CHAPTER 1

Falling In Love With Evil-

Azande Radebe, I am a 19 year old girl doing my first year in college and honestly I am excited about the whole new adventure. I stay with my mom and I am an only child . I don’t know my dad cause he passed away before I was born. I have always longed to feel a father’s love and how it feels to actually have someone to protect and safeguard me with his own life. However, my mom has really tried to fill in the gap.

I get ready for school as I wear black high waist jeans with a white top and white kicks. I leave my braids loose and grab my bag.

It’s been two weeks since I have started school, I really don’t have friends I could say I am loner.

I have my breakfast and walk to school since it’s just 10 minutes away and I still have a lot of time.

I walk to school and as soon as I reach the entrance I spot a very mysterious guy standing there, his face is unfamiliar but he seems to be a student here as well. He is breathtakingly beautiful if I may say and has soft features but his eyes are just dark and rough. Black smooth hair, black dark eyes and tall in height. He has muscles, not those huge ridiculous muscles but he has a strong presence. His eyebrows are furrowed and he seems upset, but I can’t stop myself from staring at him. I look at him until he looks at me. Our eyes lock and something draws me to him. His dark eyes draw me to him. I stand there for the longest of time staring at him. It’s like something has cast a spell on me I just can’t stop myself from looking at him.

“Staring Is rude!” a strong deep hoarse voice echoes around me and brings me back to reality. I realize that it’s actually him talking to me.

“I’m so sorry.” I tell him as I walk away as fast as I can. I turn to look at him and he is still looking at me too so I just run off to the commune area where I bury my head in my books just to distract myself but I can’t stop thinking of that guy. His eyes. There is something about his eyes that I can’t fathom.

I wait and soon it’s 9:45am and my English literature class starts in 10 minutes so I decide to go to the lecture hall and wait there since I am early and the only one.

I don’t blame them, had I had friends too I might have been late. I sit there thinking of that guy. Thoughts of him consume me and all I can think of is him. For some reason I want to see him again and look into his eyes because there is something I like about them. They are just full of mystery.

As I am thinking about him, he walks in holding his books and I immediately stare at him. I watch him walk towards me but I can’t stop myself from staring at him. He frowns and stands right in front of me.

“What’s your problem? Weren’t you taught not to stare at people like that? Do you have a problem?” he asks me although his voice is low it’s still so intimidating and deep, but I realize that he has an English accent as he speaks and I look into his eyes again.

“I am so sorry for staring at you. I have never done this to anyone. I've just never seen you in this class it’s my first time seeing you here. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.” I tell him nervously not sure what his response might be but he frowns and his lips form a hard line. His eyes darken and he rolls his eyes. He doesn’t reply but takes a seat behind me and mumbles to himself I only hear “I always get this!” and just as I am about to say something the rest of the class enters along with the professor.

Everyone settles in their seats and Professor Jane Darcy smiles at us. She is from England and is so passionate about English literature.

“Good morning class, before we proceed I would like to give a warm welcome to our new student all the way from London, Timothy Wickham. Please stand so that they can see you Timothy” She says and I turn to look at him as he stands .

“He will be joining us in our English class. I hope you treat him with respect.” She says then he sits down.

'Timothy Wickham.’ My brain keeps on reciting this name. Okay! What the hell is wrong with me! Azande just stop it! My inner self scolds me and I slouch back on my chair.

“Okay today I want us to discuss two interesting Shakespearean books. ' OTHELLO and MERCHANT OF VENICE' who has read those books before?” Professor Darcy asks us but no one raises their hands except for Tim and myself.

“Only these two have read it? What about the whole class?” she asks and they all shake their heads.

“Wow! I am so disappointed! Okay we will do this. Timothy and Azande will both do reviews of each book. Azande will do OTHELLO and Timothy will do MERCHANT OF VENICE in front of the class.” She says and looks at me.

“Azande, you’ll start.” She tells me and I nod.

I get up and walk to the front of the class and turn to face all of them.

I feel my heartbeat racing. My eyes travel around the whole class and stop when I find Timothy staring at me. I feel more relaxed when I look at him so I keep my eyes on him.

I greet the class and take a deep breath.

“ OTHELLO is a very 'bitter-sweet, tragic book' we have two lovers Othello and Desdemona who are madly in love with each other and decide to elope and marry. Othello being a man of valiance, integrity and the General in the army and Desdemona being a lovely young woman of honesty and complete innocence : she is naïve. However, evil lurks around them as Othello's best friend Iago wishes evil upon Othello and wants to separate him from his lover. He pretends to be a noble man but in reality he is a diabolical being and manipulates his way around. His hatred totally ruins Othello’s relationship with his wife and changes him for the worst. He succeeds in separating Othello from his love by planting doubt in his mind and soon Othello murders Desdemona because he thinks that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with his friend and right hand man Michael Cassio. However, he is remorseful at the end when he discovers that it was all a lie and Iago's conspiracy and takes his own life hoping to attain redemption.” I breathe after finishing the review and the look I get from Timothy is rather confusing. I can’t make out what he is thinking but it looks like a look of admiration.

I smile as Professor Darcy applauds me. “Wonderful! I think the class should read this book so we can discuss it. You guys have a week. Timothy you are next.” She says and I return to my seat. I look at Timothy, I watch him walk as I get to my seat. His legs stretching forward and his waist moving slowly. His arms moving freely and his eyes are stuck on my eyes when he finally stands in front. I can tell that he has made an impression on the other girls too because they are all crazy over him.

“Merchant of Venice, it’s a very interesting book. We have Antonio, a very wealthy man of integrity. He is a Christian and a very generous man. He has a friend, Bassanio, who has just fallen for a very wealthy woman, Portia, who is looking for a suitor to marry her and inherit her father’s inheritance along with her. However, Bassanio is a very extravagant spender hence, does not have any money to travel to Portia's fortress.

Antonio agrees to help him take a loan since he has no money on him because his ships are out for trade and they both go to Shylock , a very shrewd Jew who hates Antonio with all his might! He sees this as an opportunity to take revenge on Antonio and places Antonio’s pound of flesh as surerity just in case they can’t repay the loan. Sadly, Antonio’s ships sink and due to that he is unable to repay the loan. Shylock takes him to court wanting Antonio’s pound of flesh however, Portia being an intelligent woman devices a plan to save Antonio from Shylock’s clutches to show gratitude for having helped his love Bassanio.” He looks at me as he finishes and I smile.

“Wow! That was brilliant. You may take a seat sir.” She tells him and I watch him make his way to his seat.

Professor Darcy comes to us.

“So tell me what was similar about Antonio & Othello” she says pointing at Timothy.

“Well they were both men of integrity and very generous. However, they were very trusting and innocent which proved to be bad for them in the long run.” He says and she smiles.

“What do you think Miss Azande.” She asks me and I smile.

“I think they were hypocrites and both too gullible.” I say and she smiles.

“Why do you say so Miss Radebe.” She asks and I smile. I look around the class and they are all bored to death because they have no idea what we are talking about.

“ I mean Antonio was a Christian but he humiliated Shylock and judged him. Despite being a Christian he discriminated against Shylock, not that he was perfect but he shouldn’t have judged him. As for Othello he appeared to be reasonable and a good judge of character, but he judged his wife without evidence. He allowed someone to malign his own wife without even confronting her. That is hypocrisy!.” I say and she smiles.

“Now that Is literature for you. “ She says smiling however the siren goes off and she assigns work for us to do then we leave.