I woke up the following day very early to do my chores so everything would be ready when we left for church. It was my job being the only female in the house. Father was always busy and he couldn’t help me with anything. Those were the days that made me wonder how he’d be that very day I left him. I was his pillar of strength, his everything. Without me, he was…broken.

After finishing my chores, I got ready and in a few minutes left for church. My father always said I looked beautiful in my Sunday clothes, and that was very true. I always looked and felt beautiful in my Sunday best and I had the best of dresses and shoes for Sundays. Even a non-church attender like Sipho said I made him go crazy looking like that. He called me Mam’Fundisi wam, nkosazana ya’ Nkulunkulu. I always loved it when he spoke Zulu. I felt this tickle in me. I would see Sipho every day of the week except on Sundays. I never knew where he went on those days.

I was used to not seeing him on Sundays and so I carried on my day like any other day but I won’t lie: I always wondered where he went. What kind of person always has something to do on a specific day of the week? And to do what, for that matter? Whenever I asked him to come to church, he would give me excuses. His mother, sisters, younger brother and grandmother all came to church. Only his father didn’t come, but he was a useless drunk in the community. My father had tried to help him so many times, but that man was a lost cause.

Monday came and I woke excited, as always, for Mondays. There was always something new to learn at school, new things to do and hear. I never knew: maybe I’d meet a friend or meet my Maker. Yeah…that was how crazy I was. But what I loved most was going to see Sipho, especially since I hadn’t seen him the day before. Daddy would always say he was glad that I was excited to go to school. I was glad it was true, I had always loved Mondays, even before Sipho entered my life. I couldn’t feel guilty because he was right and I didn’t lie.

During class, Sipho and I would be normal and no one ever noticed the little notes he gave me during class or his sly smiles. I referred to them as sly because no one ever saw they were for me. No one knew of our romance. My friends, Mosa, Natasha and Thulisile were in the dark. I always thought it was because they thought of me as the sweet, obedient child. They didn’t think I had the guts to go against my father’s word. The week went by and then one day, I had an idea. I was sick and tired of seeing my love and unable to tell him that I loved him until Saturday. Yes, Sipho and I saw each other during the week, but not the way we saw each other on Saturdays.

We couldn’t even hold hands like Thuli and her boyfriend, Thabang. I became jealous when I saw them together. Thuli was actually my sister-in-law but she didn’t know I was dating her twin brother. Thabang was one of Sipho’s friends. I was sure Thuli would agree that I was dating Sipho, because he had agreed for her to date his friend.

I was sitting in class one day after school, waiting for my mathematics teacher, Meneer Kgabudi. I knew Sipho wasn’t that good in his subject, actually Sipho was only good in English. In the rest of the subjects, he was either average or terrible. I knew he was one of the worst when it came to mathematics. Meneer eventually came and I asked him: “Sir, may I be someone’s tutor?”

He sat down and took off his spectacles. “And who is this lucky person that you want to tutor?”

“His name is Sipho, sir. Sipho Ndlovu.”

Meneer looked at me for a few minutes and then said: “Oh I know that young man, the Ndlovu boy. Mm… sometimes I think it’s all his father’s fault. But Mem Ngoasheng says he’s amazing in her subject. She’s always praising him and saying he’s your number two. Very nice of you to want to tutor your competition.”

Mrs. Ngoasheng was our English teacher and she had the every right to say those things about Sipho. I never understood him, so marvellous in English, yet terrible at everything else.

I looked and Meneer and nervously said: “Yes, he’s the best in English but I realised how much he was struggling with his Algebra, sir. He hardly even knows how to solve a simple equation and I thought it my duty, as your best student, to help him.”

Without hesitation Meneer agreed and even gave us permission to use the classroom after school. My plan was working and now Sipho and I would have plenty of quality time together. But there was just one thing I wasn’t realising. I never understood how he didn’t realise the schools were closing and we would soon be going to university. Maybe he thought his course would need a lot of maths. I’ll never know. But I was determined to spend those days with Sipho as high school teenagers. Yes, we were going to the same place, but we would meet as adults. 19 was no play.

Saturday came and I went to my Saturday study. Thuli had managed to convince Sipho to come too. When it ended, I pretended to have somewhere to go and so did he, but that wasn’t the case of course, we were going to our special spot.

It was that very Saturday that we found out something painful. It still hurts me when I think of how much pain I felt. We were walking nearby when suddenly we saw that the building was being demolished! I couldn’t believe it! After so many years, why now? I stood there, tears stinging my eyes. Sipho held me in his arms and hugged me as I let it all out. I cried softly as I thought of all the beautiful memories we shared there. Just the other Saturday we were having fun there. Those men were destroying our love nest!

***

Tell us: Having a secret place to meet with your friends is very exciting. Do you have a secret place that you can go when you need a break from the world?