Indoor picnic

“Please come and sit down” S’bu invited Thandi to a section of the lounge next to the pool table behind the sofas. Thandi followed and suddenly stopped.

“What’s this?” she asked looking at S’bu. There was a huge rug on the floor with rose petals on the floor and two big cushions on opposite ends. The middle of it was fruits, snacks and sweets. It looked like a picnic setting for lovers.

“Well, with everything I going to be explaining to you I’m going to get hungry and since I didn’t know what you liked I got everything I could find” he lied. “Please sit down” S’bu said pointing at one of the cushions on the rug and he went to sit on the other one opposite Thandi. He clapped his hands twice and suddenly soft romantic music started playing and the lights in the room changed to different colours.

“Can we talk about G now”Thandi asked impatiently.

“How are you still a virgin when you this impatient?”S’bu asked mischievously. “How are about I answer all your previous questions about virgin hearts, other girls and Amahle?”he said with a serious tone. He continued without waiting for her answer.

“You are the first women I’ve ever loved. Yes, I have hooked with a lot of girls but I had never loved nor have I ever confessed my love to anyone before you. That is including your friend Pretty. When I was in high school I hooked up with a girl. We used protection but I was shocked eight weeks later when she told me that she was pregnant. I knew it was not 100 percent protection but failure rate is so low. The expectation was I would marry her which I was not prepared to do. We were never lovers but she was carrying my child so I told her I will take full responsibility for anything related to my child. Soon after that there were a lot of demands for money and other things she supposedly required as pregnant women. Her parents even came here to speak to my parents and demanded a huge settlement for having ruined their daughters possibility of getting married in the future. Luckily before we paid that settlement one of her friends spilled the beans to a close friend of mine. It turned out that the condom I used was intentionally tampered with, that’s how Amahle was conceived. When Amahle was born she faked her kidnapping to get money from me and that’s why the court gave me full custody of her.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know” Thandi said sympathetically. She was fond of Amahle and could not imagine someone faking her kidnapping.

“It’s all in the past, I’m not telling you this for you to feel sorry for me. I’m telling you all to is so you can understand what I meant by virgin hearts. You are the only one” he said sincerely.

Thandi didn’t know what to say, so she kept quiet and kept her head down avoiding S’bu’s eyes. S’bu got up from the cushion he was sitting on and knelt next to her.

“Thandi, please look at me” he pleaded.

Thandi lifted her head and their eyes met. When she tried to look away, S’bu held her chin not letting her to look away. Her heart started racing and the room was suddenly too hot.

“I will pull G off under a condition that you stop avoiding me and start answering my calls.”

Thandi nodded, words could not come out. S’bu was still holding her chin and looking at her in the eyes then he suddenly got closer and kissed her passionately. He let go before Thandi could react.

“I believe I just gave you your first kiss”he said with a grin moving away from her.

Thandi stood up and left without a word. On her way home, she could not shake off the images in her head of S’bu kissing her.

When S’bu called her that night, she dropped the call but he sent her a message to say G will continue being her bodyguard unless she answered the next call. Thandi wondered how S’bu got an upper hand all of a sudden when she could use his reputation and him putting her in danger to push him away.

S’bu called or sent a message every night from that day on. Although she was not willing to admit it, Thandi soon discovered that she was looking forward to talking to him every night.

One night Thandi was so tired, she had the worse period cramps and just wanted to sleep. Just when she was about to fall asleep, S’bu called.

“Hi”she answered irritated.

“Did you take painkillers?” he asked concerned.

“What are you talking about?” she asked puzzled.

“It’s been 30 days since your last period and judging by your tone when you answered my call you probably have dysmenorrhea” he said.

“Why are you keeping record of my periods?” She asked uneasy. She was a private person and would not talk about her periods especially to a male.

“You are going to be my wife some day, how would I get you pregnant if I don’t know about your periods?” S’bu teased sensing her uneasiness.

“Shameless!”she said and dropped his call.

S’bu looked at his phone realising the Thandi dropped his call and laughed. He liked getting on her nerves now and then.

The following night Thandi did not want to talk to S’bu and ignored his calls however he sent her a message that made her jaw drop.

Hey beautiful, I was sitting here thinking. If we made love around the 14th to the 26th we could create a beautiful Jobe Princess or Prince. What do you think?

Thandi’s had never met someone this shameless in her whole life. It seemed to her that S’bu had no boundaries whatsoever.

“Thandi why don’t you admit that you have fallen for me” S’bu asked when she finally decided to take his calls again. They had been talking for at least an hour most nights for the past three months. S’bu was smart enough to know when a girl was into him but Thandi was not willing to admit it.

“I don’t hate you anymore, that’s all. Maybe I like you a little but it does not mean that I’m falling for you”Thandi responded.

“I’m gonna have to get the confession out of you then” S’bu told her.

“Good luck with that”Thandi responded challenging him.

Three nights passed and S’bu had not called nor did he send her a message. The first and the second nights Thandi assumed that S’bu was trying to get her to confess to loving him but now she was no longer sure. They had spoken almost every night for the past three months. If he sent a message one night he would definitely call the following one. Thandi had tried calling him but her call went to voicemail. She fell asleep feeling uneasy and worried but did not know what to do. She also did not want to create unnecessary panic only to find out S’bu was fine.

In the morning Thandi had a bad feeling, she could not ignore it anymore. She decided to tell Mandy everything.

Mandy thought S’bu was probably trying to get Thandi to admit to falling for him however Thandi insisted that she tells her parents about it. In the end they both decided to tell Mr and Mrs J. Thandi was worried that Mr and Mrs J would look at her suspiciously and think she’s just creating stories for attention but to her surprise they listened to her attentively, believed her every word and called G to trace S’bu.