“What are we having supper?” he said.

I went and searched for what was in the fridge and cardboard. Meat, onion, tomatoes and mealie were in the fridge. I began to cook. The aroma in the room smelled nice.

“You really can cook,” he said sweetly.

I sat down to eat with Tiki. I wanted him to look away so I could remove my fake teeth. He had never seen them. I was going to be shy and feel embarrassed. I managed to steal a second and took them out and held my fake teeth in my one hand.

“The food was lovely. Thanks baby,” he said.

We had sex that night and slept. I woke up when it was 1 a.m. I clung closer to him and slept on his chest. His hands pushed me, and he faced the other side. I looked at him, maybe he was still adjusting to having me. I sat and cried that night. I don’t even know how I slept.

In the morning he woke me up and I went and took a bath. The dishes and room were already done. He didn’t want me to work. I saw he was being nice. He wanted to go to work. He had two shifts. I slept and when I became hungry, I ate fruits and yoghurt.

My wish had finally come true. I was with my love. When he came back, he checked on me. That night we had sex as usual, and he had cooked the maize mealies. He ate and stored some in the fridge. That night, I slept close to him. He had only a day shift.

“What are you going to cook?” he asked.

“I want an ice cream,” I begged him.

“You go and buy ice cream,” he answered.

“I can’t baby,” I said shyly.

“I will give you money,” he said taking his wallet out.

I nagged him, kissed him, then he changed and went out. I cooked our dinner.

I saw a man who would do anything for me.

“Your mom called?” he said unpacking the groceries.

“What does she want?” I asked angrily.

“Tell her you arrived safely,” he persuaded.

I wasn’t someone who talked much so I kept quiet. After supper, he grabbed his phone which I had hidden, and replied to his message. He did the same with my phone. The next night was terrible. I added too much salt to the food. Heartburn was killing me. Electricity in the house was bad. I spent the whole day writing in Tiki’s diary about how much I loved him.

I kept looking at the TV, but I was stressed. He came beside me after his shift. He held me and whispered that he loves me. We had sex and slept. It was sad when I woke up. It was so bad because I had to leave Joburg and go to work in Limpopo. I wanted more days and months with him.

He kissed me for a long time in his room. He helped me with my luggage and took me to the bus stop where I had to go.

Things changed after our romantic days; he told me he never loved me. I became stressed, he was my soul mate. I had lost my love and still don’t know what happened to us. I started to think maybe all he wanted was sex. I still have a lot of questions I want to ask Tiki. I don’t know what to think.

I became aggressive and wanted to torture him for what he had done. He told me that he never loved me. He also said we didn’t have a future. We just separated, and there were no reasons I found. He blocked me on WhatsApp, Facebook and every social media we used for communication. This is how I lost my love; I just wish we were still happy.

Would we be still together even with our age difference? Maybe he was one of the predators who liked women and hurt them. I now understand why people say you can be in love while the other isn’t. The one you love the most hurts you the most. Till this day I still love Tiki even though he moved on. I had to move on too. I guess I never trusted men. I was a fool to fall in love with Tiki. I trusted him and gave him all my heart. Maybe I deserved it.

***

Tell us: What do you think of Tiki? What would you do if you were dumped like that?