Chapter 24

NARRATED

Have you ever felt like you forgot something that was in your mind for the longest time ?. Something that was deep and painful, something that made you do things that you are not proud of and would do anything to reverse the time and change your actions?

Well that's how mafungwase feels right now ,that dream seemed to real ,to painful . A dream that traumatized her .what kind of a girl that would force another girl to do such dirty thing with them ?

Is this what happened to her ,she experienced cocsa and if she did ,how come she couldn't remember such a traumatic thing?. Alot of questions are running in her mind and she doesn't have any answers to them since her memory is lost .

She grabs her phone and texts menzi ,right now that's the only person she trusts with her feelings .yes lebohang told her that they are besties and she felt the connection but the one between her and lush was deeper than the ocean itself.

'I had a bad dream lush and I feel like it's more than a dream maybe a locked memory from my past '

That's what the text say and in a minute he responds.

'I'm sorry chubby cheeks ,look try to watch our favorite movies and tomorrow we gonna meet up so that you can tell me more about the dream'

'Are you sure that watching love and basketball, kissing booth ,to all the boys I've loved before and sideline is going to help me to fall asleep?'

'Well I'm not sure but at least try to '

'Okay ,thank you '

'No problem, have a good sleep chubby baby'

She looks at the text and react with a heart while blushing. They have spent time together and each time he touches her hand or smile at her .her stomach does crazy flips . Lush wasn't just a boyfriend but something more and that is something that she is sure about .

AT UMLAZI

His wife is shouting at him for the 50th time this week and it's because of his cheating ways ,even worse he cheats with kids at his daughter's age .This time his wife caught him in bed with one of the seniors at his school .

He is suppose to be a principal not a kid fucker ,yes a kid fucker or teen fucker .whatever it is but it's inappropriate, he is tarnishing the dignity of his wife and kids .

"Kodwa mbongeni, when will you change ?!"

"I don't know"

He doesn't regret it ,you can hear by the way he says it . In his mind and eyes ,he didn't do anything wrong .The kid will benefit and he also benefited. She will pass with flying colour's and has her whole future secured since she did the right thing which was sleeping with him .

A whole principal sleeping with learners ,how sick is that? .even worse he thinks he is right by doing that .

" Don't I satisfy you mbongeni?"

Her voice is almost breaking ,it hurts seeing your husband being busy with school kids . It's shattering and an disgrace.

"You were but not now ,I need something new and fresh .I'm afraid you are not that my beautiful wife . Look ,I married you because you were youthful ,energetic, a bit of a gangster and that caught my attention and heart but now ,I'm not so sure "

Her heart shatters more ,he really doesn't regret this .

" what do you mean ,am I ugly now?"

Her eyes gleam with tears .

"Ungakhali muntuza . Cha , I never said you are ugly .I just need something fresh and new .please iron my suit for tomorrow ,schools are opening. I love you"

He kisses her cheeck, leaving her standing there with no words .only her heart is breaking and her tears voluntarily falling .

MENZI

Since schools are opening today ,I decided to meet up with mafungwase afternoon so that we can talk more about her dream .I hope it wasn't that bad ,I'd hate to see her cry all over again but if she wants to cry she can ,she will cry to me and I will comfort her since I'm her safe space .

I want her to open up about how she feels and not suppress her feelings, I want her to know that I'm always there to listen. She might not remember or feel the same way she did before but I will make sure to make her feel valued and loved like how I always did.

It's now lunch break and my friends are playing soccer while I'm eating my lunch .my nostrils pick up a familiar scent and I swear if it's who I think it is ,I will roll myself all over this playground.

I raise my eyes and I see this fukwe sitting next to me with a huge smile on her face .I look at her for a moment .

"Hi menzi babyy"

I roll my eyes then lay myself on the ground and start rolling .People start laughing and my friends pick me up .I did say that I will roll myself all over the play ground. After they helped me to get up ,I fix myself then sit on my seat.

"What was that baby?"

"Non of your business "

"Ohh okay, uhm so I heard your little Maria lost her memory .is that true?"

"Uhlanganaphi lindiwe?"

No where does she enter because she hate chubby cheeks and i know she wants to try something which will not work on me because there's only one girl that has my heart and that is Mafungwase Ngcobo .

