She Who Stole His Heart

25

Kholwa did not pay much attention to her surroundings. She just took her phone from besides her and checked for any messages. She saw one from Mzamo and opened it.

Don't be too shocked when you wake up. The designer promised not to do any weird things to you. If he did, stab him.

She chuckled, until she realised what the text was saying. She sat up and looked around her. She wasn't in her room, or any room that she was familiar with. She looked around and stopped when she saw a framed picture of August and his family against the wall.

It then dawned on her that she must have been at his house. Well, she didn't think she'd meet his friends like that, but it was happening.

She looked around, softly smiling. His room was shockingly clean for a designer. She expected papers everywhere, clothes and fabric all over the floor and bed. His work desk was on the other side of the room. It was shockingly also tidy. She walked to it, putting her hand on top of the sketchbook. There was a pencil next to it.

"Is this where all your ideas come from, my love?"

She opened the notebook, going through it page by page. Smiling as she saw her boyfriend's rough designs. Although they were not the final designs, they were still beautiful. She stopped paging when she saw her face on the page. Her smile grew. He was not just a designer, but he also managed to also put the small detail onto the drawing. Like the lone dimple on her right cheek, and her slightly lopsided smile. Her hair was hanging in tight curls around her face. The image was mostly dark pencil, except for the red shading across her cheeks.

She turned to the next page, it was her on a parachute, smiling up at him.

Then she was sitting down, writing on her own notebook.

Then she saw her name and the English translation on top.

Kholwa. Believe.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. There was a dress underneath the title. Unlike other designs, it was a bit neater. She closed the book and looked away from it. allowing the tears to freely fall down her cheeks.

~*~

"We're going to have to cancel the showcase," Veronica solemnly said. She sighed, looking back at the screen with the exact designs that August had created for his debut.

August bit his bottom lip, glaring at the screen.

"We should have remembered these videos earlier." She sighed. Videos of when August was still a student. "Damn it." He used to film himself going through the design process. He gave designing tips and sometimes Manelisi appeared in his videos. In one video, Manelisi pops into the screen and says that August's designs are godly, and then shows one of the designs that he claims August stole and says it's August's best one. That's the video they will be using against him.

It took so long for these videos to be uncovered because as soon as August got an agent, he had to take down his page.

"Did you call the police?" August asked.

"A while ago. The lawyers say that this is a clear case of defamation and forgery. We've got a case, but sadly, we no longer have a showcase."

August scoffed, "this is all my fault. I thought we were friends. I thought I could trust him. But the psycho went and said I stole his designs."

"It's not your fault. And we can always have a showcase later on in the year."

August looked at his agent, "Let's go to the police station. I want to see him."