It was two years ago, I remember, when Shalani burst into my office. She was in a dreadful state, her eyes wide with panic, and red from crying.

“Is Pritch the Bitch around? Jane, you have to come with me. You have to help me! I can’t do this by myself.”

“Don’t call her that! What if she hears? I’ll lose my job. And what can’t you do by yourself?”

But Shalani wouldn’t tell me what it was she couldn’t do by herself. She waited, twisting her fingers round one another, while I begged Mrs Pritchard for some time off.

“It’s an emergency,” I said.

“Just don’t make a habit of this,” Mrs Pritchard warned. “And you’ll have to work late to make up the time.”

DK was waiting for us at some larny coffee shop.

“What is it, Shalani?” he kept asking her while she sipped her latte – or whatever strange name her coffee was called.

DK looked across at me, the light glinting off his contact lenses. I shrugged, shook my head to show I didn’t know what the problem was either.

At last Shalani burst out, “I’m pregnant, okay! I’ve kept quiet, hoping it was a mistake. Because we’ve been so careful, DK. But it’s not a mistake. I’ve been for a scan and it’s twins, DK. Twin boys!” Then she burst into tears, knocking her coffee all over the table.

DK sat in silence, staring at the waitress while she cleaned up the mess. He didn’t look at Shalani. He didn’t look at me.

And I felt sick for my friend. All I could think of, was the way Reginald had reacted when I told him about my pregnancy. Would DK feel the same? Would he start yelling that she had tricked him, that she was trying to trap him? Would he also tell her he was too young for such things? Would he disappear the way Reginald had?

Gently I rubbed Shalani’s back while she sobbed beside me. DK sat across from us, looking stunned. As though he’d been hit by a bus. By now the waitress had gone off to serve someone else.

I tried to comfort my friend. “It’s okay, Shalani. You don’t need him. I’ll help you the way you helped me. Single moms united!”

And that’s when DK finally found his voice. “Single mom? No chance! We need to get married right away, Shalani. The sooner, the better. My family will be elated, beside themselves with excitement! Two boys at the same time! Two boys to carry on the Katse name. And you are going to be the most amazing mother ever.”

Gently he tugged her to her feet. Gently he put his arm round her to guide her to the door – as if she and the cargo she carried there in her belly were the most precious, most fragile things on earth.

I sat there, alone in the larny coffee shop, sipping my cold coffee. I told myself I should be happy for my friend, happy that her story had such a joyful ending. But all I truly felt was red-hot jealousy. It seemed to be burning into my heart, scorching the depths of my soul. Bitterness seeped through me.

How is this fair? I got pregnant and I got dumped. I have to struggle alone to raise my child. But now Shalani gets pregnant and she gets a marriage proposal. She gets treated like a goddess!

***

Tell us what you think: Is Jane a bad person? Or do you empathise with how she feels?