It had been difficult to pay any attention to what Paballo was saying when she was sitting right next to Roslyn that other day at our little ice-cream date. Roslyn looked like she had stepped right out of a Vogue magazine cover with that ungodly gorgeousness. One might have even thought she was a fallen angel.

I blamed Paballo for it though. Who in their right mind brings their mesmerizingly beautiful friend to a first date? I thought to myself. Over three days had passed since I had met up with both Paballo and Roslyn at the Thakaneng Bridge food court, but I still could not get those beautifully haunting eyes out of my mind. I was dragging myself to my next class in the midday heat when I felt eyes on me as I passed the Humanities hallway.

I looked around to figure out who was looking at me. It was a hustle. The lunch hour meant that all the hallways were full. Everyone was running to or from the food court to grab their lunch before their next class. It was exhausting. I was about to give up, when suddenly a familiar face smiled at me. I looked to my right to the nearby benches just at the edge of the doorway where Roslyn sat by herself, still staring out of the window. She was wearing black headphones over colourful, beautiful braids that put Sho Madjozi’s signature rainbow hairstyle to shame. She had a silvery laptop on her lap and seemed to have been typing something, because both her hands were well positioned on her keyboard.

“I don’t think I have ever seen anything more beautiful than this goddess,” I thought to myself.
Roslyn turned her gaze towards me as I stood there, frozen in my steps, hypnotised. She slid one of the headphones to the side. I held my backpack tighter and approached her. Time seemed to slow down as I sat down next to her, just as the crowd in the hallway began to wheeze and thin out. I suppose people were rushing to their next classes. The sun came out from under a cloud and lit up the deserted hallway where we sat. I stared nervously outside the window, catching the sight of countless buildings in the concrete jungle of our campus. The Bloemfontein winter sun coloured the sky orange, as it slowly disappeared again under a big cloud.

I sat quietly next to Roslyn, not knowing what to say, just as my heart started beating faster, as if it was about to jump out of my chest. I was sure she would hear it soon. So I took a deep, calming breath and laid back into the seat. A small cloud of warm steam escaped my mouth, like smoke as I took a deep breath. I mustered my courage and turned to her.

“It doesn’t make sense to me why such a gorgeous lady is sitting alone,” I said. “Especially in a building like this one full of so many gentlemen.”

She looked up from the glowing screen of her laptop, blushed, and flicked her colourful braids backwards, away from her face.

“Do you always lie to strangers?” she asked.

“After we have been on an ice cream date together,” I said, jokingly, “I doubt we are still strangers.”

“I didn’t think I would see you again so soon,” I said, looking at her dreamy eyes.

“Well,” she said slowly, “Then you are in luck, loverboy, but shouldn’t you be flirting with my friend instead of me?”

I laughed and stared at her. I did not know what to say to her. “Not many ladies make me speechless you know,” I said to Roslyn.
She giggled and closed her laptop gently, putting it to the side of her chair.

“What if I told you that you make me speechless too?” she said.

“You don’t look speechless to me though!” I jested. Roslyn edged closer and gently grabbed my hand. “I love how you lose all speech when you look at me,” she said. “It’s cute.”

Before I could speak, Roslyn put her hand on my cheek and put her lips on mine. In my mind, I wished that I could stop time and let this moment happen again and again, as if in a time loop. We kissed in the quiet hallway as if the world had simply fallen away. Her hand on my cheek was soft and gently, shutting out all the cares of the world.

Just as I reached out to caress her waist, Roslyn stood up and picked up her backpack from the floor, and her laptop from the bench.

She turned to look at me and said: “My friend really likes you, so you must focus on her and stop kissing her best friend in the hallways.”

Then she walked out the door, leaving me sitting on the bench, trying to process the past five minutes and everything that had happened in that short time.

“Wild!” I said out loud, to nobody in particular, as I picked up my backpack and planned to head out of the door of the Humanities Building. I was failing desperately to hide the grin on my face after Roslyn’s gentle peck on the lips. It was most certainly a perfect day, nothing could ruin it now, or so I thought…

Tell us: Do you think Siphila did anything wrong by kissing Roslyn?