Gary helped me carry my books to my res building. They were very large books I wonder how I was going to carry them on my own if he wasn't there. Wait a minute…basically he is the one who bought for me these books. When we were buying the books, he was just being a gentleman, making those 'ladies first' gestures. For me that meant a lot, especially because of his race. Mme Morena always said we should respect every white person we come across. This is because, even though Mrs Thompson was kind, she had her other sides. Mme said she used to enforce the fact that she was the boss. She used to say:
"Ngwanaka, you need to remember that white people need to be respected, in that way they respect you back,"
The minute we arrived at the door of our res building, I stopped Gary as he was attempting to come in with me. There was absolutely no way that I was going to let a guy come in my room. That's one thing I promised myself, a secret note I made before leaving home. My mission to stop him from doing this was cancelled when one of the securities insisted on Gary to help me carry my books to my room. Had it only been him insisting, I would not have agreed, but now an elder was I had no choice. We entered in the lift and we were both silent for a while.
"Lebo are you afraid that I will do something to you in your room?" he asked looking at me.
*Your eyes are full of innocence, they are making to me believe you. I think I can trust you...*
We arrived in my room, luckily I left my room clean in the morning. Mme Morena always emphasized that we should always leave a house clean because we never know if we will have visitors. I always thought she was exaggerating, but after today I think I will start believing her more often.
"You can place them here; I will put them on the shelf just now. Do you need anything to drink maybe? I only have juice, coffee or tap water?" I offered.
"Juice would be fine thanks, who drinks coffee in this hot weather?" he chuckled.
"I do, in fact I am a coffee addict, I drink it at least 3 times a day. Depending on how my day goes," I confessed.
"Even if the weather is this hot?" he asked.
"Yep…especially when it's hot," I said smiling as I was taking out the glass and the cup.
"Wow, your room is clean…it's like those newly built flats that my dad owns," he said.
"Your dad owns flats?" I asked with a shocked tone.
I am not sure why I would be shocked because my mother is a domestic worker and she works for a multi-million-rand CEO. She did tell me that white people have money and I refused to believe it, maybe she was right about this too. However, I didn't expect Gary to be down-to-earth if his father owns buildings. Maybe he is the son of my mother's boss we can never know, and I am never willing to find that one out. Imagine, me chatting and chilling with the son of Mme Morena's boss. Not only is that awkward, but it will just lay my life at risk.
"Let me go fill in this kettle, I will be right back," I said to him and he nodded, then I left.
When I came back I found him packing my new books, in fact he was placing the last two books on the shelves.
"Ah…Gary, you didn't have to, I was going to do this as soon as I drank my coffee," I said as I was turning the kettle on.
"Well, these shelves are too high for you to reach, you wouldn't at that height," he chuckled.
He was right, I was below average height and the shelves were beyond my reach.
"Thank you, though I was going to use the study table or chair to climb on top either way," I said whilst diluting the juice and handing the glass towards him.
"Thanks, please put it down there I just need to make sure that I placed them neatly we don't want them to fall over you whilst you busy with your laptop," he said.
"But I don't have one, so you can relax…just put them anyhow. Besides, I will need to move this table from there," I said as I was pouring the water on my cup.
"You don't have a laptop? How are you going to survive without one? You need one ASAP," he said as he was drinking his juice.
"How much is it? Since you bought me schoolbooks and you refuse that I pay you back," I said.
"You must get the best one, it goes from R10 000 upwards," he replied.
"What? So much money? I will see what I will have to do," I said.
"You don't need my help with that?" he asked.
"Gary are you crazy, this is not textbooks we are talking about, this is a R10 000 laptop. Where on earth are you going to get that kind of money? Besides, my mom would kill me if she finds this out," I said.
"How will she know? You really will need one hey. Okay, how about I give you the old one that I have at home then?" he asked.
"Okay, I don't have that kind of money with me," I said.
We were about to talk about growing in the engineer industry then a phone call came. Gary stood up and told me that he had to go home, there was an emergency. I wanted to accompany him till the door of our building, but he refused. The minute he left, I felt bored, so I decided to start reading one of the novels that Sindi had lend me. Before I could even finish the very first paragraph someone was making noise down the passage. I then tried to read once the lady went back to the room, but there was another type of noise. It was that gospel girl, this time she was singing her lungs out.
*Yoh, I just cannot not today…I will have to stop her, I can't…*
I went out of the room and I found Sindi already at the door telling the lady, where to get off. Honestly, I did expect her to be the one to confront her. Since I was already out of my room, I decided to go over to her and greet her, after that girl went back inside her room.
"Hey girl, unjani?" she said.
"Hi is there something wrong with me?" I asked.
"No girl, it's a Zulu word which states 'how are you?' in other words. I thought you knew Isizulu," she said.
"Where I was living I was surrounded by Basotho, Batswana and Pedis, we don't speak isiZulu, so I don't know it," I explained.
"Don't worry I will teach you…Anyways how was your first day?" she asked.
"Yoh girl, total disaster, I arrived late, didn't have the textbooks, I was humiliated in front of the entire lecture room…It was a day of disaster," I said to her.
"What about the part that you got yourself a white boyfriend at the same day?" she asked.
"Gary is not my boyfriend…He was just a friendly guy, who helped me with catching up with schoolwork. Okay, he might have gone overboard by buying me textbooks, but it's nothing major right?" I asked.
"What! He bought you textbooks…How many textbooks were they?" she screamed.
"6 textbooks I think…Why are you reacting like this? Are textbooks expensive?" I asked.
