"But mum! You promised you would be here for some time, at least until my birthday." Rachael was already at the verge of crying. Her mum had just informed her that she was leaving again.

"I know, but I need to go back to New York as soon as possible," her mum insisted, trying to make Rachael reason with her.

"But that can wait till after my birthday mum, I really wanted to celebrate it with you and dad around." Rachael tried her best to fight back the tears welling in her eyes from falling down her face.

"You're not going to understand dear. I need to go back with my assistant so we can start working on our designs and some other things. The exhibition is in fourteen days and I really need to go back," Sylvia explained and tried to palm Rachael's face with her but Rachael immediately stood up from the sofa.

"I don't even understand why you are doing this mum, after all, dad is making enough to fend for us!"

"I'm doing this for me okay, and if your birthday is what you feel would go wrong then don't worry about it. I'm going to find the best dress designer in the country and best event planner too, all you have to do is sit back and watch everything come into perfection that day," Sylvia said, frustrated.

"You see it? That's it, you always think that everything is about the money!"

"So you're still bent on choosing your career over your daughter's happiness right!" Rachael's dad appeared through the stairs.

"Why are you saying it like I don't care about her happiness! She is my daughter too and I want the best for her also," Sylvia retorted.

"It seems like you really don't care about her happiness since you decided to choose your career over spending time with your own daughter! What difference would it make if you go back immediately after her birthday anyways?" Davidson raised his voice at his wife while Rachael watched on with her parents heated argument.

"Babe, her birthday is a week from now, if I was to wait till after her birthday I wouldn't have enough time to prepare for the exhibition," Sylvia calmly spoke, hoping that her husband and daughter would understand her.

"We both know that your assistant can be in charge until then but you just want to go because you feel nothing can go wrong when you're present there just because you're obsessed with perfection!" Davidson snapped.

"When are you leaving mum?" Rachael asked, even before her mum could reply her dad.

"Tomorrow afternoon," her mum replied quietly and all Rachael could do was to nod sadly at her reply as the tears that she had fought so hard to suppress started rolling down her pretty face. At that same moment, her phone rang and she went into the kitchen to answer it, while her parents continued in their argument. She checked who the caller was, it was Diane.

"Hi Diane," she said with a croaky voice as she picked up the call.

"Hey Rachael, is everything okay? You sound like you've been crying," Diane said when she observed that Rachael must have been crying since her voice sounded rough.

Rachael cleared her voice. "I'm okay."

"I hear voices at the background like... Wait, are your parents quarreling?" Diane asked in observation as the exchange of words between Rachael's mum and dad was becoming really loud.

"It's nothing," Rachael replied and started walking upstairs to her room, so the noise from her parents argument would be reduced.

"Look, you can talk to me okay. I'm ready to give a listening ear and I could also help you out," Diane convincingly said.

There was silence from Rachael's end as she battled with telling Diane about what was happening or not, but on her second thought, she saw no harm in telling her. Diane looked like a really happy girl to her and so she thought maybe If she opened up to her, she could help her out with her sadness.

"It's just... I wanted mum to stay for my birthday that is coming up next week Saturday but she just revealed to me this night that she is leaving tomorrow, back to New York city for her fashion exhibition, my dad and I are just...  Angry that she would choose that over staying for my birthday." Rachael sniffled.

"Hey, don't cry about that," Diane started with a soothing voice. "You know my mum travels a lot too but I'm used to it now, all she cares about is sending in enough money to take care of my everyday needs and that's it," she continued.

"That means you understand what I'm going through right now?" Rachael asked.

"Yes, I do but I can tell you that I've gotten over it and if you want, I can help you get over it too," Diane assuringly said.

"That would be nice because I'm tired of begging for my own mother's attention, I just want to get over her absence. I don't want to feel empty whenever she is not here at home again," Rachael let out all her pains to her newly found friend.

"You know what? I would like you to visit my place tomorrow. Say, by two in the afternoon so we can talk about this more, my friends would also be around."

"Okay, that would be nice," Rachael agreed.
"So why did you call?" she asked Diane.

"I just wanted to check on you."

"Okay, thank you so much," Rachael said.

"You're welcome dear, see you tomorrow. Bye," Diane said and ended the call.

After Rachael was done with her call, she noticed that her parents had stopped quarreling and had gone into their room so she laid on her bed and was already sleeping off after some few minutes.

                             ~•~

The next day after mass service, Rachael came back home and started preparing to go over to Diane's place, after she had finished taking her lunch. She wore a body fitted red dress and packed her long, dark virgin hair in a bun.

After she was done dressing, she let her dad know that she was going over to a friend's place, and finally left the house when her Uber driver arrived. She gave the driver the address to Diane's house which Diane had sent to her.

