Chapter 21: The Two Visitors

Rakiza was still upset, and she didn't understand why she was upset when she knew about the girl in Theo's cottage. Her stomach churned every time she remembered the girl's face.
Theo was staring at her, waiting for her to make a statement so that Chin could be called as a witness.
A while ago, I heard you were talking about love. Who is in love?" Theo inquired, and then turned to look at Chin with puzzled eyes.
Rakiza interjected, "Me. I thought I was in love with someone. "
Theo frowned and clenched his teeth. He had a repulsive reaction to what Rakiza had confessed.
"And who is that person?" Theo inquired.
It’s none of your business, you know. It’s a girl thing and we should go, "Rakiza moved to exit the conversation, but Theo caught her in her arm and drew a little harder back to face him. Theo’s eyes were mean at this time. He suddenly got mad at something. While Chin was astounded by what happened, "Theo, don’t hurt her. We are here to…
"We are here to ask for your contribution to our collaboration in art class." Rakiza said, firmly withdrawing her arm from Theo’s grip. "Remember, we’re a team and our project was overdue for submission." Rakiza saw Theo’s other hand holding a sketch pad and then snatched it quickly as she spotted Ajella coming closer to them. Without checking the pad, Rakiza retreated away from Theo and away from Ajella.
"Let's go, Chin; we've got everything we need."Rakiza moved faster. Chin was running after her. They both left Theo’s place without saying a word.
It was already dark when they got home, and Rakiza was still upset. She went ahead of Chin into their room and didn’t even thank Chin for his assistance.
Muriel tried to extract some information about their walk to Theo’s house, but Rakiza wouldn’t respond when asked. Instead, she would just say that Theo was a jerk.
"He put me in a worrisome situation that night. He made me believe he was hurt, when in truth he was with a girl in his cottage." Rakiza grumbled as she munched her dinner sandwich. Rakiza was talking with her full mouth and Muriel almost puked looking at Rakiza eating like a starving pig.
"Don’t punish that sandwich with your misery," Muriel said, handing her a glass of water from the fridge, adding, "At least, knowing that Theo was with another girl and not in the morgue would give you peace of mind."
"Who told you I was worried about him?" Rakiza gulped down the glass of water.
"I saw it in your face, Raki. I was there in the little square, retrieving your laptop and Theo. And you can’t fool me, girl." Muriel smiled. "You were so worried that Theo might be eaten by a beast."
"Stop that nonsense. I don’t care what happens to Theo. What concerns me is our collaboration in art class." She picked up Theo’s sketch pad and opened it. "This is the real reason why I was worried, Theo." She froze when she saw what Theo had drawn on his pad.
Muriel noticed the sudden shock reaction in Rakiza’s face and couldn’t wait for Raki to show her. She snatched the sketch pad and checked what made Rakiza freeze. What Muriel had seen was Rakiza’s sketched face. Theo knew how to draw human faces.
Rakiza was preoccupied, and dropped a glass of water on the tiles of the kitchen. Some renters were there and looked at her, frowning. And one voice startled Rakiza, Teri’s sarcastic voice.
"Look at you. You don’t only act stupid most of the time, but you are damn careless about breaking that glass." Teri said, exasperated, while Rakiza picked up all the broken pieces one by one, feeling distress. Teri, then, stamped her foot on Rakiza’s hand, which made her scream in pain. No one will dare help Raki, for they know that Teri is a bad and dangerous enemy. And she earns the moniker "terrorizing young lady."
But Rakiza was a bit stubborn in her own way. Teri’s newly manicured toe nail was waving her to be bent upward. But she did control her own anger. Instead, she just pulled her hand out of Teri’s foot.
"What a barbaric act," she then mumbled, but the words got out crystal clear in Teri’s ears.
"What did you say?" Teri barked at Raki.
But Raki was a fighter against bullying. She then responded to Teri, with sarcasm, "Why are you so angry with me, Teri? I couldn’t remember a thing that I did that offended you. But now you acted as if I killed your puppies. What’s wrong with you? "
"I knew you seduced my boyfriend to have you as his date for the upcoming carnival. You are a backbiter, moron. "
Rakiza stood up face to face with Teri when Ambrosia came.
