If her family is not keen on helping her, she will go report the baby to its father’s family on her own. She reassured herself as she came towards Nko’s home. It was a shack but beautifully furnished and decorated inside out. She saw Nko’s mother standing by the fence separating the yards conversing with a neighbour, and Nko was cutting grass in the yard. They ceased with their activities and focused their attention on her as she came through the gate with the baby on her arms. Hers and Nko’s eyes locked, and she smiled. He didn’t but looked the other way instead.

“How can we help you, young girl?” Nko’s mother asked.

“May I speak to you and Nko, mama,” she pleaded.

“Who is Nko?”

“I meant to say Thabiso, mama,” she said with a little laugh
.

Whilst the use of his nickname was in its initial stages Thabiso fought it with all his strength. He even beat those he didn’t fear who insisted on using it. However, the more people he fought, the more they found it thrilling and amusing to call him Nko. Some advised him to ignore his provocateurs and their use of his nickname will eventually peter out. But still the nickname became extremely popular that he ended up loving and embracing it himself.

“What do you want to talk to us about?” Nko’s mother said rudely.

Nko and the neighbour only watched, not saying a word.

“I think it’s better if we sit down privately and I will tell you all about it,” she said.

Nko’s mother shook her head defiantly. Asakhe guessed she must have heard about her baby-daddy saga. The whole township knew about it. Judging by their frowning faces she knew that mother and son wanted her nowhere near their presence.

“You can say whatever you want to talk to us about now,” said Nko’s mother.

There was no time to waste.

“I have brought a child to its father, Nko…I mean Thabiso.”

Nko’s mother and her neighbour laughed hilariously in unison. Asakhe’s yellow cheeks immediately turned reddish.

“Oh…it’s my son’s turn to be the father now?”

“He was the real father from the beginning, mama.”

At such a response the women laughed again. Nko’s mother even clapped her hands resignedly before holding her arms akimbo, and looking at Asakhe again. She then directed her gaze to her son.

“Thabiso don’t just shush your mouth. You heard what the girl said. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I have nothing to say.”

“What do you mean you have nothing to say?” intervened Asakhe. Her anger started creeping up exacerbated by the raucous laughter of the two women.

“I have nothing to say about any baby you accuse me of being its father.”

“But it’s true. Nguwe utata walomntwana you’re the father of this child.”

“According to your current mood, Asakhe. But I am sure the baby will have another father depending on how you get up from bed in the morning.”

She started crying. The two women ceased their rudeness of laughing. They suddenly pitied the poor girl as they also had conceived babies out-of-wedlock in their teens. The overwhelming challenges of early single motherhood they knew personally. They were felt with a kind of pain only they could understand, mother to mother.

“Thabiso, are you sure you’re not the father, son?” asked his mother, all of a sudden. And before he could answer, Asakhe was already ahead of him.

“He is the father, mama! He is the father! You can even do a DNA test,” she said, in between pitiful sobs.

By now a crowd had gathered outside the yard watching. Coincidentally, the now two best friends, Tsepo and Mpendulo were there.

“Your problem is that you’re a narcissist Asakhe. You think you can just mess up with people’s lives, and still come back to further ruin them again, as you wish. I won’t let you hurt me again. And I will do no stupid DNA test.” Turning to his mother. “Mme mother, I once asked her if she was pregnant and she agreed. I tried to turn my life around and sought a job so I could take care of the baby. Only for her to tell me I wasn’t the only boyfriend she had at that time, and that the baby wasn’t mine. But now all of a sudden I am the father.”

Burning with rage Nko then walked away and stayed in his room. Asakhe’s anger escalated too. Gently she laid the baby on the grass inside the yard and turned to go. The watching crowd murmured in surprise. But when she had just exited the gate Asakhe stood still, folded her arms, and looked at Nko’s mother without saying a word. The people were shocked not knowing what Asakhe’s intentions were.

The baby laid on the grass inside the yard started crying. She made no movements to go pick it up and attend it.

“Young girl, pick up the baby,” said the neighbour who had been conversing with Nko’s mother.

Still Asakhe made no movements, but stood sulking and defiantly.

“Bitch, I said pick up the baby,” the neighbour was now annoyed. “Bitch, I said pick the baby! Can’t you see it’s crying??”

The stubborn pretty girl ignored the neighbour’s commands, but instead threw a sharp gaze at her.

“I am not your age-mate so don’t look at me like that. And just quickly pick up the baby. It’s crying, you jezebel!”

This time when her words yielded no results, the angry neighbour went out of her yard and strode to where Asakhe was standing. The people amongst the crowd had long started with recording videos and taking pictures of the goings-on. Angrily, the neighbour shoved Asakhe inside the yard. She staggered and fell next to the baby, and because of this awkward fall her white panties were into the open. She stood up and looked defiantly to the neighbour again. This time around, the neighbour slapped her so hard she almost fell again. Clearly not yet satisfied the neighbour rolled up the sleeves of her jersey ready to teach the ’bitch’ a lesson she will never forget. However, Nko’s mother, her friend and neighbour, stopped her.

“Dorah, stop it. You’ll get arrested. Leave the poor girl alone.”

“This girl has no respect. She also has the nerve to leave a baby crying on the ground. Unenkani kodwa kubukeka sengathi ipipi yilona kuphela into ayaziyo she is stubborn but it seems as if the dick is the only thing she knows.”

Asakhe picked up her baby and strode out of the gate. And just before she disappeared, she faced Nko’s mother and Dorah.

“The baby is not mine alone!” she said for the entire Lawley township to hear, whilst at the same time crying. “The baby is not mine alone! He is not mine alone!”

It was sorrowful. Amongst the crowd she was pitied even by those to whom she wasn’t a favourite. The only girls amused were those whose boyfriends she had taken. They never entertained the fact that their boyfriends were the ones who approached Asakhe whilst in relationships with them. In fact, these girls couldn’t wait to post the pictures and videos of the crying baby and his mad, stubborn mother on all social media platforms for the general public to see.