PULL MY HEARTSTRINGS (COMPLETE)

20

"Bathong, the chicken is burning!" Caroline screamed, running into the kitchen and almost slipped, breaking her delicate neck because the skyscrapers on her feet weren't designed for running.

She was the gugo'thandayo type and wasn't in a hurry to trade in her stilettos for knitting anytime soon. It didn't help that she often thought of herself young enough to be Kamo's sister because if she could Caroline would step into her daughter's shoes and take over Kamo's life. She loved both her daughters but her heart favoured Kamo more because she lived a life Caroline had always envisioned for herself.

Sello came rushing from the living room prompted by her deafening scream, wearing a hideous cardigan, which matched his dull personality and his reading glasses were perched on the tip of his nose. Standing next to each other, Caroline and Sello were the true definition of opposites attract, but looking at Sello there was nothing attractive about him besides the fact that there was a Dr before his name.

"What's going on?" he asked, watching the smoke rise to the ceiling.

"You ruined dinner."

She threw her hands up in defeat when seeing the charred chicken, she couldn't serve it and it was too late to cook something else, Kamo and Lwazi were on the way.

"But I did what you told me to do," he said.

"Did you? Because I asked you to turn the heat down but instead I found this knob turned to the max. One simple thing, Sello, I asked you to do one simple thing and you failed! You knew how important this dinner was to me."

"But, Caroline it was an honest mistake." He sighed, feeling frustrated with the tone she was using with him. As a surgeon his profession automatically granted him respect from everyone but only Caroline could reduce him to nothing with just a look.

She snapped her fingers, instantly silencing him. "I don't want to hear any excuses, I want you to fix this!"

Kgomotso walked into the chaos of smoke and arguing with a plastic bag dangling from her arm. She left work driving like she was competing at the Grand Prix to make it here on time, but stepped into what looked like an episode from Hell's Kitchen at the sight of the burned chicken left in the sink.

"Don't just stand there, do something your sister will be here soon."

She dropped the plastic bag on the kitchen island and got on to inspect the damage. "What happened?" she asked after realizing there was no way of saving the chicken.

"Isn't it obvious? Dinner is ruined and none of this would've happened if you had shown up on time like I asked you to."

"I couldn't leave work early, ma."

"But you were able to take the day off and visit your father." Caroline pointed out in an accusatory tone.

Not that again! Caroline was determined to guilt trip her until the second coming of Jesus because she chose to spend the day with her father and ausi Daphne. Her mother still thought of this as some popularity contest but Kgomotso was too grown to be impressed by her gifts and random trips to Sun City, which she did to turn Kgomotso against her father.

Caroline and Jerry were never married and from the little Kgomotso was able to gather about her parents failed relationship, she wasn't planned. The pregnancy widened the cracks between the young couple, as Caroline grew increasingly frustrated with Jerry's fantasy of becoming the next Zakes Mda. She was pregnant, unmarried and with no prospect of a job, her future looked bleak but she was prepared to do anything to get the life she wanted.

Caroline eventually left Jerry after Kgomotso's first birthday because he was still chasing a fruitless dream and she wasn't prepared to stick around for the struggle. Her father gave up on his aimless purpose and became a teacher, raising a child as a single parent wasn't easy but he overcame the adversities, with his head held high because Kgomotso was his pride and joy. Her mother returned before Kgomotso's 6th birthday, married and holding a toddler, demanding to have her daughter back and insisted that a teacher's salary wasn't good enough to raise her child.