The whole village was happy for the prince’s big welcoming ceremony. The prince had been away at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal for the past four years. For the whole time, he had never been back home to the village for a school holiday because his parents wanted him to focus on his studies.

The entire village gathered around the royal house. When the prince arrived in a limousine, everyone was so proud to see him after such a long time. The prince heard someone calling his name, saying, “Sipho!” It was his girlfriend, Thandi. Thandi was not a princess. She was not royalty. She was just a regular village girl. For this reason, Sipho had to keep their relationship a secret. He only waved at her. He could not give her a hug or a kiss in front of everyone.

The royal family had slaughtered five cows and also prepared some traditional beer for the whole village. They had a ceremony that went very well and everyone was happy. After the ceremony, Sipho went to see Thandi and his friends, too.

He went home later that evening and his room was prepared. He laid in his bed and heard his iPhone buzzing. When he checked the phone, it was a text message from Thandi that said, “Good night.” Sipho smiled to himself and went to the lounge to connect his phone to a charger because its battery was empty. Then, he went to his bedroom and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, he woke up late. He looked at his calendar and realized that the day was a special one: it was his five-year anniversary with Thandi. He smiled to himself and thought about what he would do for her to celebrate their love. He wanted to spoil the love of his life.

They spent their anniversary in a hotel where they stayed for five days. They kept their relationship secret from both of their fathers. The only people who knew about them was Sipho’s friends and Thandi’s friends. While they were away at the hotel, by themselves, they had so much fun. Sipho had also prepared a romantic dinner for them. He made steak, ribs and lasagna. It was so lovely.

After two weeks, Thandi started to feel sick. She decided to take a pregnancy test. The test came back positive. Thandi almost fainted when she saw the test result. She could not believe it. Then, she started crying. Her mother heard her, so she came into her room and asked her what was wrong. “Nothing,” Thandi said. She could not tell her parents because they were very strict. She felt like she was a disgrace to her family because they had raised her to be a responsible person and she was being irresponsible. Later that evening, Thandi called Sipho, but the call went to voicemail. Instead, she left a message saying that she needed to see him.

The next day, Thandi went to the spot in the nearby forest where she and Sipho usually met up. He was waiting for her. When he hugged her, her body was tense because after the test results she was even afraid of touching him. Right away, she started crying and told him everything. After Sipho heard everything, he was so happy and actually gave Thandi a big hug. She was relieved.

But Sipho knew that Thandi being pregnant was a serious threat to their relationship. However, he was also excited to become a dad for the first time. He told his mother about Thandi and the pregnancy and he begged her not to tell anyone. She kept her promise and never told anyone. However, she advised Sipho to tell his father, and soon.

After two weeks, Sipho and Thandi told her parents about the pregnancy. Her father was angry and her mother tried to calm him. He wanted to beat Sipho with a sjambok. Thandi’s father told Sipho that he wanted his family to pay for the damages as it goes for the tradition. Sipho told him that he had not told his parents yet, but he would soon. Thandi’s father calmed down and understood.

The next morning, Sipho organised a family meeting and told them that he was going to be a father. He revealed that Thandi was one month pregnant. His father, the king, was so mad. He told Sipho that they would pay the damages to Thandi’s family, but he would not allow him to get married to Thandi. His reason for this was that he would not allow him to marry a girl that was not royal. Royal people could only marry royal people.

***

Eight months later, Thandi gave birth. However, the king made her adopt the child to a different family. Right when he was born, the baby boy she had named Roger was given to a woman in the same village that could not bear children. The king made Thandi swear that she would never find her son and tell him he had royal blood. So, even though they were in the same village, she never knew her son as her own child and Roger did not know his real mother or his real father. Sipho was sad, but he understood his father’s reasoning.
After her child was taken from her, Thandi could not even think straight. She was so sad and also mad about her son who was taken from her just because the king did not want him to be the heir of the family. Nobody was happy about the king’s decision.

A few months later, Thandi became critically ill because she was so depressed. She started to suffer from a condition and the doctors did not know what it was because there were very few cases which had been reported of people who had it around the world. Thandi went to the hospital and received a special treatment. She received the treatment very well and after two months, she was better than before. When she was healthy again, she decided to go to university to become a teacher.

***

After two years, the king saw Sipho was alone, and so he organised an arranged marriage with a princess from another village ten hours away. It was because his father knew the king from that village. The princess’ name was Luyanda.

After they got married, the king told Sipho that he and his new wife must produce an heir. They did as they were told. Nine months later, Luyanda gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She was so pretty, fresh and dark in colour. They named her Miranda.

Miranda grew up with both of her parents and both of her grandparents. She even went to the school where Thandi taught. When Thandi saw Miranda—her former lover’s child—in her classroom, she was excited, but she was also angry because her own son had been abandoned. She missed Roger, but would not search for him, because then the king would seek revenge. Miranda made it all the way through that school year without knowing her teacher was her brother’s mother. And she made it all the way to university without ever knowing that she had a brother.

However, one day when Miranda was going home after school, she was in a car accident. She was rushed to a local clinic. The doctors from the clinic rushed her to a hospital. They called all of her relatives; including Luyanda, her mother, and Sipho, her father. They came to the hospital to be with her.

The doctor told Sipho that Miranda had lost a lot of blood, so she needed a blood donor. She had blood type A and none of them matched with her. They had to find someone else. Sipho called his father, the king, who put out a call to the whole village that the royal family was in need of a type A blood donor. Like many others, Roger heard the announcement and wanted to help. He quickly got his blood tested and it came back as type A. He ran to the hospital so that he could donate and help save Miranda’s life. He gave the doctors his test result. But when they saw the result, they compared it to Miranda’s blood test and they were shocked. They told Miranda, “This man, Roger, is your brother. The blood tests say so.”

“What?” Miranda said. “I don’t have a brother.”

“The results don’t lie,” said the doctor.

Like Miranda, Roger was also shocked about the news. The family was shocked, too, and Sipho was forced to tell everyone the story about his son that was abandoned by his family.