Chapter 20 - Chapter 19

"Can't put this off any longer."

I stand outside Siyabonga's closed office door, the smells and the sounds coming out of the kitchen bringing some measure of comfort. uPhuthu became a haunted house the night I lost Themba here on the floor, alone in the dark, but before that night this place was my second home. Finally, it's starting to feel that way again.

Ao. Drawing a deep breath, I brace myself to see Siyabonga this morning. We've been avoiding each other the last few weeks. Ever since his sleepover with Vuyelwa. Ever since my date with Mark. Apart from the occasional passing in the passage here at uPhuthu, we've barely been in the same room. Even at Sphe's football matches, we haven't stood on the touchline together. If we didn't have a meeting with our business adviser this morning, I'd be at home working on the Village Association's December projects, steering well clear of the man on the other side of this door.

I knock and wait for that deep baritone telling me to come in. He sits behind his desk, eyes trained on the laptop in front of him. He doesn't look up, but keeps typing. The silence persists, stretches to awkwardness, so I drop into one of the armchairs in the middle of the room, where they sit with a sofa and a coffee table, and set my handbag on the floor.

"Raj is on his way," he says, still not looking away from the screen. "His last meeting ran a few minutes over, but he'll be here now now."

"Oh. Sure. Great."