Junior

Sihle was right. I needed this little break, even though we didn’t go far for me to unwind and try to forget all that had happened. Now I could breathe a bit easier, and my chest didn’t feel like it was closing off any more whenever I tried to breathe. I closed my eyes as the person kneaded my shoulders like dough. I had to admit, the spa was a great idea.

I could fall asleep here. As my shoulders were massaged I felt myself almost drifting off. I couldn’t believe this was our last day at the hotel. I wished we could stay for a few more days, but it was time we both returned to reality.

“That was great,” Sihle said, holding my hand when we left the room. I nodded – I couldn’t agree more. All the weight weighing heavily on my shoulders was now gone; I felt light as a feather.

When we got in our room, we took our bags, glad that we had managed to pack them before going to the spa. The drive back home was quiet. All the work that the spa had done to unclench my tense muscles went out of the window as the car got nearer to the one place I had run away from.

“Remember what we talked about,” Sihle said when she noticed that I was starting to over-think. Right, Simbongile is no threat; it is all in my mind. I nodded, taking a deep breath while I recited the words in my mind. It was all in my mind. My racing heart calmed down a little when we pulled into the driveway; my over-thinking was gone, and by the time we both walked inside the house, I was slightly better.

I scanned around the house, looking for anything missing or anything strange, and when I saw nothing unusual, my anxiety disappeared. My eyes landed on the table that had had a cup of freshly made coffee. I lay awake most nights trying to think of how I had so completely forgotten making the coffee that I went off to work.

Was I so obsessed with Simbongile that I even imagined things that weren’t even there? I shook the thought out of my mind before it could blossom and make me over-think again.

But what I couldn’t seem to erase from the core memory of my mind was the look that Sihle gave me when I told her what happened: she looked at me as if I had completely lost my mind. I thought that Sihle would leave me, that I would wake up to her gone, but she didn’t leave – instead had she held my hand when I broke down and cried.

She pulled me in her arms and let me stay there as I cried; she never once saw me as less of a man. She told me that it was okay for me to cry and let it all out and so I did; I cried for all the pain I had suffered and the depression I got when Simbongile stabbed me. I let myself cry, allowing myself to be vulnerable.

When I was done crying, she made me some tea and told me that we would get through this together. It was at that point that I knew that I had chosen a good woman.

“Don’t cook,” I told her after we had settled down.

“Why?” She looked at me sitting back down on the couch.

“Because I am taking you out.”

Simbongile

I was wondering when they were going to come back. They have been gone for a week now, and I have spent my time watching through their window, frustrated at having to wait.

Now I looked at Junior laughing at something Sihle had said. Seeing him look at Sihle like she was the only woman in the world made my blood boil. He was supposed to be looking at me like that, not her.

I got up, snatched the car keys from the table and went outside. I got out just in time to see their car reversing out of the driveway. I stepped inside the car, glad that I managed to rent out this car and that I didn’t have to wait for an Uber.

I followed the car at a safe distance, careful that I didn’t get seen. The car stopped outside the restaurant. I sat inside and looked through the window. As if to make it worse they sat at the table right there, and I was forced to look at them, acting like the best couple ever. Laughing, looking at each other’s eyes adoringly, even feeding each other food.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel as I continued to watch them. Sihle was living the life that was supposed to be mine – and she had just stolen it away from me. When they got out of the restaurant laughing, I put my foot on accelerator. I sped past, hitting Sihle when she was about to cross the road. I then sped away from the scene.