Pikoko has just taught her boikhants’o [pomposity]. But it’s still early for boys to discover that Masekoala has adopted the new character—pomposity. Boys aren’t aware that she’s ceased to be nice—which is the main trait that makes her stand out from the rest of the village girls. Her name quickly spreads in other villages. Every boy wants to know and meet her. And if possible, they want to marry her. This situation leads to a case where married men also want to see her, and if possible to cheat on their wives with her. Even the lesbians are curious to make Masekoala their sweetheart. At this moment, her pomposity isn’t yet surfaced and spread amongst many men in Phaphama and other villages.

The blooming fame of her in other villages, beside Phaphama, reaches her ears. She’s bragging about her beauty. She feels on top of the world. Days later, when the boys approach her, she looks cheaply at their toes. She ignores them completely. She’s seriously taking them for granted. She utters ruthless words to them. She plays on their ego. She kills their spirits and emotions. She treats them with a lot of pomposity.

These boys are feeling hurt. They don’t understand how, why, where and when Masekoala learnt to be pompous. They have known her to be the most selfless and big-hearted woman. But now she’s totally the opposite of that. However, they need to be treated with respect. They are angry. They’re always trying to find ways of how they can avenge themselves. They need to reprimand her. Now, they begin to conceive a new plan, which will taunt her image for eternity.

Amongst the boys, there’s one guy by the name of Mahlo-a-Matala of Phaphama. If there’s any person who adores Masekoala with all his heart, that person is Mahlo-a-Matala. There’s nothing that he can do without thinking deeply about Masekoala. He doesn’t think of any happiness in this world without her. Mahlo-a-Matala has every good quality that every reasonable woman can admire: kindness, generosity, good personality, muscles, height and discipline. However, regardless of the effort he makes to see to it that Masekoala belongs to him, all his attempts are unsuccessful. This situation makes his life more miserable. How can Masekoala turn down the love offer from this wonderful person? Perhaps she is looking for something that doesn’t exist in this world.

According to the way Masekoala behaves nowadays, it seems as if there’s no perfect boy for her in the village. But she’s not aware that she’s still growing. She’s also not aware that every time she misbehaves to one guy, he teaches ten other boys that she’s not a good person. And those guys also tell ten friends of theirs about her behaviour.

But what about when she’s tired of her behaviour and feels like finding herself a partner, whom she will share ideas and marry thereafter? The time has come now for her to settle. Unfortunately, she realises that there are no more guys interested in her. Things are completely worse for her because there’s no single guy who’s interested and ready to share anything with her due to her previous background. She’s so desperate.

Now, she’s the one who takes the initiative ho fereha bashanyana [to woo boys]. But, unfortunately, she’s disliked by everyone. This situation emotionally affects her. She’s distressed. She’s experiences a lot of stress, depression and anxiety. She slowly begins losing weight and appetite for everything. Her beauty also deteriorates drastically because she no longer takes good care of herself.

Noticing her desperation, married men take advantage of her. They use her for their own personal fulfilment. She doesn’t give them any problems at all. She’s docile and manipulated easily. She’s currently dating a number of married men. But none of them are ready to give her the kind of love that she needs. They only satisfy their lust with her body. When they’re sorted, they just drop her badly. They treat her like seotsoa [a whore].

However, this kind of life doesn’t suit her. She hates to regret, but she sees how her pomposity has contributed to her downfall. She realises that Pikoko didn’t deserve to be her best friend because she changed her good character and taught her pomposity with the intention of destroying her life. Now, Pikoko is nowhere to be found to help her go through her sorrows. She remembers how generous and loving she was towards people before the day in which Pikoko mercilessly changed her life.

Pikoko is married to a loving husband, and they are happy together. But Masekoala, on the other hand, hasn’t found what she’s looking for: Love. Ke sets’eisa motseng oa habo [She’s the village laughing stock].

As she’s thinking this and that, she’s now pregnant and waiting to give birth to a child, whom she doesn’t know who fathered. She has slept with so many married men who aren’t ready to marry her. Maybe if she had accepted the love of Mahlo-a-Matala, he could have been the father of the child and taken the full responsibility over her child, but spilled milk cannot be collected with ease.

It’s during this moment when Boi approaches her and tells her why she used to be loved by the majority of the boys in the village.

“They said they loved you because you weren’t pompous, which was the important trait, which made you stood out from the crowd, while the rest of your qualities—beauty and curves, were just a bonus,” says Boi.

Masekoala feels heartbroken to be aware that Pikoko o mo ekile betrayed her. Perhaps, if she knew before that she was loved by the masses because she lacked pomposity, she wouldn’t have had all these feelings of sorrow.

Can she cry now? No. Ha ho thuse ho etsa joalo [There’s no need to do so]. The only important thing to do now is to get ready to give birth to her child. But she has only one piece of advice, which she’ll give her child when it becomes older: “Never be pompous.”

TELL US: Do you think Boi should have told her sooner?