"Girl, my older sister was doing the same course. She graduated last year, she told me that each book cost around R1000 and then there was the major one which was around R2000. So basically, your 'friend' spent around R6000-7000 on someone they just met. I doubt this is just a 'friend'," she said.
"What! You want to tell me that he spent around R6000 for me? He is very kind," I asked.
"Don't fight it, just embrace it…The nice part about dating is, if he doesn't make you happy, you can leave and find your happiness elsewhere. Love is beautiful and it is wonderful to be loved. Especially when you found the one for you, I just can't explain it nje. We could talk about this the whole day, but I have a novel to attend to," she said whilst hugging me and rushed back into her room.
I also had to go back and read that novel after all, it's not like I had things to do. Then I entered my room taking the novel and resuming where I stopped. The second I started reading the 3rd sentence there was a massive noise down the passage. I thought it was going to end however, it seemed to be going on and on. Until I snapped…
*You know what…let me just go to the library. I am sure I can read peacefully from there…*
Before going to the library, I decided to cook, I hate cooking, so it's better to get it over and done with. When I went to the kitchen, I found two ladies gossiping about someone. They say the lady is always having sex with the mystery boyfriend and she always makes noise.
*Somehow it feels like I know the lady…Okay Sindi is the only lady I know at res, so it makes sense to be…No wait man. Yesterday, Matt was with his girlfriend (or wherever-don't know) and then I heard his voice down the passage. I mean even a child can see that there was something going on between the two of them. *
My thoughts flooded as I was cooking. I wasn't realising that the two ladies were looking at me in a funny way. Maybe it's because I was cooking chicken feet…I don't know. Somehow I have adapted to the fact that students here are living the high life and as for people like us with backgrounds different from them will always sound and look peculiar in their eyes. So, I continued cooking pretending not to care about the stares but deep down it was disturbing me. Whilst I was cooking a phone call came in and it was an unknown number.
*Who's this? Maybe it's the people from the bursary. No, it can't be them they use a landline not a cellular. Let me be professional just in case it is them.*
"Lebogang Morena hello," I said.
"Oh, my Lebo you sound so professional," said Gary.
"Gary, is that you?" I asked
"No, it's Prof. Lombard speaking," he teased whilst imitating his voice.
Then we both laughed and then we paused…
"Wait, how did you get my numbers?" I asked.
"I might have stolen them whilst you left me alone in your room," he said.
"I thought being at res I wouldn't need to have a password on my phone clearly I was wrong," I teased.
"I just know you wouldn't give me your numbers, and I wanted them. In fact, I needed them," he said his voice was changing.
"What for?" I teased I know he was about to ask me out.
"I told you before Lebo I love you can't you see that?" he said.
"(sigh) Don't you think it's too early for you to say that? I meant you only saw me today. What if I turn out to be someone you didn't expect me to be? Would you still love me? The word love is a strong word you know…" I said.
"Okay, at least give me a chance to find out more about you then…I promise I won't bite," he said, and his voice was getting deeper.
"Can we talk about this in person rather?" I said.
"You want me to drive back to the campus?" he asked.
"No, that won't be necessary. Let me think about it and I will give you your answer tomorrow," I said.
"Okay then we'll talk tomorrow then, bye…" he said
"Bye," I replied and then he hung up.
I was shivering out of fear…I am not sure if it was a good kind of fear or a bad one. Maybe I might have had wild imaginations of how much fun I was going to have at varsity. However, never have I ever thought on my very first day at school I will be asked out by some guy. Let alone someone from a different race. I was taken aback by his form of approach. Especially after the kind of day I had, I was expecting it to go from bad to worse. I should have told you earlier…but Gary was hot, like really hot. He was just perfect…He was tall, hazel eyes, dark brown hair, sexy lips, a jaw line to die for and above all great body structure.
I just was too stunned to embrace what was happening to me at that time. After cooking, I took my food to my room and before I could take my book and go to the library, there was a knock at the door. The only person to expect was Sindi and when I opened the door it was a security guard.
"You have a delivery waiting for you at the reception please come and collect it," she said without even greeting, I guess Sindi was right about her.
When I arrived at the reception, it was a box and the courier guy was waiting for me to sign up for it. There I was thinking these things only happened in movies. I could tell that everyone was curious to find out what was in the box, maybe even more than me. I couldn't stand the eyes, so I took it to my room. Before I could open it, Sindi knocked and came in once I permitted her to do so.
"Girl I was following the smell of the stew, so you are the one who was cooking?" she asked as she opened the pots.
"Yes, but it's just chicken feet and pap nothing major," I said.
"Can you please dish up for me if you don't mind?" she said.
"Yes of course, I can do that, plus I have a surplus for even the both of us," I said as I was looking at the box.
Of course, my mind was still wondering what was in the box and who could have sent it.
"And then, what's with the box?" Sindi asked.
"Someone sent me, and I don't know what's in it," I explained.
"So, what are we waiting for? Open it up," she said.
I opened the box and inside it was a little note:
I hope this will make you see how much I care…
When I checked what it was, I couldn't believe my eyes…it was a laptop.
"(screaming) I told you the guy loves you, but girl…are you aware that this laptop costs around R12 000 if I'm not mistaken…Let me google it up," she said taking her phone.
"What! It's actually more. It's actually R15 000! Worse it's brand new!" she couldn't stop screaming.
*I don't know why, but Sindi seems to be over the moon…I might have not known her for a very long time, but I could tell that she was glowing. I wonder…*