"What the problem here, girls." Ambrosia
Teri diverted her tone into some naïve innocent girl who was bullied, "Rakiza broke my favorite expensive drinking glass, Ambrosia. Look at the fragments on the floor."
Ambrosia took command and ended the heated debates by directing Raki to her room and Teri to her room.
Muriel startled when Rakiza entered the room and slammed her body on her bed. "Why was she so mean to me?"
"Who are you talking about?" Muriel asked.
"Maybe I should move out of this dorm and get a room outside Saint Ann’s. It was getting tighter here. With Teri boarding here, it would make my life miserable." Her tears started to race.
"Teri is really hard to deal with. She always found ways to humiliate me in front of other people. She was always watching my every move." Raki cried.
Muriel jumped to her side of the bed and comforted her by rubbing her back. "Raki, bear these challenges in life. We are here to study, not be pulled down by some rich jerk like Teri. Ignore her. Don’t let her ruin your day.”
"I know, but I couldn’t help it. Wherever I am or whatever I do, she always butts in the pictures." Rakiza said a bit exhausted from the events.
Muriel dismissed the topic by waving her hand. “By the way, Ambrosia kept knocking on the door to inform us that you had a phone call. Maybe it’s an urgent call. "
Rakiza didn’t waste a moment and jumped out of the room to Ambrosia’s quarter. She was cleaning her shoes when Rakiza knocked in. "Hello, Ambrosia. Can I bother you for a while? "
"Go ahead, I was already off," Ambrosia smiled.
"Muriel informed me that I have a number of unanswered phone calls."
"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you about it in the kitchen. I am beginning to forget things. "
"Don’t worry, that’s normal when we age." Rakiza smiled and added, "Who was calling?"
"A female who possessed a good sweet quality of voice, and she said, "You have to be there at the office tomorrow and wear formal dress." Ambrosia said.
"Did she mention what office I should go to tomorrow?"
“The girl said, "You can start working tomorrow." Ambrosia recalled.
Rakiza jumped for joy over the blessing she had received. She wasn’t expecting to be hired as early as that. She ran back to her room and started to spread the good news. Muriel was happy for Rakiza, especially with the good news she was sharing.
"But you can’t just stop studying because of your work, Rakiza. You told me it was your mother’s dream for you to have a diploma from schooling in Sassari. " Muriel reminded her.
"Don’t worry; I’ll manage my work and my study schedule."

The night was cold and foggy. Rakiza was already in her pajamas when the door was disturbed by a knock. She jumped, opened it, and it was Chin who was smiling. She was informing them that Raki had a visitor. And her eyes brightened as she mentioned the name Nikolas.
"What? Nikolas is here? " Rakiza’s mood brightened.
"Yes, he was downstairs, waiting for you in the living room. And you still have one hour to talk."
The dorm was strict in its visiting hour’s policy. The renters could only receive visitors until nine in the evening, and it was already seven fifty-five on Chin’s wrist watch.
Rakiza quickly changed into her baggy jeans and black shirt and ran downstairs to see Nikolas.
Nikolas was sitting on the couch in his black leather jacket and black trousers. He was so handsomely elegant in his attire.
"How are you, Nikolas?" Rakiza smiled as she walked towards her and sat opposite Nikolas. Some students were peeking at them from the stairs, and some were so envious of Raki for having the handsomest and wealthiest visitor.
"Can I talk to you in private?" Nikolas knew that some excited eyes were peeking at them.
"Okay, we are allowed to take our visitor to the small veranda at the back."
Rakiza was given a bouquet of flowers by Nikolas. "Thank you for these flowers, Nikolas," and noticed that the flowers were not real, but didn’t bother to take them up to Nikolas.
They were about to go to the veranda when another visitor came in.
Theo Monsanto was standing at the door with a bouquet of different flowers in his hands, real fresh flowers.
Rakiza was astounded and was confused about how to deal with her two important visitors.