CHAPTER 3

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

Helen stilled as the lecturer, Mr. Andrew Morris, asked, "Are you keeping a boyfriend? Is that why you failed in 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 face.

Helen couldn't meet Mr. Andrew's face. 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 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, while 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 pharmacy 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 lowered.

"Are you keeping a boyfriend? Did he break up with you, and did 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, and Mrs. Katherine's cold gaze dropped. Her eyes softened 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 exam," Mrs. Katherine offered, as she was a middle-aged woman.

Helen shook her head. "I will finish with the exam first," she said, while Mrs. Katherine felt bad that she had judged Helen wrongly. They had all assumed that Helen was keeping a boyfriend.

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

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

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

Helen sat in the chancellor's office as she waited for Mrs. Katherine to return.

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

"Where's she?" Samuel asked, as they were done with their practical exams, and he had noticed that Helen looked downcast during the practical exams. But he couldn't reach out to her, as he was busy. And also, he was in the male hostel. He 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 at hand, and he had to test the new drug research product on the lab rat to see its improvement and how effective the medicine was.

After wrapping up his final project and getting a good result, Samuel had discarded his lab coat and chased after Helen, but before he could exit the lab, Helen had disappeared, and he didn't know where she was or if she was a ghost to have evaded him. He spotted Tasha and decided to ask her to call Helen. Besides, he didn't have Helen's number, but 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 well of families. But Helen, she is from a poor home. And besides, she is a chubby woman. Why will you chase after her?"

Tasha wore a green dress and black shoes, as she was in the same pharmaceutical class as Helen and Samuel.

Samuel's brows furrowed. He pushed Tasha's hand off from touching 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, going to look for Helen on his own.

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

A few minutes later, Tasha tried calling Helen again before Helen answered the call.

"Where are you, Helen? I have been trying to call you since morning, and all to no avail? Where did you go to?" 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, she 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, as she noticed that Helen had been down, but since Helen refused to share her problem with her, 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 bottle and handed it over to Helen.

"This is the medicine. One of our pharmaceutical students here made this medicine, and it worked magic on the rat and cured it from suffering seizures and strokes. So you can try it on your father and get back to me with the result," Mrs. Katherine said with a smile.

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

Mrs. Katherine hesitated to divulge the student's information to Helen, 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 asked.

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

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

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