I felt angry and sad at the same time, I couldn’t believe it! Sipho wiped my tears softly and ran to ask the men why they were demolishing the building. I could see they were shouting at him and that made me feel angry. I didn’t like anyone talking badly to my boyfriend, I didn’t like anyone disrespecting my love. A few minutes later he came back and took my hand, saying we should leave.

I asked him: “Why? What’s going on Sipho?”

He stopped, still holding my hand and said: “Can you believe it!? Those men say they were ordered by Kgwale to demolish this place because he wants to build a shop here.”

I could see the anger in Sipho’s eyes. He was fuming. He didn’t like what Ntate Kgwale was doing. Kgwale was one of the richest business owners in Soweto. I was angry that they were taking away our Isle of love.

I thought of that place as our Island. That was our special love nest and they were taking it away. But I didn’t blame Ntate Kgwale. Yes, he was a business man and that was one of the best decisions he could take in the business sense. That place had been abandoned for as long as I could remember. He was just making himself more money.

But Sipho didn’t understand that. He said: “Kgau, we can’t just let them do that! We can’t allow that man to do that.”

“Sipho, no one’s going to listen to us. We’re the only two people in the whole of Soweto that care about this place. The rest would love to have a new supermarket.”

“Kodwa baby, that’s not fair. They’re destroying the building.”

I interrupted him by giving him a hug. I saw he needed one because he was so frustrated he was about to cry. It was that day that I saw the softest side of Sipho, and I realised then that he also loved that place. I always thought it was just like any place to him, it didn’t have a special place in his heart. But that day I realised I was wrong.

We were about to leave when I thought of the couch, the little things we had put in there to turn that place into our small home. I said to him: “Sipho our things! Diphahlo tsa rena!” I became angry at the thought of how the things my love had brought to make a home for us like my husband were being destroyed! I felt like going to those men and shouting at them like a mad girl. He took my hand and soothingly calmed me down. He was always good at that with his gifted tongue.

We decided to just spend time walking instead of relaxing. He said that it was a walk of healing. We couldn’t hold hands, but that day we didn’t say a word to each other as we walked. I could feel his pain and he could feel mine. We were both hurt by the same thing and we understood each other.

As we were walking, we found ourselves far from home. A place where I didn’t know anyone and no one seemed to know me. It was still in Soweto, just another extension. Back at my extension, everyone would’ve greeted me like a princess and smiled at me like some special person. There, people just passed Sipho and I like ordinary people. And I loved it!

For the first time I felt so great! I was treated like a normal person, a young teenage girl like any other. No one was going to make me feel different there, I was going to be just Kgau! No bowing when greeting me, no people watching me like a hawk or anyone comparing me with their child. I was starting to get sick and tired of that. The reason I didn’t have any friends at home was because of that. All the girls hated me because they said I caused them the pain of having to hear their mothers say they preferred me over them. I never blamed them though, it was true and I too would’ve felt pain to hear my own mother say such things.

I felt a smile form on my face and Sipho looked at me in amazement. He told me that my eyes twinkled and were as bright as the moon. I had never realised that I felt so miserable being the daughter of a preacher. Before us was a train station and not far from it were some metal bars, I took Sipho’s hand and ran towards them. We sat there for some time playing around. No one knew us right? So why not take advantage and be like little children, but in love…

We sat down and I lay on Sipho’s chest, in his arms. I always felt warmth in his arms, I laid my head right on his left side, where his heart is. Something weird happened, I felt something that still makes my heart blast with joy. I felt his heartbeat and I felt my own, and they were identical! They were the same! We were a match made in Heaven; an Aries and a Leo. But he disturbed my moment and said: “So have you spoken to your father about Wits next year, in a month and few weeks to be exact.”

***

Tell us: Have you ever been to a new place where you don’t know anyone? Did it make you feel different?