The following day, which was Saturday, Sipho woke up, did his laundry, took a bath, and head to the hospital. At the hospital, he almost knocked Naledi down when they bumped into each other at the doorway of her ward.

“Wha … Where are you going?” he asked, looking at her up and down in shock.

“Well, isn’t it clear that I am going home? What are you doing here?” she responded, sounding different and weird.

“What happened to you? You are all different today,” he asked.

“I must have been different last night, but this is the real me. Now, get out of my way, please,” she responded, speaking with an attitude.

“Wow, so this is it? You are going home?” he asked, sounding confused but relieved that she was finally going home.

“Come on, what is it with the questions?” she asked, taking a sim card out of her skirt pocket with her other arm, and giving it to Sipho. “Thanks for letting me keep your phone, it is very beautiful.”

“No problem, I guess I will be seeing you around then,” he responded.

“I really hope not. We are not friends, so bye-bye now, Sipho,” she said, and then kissed him on his cheek. “That was for the cell phone,” she said, and then left him standing there.

**********

The days following that day turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, but Naledi’s impressions were stuck in Sipho’s head. He thought about her day in and day out. It was almost as if she had hit him with a spell or something. Four months down the line, Sipho could not take it anymore, so he woke up one Saturday morning and found himself at the gate leading to Naledi’s house.

Naledi came out wearing an oversized tracksuit and a hoodie, but she did not want to let him in. They then went and sat on a nearby electrical box by the road.

“So, what are you doing here? Are you spying on me on now?” she asked, and she had a grumpy look on her face as she spoke.

“Since when is checking up on someone spying?” he responded.

“Since they did not know you were going to check up on them,” she said. “Do us both a favour, never show up like this ever again. Please.”

“Alright, my bad. I will go, then. But can I have your tens so I can text the next time I want to see you,” he responded, handing her his phone.

She smiled and looked away. “Boy, you can be funny sometimes,” she said.

Sipho smiled at Naledi’s smile. It was very bright. “Please put your numbers in?” he finally said, and Naledi took the cell phone, punched her numbers, and handed it back to Sipho. “Thanks. I am sorry for spying on you. I will see you, then,” he said, and then went in for a hug, and Naledi hugged him very tightly in response, and she did not let go. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I am a lot better now, just do not let go of me,” she responded.

He tightened the hug a little bit more. “I missed you so, so much, Naledi,” he said. “I could not stop thinking about you.”

“I missed you too,” she responded. “But it took you forever to come.”

“I wanted to, but then I always remembered your words, ‘we are not friends’,” he said. “Today it was just too much and I could not stop myself.”

Instead of responding, she just held on to Sipho’s body and remained quiet.

“So, how is everything?” Sipho asked.

“Balanced,” she responded. “How is work?”

He made her to look up at him before responding, and he noticed her grumpy face had gone. “Work is fine,” he finally responded. “How is school?”

“Not bad, but I am super excited that schools are closing in two weeks,” she responded, smiling.

“Great, I can see you are really excited about the schools closing. Do you have plans for the holidays?” he asked.

“Nope, I do not have any,” she responded. “It is just that school is such a bore.”

Sipho could not help but laugh at her in response. “So, school does not excite you?” he asked.

“Hell no,” she responded. “I just go because my gran tells me to. There is nothing exciting about school.”

They both looked at each other’s eyes and said nothing for a while.

“Well, what excites you, then? Tell me,” Sipho asked, breaking the silence.

“Nothing, really,” she responded. “What excites you?” she asked, looking away.

“A lot of things, actually,” he responded.

“Name one,” she said, and her voice sounded very bossy.

“Being here with you right now, especially with you in my arms,” he responded. “I wish I could see more of you every day,” he added, and then let out a small sigh.

“Well, I will see if I am going to be able to make it into your arms every day,” she responded, smiling. “I really missed you.”

“What does your day look like? Have you had breakfast yet?” he asked.

“It is almost 10:00am,” she responded, laughing.

To Sipho’s surprise, he was not aware of the time. He had just woken up that morning, felt the urge to go see her, and then fulfilled it.

“Let me go tidy up the house first, and then we will see what we can do for the rest of the day,” she said, breaking the hug and kissing Sipho on the arm. They then agreed to see each other later on the day.

Tell us: Do you think Sipho and Naledi will develop a relationship between them?