"No i was just asking"

I tut my teeth then grab my lunch and head back to my classroom. She's crazy if she thinks I will entertain her nonsense, I'm not entertaining bullshit mina .

As I'm about to enter the classroom, someone calls out my name and I turn around .it's her ,what the hell does this girl what?

"Lindiwe leave me the fuck alone"

"No i don't want to "

Her voice slightly breaks and what the fuck is happening ?

"Menzi I still love you baby and what did I do to you huh?"

Her eyes gleams with tears and I just look at her ,those are crocodile tears.

"Please answer me because I'm confused, is it because she's more innocent, more fluffy, more beautiful or more gentle? Explain to me because I don't understand baby I did everything for you. Sent you nudes ,gave you the coochie ,sent reels ,I did everything that a normal girlfriend would do !!"

"But you couldn't stay loyal "

"You also couldn't menzi!"

"How because I cared for you ,loved you ,chose you regardless of what people said about you and even abandoned mafungwase for you huh??"

"I saw the way you yearned for her instead of me ,I saw the way you looked at her .Menzi you chose her even when you were with me and that broke me "

"Well I'm sorry if it seemed like that but I didn't cheat ,you did and I loved you lindiwe. I genuinely thought you were the one "

"I'm sorry menzi..."

Her tears are falling and I walk closer to her then tilt her chin .

"And I'm sorry too but my heart and soul chose mafungwase "

I walk away from her then enter the class. Our relationship was nothing like how mine and mafungwase is .it's deeper than anything and lovely ,it's not sexual or lustful . I love my mafungwase with everything that I have within me .I look at the traditional bracelet around my wrist and it's smells like her ,weird but it does .

I miss my chubby cheeks so much and she's my heart ,my heartbeat.

NARRATED

He is seated in this white boring room once again facing his physcologist .he is slowly opening up even though his episodes would sometime take over but the pills are helping him .

"So you say he was your mother's loanshark?"

He nods .

"How old were you when this happened?"

"About 7 or 8 years old"
She nods then notes something down

"So have you ever attended therapy?"

"Yeah but I eventually got tired of it then stopped attending it"

"Why?"

"Hated talking about my feelings, I still do ."

She nods and notes down.

"So have you ever tried to tell someone else besides your therapist and your parents "

"Yep ,my close friend Menzi but I couldn't tell him everything and I stopped halfway the story ."

She notes down and this thing of hers is starting to annoy him .does she have to note almost everything he says? .it's not like it will help ,he has bipolar and it won't go away anytime soon .

"I think that's it for the today mr Zulu "

He nods and as she is about to stand up ,he stops her .

"Rather bring a recorder or something, this thing of yours noting everything down is annoying me"

"But i have to "

"Well if you bring it tomorrow ,I'm not opening up "

She sighs snd grabs her things .

"I will bring the record ke"

He smirks and she walks out .he has been getting nightmares about that day and it is haunting him so bad to the point that he can't even sleep. Only if he could see his face clearly, yes he remembers everything but his face? Nothing.

LINDOKUHLE

I throw my school bag on my bed then take off my shoes .I hear a notification sound and when I check it ,it's lebohang. Yes she unblocked me ,she couldn't block me forever. We promised each other that we will just stay as friends even though it hurts but that is what I got to do just to be close to her and hear her voice everyday.

I wanted her to be mine and me to be hers but I totally respect her decision. I was clear from the start about how i feel about her and that is not going to change .yes we are young but now I understand what menzi feels for mafungwase.

It's confusing yet so beautiful. It's innocent and sincere. I wish to have something like that with lebohang someday, I haven't proposed to her to be my girlfriend yet but she just told me that she's not ready for a relationship and that disappointed me but I love her and the best way to show her that is to respect her damn decisions.

' On Saturday, I want to go to mafungwase's house .I miss her '

'Okay Lala ,i will fetch you'

She reacts with a heart emoji. This mafungwase situation is taking a toll on her and I'm trying my best to comfort her and make her feel better .Sometimes she feels like she failed her best friend which isn't true because we didn't expect samkelo to shoot her . I just hope she doesn't cry when she sees her and even if she does ,I will comfort her .

