THE ONE

Chapter Fifteen: Tabula Rasa

Tendo couldn't stop staring at his twin's pictures. He'd lost count of the number of times he'd rewatched the video Elliott had recorded. It was all he did every morning & evening after school. His brother had since returned to Johannesburg with his parents, whilst he stayed at his boyfriend's, still mad at his own. Two days without talking to him felt like two years & he wasn't alone.

Alvin couldn't stop himself either. He constantly replayed the videos his friends had recorded & posted on instagram, hardly sparing anytime for soccer. In one comment, a girl voted Tendo the more attractive one. He scoffed, descending down the comment section, getting more of the same. He rolled his eyes a little, refreshing his feed.

A post of Dejen with a get well soon message caught his attention. Sherise had since followed him & he noticed she & several other commenters had also posted Dejen on their stories.

Tendo was getting ready to call Alvin when he saw a call from him, his heart skipping a beat. He sat upright from the bed, exhaling a little..

"Hey"
"Hey evening. Have you seen what happened to Dejen?"
"What happened to him?" Tendo's heart pounded.

Alvin forwarded half a dozen screenshots & Tendo was just as puzzled as he swiped through them.

"I didn't know anything. Let me call Sherise", Tendo added.

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"Gwe omulwadde?" (You're the one whose sick?), Max stumbled upon Joseph's table in a bar.

He'd caught him red-handed. Joseph had skipped out on two days of training at the gym, nervous about being in the same space as Axel. For a supposed fever patient, he was quite vibrant, gloating at how he was about to destroy Rodney in their matatu game. A defeated David peered on from the sidelines, sipping at his guinness.

Joseph was a bit stunned to see Axel & Trevor approach as well.

"Walwadde ddi gwe?" (When did you get sick?), Rodney asked.
"Nabadde sewulila bulungi" (I wasn't feeling well), Joseph glanced at Axel ~cool as a cucumber.
"Kati waterede?" (Now you feeling better?), Max asked.
"Eeee" (Yeah), Joseph replied.

The three pulled chairs from another table, Max perching next to Joseph, Trevor hunching on the side across David, Axel sitting next to Rodney, directly across Joseph.

Axel offered to assist Rodney with his game, crushing Joseph in the process. In the next game of six, Joseph was the first to be disqualified. He walked to the counter to order more drinks..

"My apologies, we're a bit understaffed tonight", the bartender put his hands together.
"I understand", Joseph added, watching Axel approach from the corner of his eye.
"Oli fit?" (..you ok?), Axel reached.
"Yeah", Joseph looked away.
"Kilungi. Mpayo Nile special" (Good. Get me a nile special), Axel instructed.
"Cold?" the bartender asked.
"Warm", Axel added.
"So..", Joseph shifted towards him. "Ebyaliwo luli.."(What happened last time..)
"Tewali kyaliwo" (Nothing happened), Axel shrugged.
"Oh!", Joseph remarked. "Okay"
"Yeah. Nze woba oli ready nga ongamba" (...when you're ready, you tell me), Axel assured.

Joseph eyed him as Axel walked back to the table with his beer.

"Jose?" Max called out, showing him an instagram post about Dejen.
"Yabadde ki?" (What happened to him?) Joseph's heart skipped as he sat.
"Ani?" (Who), Trevor edged in as he picked an ace card.
"Nange simanyi. Mbigude ko bugwi" (I don't know either. I just bumped on it), Max added.

Joseph quickly pulled out his own phone to check. He hadn't been active on Instagram since his last meet up with Dejen. Steve & Bryan's stories littered with Dejen's pictures, had his heart racing.