The students of Richard’s department were called back to class later that day because the examining council of the school had marked the test scripts of each student and graded them accordingly.So, they called the students back to announce the top three that were expected to represent the school at the international level.Richard was seated in his usual spot at the back of the hall, scrolling through his phone and trying to ignore Judy’s chattering voice. She was trying to explain the difficulty that she had experienced on the test and she wondered if she was going to scale through to the top three students.Richard was calm. The test was quite easy for him and he didn’t seem to understand why the other students were all worked up about their scores on the test. The professor called out the names of students and each of them went out to meet him at the podium of the lecture hall, where they collected their test script from him.After each student had gotten their test script, the
Later that evening, Richard decided to meet up with Niko at his apartment. He took a bus from the school’s dormitory to the highway where his old apartment was. There was a light drizzle and the street was mostly deserted. Most of the streetlights had gone off, only a few shone. Once in a while, a lone car would drive pass. He threw a quick glance at his wristwatch.9pm. A coffee shop was open down the road and some teenagers were huddled by the door, smoking. The street was strangely quiet and quite deserted. It wasn’t only because of the light rain, but because it was already late. The bus stopped a few distance away from his regular stop and he got off.As soon as he got down from the bus, a sudden pang of regret hit him.Damn it! He cursed under his breath. The light rain was going to make him wet because he had not gone along with his umbrella. How could he have forgotten so fast? He fumed, kicking his feet against a stubble of grass.The air was chilling and he wrapped hi
The following morning, Richard took a public taxi straight to his university. As soon as he arrived at the campus he called Elise.She said that she had not yet had breakfast and she doubted if she would show up at school on time. Richard then told her that she should call him as soon as she as she got to school.He decided to go to the school’s cafeteria that morning to get breakfast. He felt a bit guilty that he was skipping breakfast most of the last few days because he had gotten too caught up with the activities going on in his life.He strolled into the cafeteria, trying to stifle a yawn that was going up his throat.His stomach growled quietly within him and he held on to the bag that was slung from his left shoulder. Fortunately, it was quite early in the morning and there were no queues in front of the food vendors; rather, a few students hung around trying to get their meals.Richard scabbed the large hall of the cafeteria. There were more empty tables that there were occupi
As Richard walked out of the cafeteria, He got a message from Elise that she had just gotten to school.He rolled his eyes in anger and sent a reply to her that he was coming after her. Then, he slipped his phone into his pocket and started walking towards the school’s main gate.He still did not understand why Elise picked up this new habit of coming to school about an hour late. He had sighted her from a distance as she alighted from her car and he waited for her to walk a while before he shook his position behind her, as he trailed her.She wasn’t with any handbag that morning and as she walked, her hands swung by her side. Her hair bounced behind her as she walked.When they arrived at class, the lecturer had almost completed the lessons for the morning and he frowned at Elise and Richard as they walked into the hall.Richard went to his usual spot at the back of the hall. Judy was already there.She flashed a quick smile at him and pushed her open note book to him.Then, she whis
“Yes, Sir. That is true”“Is there no way you could turn down this offer to represent your school?”Richard was surprised but he chose not to say anything.“You will get you meet most of the big shots in the works of real estate at that competition. Are you were of this?”“Yes sir.”“Doesn’t it bother you that you could be in open danger? These people are your company’s rivals. After you finally come out as the true owner of your company, you could face a lot of attacks from these people”Richard understood his Master’s point and he decided to convince him that there wasn’t any actual danger in him going to the competition.His Master still argued that he had to be extra careful with the way he carried himself because he had unseen and unidentified enemies.While the conversation lasted, Richard pondered over the words of his Master. And, afterward, he hung up, still assuring his Master that he was old enough to take care of himself and defend himself in the face of any attack.Elise
Richard frowned over the cup of coffee that was in front of him. He had asked for black coffee but the waiter had gotten him creamed offer instead. With one of his hands, he pushed the cup away from him.The waiter looked on, almost tearing up. “I’m very sorry, Sir” He said. “I was in a hurry and I mixed up your order with that of the lady who’s wearing a hat” He turned and pointed at a lady by the window. The café was gradually getting filled up as more people trooped in.“I can’t accept this. Are you bothered about the money? I’ll pay for it. Just get me the order I asked for”“Alright, Sir” The waiter exclaimed with relief and scurried away with the cup of coffee.“You handled that quite well” A voice said, breaking through Richard’s train of thought.He looked to his left at the iPad that was by the flower vase on the table.So, he had not hung up? He muttered under his breath. He had been on. A video call with Niko that afternoon. They had several things to talk about and this
The following day, Richard was woken up by a loud knock on the door of his room. He rolled over on the bed and picked up his phone which was on the bedside table; then, he checked the time. It was alm7 am and 7 am. The time for the first phase of the competition was 8:30 am.He dragged himself out of bed and stumbled towards the door and unlocked itHis lecturer, Mr. Hart, rushed into the room with a look of urgency on his face. His large, bulgy eyes blinked rapidly at Richard.“Do not tell me that you’re just waking up from sleep” He shouted, looking around the room until his gaze fell on the messy bed that Richard had just gotten out of.He frowned at Richard who still stood by the door of the room, wiping his face with the back of his hand.“Hurry, have a quick shower and dressed, Boy!” He urged Richard as he pushed him towards the bathroom.In slight confusion over the fuss that his lecturer was displaying, Richard was hesitant to go into the bathroom. Instead, he stood by the he
The morning sun was already out but it felt refreshingly warm instead of itchy as usual. Outside the hotel building, she stood by the wall, patiently hoping that one of the selected students for the contest would show up and give her directions to the conference hall where the talk seminar was to take place.She was grateful that she had picked up her glasses just before she walked out of the hotel room because now, the rays from the sun was already beating down on her forehead.Her phone rang and when she checked who was calling, it was Richard.“Hello?” She greeted.“Hey. Elise.” Richard said.“Are you at the conference hall yet? Where’s venue?”“Yes. I’m there right now. I called to find out whether you will be joining us over here. The venue is 133th Downing. It’s a large cone shaped building. It’s quite hard to miss”“Alright, then.” Elise said. She was about to hang up when Richard asked her to use an Uber down to the location so she wouldn’t miss her way or waste time on the ro