So my Mom and my elder sister are having this huge argument.

“No, Same! This is a bad idea! Even if you’re twenty-two. Why do you want to move into that place? You need to be safe under your parents’ roof!”

“But Mama! It’s a wonderful opportunity! It will be such fun. I just know it!”

“Think, Same! There will be young men living there too. Men who aren’t even related to us. Why do you want to be sleeping in a strange house far from home?”

“But Mama! I am lucky they even asked me. How can I refuse?”

My sister turns to me for support. “You think it’s a good idea, don’t you, Gaone?”

“Hey, I think it’s great! I’m so jealous!”

I go with my sister to buy new clothes for this adventure of hers. I sit with her in the salon for hours while she gets a total hair make-over.

And so Same moves into the house, despite our mother’s warnings.

“Wish me luck, Gaone,” Same says. She looks suddenly nervous. Afraid, even.

And things start going wrong for my sister quite soon. There is a guy living in the house: tall, handsome, confident. Gabriel. I can see at once he is a real ‘playa’. And of course my sister falls in love. Boom! I can see it in her eyes, no matter how much she pretends.

But Gabriel isn’t interested. He has eyes only for another girl there: Julia, a real hottie. My poor sister! She sits at the window watching while Gabriel and Hottie Julia make out in the garden.

I want to shake Same. I want to say, “Get real, sis! That Gabriel is a low-life. Why don’t you fall for someone like Themba?” That’s what I want to advise her.

Themba is staying in the house too. He is not so tall or handsome. But it is easy to see that he has a good heart. His eyes follow Same wherever she goes. I know: Themba is crazy about Same just the way she is crazy about Gabriel. Just the way Gabriel is crazy about Julia.

And then Julia has to leave. Gabriel is depressed, but I can see new hope shining in my sister’s eyes. And yes, within days, there Same is. In the garden with Gabriel.

“Oh that foolish girl!” sighs my mother.

“If only she knew what Gabriel says behind her back,” I agree.

I know the awful things he says when Same can’t hear. “Oh that Same chick . Yeah, she’s better than nothing. She’ll do for the moment. But she’s not a hottie like Julia. Not even close!”

I wish I could talk some sense into my sister. But there’s nothing I can do. I just can’t reach her. How will she cope when this disgusting Gabriel breaks her heart? And he will. I’m sure of that.
If only! If only I hadn’t encouraged Same to move into that house!

***

What do you think? Will Gaone be able to talk some sense into her sister and save her from Gabriel?