Later that day, a loud knock on the door woke Sipho up, and it was starting to get dark outside. After opening the door, he greeted Naledi and let her inside the house while he hurried outside to get his clothes from the washing line.

“So, can I get you anything to drink, missy?” Sipho asked when he got back inside the room.

“I do not know, anything besides tea or coffee,” she responded. “I always get this crazy appetite every time I am around you.”

“Uh, too bad, I over napped and did not cook, I am sorry,” he said, getting the glasses and juice from the fridge.

“The night is still young, though. So start preparing something. I will help,” Naledi responded, taking a sip of her juice.

“Right. Let me take out the meat from the freezer,” he said. “I will cook the pap and do the hot-tomato salad while it is defrosting.”

They got on with the cooking. Sipho cooked the stiff pap and made the hot tomato salad, and Naledi fried the pieces of meat and, when they were finished, the food was ready. She dished up for both of them and took the plates to the couch where they were going to eat. While she was walking, she tripped, fell, and broke the plates with their food on them. When that happened, Sipho hurried to get the broom and dustpan. Naledi’s right hand was already red with blood when he got back, so he reluctantly took off his white sleeveless vest, wiped the blood, and then bandaged her with it.

“Babe, I am so sorry,” she said emotionally.

“No babe, do not stress about it,” he responded. “I guess we will just have to order something because I am really hungry.”

While Sipho was picking up the broken pieces of the plates, he also got a cut on his right hand. Naledi quickly jumped up to him and took his bloody hand into hers. He tried to stop her but he could not, so he just let her do it.

“What are you doing?” Sipho asked, sounding like a possessed freak.

“Relax. I am doing this for us, and I promise to answer all of your questions when this is done,” Naledi responded, fixing her gaze into Sipho’s eyes.

After a while, Naledi dipped her other hand into her jeans pocket, took out a weird looking gold ring, and put it on Sipho’s pinkie finger. He felt like he was being hypnotized when she put in the ring, and then fell down on the floor. When he woke up, he was alone in his room. He was feeling famished as hell, and luckily, Naledi had not dish up all the food for herself. He felt like he had been asleep for a long time, but surprisingly, it was still before 22:00pm when he checked the time on his phone.

After a while, Naledi’s WhatsApp text came through.

Naledi: “Hey, are you up yet? I am sorry I had to leave you. When you passed out, you got me scared. I miss you.”

When Sipho read the text, he got confused.

Sipho: “Really? I passed out, what happened?”

Naledi: “You cannot remember what happened? You looked like a possessed person. We both cut our hands while trying to clean up the pieces of plates I had broken, then you panicked and passed when you saw a lot of blood on our hands.”

Sipho: “Oh boy, did you give me this heavy ring on my pinkie finger? I cannot get it off.”

Naledi: “Oh yeah. Why are you asking, you do not like it?”

Sipho: “Well, it is not bad. It is just not my style. It makes it even worse that I cannot take it off.”

Naledi: “That sucks, I am sorry. I should go now.”

Sipho: “Goodnight.”

After putting the phone away, Sipho spend almost half the night trying to remove the ring from his finger, but it never budged. He finally fell asleep.

Tell us: What do you think might be the reason Naledi gave Sipho a ring?