He was sitting alone in the dark wearing a red jersey and a blue jeans. Mavis passed and saw him looking a bit lonely and far away with his thoughts. He then moved next to the fire as it was windy and cold outside and people were sitting there at the fire as well cooking. Mavis went sat next to him and looked him in the eyes, “Hi I am Mavis and you are?”

“I’m Robert,” he said looking down.

“I’ve been watching you singing inside beautifully, I must say just like your face.”

He laughed hysterically.

“So where do you stay? I live around here but it’s the first I see a girl like you in this area.”

“Well, I am new here came visited my aunt that’s why I decided to come to her church too.”
Robert laughed

“Nice to meet you too though, this is my parents’ house yah and they are the ones preaching, my father is a pastor, so I just had to come join. Not that I had a choice, I am not a fan of church.”

“Oh, Robert wow! It must be nice being the pastor’s son hey.”

“I am glad I came to meet this beautiful lady next to me, can I have your number miss?

“Thanks for the compliment, well my phone is off now but I’ll give you when the church is out.

“No problem miss I’ll wait.” Mavis went inside the church

Two weeks passed with no calls from Robert but Mavis eventually received a call from him.

“Who’s this?”

“It’s me, Robert, you forgot easily neh? Can I see you tomorrow?”

“Well, I don’t know, actually I am not sure,” said Mavis.

Robert went all the way to Mavis’ aunt’s place to see her and Mavis went to the salon to fix her hair. She wanted to surprise him. Robert called and he arrived at her place, they met and he couldn’t say anything but he just stared at her.

“Please say something,” said Mavis pushing him.

“Wow, you look beautiful, I didn’t expect to see this. Your eyes are beautiful and yet I was blushing and I like the way you smell. Is it the lavender scent?”
She laughed.

“How do you know?”

“I know such stuff.”
They both laughed. He showed up wearing the same jersey he was wearing that night at church, so that she may recognise him with it. They suddenly stopped while they were walking and he held her hand, looking her in the eyes, came close and kissed her. Mavis was smiling.
Mavis and Robert dated and after five years they found out that she was pregnant. They were both happy and Robert told his parents about the baby, so they didn’t argue instead they congratulated him and they sent his uncles to Mavis’ family to pay for damage. Both families were happy and they allowed her to come with them. Robert was now a qualified chef with a Franchise Certificate as his dream was to open his own franchise and take care of his family. Every day he would cook for his love Mavis, massage her and was supportive in every way a pregnant woman would want.

She went back home and her mother decided to take her to Pretoria for a visit since her siblings didn’t approve of her pregnancy as she was still in matric. They thought abortion was the solution so she could focus on school work. But her mother stood by her as well as Robert’s family. They both decided to keep the baby.

They went to Pretoria and eventually Mavis gave birth to a handsome healthy baby boy. Robert was proud to be called a father now; both families were so much happy and excited they couldn’t wait to meet their grandson to come home.

They went back home and his family came as well with new stuff for their grandson. It was a beautiful moment, the bond between mother, new baby, father and their parents was special. Until an anonymous call was made to Mavis by a guy claiming to be the father of the child. She couldn’t speak. She felt weak and her eyes were filled with tears because now the guy even called Robert’s parents and told them the baby was his. They had tried to ask who it was but the phone suddenly went off, so it was Mavis who had to answer all the questions now.

Robert went out sadly and angrily towards Mavis and the anonymous caller and yet Mavis had run out of words, devastated. Both sets of parents tried to solve the issue but they couldn’t understand each other. The call had caused friction between the two families, they tried to explain but already they were tired, angry and disappointed. Mavis was confused because she had never dated any other guy besides Robert. Both families were distraught. They wanted to trace the numbers that called couldn’t find anything, the SIM card didn’t exist anymore.

After a short while Mavis went back to school but suddenly became sick and started collapsing. The school was supportive towards her condition. She was stressing a lot and the fact that her boyfriend’s family wanted nothing to do with her and barred her from their house was hard for her. She was under so much pressure trying to fix things with them but nothing had been done.

Robert couldn’t take it and he committed suicide. Mavis couldn’t even manage to bury him since the family despised her. She felt blamed and was heartbroken. She couldn’t turn back the time to make things right, she felt like she owed him an apology.

Three years later Mavis completed her matric and went to a tertiary institution to do her degree while her mom was taking care of the child. She pulled herself together and made peace with her past. She wanted the best for her child and to make her parents proud. Her dream was to fulfil her baby daddy’s dream to own a franchise business. She decided to open a catering company and named it after her kids and also wrote a book about her journey of life.

Mavis is now a proud mother of two beautiful boys, a community developer and business woman. She always encourages young people that nobody should determine their destinies, instead they should be the master of their own destinies. And also, suicide is never the solution no matter what problems you might be facing!

Tell us: What do you think of this story