Thandiwe



The sun had come and gone, the night has arrived and that had me wearing a change of clothes that held me close to my skin as if it were my second skin. i held my bag tighter, my heels clicked on the pavement loudly announcing my arrival.

There at the corner now wearing a change of clothes too was Mr sibanda, he was wearing a black suit looking handsome in it.

the second he saw me he smiled, making my stomach dance with butterflies “Hi.” I say softly.

“You look amazing.” He says resting his hand on my lower back. He nods towards the parked car on the other side of the road “I called an Uber.”

“And where are you taking me mister?” I ask as we cross the street, his hand never leaving me.

“You’ll see, I hope you brought your hunger with you.” He says as he opens the door for me, before running on the other side.

The rest of the card ride it was filled with small conversations, at exactly 20 minutes we had arrived at m our destination. We were at the small restaurant hidden away, you could barely see there was a restaurant. “This is one of my favourites restaurants.”

The minute we walked inside I could see why, the place was like something straight out of a fairytale. It was bright yellow, with plastic yet elegant leaves hanging around like those Pinterest pictures.

The place was packed with people and was filled with different kinds of conversation, you could even here the soft play of a piano.

“Mr Sibanda.” The woman behind the small table said, she was beautiful tall and slim. She had a tight bun on her head pulling her skin back.

She looked at her book and smiled “Table for 2, come I’ll take you.” She led us to the table in the middle where it was not too crowded which gave us a great view of the aquarium and the soft music of the piano.

She handed us our menus as soon as we took our seats “I’ll give you guys a few minutes and I’ll be back to take your orders.” She said and spun around and went the same way she led us in.

“This place is amazing.” I said barely a whisper as I took the scene around me.

“And you can never get in here without a reservation.”

Reminding me of the woman mentioning her name earlier “So that lady over there..” I said trailing of.

“Oh that.” He said catching my drift “When I first started coming here the place was just opened and I believe this was what 3 or 4 years ago, I was the second customer to ever dine and I have been coming here ever since maybe once a month sometimes 2 a month and I guess befriended most of the stuff.”

I looked at the menu quiet surprised at the cost if just 1 stake. Without taking my eyes of the menu I said “She’s beautiful.”

I could feel him looking at me “Indeed she is.” And that hurt a little before I could utter a word he carried on “But she’s not what I am looking for, besides that she’s in a very serious relationship of 7 years.”

I breathed a sigh of relief just in time to find the lady walking.

I ordered myself a steak with the sides accompanied by a glass if red wine and Siseko ordered himself a lobster with sides too and a beer.

As I looked Sibusiseko my heart did a little happy dance never have I ever been this happy, never have I that someday I’ll be sitting across someone at the restaurant. Finally I too have found someone who looks at me like I am the only girl and that alone makes me to want to shout at the top of the roof that I am happy.