The Chronicles of Life. (Complete)

What needs to be done.

Mariska ran to the kitchen after she'd smelt something burning. She freaked out when she saw smoke coming out of the oven then ran to switch it off. She then coughed as she tried to fluff the smoke away with a kitchen cloth.

She'd been so concentrated on decorating her living room and making sure her place looked and smelled good that she'd forgot about the readymade meal she'd put in the oven.

She'd been stressed that whole day about the event that was going to take place that evening and her mind had just been all over the place.

'Great, I can't even heat up cooked food.' She'd scolded herself. She was never much of a cooker. The reason why was because her family always expected that of her. "A woman needs to know how to cook." They'd always told her. All her mother wanted for her was to be a good wife to someone. And because of that, she'd never made effort to learn. She didn't blame her mother as she knew that was how she was raised too. But it was misogyny at its highest and she needn't participate in it.

She'd always thought she'd learn how to cook when she wanted to. For herself, not to be able to perform 'wifely duties'.

And that had been one of the reasons why she'd liked Bruno so much. He believed that Men and Women needed to be equal. If one chose to submit to their partner, it had to be because they wanted to, not because they had to.
He was a feminist, something Mariska really appreciated. She'd always hated men who treated women like they were their slaves. They'd spent hours talking about that topic alone.

So most of Mariska's adult life, she'd lived off of takeaways and readymade food. When she wanted a home cooked meal she went to her parent's house. She was perfectly happy with how she'd been living. She would learn how to cook when she'd felt like it.

But as she looked at the mess she'd created in her once sparkling clean kitchen, she wished she would've learned just so she'd be able to whip something quick as she had no time to go get something else.

The boy was on his way and she'd been nervous enough about seeing him, now she had to worry about what to feed him. What was he going to think of her? She was a mess.

The girl then slid on the floor in frustration when she heard the door bell ring. Was she being tested? What else could possibly go wrong?

She sat there for a while and only stood up when the third bell rang. If he wanted to leave because she was a messy person then he didn't deserve to be in her life to start with.

"Hey beautiful, is everything alright in there?" The boy had asked as soon as Mariska opened the door. She felt her heart calm down a bit after seeing his face but,

"I don'- I tried to.. hbeknd." She tried to speak but her anxiety took over, causing her to be incoherent. "Hey calm down." He said to her as he pulled her in for a hug.

"Shhh, it's ok." He assured the girl as she started calming down a bit.

The boy then entered her apartment to see roses on the floor leading to a very nicely decorated candlelit table. He smiled at that.

But he couldn't miss the burn smell that took over the whole apartment.

"I ruined it", the girl now said after seeing the look on his face that was followed by his nostrils flaring.

She'd wanted more than anything to make that night special. She wanted to do something nice and unexpected for the occasion as she was going to tell him the good news.

But she'd felt she'd ruined it all. How could she be so naive to think that all was going to work in her favor? Nothing ever went right in her life.

"Hey, this is really lovely Mari", he'd said calling her by the nickname he'd given her. "Well it was supposed to be", she'd started.

"I wanted us to eat, then I was gonna tell you about how I don't care how the world sees us anymore. I don't care if people judge me for wanting you but I'm gonna follow my heart. Because it wants no one else but you. I wasn't ok for a while, because I kept caring about other people and I forgot about myself", she'd rambled but stoped herself when she'd felt warm, soft lips against hers.

She'd always thought kissing him would feel magical but that word wasn't even close to explaining the amazingness that came with their lips intertwining.

She felt like she was home, for the first time in a while. She felt like everything was where it was supposed to be. Everything was perfect and nothing else mattered but that very moment. Mariska knew at that point that she'd found him. She'd found the love of her life. If there was ever any doubt, they weren't there anymore. She'd found her home.

After their passionate session that lasted too long, the boy took her arm to lead them to his car. He didn't care that she was still wearing slippers, she looked perfect to him. He wanted more than anything to make her feel good. To make her happy. She'd been sad for too long.

So they drove for a while in silence. A comfortable and zen silence. His one hand held hers while the other navigated the steering wheel. It felt so... ok. Like they needn't be afraid anymore.

When the boy had gotten back into the country, he'd done so much sightseeing that he now knew so many nice spots that not a lot of people knew. But there was one particular spot he couldn't get out of his mind. It was a spot on top of a mountain that overlooked the entire beautiful city that was Cape Town. You could see just about anything from up there.

He knew the girl had fallen for it just as he did just by the look on her face. The look that said "wow".
So they sat by a nearby rock just taking it in.

It was perfect.

So perfect they hadn't realized a certain familiar car had followed them all the way there.

Earlier that evening, Tyrone had decided to visit the girl he broke. He was going to apologize and see if they could work things out. But as he sat in his car trying to find the right words to say to the girl, the last thing he'd expected to see was Bruno pulling up by the parking lot and make his was to the girl's door.

The last thing he'd expected to see was him kissing the love of his life like his life depended on it.

So when they got in the car he'd followed them. He'd let rage do the thinking and ultimately decided to do the one thing that would eliminate his current problem. He'd decided the other boy had messed around with his life enough.

He needed to do what needed to be done.