I was welcomed into the family with warm hands, but Sibusiso was not ready. I guess it was because he was no longer the guy who took the broken glasses earlier, and it was a hard pill for him to swallow. There was a traditional celebration and, traditionally, we were married. At the dinner table, I was just quiet and looked at the unfamiliar food around the table. I couldn’t eat anything, so I just drank water.

People were happy, but Sibusiso and I were just quiet, and we didn’t even look at each other. What did I except, though? Love? No way! I was wondering how it was going to be now that we were married. What would I do when I woke up, because back home I used to sweep the yard? Where would I go when I wanted to clear my head, because back home I used to go to the river and play with my reflection?

Everything that I was thinking about took me back home and, mind you, it was only the first day. What will happen the next day, and the day after? I was already missing everyone back home. A tear rolled down my cheek, and I wiped it and remembered my promise to Phagadi. I realised Mam’Gladys was cleaning the table, and I stood up to help her.

“Ago hlokagale. Sepela o ikhutse! Kedibone,” she said.

“Ose tshwenyege ka nna Mam’Gladys, ke nyaka go thuša,” I replied while taking a pile of plates to the kitchen. While we were busy with the dishes, another housekeeper was cleaning, her name was Liteboho. Mam’Gladys told me they would take me to school in the next term, which was two weeks away, and I was happy that I would be able to speak, understand and write English. It was going to be a challenge, but I was ready for it.

Two weeks went by, and I was enrolled in school. I was in high school, grade 8, because during the past two weeks I had learnt some primary basics. Mrs Leshobane had lied to the headmaster and said I was from the villages, and that I had lost everything in a fire. She also said I was an orphan, which was not a lie, but the lie was that she said I had lost my parents in the same fire I had lost everything else in.

The principal believed it, and I was admitted as a learner. At the time I was a married fifteen-year-old who would soon to be turning sixteen the coming week on the 19th April learner. That was my life, but I didn’t forgot about my family. Sibusiso and I did not talk that much, though. He thought I wanted to get married while he did not, but little did he know.

He did distance learning, and he would invite his friends over every Friday night. I sometimes wished to join them, but I couldn’t because I was not invited. I would help Mam’Gladys set up their refreshments and snacks and go around serving them, which I had absolutely no problem doing because I was helping Mam’Gladys out. She was getting old, and her body sometimes couldn’t take it, which was why I stepped in and helped her.

Tell us: Why is Sibusiso treating Kedibone so badly?