“Naledi!!”
He’s shaking me.
What? Why????
Urgh!
“What’s going on? Why is your phone off? What is wrong with you?”
Oh no, reality.
“Tsietsi, when did you get here?” I ask.
He looks worried.
“Now. I used the spare key you gave me. What’s going on Naledi?”
To be honest, I don’t know. I just know I feel like crap and I’m an emotional wreck.
It’s still dark outside?
I went straight to bed when I arrived last night. I thought about switching my phone on but in the end I decided not to.
Tsietsi is still standing over me.
“I had to come back early, long story,” I say getting up to go to the bathroom.
“And you? Kakamaas? The parents?”
I didn’t check on him all weekend.
“I came back last night, long story, plus I was worried about you, I even had to call your evil sister,” he says.
Really Tsietsi?
“Wanna have a smoke?” I ask him.
He does.
I bought another pack during my trip yesterday. I almost smoked it all before I got home.
There’s a bucket in my balcony that unintentionally turned into an ashtray.
“We haven’t spoken since you left for the airport on Friday,” he says.
He’s right. I hadn’t noticed. I was too occupied with…..
My stomach turns a little when I think about how I left Joburg.
I’m sure I’m doing the right thing but there’s that little part of me that feels like I was unfair by not telling him I was leaving, just so he would not waste his time coming to pick me up.
I’m scared to switch my phone on. I just want to pretend like nothing happened, for now.
“I drove to Joburg with him,”
He looks at me.
He’s confused.
“R350, I drove to Joburg with him,” I say.
“What??”