Chapter 3: THE OAT

Richmond had finalized his admission status as a student of Giwa international University.

But he was still the poor student everyone knew at high school. He had given all the money he was awarded by the city's government to his adoptive mother to open her dream supermarket.

Unfortunately, a fire incident occurred in the area and the supermarket was razed to the ground.

For Jennifer, he had not set his eyes on her ever since that day.

And from the enquires he made, she had broken up with Jake and ended her life.

Richmond drew a deep breath and sighed. Life hasn't been fair to him.

He sat at his table in the male dormitory working on a unique medicine that could stop cancerous growth in any part of the human body. He had turned his part of the room into a semi-laboratory.

He looked into his reflection in the wall mirror before him. A tear escaped from his face as he thought about his broken limb that has this odd way of betraying this handsome face.

His eyes ached because he had not slept throughout the previous night searching for more information about unique drug.

If the drug became a success, it was going to go a long way to help save a lot of people in the country. That was the only thing that would make his life satisfactory at that moment.

"Still working on the piece of thrash, limping mond," Michael inquired.

Richmond sighed at the mockery of his roommate.

"It isn't thrash," Richmond returned with a glare

"Call it whatever you want to but as for me, anything that would not transform this poor ass of yours into a billionaire overnight is absolute thrash," Michael replied.

Richmond sighed again. Ever since he came to college, he has been unstable in making friends.

His friends always deserted him immediately after they learned that he was a broke ass and he had a broken limb.

But Michael and John were the only ones who had been able to tolerate him and for that, he was always grateful.

Though at times, they also made fun of him because he was poor and he had a broken limp.

But that didn't bother him. He was going to tolerate them so they would remain his friends. At least, he was dead sure that he had a great future ahead of him.

"Well, we came here to get you. Are you coming for the party?" Michael inquired.

"Sure, he would," John chipped in even before Richmond could say a word.

Richmond could already feel his heart pounding hard against his chest.

He hardly left the dormitory except for his classes. This was to avoid anyone from stalking him. But here is friends were, about to force him to attend a party.

"How do you know I would?" Richmond returned trying to protest

"Do you have a choice?" John replied.

"Do I?" Richmond sighed

Now, he would have to go with them to their party. And something inside him told him that something was certainly going to go wrong

He got his slippers from under the bed. It was the only thing that allowed his feet to move freely.

But even if he had the perfect set of limbs, he still would have never been able to afford expensive shoes.

He joined the others for the party in his rag-like clothes. He had nothing else to put on and he wished no one would notice it.

As usual, he was the last to get to the party as he was always making them lag behind. When they got to the venue of the party, the place was buzzing with life. Richmond and his friends sat at the far end of the hall while Richmond hid his legs properly under the table.

He had tried hard to avoid attention so people would not notice him there.

Then, the sight of a beautiful girl at the other table close to theirs made his heart skip a beat.

And her beautiful smile made him to forget that he was trying to avoid attention.

She was the most beautiful girl on campus and her father was freaking rich.

He swallowed hard as he continued to admire the young beauty.

He removed his gaze from her instantly. There was no need fantazing about her, since he could never have her, she was way above his class.

"She is damn beautiful," John exclaimed.

"Yea," John replied. "I just wished I can make her mine."

As they chatted, Richmond could no longer pin himself down to the chair. He would have to go for his heart. He knew very well that he was poor and miserable but he had to put his hope on luck this time.

"Why are you staring at her that way," John inquired.

"I think I like her," Richmond returned.

"What?" John and Michael burst into laughter.

"Limping mond said he likes a girl?" John chuckled.

Richmond was scared of approaching her but he wanted to prove his friends wrong this time. He limped up to his feet and started to limp toward her

"I am going for her," Richmond announced.

"What," John and Michael exclaimed uniformly.

"I might not get an immediate result but I know she would be mine before the end of the semester," Richmond announced.

