A little love and revenge.

And Then There Were Two

Edwin

"Thando!" I shouted from the bathroom after brushing my teeth.

It was almost time for me to leave, which meant it was time for her to wake up.

"Thando! Vuka! Vuka sesi." I shouted knocking on her bedroom door as I opened it to her sitting up and groaning, with her eyes barely opened.

Vuka = wake up

I laughed at her

" do you always have to wake me up 30 minutes before my alarm goes off" she groaned and looked so pissed.

" it's my job as your big brother, to toughen you up." I said and banged on her door one more time before heading to the kitchen to see what I can make for lunch today.

Eventually she joined me in the kitchen to fetch her bathing water from the urn. I always made sure to warm up water for her after my bath . To make her morning easier.

"I'm coming back very late today so after school, get home and lock up. Don't let anyone in." I instructed her

" how late is late? I have to do a client's hair today and she lives in the bad parts, So.... " she said with a slight attitude

"so? Can't you take a cab" I asked her

" no, not at 11 pm." she said and I sighed.

"can't your client come over here instead?" I asked and she chewed on the inside of her lip making a thinking face.

"I'll talk to her. But you are messing with my bag. I charge extra for home calls." she added

"you should've just named your price." I said, pulling out my wallet from my back pocket and giving her R100. That should be enough to cover her troubles.

"it's always a pleasure doing business with you." she said with a smile on her face

My baby sister loves money and for a 17 year she's pretty good at making it. Which is honestly a blessing because if I had to take care of us all by myself, I wouldn't cope.

Our mom died 4 years ago and it's just been the two of us since.

We both stepped up.

I was in my last year of varsity so I got a part time job and saved up some money to start an Internet Cafe in our garage. I eventually finished my degree and got a proper job after a few internships.

Thando on the other hand, was almost 14 at the time, she had just started high school . She started skipping school to braid her classmates for money. Her grades were badly effected and she had to repeat 8th grade. I was disappointed in her but instead of acting out my disappointment, I struck a deal with her, made her sign a whole contract.

I allowed her to operate her hair business after school and weekends on the condition that she kept her grades above an average of 65% and that when she's done with school she has to go study something.

Anything.

I was very new to parenting and that moment made me confident in our ability to make it through. She's been acing her grades and making some serious money from the hair thing. I'm proud of her.

We've been taking care of each other and I think we've been doing pretty well for kids who had to grow up fast

"where are you going anyways?" she asked and a smile grew on my face, telling on me.

"oouuuu you going out on a date." she teased, laughing and I laughed with her two.

" I don't know what you're talking about but your water is going to get cold." I said and she sucked in her teeth knowing that I wasn't playing with her.