Chapter 33 - Chapter 33: Three Minutes Older

"Menz, let's go! I'm starving."

The summer sun is already hard through the glass by nine, warming my brother's flat as I wait for him on the couch.

"I need a few more minutes." Menzi finally emerges from his room without a shirt on, an ice pack strapped to his shoulder. "I've got five more minutes on this."

"How's the shoulder?"

"Absolutely fucked. I wore one on the shoulder from their quick last night."

"Well, good thing you have the weekend off to rest it."

"Finally get some time with my sister." He takes the couch opposite me. "I feel like we see each other even less now that we live in the same flat than we did when you were still up at Tuks." He shoots me one of those dopey, sad half-smiles.

"I miss you too, Menzi."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Can you tell me what happened with Wesley?"

That causes me to pause, my stomach slightly hollowing. "We broke up. Not much more to the story."

"That's not what Zondi made it seem like."

Shit, Zee wouldn't share all the dirty details I wanted kept private, would he?

"What did he say?" I cautiously ask.

"Nothing more than he didn't want me bringing Wesley around you anymore. So, is that him just being a weird territorial boyfriend, or is there something bigger behind it? Because you've told me for years that it was a simple breakup, and now, I'm getting the impression that there's more to the story, and that makes me feel like a real shitty brother for not knowing."