Valentine had lost her Joy for college in just a day. She had thought of getting out. But it would be inconsiderate, after all, Josef was just a human being.
The air at home wasn't interesting. It was like she was quarreling with her father as well.
"Hey, Val. Are you ready for school?" Palemo asked Valentine as she took her bag away from where she had dropped it the last day. That was the only thing he could say, even when it was useless. But he wanted to hear his daughter's sweet voice.
"Yes" she answered and opened the door.
"Um no bye? No kisses?" Palemo stammered. Valentine closed the door behind her without even looking at him.
"I hope this wasn't a bad decision." He sighed.
****
Valentine got to Liege college and had the building engulf her without observing anyone. She had put a sweater in her bag which was able to cover her head down to her face when she left home, and on the road, she put it on and fastened the capped fabric so it dropped from her back to the top half of her face.
She checked her card and marked the lecture hall for that time, and the next, so that she wouldn't have to stop and ask anyone.
She didn't want to interact with anyone again, herself was enough. After all she had been alone almost all her life; it was nothing new, but the recent feeling was.
At least she was happy, and it was her choice not to make friends or be social. But this time around, she wasn't happy, and all she wanted was to have some real friends around, and explore the city together. But the lonely life seemed to be in existence for her.
She walked into the class, and fortunately, there was no practical involvement, so she didn't have to bother about getting a fake partner again.
A few seats were empty. She seemed to have come to the lecture hall early enough. The lecturer, who was the most important appearance the moment needed, came in after a few moments had gone.
More students joined them and settled down.
"For most of you, this would be your first Psychological evaluation. We will touch on simple areas today from the introduction to Psychology, and tomorrow we should have our first workshop as well, although it wouldn't be the first for everyone here. So freshmen pay attention, and take notes…" the lecturer said, diving into the work of the day.
Valentine was ready to learn, as she wasn't didn't really get much the previous day, but her reform was about to crumble when a familiar voice came sounding in her ear, followed by a familiar scent which stayed, swaying around her nose; she just sat down beside her.
Valentine opened her notebook and paid attention to the lecturer ignoring the person who just sat beside her.
"How are you doing today?" Patty asked, through bubblegum surrounded teeth. But there were tints of insincerity in her tone, which made Valentine ignore her the more.
"Don't take it to heart, dear. It happens." She continued. Valentine, although not paying attention to her, didn't feel the apology. Perhaps she didn't really care about what she felt or thought about her.
"You will see, today there will be victims, both boys and girls, and if they are unfortunate, Jemima isn't always around, so the wild dog is always on loose. You should be happy, they didn't even do anything to you…" it even pained her the more hearing Patty say that shit.
She felt like throwing a punch at her and watch her bleed to death.
She opened her mouth to talk but the memories of yesterday retreated her speech. Patty's boyfriend was one of them, and whatever she said would be made known to them. She wasn't going to take that risk.
She took her bag and got up before the lecture had even gone halfway.
"Where are you going? Why are you being so dramatic? Why are you a bitch, crybaby" Patty snarled.
Valentine clenched her hand as blood pumped through her veins. She closed her eyes and gulped down the insult and humiliation, even though it was getting unbearable, she had to let it go.
"Women should be helping each other. We should be each other's sister. That's how we grow. Not the other way around" she muttered to Patty's hearing.
She chuckled. "Good luck with that. Nobody is ever going to watch your back here"
Valentine thought that Patty was at least a reasonable woman, but she wasn't. She walked out of the class at the brink of tears.
The next class in her card was attended to, she didn't want to let the day go in vain just like the day before it. But the lecture hall was filled up.
She dropped her shoulders. "There's enough space but there's no seat. What type of school is this? What are the extra spaces for?" She lamented. Frustrated, she coursed forward.
Her eyes met Lina's eyes, and both of them couldn't bring themselves to remove their gaze.
There was a spare seat at Lina's side, and it was the only free one. Lina hoped that she would come over and sit beside her so that she would talk to her.
Valentine didn't give it a second thought; she would rather let the day go to waste than spend thirty minutes to one hour or more at Lina's side. She left the class and went straight to the library. She thought that she needed to rest, or even sleep.
The library was a very big one. It had numerous books from fictions, to non-fictions to educational and non-educational books.
It was like all the books in the whole world were parked there. And there were digital logbooks showing records of books on each shelf which made it easier to locate a book if one had any in mind before coming to the library.
The air filled sufficiently in the library adding both a warm and sweet atmosphere, supported with different perfume flowers which added an accommodating smell… cozy and a perfect place to sleep.
She sighed, stretched herself and crowned her face with a smile as she dropped down the sweater from her face.
A momentary walk at the sides of the shelves showed that she wasn't alone. But whoever it was, had been there for a while.
Curious to know who would abandon class like her to spend time in the library, she walked behind a non-fiction shelve, and removed a book from it's hold to get a peep of who it was.
Her eyes met familiar eyes, she jumped up in fear and the book fell from her hands to the floor. She hastily placed her hand on her chest. "Oh thank God is still intact…" she exhaled "That was intense. Who was that?" It was fearful to see someone's eyes up close like they were waiting for her to peep through the empty book slot.
"Hey?" The voice came, pouring a shake to her body again. He was just standing at the extreme where the shelf cut into the other shelf where Valentine was.
"Are you okay?" He asked, appeasing her with his calm chilly voice. They were right, he was completely different from his brother.
Valentine remained speechless leaning against the bookshelf, until her eyes directed her mind to his hands which yielded two books on both hands; The Purpose Driven Life by Warren and Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump.
She hadn't read it before but her Dad did, so she set her foot on it. "It never gets old does it?" She said through nervous breathing.
Jemima dropped his face to both hands and chuckled. "Oh, not at all"
A quick thought fired into her mind as she scoured for a reply to keep the conversation going so that she wouldn't look like a dumbass, but she was extra careful not to say anything that would put her into trouble, but even so, talking to Jemima felt like a threat to her. Why was he even talking to her? Was it a plan?
"Why are you reading it?" She thought that since he was from a rich family and probably had a lot of money on his own personal account, he shouldn't be reading about how to be rich.
"Just like you said…" he started walking toward her. He walked like he was royalty, she felt a lump in her throat, triggering her nervous response again. She didn't want trouble, she had run away from it, missing two important classes in the process just to jam a bigger problem.