Village schooled

Thandi saw that it was calling and decided to ignore the call but after the sixth call she decided to answer.

“Hello”she answered uninterested.

“MaDlamini, forgive me if I have offended you” S’bu said lovingly.

“No, not at all. I was just busy” Thandi lied.

“Your boyfriend is all over the newspapers today”S’bu said.

So that’s why he called, Thandi thought to herself. S’bu had not called her since Precious came back but today he called six times.

“You need to be careful, not everyone has good intentions” S’bu warned.

“What do you mean?” Thandi was curious to know what S’bu was up to.

“Some guys would pretend to like you just to ruin you and disappear leaving you heartbroken” S’bu explained. It was very common for guys to target virgins and Thandi was aware of it but found it amusing that S’bu was the one warning her about it.

“I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I gave him my virtue, judging by the cow he honoured my mom with for it I don’t think he will be disappearing” Thandi told him. Traditionally when a girl lost her virginity, older women in the family would take her to the mans home. If he admitted to being the one that broke her virginity, he would be expected give the girls mother whatever form of livestock he had ideally a cow. S’bu felt like a knife had been plunged into his heart. He was struggling to breathe and sweat was dripping down his face. Thandi did not just move on, she even slept with another man! His head was spinning, he sat down to avoid falling and forced himself to remain calm.

“Do you love him that much to give up your virtue just like that?” S’bu asked trying very hard to control his emotions.

“I have to go now, thanks for caring but you don’t have to worry about me” Thandi ended the call avoiding S’bu’s question.

In his room S’bu punched and threw his phone against the wall. The phone broke into pieces and his knuckles oozed with blood. Menzi heard the noise from his room and came to investigate.

“That’s someone’s four month salary” he said looking at the phone in small pieces. “What’s the matter?” he asked concerned. S’bu rarely lost his tamper, something really bad must have happened.

“Remember the guy I told you was with Thandi yesterday?” S’bu asked.

Menzi nodded

“That’s him” said S’bu pointing at the newspaper article.

Menzi was quiet for a long time reading the article. “Very impressive, this guy is more suited for her than you” he teased but quickly withdrew his statement after a deadly look from his brother. S’bu then told him about the conversation he just had with Thandi.

“I can’t loose her Menzi” he told his brother.

“She’s given her virtue to him” Menzi replied.

“It does not matter, I love her, I can’t loose her” S’bu said sadness clear in his voice.

“We were all sure she loved you too, how can she move on so fast?” Menzi enquired. When S’bu was missing it became very clear to everyone that the two were in love even when Thandi would not admit it.

“Maybe I hurt badly and he was there to pick up the pieces” S’bu still couldn’t believe thing went out of control so fast. He just wanted to make Thandi jealous but he pushed her into another mans arms. S’bu was in a foul mood the whole day, Menzi tried everything to cheer him up with no success. They could not think of any way to fix the situation. S’bu could confess to Thandi about using Precious to get her to admit her feelings but there was no guarantee that she would leave Bonga.

The following day, S’bu forced himself to get out of bed. He had not eaten in 24 hours, he had to have breakfast. When he got to the kitchen Mandy was making breakfast singing happily, Menzi and his mom were already eating.

He greeted them and sat down.

“Still upset about Thandi” Mrs J asked. “If you are meant to be together, it will happen” she added.

S’bu only nodded his head, he was finding hard to believe that Thandi could be his. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, Bonga was better suited for Thandi than him. So how exactly was he going to end up with her?

Mandy came to join them on the dining table holding her and S’bu’s food still singing happily.

“Mandy why are you in such a good mood today? You even made breakfast for S’bu!” asked Mrs J curious.

“Did you see yesterday’s articles about the handsome Dr Bongs?” Mandy giggled.

“Who?” Mrs J asked

“Dr Bonga Ngcobo the King’s advisor, he’s an eye candy” Mandy explained.

S’bu wanted to get up and leave. He did not want to hear his sister praising the man he considered a rival but he had not eaten for a long time and was starving so he forced himself to stay.

“Eye candy?” repeated Mrs J.

“Good looking, Mom” Mandy explained rolling her eyes. “I’m going to ask Thandi to introduce me, he is her cousin” Mandy added.

“Wow, wow, What?” S’bu asked standing up and walking to stand next to his sister. “Please repeat that” he urged.

“I’m going to ask Thandi to introduce me, he is her cousin” Mandy repeated.

“Are you sure about that?” S’bu could not believe his ears.

“Yes, their mothers are sisters. They are very close, they grew up together” Mandy explained.

S’bu laughed so hard he sounded like a mad man. Thandi must have found out that he was using Precious to get her jealous and decided to get back at him. Now it all made sense why Thandi and Bonga had so much in common. They were not just relatives, they grew up together. Their parents were thought the same values that they passed to their children. He shook his head in disbelief, he spent the past two days worrying about nothing.

“I believe the village girl just thought you lesson Bro. You have been ‘village schooled’”Menzi said laughing at his brother.

S’bu did no care, he was just happy that he had not really lost Thandi and never had to go against Bonga.