Almost 3 weeks went by, and Naledi never got back to Sipho. Her phone number was always on voice-mail every time he tried calling her. He went to see if he could not find her at her house, but he always found the gate locked. It even looked like there were no people living in the house because the lawn was overgrown everywhere, even on the driveway. That ate and worried him a lot, but he could do nothing about it.

One Friday afternoon, just as Sipho was about to knock-off at work, he received a call from an unsaved phone number, and he hastily picked up, hoping it was Naledi.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi, how are you?” the caller asked.

“I am okay,” he responded. “Who is this?”

“It is me, Thabile. Where are you? I really need your help,” the caller said.

“Help with what?” Sipho asked.

“I am here in Kokstad, and I came here for an interview. I am afraid I will not find a taxi going back home when I am done here in half an hour,” Thabile responded.

“So? How can I help you?” Sipho asked.

“I was wondering if you could let me crash at your place, just for one night,” Thabile responded.

“Uhm, I do not think so, Thabi,” Sipho said. “I cannot help you with that, I am afraid. But there are so many very cheap B&Bs around town.”

“I wonder what I ever did to you,” Thabole responded. “You cannot even pretend to love me these days.”

“You know exactly what you did,” Sipho said. “I have to go now, bye.”

“Wait, please,” Thabile pleaded. “Can you at least wait until I get out of here so you can help me find the B&B. I am begging you.”

Sipho thought it through before responding. “Sure, let me know when you out,” he finally responded.

“Thanks,” Thabile said.

Thabile was Sipho’s high school sweetheart. They had started dating on the 10th grade, and then went to university together. At university, Thabile saw many rich men and dumped Sipho for one of them. After 30 minutes, Sipho and Thabile quickly searched for the B&B prices online, and Thabile decided on her choice. They then went to book a night for here there, and after that, Sipho said goodbyes and head to the gate. The time was around 17:19 pm.

“Aren’t you going to ask me how the interview went?” Thabile called after him.

“Congrats, your body language says it all,” he responded, not even looking at her.

Thabile quickly left her stuff in her room, locked the door behind her, and ran after Sipho, who was walking to his room. “Look …” she said, tapping him on the shoulder while trying to catch her breath. “We really need to talk. I know you hate me, but we both know you can never hate me more than you used to love me.”

“Love has nothing to do with all of this,” Sipho responded. “I do not either hate or love you, Thabile. You might as well get that through your stubborn head.”

“Then why are you avoiding me this much if that is the case? You cannot even look at me when I speak,” she said.

“I am not single anymore, so you should go back to your room,” he responded, getting annoyed with this conversation. It reminded him of Naledi. It also reminded him of how they had not spoken in three weeks.

“No, I am not going back there, not until we get to the bottom of this,” she said.

Instead of responding, Sipho decided to give her the silent treatment, which was one of the many things he was really good at. They then walked until they were standing in front of the door. Sipho then asked her for the last time to go back, but she refused. She asked to eat supper with him, and then she would go after that.

Truth was, Sipho still cared about her, but getting back together with her was not something he was prepared to do.

They stayed in awkward silence for a while, until Sipho started cooking and Thabile sat down doing nothing. They then ate the supper when Sipho was finished cooking. They then chilled together until it was really late and dark outside, and he even forgot that Thabile had to go. Maybe it was because it felt like the good old times to him.

After it rang in his head that it was late and dark outside, Sipho said he was willing to let her sleep over at his place. He was going to take the floor, and Thabile would go on the bed.

A few minutes later, just after switching off the light, there was a soft knock on the door, and Sipho knew it could only be one person. His heart skipped with a panic attack, and he jumped up from the bed he had made on the floor, told Thabile to get her things ready so she could bounce, and then went to get the door.

Tell us: What do you think is going to happen next?