His birthday was on 9 July and mine on 10 July. When he first told me, I thought he was lying but he was not. If I could at that time, I would have changed my birth date to escape. My birthday was always during school holidays. It was always a huge relief on my side.

The same year, shortly after schools reopened, he came to my class to give me a bunch of chocolates, a variety of flavours to indulge in. So he thought he could buy me, huh? Well, I rejected them! I could see that he was really hurt. I still feel bad about that one. He probably saved his school money to buy me those. I thought that was the end of his interest in me. But I thought wrong.

Days closer to the dance, rumours circulated around school that he was creating something special for me. Couldn’t he just give me the message already? The farewell was to be held at a place outside Cape Town where we were going to stay for the weekend. Off we went on Friday and the ceremony was to be on Saturday evening. On our way, he started chitchatting but seeing that the conversation was not getting anywhere, he went back to his seat.

We finally arrived at our destination. It was really beautiful. I was with my friend Yonela and we shared a room with two others. Later that night, here he came again. Yes, I agreed to be his date, but what now? My friends excused us and gave us space to talk. He was carrying something in a plastic bag this time. Was this the something special he’d created for me? I wondered.

“Ndiyakuthanda, I love you, Amahle!” He handed me a gift after that. “If you break it, you will have broken my heart into million pieces,” he continued.

Kanti what was I doing when I kept rejecting him? I took it. He instructed me to open it at night when the lights were off. I agreed and he left.

Night time came and I was excited to open it, so were my friends. So we bathed, put on our pyjamas and went to bed. I had put it under my pillow. The lights were turned off and it was the moment. Now everyone was looking at me to open it. I excitedly opened it and literally the room was lit with colours. My smile also brightened the room. My face was steaming hot. I didn’t know what to do, so I buried my face in the sheets. Wow! I was overwhelmed with emotions and hormones. My friends, looking at me, were laughing at this unusual sight of me blushing.

Tell us: What do you think of Thando’s gestures towards Amahle?