LEBOHANG

So I've been trying so hard to forget about the moments we shared at the beach, we laughed ,talked for hours ,kept quiet and got lost in each other's peace. It was so beautiful but I can't manage the stress of dating a whole matriculant especially when we don't go to same schools .

He will go away next year and leave me here while he finds better girls than me .I can't risk getting my heart broken and I'm not saying i love him, I just enjoy being with him which means i would give him a chance but I won't because I don't love him .well that is what i tell myself but I really don't........

NARRATED

She gives him the money that she owed along with a pregnancy test .He looks at the money then the pregnancy test .

"What's this?"

"A pregnancy test?"

She says like she's asking a question. Her mom owed him R50 000 for the longest time and when she died, she took the debt unfortunately she had to pay up with her body and find the money . She had no choice the debt was now R90 000 ,so she had to.

"I can see it is a pregnancy test ,what it is for?"

"I'm pregnant mbongeni with your damn child!"

She slightly raise her voice and he looks at her than grabs some cash that was in his drawer and threw it on her face.

"If you are really pregnant as you say then go abort that bastard .I won't have a child with an immature mina. Thank you for your loyalty and your delicious cake but I won't be needing it anymore since it's now rotten .see yourself out"

She can't believe the words that has been uttered to her .The whole mbongeni that was promising her heaven when he was on top of her is saying this .Her heart breaks ,yes she agreed knowing what will happen but she didn't expect him to say that to her .

She's supposed to do her second year this year and now how will she do it while being pregnant?.

"Are you still seated zinhle? Get out before my wife finds your rotten ass here"

She slowly gets up and takes the abortion money then walk out .He is really a horrible man and why did her mom lend money from such a cruel monster?

MENZI

She walks out and sees me leaning against the car .yes our parents knows about our date and I'm taking her to the best view ,where she will be able to see the beauty of the ocean . She wraps her arms around me and I tightly pull her in ,melting into her arms .

"Okay you can let go lush"

"Ohh"

I quickly let go of her and she laughs ,ohh that sweet laugh ,the laugh that makes your stomach filled with butterflies and your heart doing all sorts of flips .

"Sorry"

I let out a awkward brief laugh and she pats my shoulder. I look at her hand on my shoulder then move my eyes to hers ,hawu nkosiyami. What a gorgeous fluffy.

"It's okay "

I nod then open the door for her and she climbs in. After closing the door ,i go to climb on my side then take off .our song phesheya plays and we sing along to it while we steal glances of each other . I must say ,we are horrible singers but as long as I'm with her ,I'm enjoying every second of this moment.

We arrive at the view and I take her hand ,helping her to get out .we stand next to each other and watch the view . We stay quiet for a moment and I grab her waist to bring her closer to me .she places her head on my shoulder.

"I feel like losing my memory didn't make our connection go away but it made it stronger"

"How?"

"I don't know but somehow I feel the connection even though I lost my memory but I feel that there was and there is something between us .we may be friends right now but I know that we are more than just friends lush "

"Yeah you are right ,we are more than just friends and more than just a boyfriend and a girlfriend but each other's hearts owners .you own mine and i own yours ,together we are lush and chubby cheeks"

She giggles and i kiss the side of her head .

"I feel like I'm in a rom com movie or a certain novel. It's like I'm the main character "

"Well that's because you are the main character, the main character of my heart "

"You have cheesy lines i see"

"For you ,I will always will"

She smiles and I fix my eyes on her as she is watching the view .I can't believe that I almost lost the pearl of my heart ,the diamond of my soul ,the gold of my mind .she's everything that I dreamt of .

"About the dream ,I think i once faced cocsa"
"What ,what makes you say that?"

She then narrates the whole dream to me and the time she finishes ,she has tears streaming. I bring into my embrace and let her cry freely.

"It felt real ,i can't believe that i was sexual abused by someone I call a friend "

"I'm sorry ,it wasn't your fault "

"I know and it doesn't make me just a victim but a strong ,young girl that faced something that was horrible and I know that I will heal by time .like I did before "

"I'm proud of you"

I kiss the top of her head and I'm really proud ,she is handling the situation better and that makes her strong .