She got to Diane's house after some minutes of driving and knocked at the front door, at the same time taking a good look at the house. Diane's family house, which was a duplex was a beauty to behold. Everything about the house sparkled, from the exterior design of the building to the surroundings.

The door was soon opened by a boy that looked like he was around the age of twenty or maybe more, by Rachael's judgement. Rachael wouldn't say he was tall but to her, he had an average height and also had a handsome face which reminded her of Vincent but then, Vincent looked more handsome than the boy before her.

The boy gave her a loving smile as he opened the door to find her standing outside.
"You must be a friend to Diane," he said to her, taking in her features as he spoke.

"Yes, I'm here to see her," Rachael answered.

The boy glanced over Rachael once more.
"My name is Cyril and I'm a cousin to Diane, you look really beautiful. What's your name?"

"My name is Rachael, thanks for the compliment."

"Don't mention, you can come in," Cyril said and ushered her in.

Rachael walked into the house and wasn't so surprised at how breathtaking the inside was, not like she had not seen better though, her own family house was a little bit bigger than Diane's but she acknowledged the fact that the place was really a beautiful work of art.

"Let me go and get Diane," Cyril said and left Rachael in the living room.

A minute later, Diane appeared in the living room in a white short sleeve top, and shorts. Rachael admired how pretty Diane looked as she elegantly walked towards her.

"Welcome dear," Diane said and went ahead to give Rachael a warm and welcoming hug.

"Thank you so much," Rachael replied.

"Wow! Your hair is really long and it's not even relaxed," Diane said as she noticed Rachael's hair, which was well combed and packed.

"Yeah, it's not relaxed," Rachael confirmed.

"Really! No offence but I really dislike virgin hair. It's so difficult to manage and doesn't allow you to make some really pretty hair styles that you can easily make if it was relaxed," Diane grimaced, making Rachael to feel a little bit hurt.

"I don't get to make some hairstyles, that's true, but I just like the texture of the virgin hair," Rachael said, trying to hide the hurt she felt from Diane's statement. "Your cousin stays with you?" she asked Diane, trying to divert the discussion away from her hair.

"He doesn't but he visits us sometimes," Diane replied.

"Okay," Rachael said and immediately, a knock was heard from the door.

"That must be Lisa and Sophia, they stay in the same estate with me so we get to spend a lot of time together," Diane said to Rachael before standing up to answer the door.

True to Diane's words, it was her friends at the door. She ushered them into the house and they both said hi to Rachael. Diane had informed them that Rachael would be coming to visit.

"Oh wow! Do people still keep virgin hair these days!" Lisa said, immediately she saw how thick and dark Rachael's hair was.

Rachael laughed nervously at her reaction.
"It's not a big deal," she said, trying to make them see that it really wasn't a big deal.

"Hmm, if you say so, as far me, it's a no-no for
virgin hair," Lisa said, sounding like it was a death sentence to go around with virgin hair.

"Rachael you mentioned something about your birthday coming up soon right," Diane spoke.

"Yes, it's on Saturday," Rachael confirmed.

"That's close, hope you have big plans for the day?" asked Diane.

"Not really, was just planning a small party for my best friends and I," Rachael replied, referring to Rita and Vincent.

"Seriously! Small party? Come on, you need to make it really big. Small birthday parties suck. You need a birthday party that would last really long in the memory of the whole school, and I can help you out with that," Diane said with a disagreeing look.

"Um... I've never really had a big birthday party before, it has always been with my parents and closest friends," Rachael revealed which got the other girls surprised since they couldn't understand why someone that had wealthy parents would settle for a small birthday party.

"You know what? We need to change that this year, you're grown up now and you need a birthday party that really befits you," Diane said, as she was determined to make Rachael change her mind on having a small birthday party.

"Alright, since some things would be changing about me, I'm guessing we could start with my forthcoming birthday," Rachael said in agreement.

"That's the spirit girl, throwing big parties are one of the best way to get things out of your mind," Diane cheerfully said.

The girls continued with how the party was going to be as they chatted on. Diane decided that they should start with increasing the number of the invitees and Rachael agreed with her. They also decided to go for a little shopping with Rachael a day before her birthday, that is on a Friday, after school.

Rachael stayed at Diane's place for about two hours before she decided to leave.

"I really had a great time with you and your friends," she said to Diane as she got ready to leave.

"I'm happy that you did, hope to see you again soon," Diane said and hugged Rachael goodbye.

Rachael decided to make a stop at her usual customer's hair salon before going home.

"I want to relax my hair," she said to her hair stylist who had been the one taking care of her hair for almost three years.

"Are you sure? You've always loved your virgin hair," the lady said to Rachael, still shocked at her sudden decision.

"Just do it! It's what I want now," Rachael said, determined to take the bold step of relaxing her three-year-old virgin hair.

"Alright," the lady gave in, and with that, she got to work.

                               ~•~