A force to be reckoned with

Thandi still could not put her foot down, Tsepo carried to her room and suggested she goes to the hospital to have it checked but Thandi thought it was a sprain that would get better with painkillers and rest. In her room she turned and twisted in bed, the pain was just getting worse despite the painkillers and her ankle was getting more swollen. She took a pillow and put it under her ankle trying to elevate it, hoping to alleviate the swelling and pain. She took more painkillers and tried sleeping.

In Duma’s flat S’bu was in a foul mood because Thandi would not talk to her and decided to leave with Tsepo, her ex boyfriend. He tried to forget by flirting with Wendy but could not.

“Why does she have so much power over you?” Wendy asked getting annoyed. She was more beautiful than Thandi but S’bu was not even paying attention to her.

“She’s the love of my life” he told her.

Wendy wanted to ask more questions but S’bu was taken away by Duma who wanted some assistance with the braai.

“How’s Thandi’s ankle?” Duma asked. That fall looked bad, he added.

S’bu was quiet for a long time and did not answer his friend. He was so focused on giving Thandi an explanation that he did not pay attention to her ankle. Now thinking about it, her ankle was very swollen and she was not putting it down. He cursed under his breath, he was so jealous when Tsepo carried Thandi to the car, he did not consider the possibility of Thandi not being able to walk with that leg.

“I have to go see Thandi” he told Duma already leaving.

“Hey, shouldn’t you tell Wendy that you are leaving?” Duma asked.

S’bu turned around to tell Wendy. His mind was already on Thandi, he almost forgot about her.

“Are you sure you want to go? Our bet will be expired in the morning” Wendy told him.

“I know and I’m sorry but this is important” he explained.

Wendy agreed, giving him a hug and intentionally leaving a lipstick print with her lips on his collar.

Thandi was dozing off when she heard a knock on her door. She tried ignoring it hoping the person will go away but knocking continued until she had no choice but hop to the door to open. The last person she expected was S’bu.

“What are you doing here?”she asked annoyed.

“I’m worried about your ankle” he said.

“You don’t have to worry about me, my ankle is non of your business” she said rudely.

“Everything about you is my business” S’bu said calmly following her inside and looking at her ankle.

Thandi looked at him, saw the lipstick on his colour and became furious.

“S’bu, please leave me alone” she said angrily.

“I can’t leave you until we have your ankle checked out”he said.

“You came all this way to show off your souvenir”she said getting angrier pointing at his collar.

S’bu looked at himself in the mirror and couldn’t believe that Wendy would be so childish.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise she did that”he said.

“I don’t care, just leave”Thandi shouted.

“Thandi” he called her trying to explain.

“No” Thandi interrupted him. “You didn’t want me around so you could be with her, I left you to be with her but you still follow me, what do you want from me” Thandi asked getting emotional. She never thought seeing S’bu kiss another woman would hurt so bad. This was yet another promise S’bu had broken. He promised to always be there when she needed him but he lied about his whereabouts in order to spend time with someone else.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t expect you to be there today” he said. “Please let me take you the hospital first and we can talk about all this later when I know that your ankle is fine”he pleaded.

Thandi agreed to go to the hospital as the pain was becoming unbearable.

In the hospital she had an X-ray that showed that her fibula, one of the leg bones was broken next to the ankle and she required and operation to pin it together. Thandi made a call to inform her Mother and Mandy before she was wheeled to theatre for her operation. S’bu was pacing up and down the hospital corridor thinking of every complication that could happen to Thandi. He was soon joined by her DOC friends who were trying to calm him down.

“I would not be able to face it if Thandi doesn’t come out alive and she’s still mad at me” he said.

“It’s not a major surgery, she will be fine” Omesh said reassuring him.

“There’s still anaesthetic complications and procedure related complications, anything can happen” S’bu said. He has heard of people who died in theatre after the so called minor operation and would not calm down until he was sure that Thandi was out of surgery. Two hours later the Orthopaedic surgeon came out to inform him that everything went well. He was allowed to see Thandi for few minutes before she was taken to the ward for observations and told to come back during visiting hours the following day.

The following day, he came to the hospital with a bag full of Thandi’s favourite snacks, fruits and a bunch of roses. Outside the ward, he found his sister and Tsepo waiting to go in. After greeting Mandy he asked Tsepo why he was there.

“Thandi is my friend, I came to see her” Tsepo responded.

“Thandi has all the support she needs, you can go” S’bu told him.

“You are such as an idiot, how can you not know that she’s all yours? Don’t you know how lucky you are? I tried my best to love her, to be faithful but all she wanted was you. Your jealousy is what’s going to push her away” Tsepo said sitting down showing no intention of leaving.

S’bu sat down and thought about Tsepo’s words. When he was jealous of Sthe, Thandi did not tell him about the matric dance and when he saw the photo of the two of them,he almost messed things up. Yesterday when he was jealous of Tsepo, he missed the fact that Thandi could not walk with her hurt leg until Duma asked him about it. It’s also the reason he called Wendy who ended up leaving a lipstick print on his collar making Thandi furious.

“You are right, I’m sorry”S’bu apologised.

“No worries, I was just as jealous of you when I was in your position but I had every reason to be” Tsepo said.

S’bu realised that Tsepo could have made his life really hard when he was with Thandi but didn’t. He also didn’t give Thandi a hard time when they broke things off.

“You are a better man than I am” S’bu admitted. All Tsepo’s supporters labelled him the most humble sportsman they have ever seen and he believed it.

“It takes a great person to admit to their mistakes and even complement their girlfriend’s ex” Tsepo said.

“Do you think we can put all this behind us and have a drink sometime?”S’bu suggested.

“I’d like that”Tsepo agreed.

“I might have some ideas about growing your brand” S’bu said. He had read Tsepo’s profile and was impressed but they were rivals at the time, now that they were getting along he thought with Tsepo’s basketball skills and humble personality and S’bu’s influence they would be a force to be reckoned with.