It is early in the morning. Lerato couldn’t sleep well because her husband Justin didn’t come back home yesterday. She is staring at the white and silver ceiling without blinking. She is lost in her thoughts, wishing she had waited for Lethu, her school sweetheart.

Marriage with the wrong guy is scarier than the Elm Street horror movie! She decides to get out of her comfortable queen-sized bed. She doesn’t share a bed with Justin. Who would want to share a bed with a man that will get busy on his phone and pretend like you are not there?

Poor belle, she gets out of bed, takes a bath, and wears her long tight dress with a pink formal blazer, and she puts on her transparent heels. She is beautiful; that kind of beauty that makes strangers turn heads. Everything she puts on her body just suits her. When she was created, her creator took their time.

Justin finally comes back. He last disappeared on Friday. His white shirt is decorated with red lipstick. Lerato is eating oats with milk – that’s her favourite breakfast meal. He doesn’t even care to greet her.

“Justin, can I talk with you?” she asks.

“Talk about WHAT? Can’t you see I’m tired?” he replies.

“Even if you are tired. Your ears can hear I am tired of you. Tired of being in this loveless marriage. I smell good for you, dress up for you… but ohh, it’s not working. Clearly, I’m not the woman you love and want,” she says, with her small brown eyes looking like tears may fall from them any second.

Justin comes closer to the blue three-piece couch Lerato is sitting on. He strangles her till she feels like crying, but not this time.

“If I can’t have you, no one will have you. You are mine,” the cruel Justin says.

“Your hands off me. You’re hurting me!”

He removes his hands while trying to digest where the quiet Lerato that is scared of him has gone. Lerato stands up and washes her oats dish. She goes upstairs to her bedroom to fetch her pink handbag, to match her pink blazer. She does a self-positive talk with herself. “I am beautiful and strong,” she says as she walks downstairs to head to work.