For some people, loss never fell in acceptance as an end result. However, the effort of trying to do so created a self trap of slavery by themselves. Above all the acts Nothando and Thami agreed upon, he fell into a hard sponge. Since Samson left, Thami’s presence became a blessing to Lulu. She no longer wanted to do anything in the house, and even forgot about herself. She didn’t eat much, skipped baths and slept all day. Thami became a maid, and also a babysitter since he helped Sihle with his school work and music practice.

He finished cooking dinner and served it, Sihle went to wake up his mother. She came to the dinner table looking like an addict of some sort, spikey unwashed and uncombed hair for days, red swollen eyes, and a yellow dress spotted by different colours of dirt. After they finished, Sihle cleared the table and then went to bed. Thami and Lulu remained seated with Thami staring at her.

“Why look at me like that?” Lulu questioned Thami.

“Lulu, you’re better than this. You can’t ignore yourself like that because of a man.”

“A man that feeds us, without him we can’t survive! it’s been a week now, and I know for sure that he’s never coming back. I don’t know even if he’s alive or not? What do I tell Sihle? He’s father just left?” she said.

“He’ll come back Lulu.”

“We don’t know that, Samson’s gone. He’s just gone, I called him countless times I’m even tired.” She cried.

“You know Lulu, sometimes it’s hard to accept that someone left you. But as times goes on you get to realise you weren’t meant for each other and that you’re better off without them.”

“I fought hard to love Samson, and for him to just leave me, it’s painful.”

“You fought for him?”

Lulu started crying, “And I betrayed the only friend I had.”

“Who? calm down and explain, it’ll heal you.” He pushed her into giving out more.

He went to seat next to her and wrapped her around comfortable with his warm arms.

“I betrayed Nothando, an honest and sincere friend I’ve ever met. All of my actions I intended them for Samson.” She cried.

“How did you betray Nothando.”

She started to explain, Thami saw himself with Nothando in high school the day they talked about how he loved Lulu and how Nothando felt about Samson. He imagined Lulu behind them listening to what they said.

“…That made me angry Thami, I swore on my life that nobody we’ll take Samson away from me and Nothando was the last person to dare try. So after a deep thought, I had to push away Nothando from Samson. And I hired people to beat her up and send my warning to her.” She shocked him.

Thami imagined how that almost took Nothando’s life away.

“But all my efforts brought them even closer, and when I had little hope, my last efforts prevailed.” She said.

“How so?”

“I manipulated Nothando’s acts towards Samson and finally got them apart, and when she left Sakhasonkhe high School as you that became my victory. Though I won, things were never the same without you two.” she looked down in silence.

When Both Nothando and Thami left, without considering that their team split apart, unknowingly to themselves they were like family, and whenever you lose a family member things become different. Lulu, Clement and Samson felt lonely. And with Samson and Lulu loving each other Clement felt left out and also left the team.

“… And you know being teenagers, we felt the world left us. And we became even closer, we felt intimate and that we only understood each other. I spent a lot of time with Samson, thinking of him day and night.” she explained.

Lulu thought to have the world to herself with Samson, someone she fought for and that Samson belonged to her. That’s when she offered her body to him.

“…. By the end of our Standard 9, I found out that I was pregnant. I got confused, and when I told my grandmother, not even in the heavens or universe I’ve ever thought she’d kick me out of the house. She yelled at me that I was a disgrace to the family and to my late parents and the community. If I only knew that Samson was this trouble, I wouldn’t have taken him away from Nothando, ever.”

That broke Lulu’s spirit, and so she went and lived with Samson and her mother-in-law. But with all the burden of taking care of the baby on her shoulders Lulu decided to leave school. Samson’s mother worked and didn’t have time for Lulu and her grandchild, and so only Samson got the joy to finish school.