John knew this was no longer a laughing matter. Going to Tina was going to give him the biggest shock and experience of his life.

.She might be beautiful but she had a bad mouth coupled with bad manners. He knew this from experience.

"Just forget about this. You will never get her even if you are given the whole decade. You are bitting more than you can chew," John warned.

"Okay, let's see how things go" Richmond replied.

He continued to limp over to the table with his hand shaking violently. He was afraid of what he was about to do but he could not stop now.

He wanted to prove his friend dead wrong that he had forgotten that he was trying to hide something when he came into the hall.

"Hi ladies," Richmond greeted when he finally got over to them.

But instead of a reply, the girls shot a sneer at him. Tina looked at the boy standing before her and his tattered clothes.

She noticed that the piglet was resting all his weight on one feet.

At first, she wanted to burst into laughter but his audacity made her so angry that she could not breathe properly. Her heart pounded against her chest as she clutched her hands to control her rising anger.

This was the greatest insult she had received all her life. A boy putting on worn-out clothes and a pair of bathroom slippers with a broken limb all in one body, having the guts to approach her? The daughter of a multi-millionaire.

"Hi," Richmond greeted again, seeing that they might have forgotten to give him a response. He could already feel his heart pounding hard against his chest

"What do you want," Moana, Tina's friend fired.

"Don't say a word Moana, I will take care of him myself," Tina replied.

"As for you, young man, what gives you the audacity to limp up to me and open those stinky mouths of yours to say hi," Tina fired.

"Do you think I will date a guy as poor as you with a broken limp?" She growled angrily

Richmond was taken aback by his response and he swallowed hard. He had gotten himself into a lot more trouble than he would have bargained for.

"I a-m... So..rry," he said with a stuttery voice, trying to return to his seat. But Moana stopped him immediately.

"Even with your broken feet, you want to run?" She spat on his face.

"You are sorry? Will that wash up the fact that you just ruined my day with one one-legged body?" Tina fired.

Angrily, Tina took the cup of wine on the table and emptied it on him. This act made everyone to stood partying and they turned towards her.

Richmond felt embarrassed and he bowed his hand in shame. He was a fool as they had rightly called him.

"That is what you get from not being able to differentiate who is in your class and who is not," Tina glared at him.

"Don't get too angry Tina," Moana noted. "He is just another waste of sperm," she laughed.

"Yeah, I think his father should have wanked his dick," Tina returned a hateful stare.

She said this so calmly but the hall echoed her words making it sound like an explosive bomb.

At the vibration of the words, everyone in the hall burst into laughter. "Such a fool," someone noted from the other side of the hall.

"Limping mond had the guts to approach a girl this rich with his broken limb and his poor ass?" Someone mocked at the other end of the hall.

"What was he even thinking," another person laughed.

Richmond watched as the people rained insults on him. He could no longer take it anymore and he limped swiftly out of the hall.

Outside the hall, fresh tears poured down from his eyes. He felt heartbroken as he was once the future heir of the most powerful group in the city but here he was been bullied and insulted.

He noticed his friends coming out from the hall and he wiped his tears immediately. He was a grown boy and he should not be caught crying his eyes out.

"I warned you but you wouldn't listen, now see what you have done to yourself," John chuckled hard.

Then, John looked down at his slippers and his lips parted in shock. He never knew Richmond could be such an asshole.

"Mic, you won't believe this," he said gasping for breath like someone about to drown.

"Believe what," Michael inquired.

"Look at his legs," John said.

Michael looked down at Richmond's shoes and was very shocked to see what Richmond had worn to the party with them.

On the other hand. Richmond was very angry and embarrassed at the same time. His friends were supposed to help him and encourage him.

They knew that he didn't put on shoes. And he could tell for sure that it was their way of mocking him. But here they were colliding with the multitude to rain insults on him.

"One day, I will be rich and I will come for you all," Richmond swore.

"With this your miserable life? do you think that will ever happen," John laughed?