She Who Stole His Heart

22

When August tried to call Kholwa, she did not answer. She must have been upset.

Not thinking much about it, he decided to tell everyone through the group chat. If everyone was against it, then he'd just have to find a way to make it up to her. If everyone agreed, then he'd have to have a talk with them all and make sure they treated her well.

He asked, and both his roommates easily agreed. He was shocked even when the replies all came at once, saying that they'd like to meet her.

August, for safety measures, told them to be nice to her. Those replies did not come as quickly, but they came a while later and he smiled to himself.

He'd have to surprise her then since she still did not reply to his calls. He looked at the time. It was almost midnight. He wanted to buy her some flowers as an apology, but all the shops were probably closed. He stood up anyway and put on a navy blue cap and simple flip-flops and then made his way out.

"Hey, where are you going?" Rob asked as August passed. Him and Sonke were sitting in the living room, watching a movie. "Did your girlfriend ask to meet?"

"I'm just going for a walk." He simply said. It wasn't too much of a lie.

"Don't be too long now, or else we'll make up our own conclusions." Sonke laughed. August hurried out of the house. He didn't want any more questions.

Kholwa opened her eyes and she was still on the sofa. She frowned. When did she fall asleep? She stretched her body and then looked around. Mzamo was still not home.

She stood up, feeling just how stiff her muscles were. How long had she been sleeping?

She walked to the kitchen to get her phone. She remembered putting it on the counter before she went to watch TV. She saw it and then opened it, noticing the four missed calls from August. She looked at the top of her screen and realised that her phone had been on silent mode the whole time.

She pressed his number and put her phone against her ear. It rang until it went to voice mail. She tried a few times, the last time the phone was answered.

"My Sunshine?" She heard an unfamiliar masculine voice on the other end.

"Sorry? Who am I talking to?" She looked at the phone to make sure she called the right number. "Isn't this August's phone?"

"It is. I'm Sonke, his roommate. You're his girlfriend, right? I'm guessing since he saved your number as 'My Sunshine."

She smiled. "He did?"

"Let's meet again." She brightly said as she packed up her notebook and pens. She looked at him and grinned. She held out her hand. "Give me your phone."

"My phone?" August asked and she nodded. He took it out of his pocket, opened it then handed it to her.

She handed the phone back to him, "There," she still smiled. "That's my number."

August's heart jumped to his throat. He stared at her, unable to form a proper sentence.

"Don't worry, I won't find you weird if you save it as My Sunshine or something as cheesy." She looked at him, noticing how tongue-tied he was. "Bye then." She smiled and then left the tongue-tied man.

"Yeah. But he's not here right now." Sonke said, getting her out of her trance. "You can leave a message and I'll tell him when he's back."

"Um..." What did she want to say?

"Oh," Sonke chuckled, "it must be lover's things."

"Oh, no. It's not..."

"Don't worry. I'll tell him to call you as soon as possible."

Flustered, Kholwa could do nothing but thank August's roommate. She hung up and decided that it was time for a walk. Her flat was starting to feel too hot.