Deep down, she hated Richard for leaving. She had never felt for any boy before what she felt for him. Sometimes she wondered if it was the hormones from being pregnant but she knew that she felt that way even before she got pregnant; maybe a little less. The most humiliating part was that Richard was her sister’s fiancé and she would appear as an ungrateful child who stole her sister’s boyfriend. She wasn’t ready to take all that. Hell, maybe Steve was right after all, she did need Richard by her side.

By the time she finished everything, she was already ten minutes late for class. Even though it was only five minutes’ walk to the school, it was bad because Mr Peterson was very strict when it came to punctuality, all white lecturers were. She quickly locked the door and ran as quickly as she could to school.

By the time she arrived outside the lecture room, it was twenty minutes late. She opened the door and walked in. Mr Peterson stopped talking and waited until she sat down before he could continue his lecture. She must have not been the first one to be late, hence he didn’t say anything. Thandi quickly settled down and took out her book from her bag. She looked up to the lecturer and just couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Right at front of the class, just beside Mr Peterson, was Richard, standing in front of the class with his hands folded in his arms, his eyes watching her intently. He smiled sweetly at her but all she could do was gape at him. She couldn’t believe her eyes at all. He was there in the class with them and he was acting like everything was alright between the two of them.

What was with the friendly look? Was he trying to pretend like he hadn’t done anything wrong? She couldn’t understand him. This was too much for her, but she wasn’t going to let him see that he was affecting her. She pretended as much as she could to not look at Richard during the class. But her mind never stopped thinking about him.

It was half a year since Richard had been a tutor but Thandi had known him for one a year when he was still a Masters’ student of Business Management. Richard was very popular because of his looks and association, for helping other students and also for his style of clothes; these made the students interested in him, especially girls.

Nobody could even associate him with a district prince title, or being an uneducated girl’s fiancé. That was why Thandi ended up with him in the first place. It was only when she told him that she was pregnant three months ago that Richard told her about his status and engagement. It was then that she learnt that Richard was the mysterious prince that her older sister had aways bragged to her about.

She couldn’t believe it, but then she did believe it. They never really talked about their personal stuff when they were together. They took their relationship as a getaway from reality and so it was always about schoolwork, sex, parties and money.

“Are you still with us in here, Thandi?” Mr Peterson suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts.

She blinked twice and realised dreadfully that she was blindly staring at Richard who gave her a raised eyebrow. She quickly looked back to Mr Peterson. She knew that her classmates were judging her, they knew that she must have been looking at Richard all this time. It wasn’t the first time Mr Peterson called on her. He did it many times lately.

Sometimes she would be sleeping and other times she would be looking outside the window. They knew that something was wrong with her. They had even predicted her pregnancy because that is what happened when a student got involved with a teacher. Not that Richard was a teacher but that was how other students saw it.

For as many times as she could remember, Richard had tried to advise her. He made sure that she studied well and did her assignments. She did all that and always listened to him. She didn’t think of her sister or their families, only about their coming kid. She even overlooked her father’s rage when he would find out soon. She just felt happy.

It was all for a while before Richard disappeared.

That was when her finger snapped and she came back to reality. She was alone with a big belly. Richard was just another coward who impregnates girls and leaves them. She had to make peace with that and find a way out or suicide.

***

Tell us: What do you think Thandi will do about the pregnancy?