Monday morning arrived and Malik got back to his ‘job’, waiting at the school gate looking at all the buses, hoping and wishing that Lisa would appear. He even bought an umbrella on Saturday to protect him from the sun while waiting for his soulmate Lisa.

It was 8h50 in the morning and already three buses had passed. There was only one more bus left to arrive. It usually came at 8h55, five minutes before the school bell rang.

Malik, standing with his black umbrella, felt like giving up. He felt like breaking down in tears because his dream wife was nowhere to be found.

The bus arrived and he stared at everyone coming off the bus. Then suddenly, there came his Cinderella – Lisa – just seeing her face drove him crazy, even though he didn’t know how to drive!

If you could see how over-excited he was, I bet you’d say that he’d won R20-million!

When Lisa saw him she felt like crying – because she thought that they would never meet again.

But time doesn’t wait for anyone – the school bell rang.

As Lisa passed close to Malik, she slowly but surely whispered, “Hello, my love.”

Joh! Malik’s heart jumped, pumping faster and faster. He thought that maybe he was dreaming and would surely wake up. But he wasn’t dreaming.

During class, as the art teacher was teaching, a vision of Lisa was trapped in his mind. Lisa, too, was dreaming about Malik. Her friends thought she was bewitched. They didn’t like Malik – because he wasn’t the hottest guy at school. But, Lisa didn’t care about looks or money. All she was wanting was for someone to love her, respect her, love her child, protect her, support them and spend the rest of his life with them. That’s all!

She knew that beauty and money would fade away – but true love lasts forever.

The lunch bell rang.

“How do I look, Jessica?” Lisa asked.

“You look great, my friend. That ‘thing’ don’t deserve you,” replied Jessica.

“Don’t talk like that Jessica. In life, never ever take someone for granted,” said Lisa.

“Oh, please! The guy is ugly. He’s from a poor family. What will you gain from him? Think twice, my friend. I don’t think he can afford even 10 chickens for a wedding,” Jessica said.

“Oh, here he comes. Gotta go. See you,” said Jessica.