EVERYTHING SHE NEVER HAD

10

EVERYTHING SHE NEVER HAD

NINE(Unedited?)

After the car disappears, Maya looks to the direction where Tumo was but he's nowhere In sight, he goes and asks the man he was with, he tells her that left all of a sudden. With a nod, she turned and went to her room. She decided to go put her present down and go look for Tumo, thinking about the present, what the hell, she thinks to herself.

So if Tshego is the one that asked Loyiso to give her the present, then it means that, they are dating right, but how did she know that they are siblings? She would have to call her and ask but now. Now she needs to go see someone who has been occupying her head lately.

She takes her jacket off and wears a hoodie and walks outside, she has a slice of cake on her that she reserved strictly for him. She walks outside bouncing on her steps because she was happy, happy that atleast Loyiso doesn't hate her, happy that she's happy, she atleast has people who care about her.

When she got to the condor, no one was there, she tried knocking but no one came, feeling down, she walked back but something told her to gi to the lake, and lo and behold, there he was, sitting throwing stones in the river.

"hy" she said to get his attention, with her hands behind her, and biting her lip and a smile on her face. He turned back, as much as he wanted to, he couldny help the smile that formed on his own face.

"so… You left?" she said.

With a chuckle, he said "I left yes"

"why?" she stepped closer and say on the branch, with each facing a different side.

"I don't know, I just did" she nodded her head in understanding.

"so… I brought you this" she took out the wrapper and showed it to him.

"what is it?"

"my… MyMy birthday cake, my brother and sister came and we went out to the mall, they gave us a cake so… I thought I should save you some"

"thank you…. So…. Brothers you say?" He raised his eyebrow.

"yes, I think Loyiso and I might be cool, I don't know, be said he doesn't hate, even gave me a present" she said with a smile.

"how many brother do you have?" He asked taking a bite from the red velvet cake. "mmh, this is good"

"thank you, I have two brothers, Kagiso is the oldest and then Loyiso, I'm two months older than him though, you saw him"

"I did?" he asks confused.

"yeah, he was the one I was with when I got off the car, he even have me a present"

"so… That guy Is your brother?"

"uhm" she said. Feeling stupid for letting him mind run with him, he decide to not say anything but nod his head.

They continued sitting in silent, with the wind picking up a little bit.

"where is your grandmother?" she kept tugging her jersey down before the wind was hitting her thighs.

"she went for the woman conference at church" he said turning and putting back on his shoes.

"oooh, that's nice, I've never been to church before"

"what? Really, you should come, it's very nice"

"OK" then their conversation died down.

"it's getting cold, come let's go" he stood up and extended his hand to for her to take.

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With each passing day, the pair grew closer and closer, like a routine, they would spend lunch time together, on weekends they were at the river, feelings grew but neither one of them acted upon them, for fear of the unknown and ruining what they have. During March holidays, Maya went with him to his church and she 3njoyed it so much that every chance she has, she goes with them, she started developing a strong bond with gogo, a fifty six year old woman behaved like a mother to her than her own mother did. She would find herself confiding in her and she would console her with verses from the Bible, something she has learnt to love and enjoy reading,

June exams are around the corner so it means less time to socialize and more time studying, doing different courses, they are forced to study separately, but thanks for the library, they always meet.

Its a Saturday and Monday they are writing their first ever exams, Tumo being in matric he has to pay more attention, plus the pressure of applying to universities, but lucky for him, one teacher came through for him and payed for application fees, of which he did not know where to get.

"are you ready for your exams?" they are sitting in their second favorite spot but this time, no one has their feet out and into the water because it's cold.

"no I'm not, really" Tumo laughed at her and nudged her.

"ooh come on, I know you going to nail them"

"ooho, easy for you to say, you are the schools top achiever, even if you don't study, I'm sure you would still ace them" she nudged him back.

"oooh please, don't flatter me"

"have you thought of applying for that bursary I showed you, just to be on the safe side"

"yeah I did, but… I Will look into it, I promise" he gave her a smile of which she responded to.

She doesn't want to say it out loud, but having him leave scares her, she still has one more year before she's done and she's afraid no one will want to be her friend, she's scared of being alone next year.

She's thinking of finish her academic year next year somewhere far away from here, she has been looking at scholarships and some seem a bit promising but she doesn't want to do far and leave Tumo. Behind, liking it or not, he has become part of her life, a major part of her life.