy, his casual friend from school who never skipped a chance to greet him at school, and the new exchange student that had just joined their Department.The course had been an extra difficult one for Elise
He shared a look with Judy who was smiling at him.“I’m sorry, Elise. We should go in now” He said.Both girls agreed and they all went into the library together.Over the next few days, Elise and her project partners—Richard and Judy—spent an hour every evening in the local library.They rented one of the study rooms exclusively for themselves. Elise had offered to pay the rent fee as she assumed that she was the wealthiest amongst the three of them but Judy and Richard immediately kicked against it and they all contributed equal amount to rent the study room for three weeks.During their sessions, Richard would always teach the two ladies and ensure that they managed to cover a good part of their target outline for the project.It was during the prep sessions at the library that Judy started to develop a certain fondness for Richard. At first, she assumed that it was mere infatuation but over the days, she realized that it was something stronger. Something she couldn’t explain seem
. He did not have to guess who the intruder at the door was because the intruder spoke again and he immediately knew who it was..“Elise!” The intruder at the door bellowed “Get out of here right now!”Elise picked herself up and duster off her gown, then she left the basket ball court.A sly smile formed on David ‘sl lips and he turned around to face Richard.“I must commend your new found level of confidence and audacity these days.” He mocked.Richard ignored his statement and said, “If I ever see you as close as one inch close to Elise, I’ll show you why some people don’t get to live long on earth. Trust me” Richard said and left the doorway as he went after Elise.David was left in an astonished state after Richard stormed away. He didn’t know what to make of Richard’s new found attitude to challenge him without any iota of fear. What even disturbed him the most was how Richard was so quick to stand up Elise and defend her almost every time he tried to get at her. David stood alo