Chapter 3: The Medicine

After Helen stepped out of Mr. Ruben's office, another of her lecturers spotted her and called to her attention, "Helen Robert."

Helen stilled as the lecturer, Mr. Andrew Morris, asked, "Are you keeping a boyfriend? You failed my exam. This has not happened before. What happened to you?"

Mr. Andrew was a middle-aged man, and he looked at Helen with disappointment in his voice and on his face.

Helen couldn't meet Mr. Andrew's gaze. Seeing all her lecturers angry at her, she knew that she had allowed her father's illness to weigh her down. She could have accepted marriage instead of furthering her education, as her father had suggested.

"Helen?..." Mr. Andrew shook his head and said, "Stay away from boys so that you don't destroy your future."

The man walked away, and for the rest of the day, Helen went from one lecturer's office to another until the chancellor invited her to her office.

"Helen Robert, what is going on with you? You came into this university and did well, and now that you have only one year left to graduate as one of the best medical students in our university, you are beginning to relent. What happened?" Mrs. Katherine Collins asked, her voice calm, but her eyes fixated on Helen coldly.

Helen couldn't meet Mrs. Katherine's gaze. As she stood in the office, her head was lowered.

"Are you keeping a boyfriend? Did he break up with you and it affect your studies too?" Mrs. Katherine asked, her voice filled with concern as she looked at Helen.

"No, ma. It's my father. He had a stroke and he's unwell," Helen said, her voice choked with sobs. Mrs. Katherine's cold gaze dropped, her eyes softening as she peered at Helen with concern.

"I am sorry about that. I didn't know that it was home. Would you like to go home and take a break? You can come back to complete your exams," Mrs. Katherine offered.

Helen shook her head. "I will finish the exams first," she replied.

Mrs. Katherine felt bad that she had judged Helen wrongly; they had all assumed she was keeping a boyfriend.

"It's fine. When you are ready to leave the university grounds, let me know so I can give you a present for your father. It is one of the finest curative medicines that one of our students produced. I believe it will help with your father's stroke recovery, but the medicine is still under testing and not yet on the market," Mrs. Katherine said, though Helen felt uneasy about it.

"Will it help my father's stroke? My mother said that he cannot even talk or recognize that she is around."

"It might help him. Wait here; let me meet with Mr. Ruben to ask for it."

Helen sat in Mrs. Katherine's office as she waited for the middle-aged woman to return.

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Meanwhile, Tasha called Helen's phone multiple times, but Helen refused to answer.

"Where is she?" Samuel asked. They were done with their practical exams, and he had noticed that Helen looked downcast during them, but he couldn't reach out to her as he was busy.

Also, Samuel was in the men's hostel and couldn't go to the women's hostel to ask Helen out or chase after her.

Besides, Samuel had spent time working on a project and had to test the new product on lab rats to see its improvement and how effective the medicine was.

After wrapping up his final project and getting good results, Samuel discarded his lab coat and went after Helen, but before he could exit the lab, Helen had disappeared. He spotted Tasha and decided to ask her to call Helen. Besides, he didn't have Helen's number, and she wasn't answering her phone.

"I am trying to call Helen, but she is not picking up. Why do you want my friend, Samuel? You have me here. Why not date me instead of Helen? We are from the same wealthy families. But Helen, she is from a poor home. And besides, she is a chubby woman. Why would you chase after her?"

Tasha wore a green dress; she was in the same class as Helen and Samuel.

Samuel's brows furrowed. He pushed Tasha's hand off his chest as he spat, "I don't like a woman chasing after me. So if you are not interested in the deal, you should let me know, and I will find another person to help me out."

Samuel walked away to look for Helen on his own.

"Ugh. He will come back to meet me again," Tasha grimaced as she went away to have her lunch. It was past 4:00 p.m., and they had spent so much time on the practicals.

Later, Tasha tried calling Helen again, and Helen finally answered.

"Where are you, Helen? I have been trying to call you since morning to no avail. Where did you go?" Tasha asked, her voice filled with anger.

"I am sorry, Tasha. I went to the chancellor's office. Mrs. Katherine called me because she noticed that I looked unwell and also said I didn't do well in the practical exams, which had not happened before," Helen explained calmly, but Tasha rolled her eyes in jealousy.

"So what do you want to do now?" Tasha asked. She noticed Helen had been down, but since Helen refused to share her problem, she didn't bother to ask.

"I will meet you later," Helen said, and Tasha sighed.

"Alright."

Helen waited in Mrs. Katherine's office. After a while, Mrs. Katherine returned with the medicine in a dark bottle and handed it over to Helen.

"This is the medicine. One of our students here made it, and it worked magic on the rats, curing them of seizures and stroke. So you can try it on your father and get back to me with the result," Mrs. Katherine said with a smile.

"Which student is that? Can I know the person's name?" Helen asked, her voice laced with curiosity as her large blue eyes met Mrs. Katherine's.

Mrs. Katherine hesitated to divulge the student's information, but after thinking for a while, she said, "Samuel Kingston. I am sure you must be aware of him. He has a reputation as a bad boy, but he is a genius like you and the one who made the medicine. His father owns a pharmaceutical company, so it's no surprise Samuel is good academically, even when he appears unserious."

"What?" Helen's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't expected the bad boy who was chasing after her to be a secret genius.

"Why do you look surprised? Do you think Samuel is a dullard?" Mrs. Katherine inquired.

"Well, I do not know, ma. I just thought Samuel played too much and was popular among the students because of his father's wealth," Helen mumbled, her cheeks flushing.

"Well, I understand. You can try the medicine on your father and get back to me, alright? I expect good results before Monday. You can go home; the medicine is stored in a refrigerator so that it doesn't get spoiled," Mrs. Katherine concluded with a smile, looking forward to hearing good news from Helen by Monday.

"Okay, ma. Thank you." Helen rose to her feet, received a permission letter to leave for home, and dashed out of the chancellor's office. She went back to her room to pack a few things and set off for home.