Makukhanye



The café was just around the corner, but Sthembiso didn’t sit with me when I was taken to my table by the waiter instead he went to the counter and sat there.

I didn’t even know why this whole thing bothered me but it just did. I was used to being fussed over and having to gone from that to being ignored was rather hard to deal with. This may have been what I had wanted all along but it would have been nice to have someone to sit with even if we were not going to talk to each other.

I was used to eating alone it was nothing foreign about it but now it felt like everyone was looking at me, like every laughter and whisper was directed to me.

I was glad when my food was delivered giving me a chance to shift my focus on my food and ignore everything else.

When I was done Sthembiso led me outside and again he didn’t say anything on our way back to the apartment.

Something had to be wrong about me, I shouldn’t even care if he talked to me or not but then again he was the only person I knew in this place and it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

I couldn’t bank on calling my mother or Lizzie everytime I wanted to talk to someone. “You don’t talk much?”

Sthembiso looked me with such ease while I had to crane my neck to look at him. “I am paid to guard you and not talk.”

Finally now I knew how his voice was like, it was smooth and almost sweet like honey. “Right.” I kept walking not wanting him to see the look of disappointment in my face. It was stupid of me to get disappointed at the fact that he didn’t want to talk to me but disappointment left a bitter, sour taste in my mouth.