Sinu played with my fingers while saying all that, and we sat there looking at the stars while communicating in silence. All that time I felt like my mom was watching over me. “I’m sleepy,” I said while yawning.

“Yeah, it’s late,” he said. We were holding hands while walking to our rooms, and he kissed me on the forehead saying, “Goodnight.”

The following week, Moraapo came to visit me, and Sbu bought him a phone so we could keep in touch.

Some time went by and, before I knew it, it was already a new year. Sbu no longer did distance learning, and he went away and only came back on school holidays. Moraapo and I talked almost every day, and everyone back home was happy.

I was now in grade 9, and things were going smooth. This other day I received a call from Moraapo telling me dad (Mapheto’s husband) passed away. We all went to bury him, even Sbu came with us. I stayed behind for a few days because it was examination time and I didn’t go to school every day. I passed to the next grade, which was grade 10, and Sbu was doing his final year at tertiary. He’d still come back only on school holidays and only when there was an emergency.

We called each other and talked the whole night. Sometimes I even missed him. I started having strong feelings for him, and they grew deeper every day. He came back during the holidays and brought a surprise for me, so he said. It was gorgeous, he tattooed our names on his chest. Mine was on the left side, and he said that’s where I was: in his heart.

I wasn’t sure if it was love, but I convinced myself it was because I’ve seen many movies on television about teenagers in love. I knew he felt the same way I felt, but I still waited for him to say it.

This was my Cinderella story. One day, while we were sitting in the garden watching the stars, he uttered the words and we kissed. Oh my word, it was magical. He then stopped and said “Whenever you miss me, look up at the sky, and I will be there in the stars.”

I was no longer sure if he was sane. I mean, who looks at the sky when missing someone, and how would he be in the stars? Even though what he said made no sense to me, I still blushed like a foolish teenage girl in love, which I was. We then kissed again, and one thing led to another, and that’s how I lost my virginity at 18.

Indeed, time really flies. Before I knew it, I was doing grade 12 and 20 years old. Phagadi had given birth to twins the previous year, and Moraapo was working in the city of gold as a security officer, and had even married. Sbu, on the other hand, was a chartered accountant at one of biggest bank in town.

Mam’Gladys was retired and went back home, and Moraapo’s wife now took care of Mapheto. I was getting closer to the finish line. Sbu and I still sat out late in the garden and looked up at the stars. I finally finished my matric, and we were happily planning to officially get married. You see, everything happens for a reason, but what is the reason for illness and the worst?

The week before our wedding, Sbu got hospitalised and diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was in the last stages, and there was nothing they could do for him. Every day I visited him, he would say, “Let me hold you in my arms as if it’s the last time I’m with you!”

Tell us: What have you learnt from this chapter?