Run away bride: should I trust him?

CHAPTER 10:RUN AWAY BRIDE-(THE VISIT)

Ma Dineo and Bra Solly are trying too much to cheer me up. And it's not going to work... that's what I thought.

Since last night after the hospital call, the house has been too quiet. I didn't eat breakfast. I just sat on my mattress, looking at my torn yellow flower dress hanging on the nail, looking at Nkosi's heavy army jacket folded next to me. I kept thinking of Khathu in Tshilidzini Hospital with a broken knee. I kept thinking of Monday.

Ma Dineo came in with tea. "My child, drink. You didn't eat."

"I'm not hungry, Mma."

Bra Solly came in with bread. "My child, eat, you need strength."

"I'm not hungry, Bra Solly."

They looked at each other, worried. They whispered in the kitchen. I could hear them.

"She is too sad, this child will get sick if she doesn't eat."

"We must tell her now, Dineo, we cannot wait."

Then Bra Solly walked in with a serious face and sat on the floor next to my mattress.

"Milondo," he said, "Ma Dineo told me you are very clever in school. That you were top 3 before you stopped. Is that true?"

I nodded small.

"So Ma Dineo spoke to me about how good you are in your studies for sure... and I did something."

He pulled out a paper from his pocket. A printed paper, folded many times.

"Open it."

I opened it. It was a receipt. And an enrollment letter.

*DUBE ADULT LEARNING CENTRE - SECONDARY EDUCATION*

*LEARNER: MILONDO Annabelle TAKALANI.*

*GRADE: 11 & 12 COMBINED (MATRIC REWRITE)*

*FEES PAID: R1,500 - TERM 1*

*START DATE: 02 FEBRUARY 2026*

I read it three times. My hands started shaking.

Until Bra Solly said he enrolled me in school. That is like the first good news I have received since forever!!

"School?" I whispered.

"Yes," Ma Dineo said, now smiling big, coming to sit on my other side. "I told Bra Solly, this child is not a house girl, she is a teacher. She needs school. So Bra Solly went this morning at 6 AM to the centre in Phefeni. The principal said you can start next week. If you work hard, you can write matric next year!"

I screamed. I really screamed, not a scared scream like at the stadium, but a happy scream.

I jumped up and hugged Bra Solly so hard his cap fell off. Then I hugged Ma Dineo. Then I cried, but happy tears this time.

School. Real school. Not tutoring other kids for small money — my own school. My dream didn't die. It was waiting for me in Dube Adult Centre.

"I will be top! I will be top of the class! I promise!" I said, wiping my nose.

"Of course you will," Ma Dineo said, laughing. "Now will you eat bread? A top learner cannot learn on empty stomach."

For the first time since Khathu's call, I ate. Two slices of bread and tea.

I was still eating when there was a knock on the gate.

A loud, military knock. Not a normal knock.

We all looked at each other.

Ma Dineo went to check. She came back with a smile that was too wide.

"Milondo, someone is here for his jacket."

Nkosi came by the house to get his jacket.

He was not in full uniform today. He wore a black t-shirt, army green pants, and boots. His broad shoulders looked even broader in a t-shirt. He had his sunglasses on top of his head. He stood at the door, holding his beret in his hand, looking very serious for someone coming to get a jacket.

"Good morning, Ma Dineo, Bra Solly," he said, his deep voice polite.

"Ah, Lieutenant! Come in, come in!" Ma Dineo said, as if she had been waiting for him.

I wanted to disappear. I was in my old pyjama shorts and Dream Big t-shirt, hair not combed, bread crumbs on my mouth.

"Your jacket," I said quickly, grabbing his heavy jacket from my room and almost throwing it at him. "Thank you."

He took it, but he didn't leave. He looked at my face. "Your lip is better."

"Yes."

Then he turned to Bra Solly. "Sir, I came to update you. The suspect, Arjun, his bail hearing is confirmed for Monday 9 AM, Orlando Magistrate Court. The investigating officer said Milondo must be there. Also, we found more in his car..."

That rude soldier had to remind me of Arjun and attending court on Monday. What a way of ruining my day.

My happy school feeling vanished. Just like that. Monday. Court. Arjun's smile.

Hmm just when I thought he wasn't that bad. I thought maybe Lieutenant Nkosi was nice. But no. He is like all soldiers — he only knows how to give orders and remind you of bad things.

I folded my arms and went to sit in the corner.

But truth be told somehow I'll have to get used to hearing that Arjun name. Because there'll always be that one person like Nkosi who would seize every opportunity to talk about that thug. Everywhere I go, someone will say "Arjun". At the shops, at school, in court. I cannot run from his name forever.

Now he is sitting comfortably like he's our in-law!! Ma Dineo even offered him tea and he said he drinks coffee instead.

Bra Solly invited him to sit on the couch. The couch that is too small for his big body. He sat, his knees up high, looking awkward but comfortable at the same time, like he belongs here.

Ma Dineo, oh Ma Dineo, this woman loves visitors. "Lieutenant, tea?"

"I drink coffee, Mma, if you have. Black, no sugar."

Hmm I'd be annoyed if I was Ma Dineo. Who comes to someone's house and demands coffee instead of tea? But this woman can't stop smiling. She even forced me to help her serve him biscuits.

"Milondo, bring the biscuits for our guest! The nice ones from the top shelf!"

I wanted to say no. I wanted to say, "He is not our guest, he is a rude toilet-gate soldier." But Ma Dineo gave me that look — the mother look that says "you will do it or you will die."

So I brought the biscuits. Tennis biscuits, my favourite. I put them down hard on the table.

Nkosi looked at me and, I swear, he almost smiled. Almost.

"Thank you," he said.

We all sat. Ma Dineo and Bra Solly watching us like we were on TV.

"So, Lieutenant," Ma Dineo started, "are you from here? Your accent..."

"Yes, Mma. I am from Meadowlands. Zone 5. Not far from here. My mother still lives there," he said, sipping his black coffee.

Nkosi came by the house to get his jacket, it turns out he's from around here not far from our house.

Meadowlands! That's like 10 minutes taxi away. This rude soldier with broad shoulders is a Soweto boy.

"Ah! A Soweto boy! And you are in the army? Your mother must be proud!" Ma Dineo clapped.

Bra Solly nodded. "Good man. Disciplined."

I rolled my eyes. "He told me to get back to my seat when I needed toilet."

The room went quiet. Then Nkosi actually laughed. A real laugh, deep and loud.

"You poured water on my boot," he said, looking at me.

"You were rude first!" I said back, and I laughed too without meaning to.

Ma Dineo looked at Bra Solly and whispered, but loud enough for everyone to hear, "They look good together, hey?"

My face went hot. "MMA!"

Nkosi coughed and stood up quickly, putting his jacket over his arm.

"I must go. I have duty at 14:00. Milondo, on Monday, I will be at the court. The state will need you. Don't be scared. He will not touch you again. I will be there."

He said it looking straight at me. Not rude. Serious. Protective.

He left, his big boots loud on the stoep.

Ma Dineo closed the door and turned to me, holding her chest.

"Milondo! Did you see how he looked at you?"

"Mma, please! He is just a soldier doing his job!"

But I was holding the biscuit packet tight, and I was thinking about Monday. Monday didn't feel like torture anymore. If Nkosi would be there, maybe I could stand in the same room as Arjun and not shake.

And I was thinking about school. My enrollment paper was still on the mattress.

For the first time, Monday had two things: Arjun's case, and my new school starting the week after.

One monster, and one dream.

I knew which one I wanted to focus on.