Bheki couldn’t watch his friend suffering alone. He told his mother everything his friend told him. Even though he broke their agreement, he wanted to help him, and he knew that his secret was safe with his mother. His mother really wanted to help him, so she suggested that they invite him over for lunch on Friday.

Lizzy knew Neli because her daughter Thandeka was her student. She looked like a saint, and she always saw her at the parents meeting at school always laughing. She was too young to be that evil. How could she do something like that to her sister’s son, her blood sister? Her own daughter was always looking good. She should be ashamed of herself. She was going to pay for being the devil, Lizzy thought.

Neli would not be home on Friday so Nathi would find time to go have supper with his friend’s family without having to worry about his aunt. Ever since he told his friend about his problem, he felt better knowing very well that now there was someone who understood him, who understood where he comes from. After school, they went to Bheki’s house and Lizzy was home finishing the lunch preparations.

Lizzy welcomed Nathi with warm hands. She hugged him and told them to change out of their school clothes and get ready while she was preparing the table. Nathi and Bheki were the same age and wore the same sizes. They went into Bheki’s room and he gave Nathi nice clothes to wear. He didn’t even know when he had last worn new clothes.

They sat on the brown wooden chairs and the wooden table covered with white table cloth. Lizzy cooked her best meal, beef stew and rice with potato salad mixed with eggs. The smell was delicious; they couldn’t wait to start digging in. The meal was really delicious. After the meal, Bheki took dishes to the kitchen sink.

“My boy, feel at home, this is your home too. Stop blushing,” Lizzy said.

“Thank you mom, for everything”, Nathi replied.

“You are a good boy. Bheki told me much about you and I know your aunt and your sister, Thandeka, is my student. I see your aunt at a parents’ meeting.”

Nathi just looked down without saying a word and tears just came out of his eyes.

“Don’t cry, my boy. Bheki told me everything about your aunt. We want to help you. I know it’s hard to talk about other things, but we are here for you.”

“I don’t know what I have done to my aunt to deserve all this. She hated me when my mom was alive and when my mom was sick. I guess she was just waiting for her to die and start to show her true colours about me. I do everything she asks me to do but she sees nothing good about me. The hurtful words she says to me every day…” Nathi said.

As Nathi was crying, Lizzy got close to him and she gave him a shoulder to cry on.

“It will be fine my boy. She will pay for every bad thing she did to you. She doesn’t deserve to be a woman. Everything will be fine. You have me now as the mother you needed. You don’t deserve all this.

Lizzy went to report the matter to the police and social workers and the proper investigation was done. The neighbours had witnessed everything and reported everything that they saw, and Neli was arrested. It was not easy, Thandeka was left without her heartless mother after she was taken to jail for child abuse. But at least she had her father’s family to stay with. Nathi was going to live with Lizzy. After everything he went through, they couldn’t let him go to the orphanage and start a new life with new people. It was going to destroy him. He was too young to face all the difficulties he was facing at home.

Nathi loved his aunt, he was trying so hard to make things work between them. She was the only family he had and he didn’t want things to end badly. But after everything he went through, he couldn’t let his aunt get away with it. He really wanted to forgive her for everything she did to him. He felt sorry for Thandeka, he knew how life was without a mother. Thandeka was a girl and all her life she lived with her mom. It was going to be tough for her. But now Nathi was safe and happy.

***

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