The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

Christmas Day.

Tyrone lifted his heavy eyelids in an attempt to open his eyes. He let out a groan when he heard the alarm sound on his phone. He'd gone to bed a few hours before because he couldn't sleep, so he'd set up an alarm so the group didn't leave without him.

He jumped off the bed when he realized it was 12 midday, they'd all planned to leave just after 12 so he had a few minutes to get ready. He'd pressed snooze only a few times so he'd wondered why it was so late. He made his way to the bathroom for a shower after he decided he'd uber to Connor's house. He was late anyways.

The boy thought about his girlfriend as the cold water massaged his warm body. He'd finally decided to call the girl back the night before, she'd been so worried about him that he felt even worse for what he'd done.

After thinking about it the whole day the boy had opted to just telling the girl the truth, he'd planned to when he called her but then chickened out when he heard the concern in her voice. He told his girlfriend that nothing was wrong and that he was just tired from all the partying they'd done lately. The girl had understood as she knew of the daily house parties that had been happening at the mansion. The couple ended up talking about what their plans were for Christmas and Ntombi had promised to pop by at Connor's place with her cousins later on the day.

Even though Tyrone felt horrible for cheating on his girlfriend, he couldn't help but miss being intimate with the other girl. The chemistry he'd had with Mariska had been undeniable since they'd met back in middle school. He smiled when his mind took him back to when he met the girl. He'd noticed how she'd look at him, she liked him. Tyrone could tell she was trying to hide her feelings for him. It wasn't working.

He'd found it entertaining and so he'd always flirt with girls whenever she was around to get a reaction out of her. Of course she'd act like she didn't care but would fail miserably.

The boy tried to shake his thoughts of the girl to the side as he stepped out of the shower. He had a girlfriend.

He made his way out the huge parking lot after getting ready then took out his phone to request uber when he noticed everyone's cars were still outside. He cancelled the trip then looked at the time thinking he'd lost it but it read 12h45. The boy grunted then made his way inside the house and was met with Bongi in pajamas casually making coffee. "You're kidding right?", the boy asked the girl who took out her phone to check the time and said "Oh shit", with a shrug.

Letting out another grunt he headed upstairs to shout at the rest of his friends. The Christmas lunch at Connor's house was starting in just over an hour and his friends weren't even up yet.

He made his way through the long corridor and knocked on each door not caring if people were inside or not. "You have 30 minutes to get your asses ready then we're leaving!", the boy shouted when his friends started opening their doors not knowing what was going on.

The group made it to Connor's house two hours later. They'd all been so happy when they saw Ramsey was there. He'd scolded them for being late and they'd all caught up with the boy about what he'd missed. They really missed him.

Siya and Ashley had gone to her house where her family was going to meet the boy. They'd all been so happy to finally meet him, as Ashley had been singing about him since earlier on in the year. Siya had been nervous about meeting them as he'd never been so serious with someone to the point where he'd met their family, but he quickly took a liking to them after all the kindness and warmth they'd shown.

Ashley's family was something the boy had only seen on tv. You could tell they were the kind of family that shared everything. He'd recalled the girl telling him that her mother was her best friend and that there were no secrets between them. He wondered how things would be if his mom was still around and ignored the sharp pain in his heart at the thought.

There was a time in his life when things were really great. He could vaguely remember his mom picking him up from school and his dad being at home when they got there. He would help him with his school work while his mom cooked and sometimes it was the other way around. He was happy, and his father was happy too.

Now the older man barely looked at him. He could count the number of times he'd had a conversation with him on his hand.

"Here. You're gonna love them", the boy's thoughts were disturbed by Ashley's younger sister Amy holding a plate with brownies. He smiled at the little Ashley lookalike then took one yummy looking brownie from the plate.

Later on in the day the couple had stopped in Ashley's room as she was giving the boy a house tour. "My mom left me when I was ten", the boy had blurted out. "I haven't seen nor spoken to her since", he continued. The girl had once asked about his relationship with his mom and he'd subtly changed the subject. He decided then he was going to be honest about his life to her. The girl deserved to know what she was getting herself into.

"Siya I'm so sorry, I didn't know", the girl said sincerely feeling bad for him. He'd always seemed so secretive when it came to his family and now she knew why. She never wanted to pressure him into talking about it. He'd tell her when he was ready.

"Yea it's not really something I'd want to scream to the whole world about", he said with a light chuckle. "It's not a deal breaker for me if that's what you're worried about", the girl joked then made her way over to her boyfriend and held his hand. "I love you and I'm sorry you had to go through that at such a young age", she continued looking into his eyes.

Siya returned the gaze then kissed his girlfriend. He felt lucky to have the girl in his life.

On the other side of town, Mariska and her family were getting ready for a very long drive to visit her grandmother in Knysna. They'd woken up in the morning for the drive.

Mariska had been really happy to see the older lady as she hadn't seen her in a while. Her grandmother was like the older version of her mother but she liked her because she spoke her mind directly to her instead of behind her back.

Her grandmother's house reminded the girl of an 80's movie. The house looked like it was stuck in time, just like its owner. But that had hardly been a surprise. She was her mother's mother.

A few hours later some of her other family members had started to arrive. The girl was really happy to see them. She really loved Christmas.