She came to see me and when I looked at her, she reminded me of her sister. She was doing grade R the year I was dating her sister. She reminded me of the days we used to fetch her from pre-school; the days when her sister and I were supposed to go on a date but we couldn’t because she had to baby-sit her. Sometimes her sister would bring her when she came to see me. She was the one who witnessed our first kiss.

She reminded me of the park where I used to meet her sister. Her sister would come with her and she would play around. She reminded me of how we sometimes forgot that she was playing around in the park. She would hide and we would look for her for hours. She reminded me of how her sister would lie when they got home late. This was all seven months ago.

She reminded me of the day when I couldn’t go with her family to Rustenburg for her sister’s funeral; how she watched me as tears filled my face while I was staring at the car that carried her sister’s coffin. She told me how much she missed seeing me take her sister out on a date; how we used to play with her in the park.

She remained in Rustenburg to complete school after her sister’s funeral. When she returned to Joburg, she went to the park alone. She said she’d have flashbacks of me and her sister sitting under the tree. When she passed McDonald’s and saw couples, she thought of me and her sister.

She is 23 now and I am 36. We are going to the same park that we used to go to with her sister, having a conversation that her sister and I used to have. We even go to the same McDonalds that her sister and I used to go to. We are continuing where her sister and I left off before she died. And soon we are getting married.

Tell us: What do you think of the relationship between the narrator and his late girlfriend’s little sister? Are they getting married out of love or sympathy?