Danny went to the only person he believed would listen to him, without judgment – his father.

“I told you son, no one will rob you of anything. Especially not the Legacy you worked so hard for,” said Thomas.

“Thank you, dad” Danny sighed. “Nobody wants to hear me out. If I lose my son to them, then I have nothing to live for,” Danny sulked.

“I doubt he’ll continue. A multi-million-rand farm just burned down. With angry workers and jobs on the line, all the money they took from you will be spent on rebuilding everything” said Thomas confidently.

Suddenly it hit Danny: “You! it was you, who burnt the farm.”

“Yes, it was me. To avenge you!” Thomas smiled. He spent time looking at Danny’s face and realised he was not as excited as Thomas had hoped. “Son, I thought you’d be happy to know I did this to help you.”

“Why, dad?” Danny sounded disappointed.

“What do you mean ‘why?’ You said you wanted to get revenge on the Zondos,” Thomas replied.

Danny stood up and shook his head in disbelief. “I didn’t ask you to attack the Zondos. I was angry and needed someone to talk to.”

“But, you said… ” Thomas tried to reply but Danny cut him short, quickly.

“I know what I said Dad, but I don’t hurt people. Now, Denise is threatening to take my son away, and it’s all your fault.”

“I was just trying to help, and this is the way you thank me: by blaming me Danny?” Thomas questioned Danny in disbelief.

“I’m not blaming you. I just didn’t expect this at all. Now, I have to deal with the accusations, and lose my son and family,” Danny’s eyes were becoming watery.

“You still call them family? The kid you are raising is not yours. Lerato doesn’t confide in you. The Zondos are not your family, I am! I did you a favour. You want to cry, that’s pathetic!” said Thomas, harshly.

Danny walked away from the bench to distance himself. “Mom did say you weren’t a nice person. Why do you like to hurt people? Do you think this solves anything? It doesn’t, if this is the man you are, then you are not the man I want to be!” he yelled.

After that, things went sour between Danny and Thomas. Since that day, Danny didn’t want to go back to his father, for any form of advice or relation.

Things were also going badly at the house. Danny got home to find that Lerato had packed his bags outside and put a note on it. He slowly picked it up and looked at it:

“Dear Danny, I can’t do this anymore. I took accountability for my actions, but it seems you are not willing to forgive me. I’m trying to forgive myself. I can’t live like this anymore. I’m scared of you. I can’t expose my child to this feud, so until it’s safe for Hope, I won’t let you in my life again.”

He looked at the window to see her staring. “Go to hell, you can go back to Denise. I don’t care, I knew you were all in this together!” he yelled at through from outside.

Danny then realized that he had just lost the only real person left in his life. The Zondos had fought him and now, he was waiting for legal action. Lerato was now tired of the temper tantrums. He just pushed everybody out his life.

Have you ever felt like you pushed the people in your life away from you?