The Power of Love

Chapter one.

IT was the 28 February 1970 and Andrietta Marie Du Toit was lying in fetal position on bedroom floor trying to calm herself. She was shaking with uncertainty and wretchedness. The love of her life was decaying in a prison cell, for just being who he was. 

If someone asked Andrietta that night, what love was like, she would have told them that love was about sacrifice and trust. That love was not defined merely by physical attraction, rather it was the pulling of ones' soul to another.

Andrietta  found herself reminiscing back to when she discovered what love was like. Andrietta always knew that love was not an easy emotion to understand. So, at 17 years of age, when she looked into Jacob Luthando Williams eyes and felt her heart hammering at the speed of light, she knew her connection to Jacob was special. By 19 years old, she knew that she was infatuated with him. She woke up with images of his whimsical black eyes flashing through her head. She fell asleep with his melodious laughter floating through her ears. She had dreams of him enveloping her in his love.

 Jacob was their gardener. His mother Fezeka, had been their house maid until she fell sick and could not work any longer. She had sent Jacob in her place. Andrietta's mother, Almarie Du Toit had said that could not see this "brutish man" in her house, so she gave him the job as the gardener.
 

For three years Andrietta had thought that whatever she felt as form of unrequited emotions. Jacob had rarely looked at her and he seemed so tense when she walked pass him and the other men that worked for her parents.

Then, on the 10 June 1967, everything changed. Andrietta was reading in her favorite spot in the garden. She had just gotten to the best part in the novel, when she heard nearby, the sounds of leaves being crushed under heavy footsteps. She was not sure who it was nor what to do. Nobody came to this side of the garden. For some reason, she was nervous. When she saw the face of the figure come around the pebble pathway, she knew why.

She should have known that it was Jacob. Her heart and soul had known it was him. Judging by his facial expression, he did not know that she would be here. Before she even managed to choke out a greeting, he had turned to leave.

"Wait!" a trembling voice called after Jacob. Andrietta was not entirely sure if that was hers. It sounded so timid and unsure, unlike what she usually sounded like, but it reflected how she felt.

Jacob turned around slowly, Andrietta found her face become ablaze with embarrassment. She did not know why she called after. She could not find any words. Instead, she gestured him to sit next to her.

Jacob looked uncertain and uncomfortable and it pained Andrietta that he felt that way around her. When he heaved down next to her, she smiled at him. For a few minutes they said nothing. Andrietta had felt her heartbeat in her throat.

Finally she had found the courage and said, "Lovely morning, is it not?". Jacob furrowed his brows and looked at the grass, he silently nodded. "What brings you to this side of the garden?" she prompted, the awkward silence eating her insides away.

She was not expecting a response and so when he said rather sincerely, "Some peace. I did not know you would be here, otherwise I would not have walked this way. I apologize." Andrietta could not help but smile. "No, it is fine. I come here for some peace of mind as well. You are not a bother to." she shyly said. "You would never be a bother to me." she continued, looking into his molten eyes. 

Andrietta saw the shock of her words wash over him and in an effort to not scare him off, she found herself saying, "It's just that I have liked you since I met you three years ago. I know it sounds rather strange, but a day does not go by where I do not think of you. I like you very much. It has come to my attention, that you might not feel the same way and I am perfectly fine with that."

Jacob had stared at her for some time before his face lit up with a breathtaking laugh that could cure cancer. "Great, now he's laughing at me." Andrietta had ruefully thought. When he had replied and said that he felt the same way, Andrietta found herself levitating to a place she never knew she could go to. 

Andrietta did not know why she was doing this to herself. It was painful to remember happier times, knowing that she might never see him again because of the racist world they lived in.

That very night, in a different place, Jacob Luthando Williams stared at the four walls of the prison cell. His body in sever pain. The only thing keeping him from going crazy was Andrietta's love. Unlike Andrietta, Luthando was focused more on the day she told him that she loved him. 

 Luthando remembered that he stared at her, not truly comprehending what she meant. When it finally hit him, he found himself glowing with tenderness. Luthando could see that she was trying to find a way out of her confession, but before she could, Luthando took her hands and looped it into his. He looked into her eyes and said,"By God, I would have never expected you to say that. I am obliged to say that I feel that way too. I like you too. However, I fell for you rather slowly, but then all at once. If you had not told me this, I would not have said anything. I did not think that you could possibly like someone that looks like me." Jacob could see Andrietta's thoughts spin around in her head. She looked much more beautiful up-close.

He had not thought much of her the first time he met her three years ago. He was not sure when nor how it happened, but one day he found himself staring at her when she walked by or thinking about her constantly.

To know that she felt the same, made his heart beat with joy. When she smiled at him and laughed stating, "Thank God, Jacob! I was about to find a hole to bury myself in!" Luthando found a part of him ignite with a warmth that felt unreal. He looked at her and said, "Please, call me Luthando. Jacob is a name forced onto me, Luthando is my birth name." He felt a tide of serenity wash over him as she said his real name. 

Now, that warmth he felt that day, was the only emotion keeping him from allowing the light in his life to be snuffed out. 

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Hey guys :)

This is will be a "short story" as an entrance for a contest. I have been in a funk and  not wanting to write,so this contest really got me to want to write. I hope you guys enjoy it <3<3

I hope that you are all well during this quarantine, sending happiness and love to all of you <3

XOXO, 

M