A week passed as Sarah hesitated to share the recording with me. She was trying to discern if it was good for her to reveal this.
The week after, we were given group assignments, and were supposed to be two students in each group. It happened that the lecturer decided I should work with Charlotte. I enjoyed working with her. I also saw the other side of her - she loved people, was kind to everyone, and was a devoted church girl.
I got to know some of her family members as they would video call her in the middle of our group discussions. I realized that, whenever I am with her, I laughed a lot, just like when I am with Sarah.
The other day, we decided to do our group discussion while grabbing a cup of coffee. So we went to her favorite coffee shop. Thando was next to that shop, getting some noodles. As she passed by the shop, she saw us through the window, and we looked like a happy couple. All smiles on our faces.
She got jealous, though she wasn't sure about me, but that day, she got jealous. She went back to her place, furious and feeling betrayed. As she was in her room, it felt like a prison, trapping her restless energy. She paced back and forth, her feet tracing a path on the floor.
A bad headache was brewing, and her face was slick with sweat. Every step, every breath, felt tense, like she was waiting for something to happen. She began to ask herself questions, wondering if this was all because she was truly in unrequited love with me.
Then she called her boyfriend, and they went to that same coffee shop where she saw us. For all the time they were there, half of that time she cried while Frank comforted her. He didn't know what was happening, and at last, he asked her, "Thando, my love, tell me what's going on. What's troubling you?"
Knowing it was unwise to reveal her feelings about me, she lied and said, "It's family issues." She didn't tell Charlotte anything, but you could tell there was a bit of tension between the two.
She would choose to spend time with Cindy without Charlotte knowing. The other day, we were coming back from the coffee shop - myself, Peter, Sarah, and Charlotte. We happened to bump into Thando and Frank. I didn't know the two were dating.
I looked at Thando with a gaze that showed there must be something going on, while Thando could barely look at me. She chose to look downward. But Frank noticed something suddenly and became suspicious.
We greeted them and continued on our way. Sarah said to me, "Cedric, I thought you liked Thando. But you see, she's already in love with this rich, handsome dude, who's also your rival." What she said got to me. It disturbed me a lot, and I was lost in my own thoughts for a while, thinking, "Can this be true? So I'm in a love triangle with this guy."
Charlotte added, "They've been dating for a while now. The other day, Thando spoke ill of you, Cedric. She's my friend, but I didn't like what she said." Sarah thought to herself, "I have to protect Cedric from Thando's charms." She saw this as the perfect moment to expose Thando's true nature.
Sarah pulled out her phone and played the incriminating audio. We all fell silent, shocked by Thando's harsh words. "Whoa, we thought she was nice," someone exclaimed, "but her words are too much. She could've just said she had a boyfriend instead of comparing and using such hurtful words."
To be frank, I was hurt by the words of the person I'd been daydreaming about. I'm sure, as you hear my story, you'll be like, "Ah, just let it go and move on." But those words made my past experiences resurface.
Thando was devastated when she discovered her friends overheard her conversation with Cindy. She wanted to explain herself, but she didn't know how. Meanwhile, I was struggling to reconcile the Thando I thought I knew with the Thando who spoke so negatively about me.
A few days later, I was walking down the corridors, heading to the lecture hall. I came across Thando with Frank, and the two seemed to be arguing. When Frank saw me, he wasn't happy, and he came to me, saying, "Tell me what's going on between you and Thando. You guys have been in a relationship? So Thando is dating you and me at the same time? Were you the reason she was crying the other day?"
He spoke those words with tears dripping, his voice cracking, and you could tell he was deeply devastated. Not only that, but he was also deeply in love with Thando.
I felt compassionate for Frank after seeing how madly he was in love. So understanding how painful that is, I knew I had to tell him the truth.
"Frank, you know, we are rivals, and dating your girlfriend isn't good. To be honest, I am not dating your girlfriend, I only had a crush on her. So nothing is happening between the two of us. Just listen to her and know that she is madly in love with you too."
I didn't know that what I said to Frank touched Thando. She looked at me, smiled and without a word but only moving her lips, said "thank you."
From that day onwards, I became close to Frank and we could go out together for a cup of coffee. He was also into ice skating, and at times he would invite me to join him.
3 weeks later, Frank was going to meet up with Thando over lunch. As he was going there. He was stopped by Cindy, who said she had something to tell him. So they went together to a coffee shop that was across the street, few blocks from the restaurant where Thando was, while waiting for Frank.
That day, was the day that Cindy showed the other side of her. She said to Frank, " Frank, do you know that your girlfriend has mixed feelings about you. She is totally confused again. She is into Cedric again while she is dating you. Who does that." She raised her voice as she spoke those last words.
Frank remained silent, his heart racing with anger burning inside him. She continued, "I wanted you to know the truth about your girlfriend. She's not as good and faithful as you think she is. Why don't you date me instead?"