Her Forever After. Nani Khabako
is my home too. Don’t act as if I planned my return to ruin your life.”
“Didn’t you? It was really nice seeing you again, Mandi, but I must go.”
“We’re not done with our drinks.”
“I think we are,” she said, getting up and walking away as fast as her feet could take her.
Tumi prayed she wouldn’t burst into tears and make a complete fool of herself. She couldn’t believe that some part of her had hoped he’d take responsibility for what he’d done and maybe apologise for breaking her heart.
But it was clear he wasn’t capable of that kind of respect. Mandi was obviously bored and needed some amusement while in Cape Town. Well, he could forget about her; she was no one’s distraction!
* * *
By the time Tumi arrived back at her flat, she was seething.
Mandi had a damn nerve to think he could waltz back into her life and act as if nothing had ever happened between them.
As she took off her heels and plonked down on the bed, she couldn’t help but remember the day when everything had turned sour between them. The day Mandi had ruined everything.
They had been dating for a year. Since the afternoon when he’d kissed her out of the blue, they had simply fallen into a relationship. One that Tumi never would have imagined herself having.
Though Mandi continued being closed off most of the time, though he remained reluctant to share anything about his past, he became the best and sweetest part of her life.
He began picking her up from res in the mornings. They would walk together, she babbling on about everything and nothing, and he seemingly enthralled by anything she had to say. He’d made her feel like the most important thing in his life. He’d been attentive and thoughtful, finding ways to make her day easier or just leaving her little notes written with his own brand of straightforward sweetness.
The other students wondered about the strange pairing. The bookworm who was always laughing and sharing a joke with everyone else, and the solitary intellectual who was sexier than any man deserved to be. But it worked for them.
During that time, Tumi had been the happiest she’d ever been in her life. She remembered how they would sneak off to a deserted part of the campus where they would sit talking and teasing each other. In the end they’d done everything but make love, something which was only due to her fear of being caught and expelled for public indecency.
Mandi was one of the most free-spirited people she’d ever met. He did what he wanted whenever he wanted to do it. He spoke to people who interested him and saw no point in conversing with anyone else. He studied hard but let go in the most surprising ways when they went out. It seemed he couldn’t get enough of her.
But it had all been a lie.
A year to the day after they’d made their relationship official, Tumi took Mandi to meet her mother in Khayelitsha. Margareta seemed to be thrilled to find that her daughter had met a good, intelligent boy who was dedicated to his studies and treated her with respect.
It had always been difficult to pinpoint Mandi’s origins. He wasn’t straightforward Xhosa or Zulu or any other culture. But he was distinctly township, streetwise and smooth. Tumi had worried about this, thinking her mother wouldn’t accept him as her boyfriend.
Margareta made no secret of the fact that she didn’t think the local boys were good enough for her smart and well-behaved daughter. But everything had gone smoothly that afternoon. They had eaten delicious Sunday food with all the trimmings. Her mother had even engaged Mandi in conversation and assured Tumi before they left that she was happy with the way her life was going. She had kissed her daughter and told her she loved her, after which she proceeded to tell Mandi that he was a smart boy and that she was glad she’d finally got to meet him.
Since that meeting, Tumi had been sure her relationship with Mandi was secure. So she was caught completely off guard when, after a week of acting distant, he suddenly declared he was no longer happy and wished to break off with her and concentrate on his studies. He even suggested that she do the same!
She had begged him over and over again, through phone calls, e-mails, SMSs and even in person, to change his mind. But he told her he’d moved on. That her “in-love act” was getting wearisome and that she was making a fool of herself.
Tumi couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so devastated. She’d cried for weeks. She’d spent hours reading motivational books, and many nights talking on Tatum’s couch, and even more nights out partying with Tholaphi. But none of this had helped. She had never really recovered from that heartbreak. For the first time in her life she’d trusted someone. She’d opened up her heart, her very soul, and he had taken her innocence. And between that time and now, she couldn’t remember a night when she hadn’t thought of Mandi with equal measures of bitter anger and shameful longing.
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