True Love's Bite

15 // Monster

A question that swirled in my head after Silas' confession was what exactly it meant to be a mate.

The moment I connected the word to all the paranormal romance I read, it made me feel dizzy.

There is this popular opinion that I always regarded as peer pressure doing the talking in order to convince people that we all need to go in the same direction, because that's how things are meant to be. Which was absurd if you ask me. I mean, who in the world made it a rule that we are not meant to be alone in this life? It was just putting people under pressure to do things that will deem them a part of society.

And that's exactly what I stood by for a long time, until I was told that I had to marry the pastor's son. But that did not deter my opinion until I met Silas, and everything about him made sense, it felt right; spending the night with him felt like it was meant to be, and it made me want to unlearn all the principles I locked myself into apart from the oppression I suffered in the hands of my mother.

It made me wonder what it would feel to finally meet my other half, and oftentimes my mind wandered to Silas, although any romantic thoughts were hindered by the haunting blackout and not remembering who he was. I thought after figuring out who he was, it would make me forget about him, especially with the weight of his betrayal, but I couldn't stop thinking about him because my life took a very strange 360-degree turn from that night.

Which brings me back to my question - what exactly is a mate?

I remember getting excited whenever I was reading a book and the paranormal creature found their mate, or when the human found out that they were bound to said creatures for life. I wasn't exactly pro-love in life because I honestly had no idea what love is, the only love I knew was the one in fictional settings, and I was okay with that.

Silas said I was his mate, it was supposed to be an exciting moment, but instead I felt dread. It felt like the end of the world, like by just saying that word, he had set us up for doom. Perhaps it was because he admitted his fears, and now I was afraid too, and I don't know what scared me more; letting fate take its course and straying away from my envisioned future, or coming this far only to lose it all.

Watching my sister's boyfriend's car drive away from the hospital parking, I waved back at Ivy.

"Did Sipho's car just miraculously find us or did someone plant ideas in my sister's head?" I sliced through the already tense air, turning to Silas with my arms folded.

My appointment didn't take that long although it felt like someone's girlfriend kept us waiting for centuries, she was no longer of concern by the time she made her return, and thankfully, she was very professional. If she ever slipped up, I didn't notice because I was too distracted.

By the time we left her office my sister had already opened my file and confirmed my next appointment which would be six weeks from now. As much as I was not paying attention to what Dr Mbiza was saying, I think I caught an interesting fact from her when she mentioned that even though the baby was conceived four weeks ago, chances were that I could actually be about two to three weeks pregnant; and went on to point out how lucky I was to have discovered my pregnancy so quickly since some people would only start to notice much later.

It was the first time in weeks that I came to realise how lucky I really was and accepted that God never really abandoned me and that He saved me for a reason, He had better plans for me. I don't know what yet, but I was now convinced Silas was a part of that.

It didn't make sense to me, if anything it was ridiculous, and even Ivy found it absurd, she wouldn't stop making fun of how I sounded like my mother. She was laughing, but she knew it was true.