Run away bride: should I trust him?

Chapter 7:RUN AWAY BRIDE-( HOW DID HE FIND ME?)

I finally found the toilets. Hmm well that was a relief.

Gate 3, left side, like the rude soldier said. The queue for the women's toilet was long — like 30 women long — but the inside was clean, with real flushing toilets and a mirror. I have never seen so many toilets in one place. In my village, we share one pit toilet with three families.

I locked the door and sat down. And for the first time since I arrived at the stadium, I could breathe properly. My bladder was thanking me.

Maybe that soldier isn't that bad. Maybe he is just doing his job. Maybe he has to be rude because if he is nice, 94,000 people will ask him where the toilet is. And his boots were very shiny. I felt a little bad about pouring water on him.

I washed my hands, fixed my yellow flower dress, checked my short hair in the mirror. I looked okay. Like a normal girl. Not a runaway bride.

I have to go back inside before Ma Dineo starts looking for me. She worries too much. And Bra Solly would think I got lost. The President was still speaking — I could hear his voice echoing from the speakers outside, saying something about youth and opportunities.

And plus there's someone who's been banging my door like I've been inside for an hour.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

"Hey! There's people waiting! Hurry up in there!"

I thought it was the next woman in the queue. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I shouted, opening the lock.

It wasn't a woman.

It was Arjun.

He was standing right outside the toilet door, wearing his black shirt, black sunglasses pushed up on his head, smiling. That smile that never reached his eyes. He looked sweaty and angry and happy all at once.

"Hello princess," he said softly. So softly only I could hear.

My blood froze. My whole body went cold even though it was 30 degrees outside.

How did he find me... How? Soweto is big. Johannesburg is bigger. Bra Solly said he would never find me here. How did he know I was at the stadium?

His hand shot forward and grabbed my wrist before I could slam the door.

Without thinking twice I kicked him as hard as I could between his legs and ran as fast as I could.

He made a noise — a low, ugly grunt — and doubled over for one second. That one second was my chance.

I ran. My yellow dress flew up. I didn't care. I ran out of the toilet corridor, past the shocked women in the queue who were staring.

I was getting closer to the entrance. The bright light of the stadium was there. I could hear the crowd. If I could just get back to the crowd, to the soldiers, to Ma Dineo, I would be safe. Arjun wouldn't dare do anything in front of thousands of people and soldiers.

I could see a glimpse of the rude soldier. Lieutenant Nkosi. His broad shoulders near Gate 3, standing still like a wall. I wanted to scream his name but I didn't know his name.

I was 10 meters away from him. 5 meters. I opened my mouth—

Something caught my hand from behind. Hard. Nails digging into my skin.

Arjun.

He had recovered fast. He was faster than me. He grabbed my arm and yanked me back so hard I almost fell.

"Where do you think you are going, wife?" he hissed in my ear, his breath hot and smelling like cigarettes. "You think you can run in a wedding dress and hide in Soweto? You are mine. I paid for you."

I managed to let out a scream for help once — a real, loud, raw scream — "HELP ME! PLEASE!"

Two women near the toilets looked. One screamed too.

But Arjun covered my mouth with his other hand. His palm smelled like sweat and petrol. He pressed so hard my teeth cut my lip.

"Shut up," he growled.

Everyone was inside. The President was still speaking, and the sound system was too loud. The music was too loud. My scream was swallowed by the stadium noise.

That soldier probably just pitied me. Nobody was allowed to leave before the president was done. The gate soldiers had been ordered not to let anyone out until the speech finished. So no one was coming out to the toilet corridor except people who were already out.

Arjun started dragging me backwards, away from the entrance, deeper into the corridor that led to the parking lot. His two boys appeared from nowhere — where did they come from? — and stood in front, blocking the view.

"Let's go home, princess," Arjun whispered. "Your father is waiting. Your whole family is waiting to apologize to me."

I bit his hand. Hard. I tasted blood.

He shouted and let go of my mouth for a second.

I screamed again, louder, "NKOSI! SOLDIER! HELP!"

And this time, someone heard.

The rude soldier. The man with broad shoulders and a very deep voice.

He turned.

I saw his sunglasses come off. He saw me — a girl in a yellow flower dress, being dragged by a man in black, two other men blocking the way, my mouth bleeding.

His whole body changed. From still statue to moving.

He didn't shout. He didn't say "stop". He just started walking towards us. Fast.

Arjun saw him too. Arjun's hand went to his waistband, where his pistol was.

For a second, I thought he was going to pull it. In a stadium full of people. With the President inside. With hundreds of soldiers outside.

Arjun is a monster, no doubt, but even a monster knows you don't pull a gun on a SANDF Lieutenant at FNB Stadium during a presidential event.

The soldier was now 3 meters away.

"Release her," he said. His deep voice was calm, but it was a command. Not a request.

Arjun laughed, trying to act normal. "Officer, this is my wife. She is having a—"

"Release. Her. Now." Lieutenant Nkosi repeated. He was closer now. I could see the scar on his eyebrow.

One of Arjun's boys stepped forward, trying to be brave. "Hey, this is private family matter—"

Lieutenant Nkosi didn't even look at him. He grabbed the boy's arm, twisted it behind his back, and pushed him face-first against the concrete wall. It happened so fast I didn't even see his hand move.

The second boy ran.

Arjun let go of my arm. He put his hands up, but his eyes were still on me. Angry. Promising.

"This is not over, Milondo," he mouthed.

Lieutenant Nkosi stepped between us. He was so big, Arjun disappeared behind him. He looked down at me. My lip was bleeding, my dress was torn at the shoulder, I was shaking.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and his deep voice was not rude anymore. It was soft.

I couldn't speak. I just nodded and then started crying. All the fear from the last four days — running in the wedding dress, Khathu's quantum, Bra Solly's house, the toilet door — all of it came out.

He took off his beret and gently put it on my head to cover me a bit. Then he pressed a button on his radio.

"Control, this is Nkosi at Gate 3. I need SAPS and medical, female victim, attempted abduction. Suspect detained. Over."

Within 30 seconds, three more soldiers and two police women came running.

Ma Dineo and Bra Solly came running too from the other side — they had heard the screaming.

"Milondo!" Ma Dineo shouted, holding me tight.

Arjun was now on the ground, hands behind his back, a soldier's knee on him. He was still staring at me.

"Hello princess," he had said. But this time, he didn't get to finish.

I was safe. For now, I was safe behind broad shoulders and a very deep voice.