Nandi | EDITING ✔

Four.

Nandi

I started the day off by calling home to let my family know that I was safe in Jo'burg. My dad still wasn't thrilled about me leaving, he became even more bitter when I mentioned a trip to Cape Town to support Nina.

When I was done calming them down, I got cleaned up in the bathroom and got dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a grey t-shirt which had an image of a camera on it.

Nina had just walked out of her room when I made it to the kitchen to boil the kettle. Her bright green braids were up in a bun and her makeup was already done and flawless. She had on a white Calvin Klein bra and tattered denim shorts which had studs on the back pocket.

"Look at you, so bright this morning." I smiled at her.

"It's important to start the day off right." She said. "Do you wanna walk to the gas station with me to buy some bread and milk?"

"No problem." I said.

Nina smiled and excused herself to go put on her Converse sneakers and a jacket and I went to put on my own sneakers and a cap. We left her apartment and left the complex then we headed down the road to a nearby gas station to buy what we needed.

Nina was so excited about this beach party. In fact, I was going to be the first to hear her mixes and I was so excited.

"Tell me a little more about this beach party." I said as we walked back to her place.

"Ooh, 500 guests only," Nina began, "and I heard that there are gonna be some celebrities there too so I'm quite excited. It's to raise funds for the water crisis happening in some parts of the country, so it's pretty cool."

"Why would they wanna raise funds for that but only invite 500 people?"

"Hey, have you seen how packed beaches get in the summer? Imagine the chaos."

I chuckled.

"Good point." I said, "As long as I get to come, I'm good."

"I got you a ticket anyway. Whether or not you would've wanted to go, I was gonna make sure you went."

"Bully." I hit her arm lightly.

"Tell me about your year away."

"Why do you make it sound like this is the first time I've been away?" I smiled.

"Because this was the first time you went off to Europe and didn't bother coming back when you got study breaks and all of that."

"I've got people to avoid. You know that."

"Jerome and your dad." Nina rolled her eyes.

"Yup."

"Why the fuck do I have to suffer because of them? If you don't come home, I don't get to see you."

"I know. And I'm sorry that that's how it is but... until I can sort my life out, Nina..."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Fuck up my life as much as possible to prove that I'm not ruling material. Mellow is the rightful heir to the throne. Not me. The sooner they realise that, the better."

Nina chose not to comment.

I took a deep breath and went on to tell her about my year abroad: my documentaries, my gallery exhibitions to raise awareness for different causes, my studies, the parties I'd been to... All of that seemed to lift the mood and I was happy.

When we got back to the apartment, I made breakfast while Nina played one of her new creations for me. She titled it, 'Rogue'. It was one hell of a jam and I was sure it would get the crowd going. She also did a mix for me of all the songs which topped our local charts all year, to keep me up to date. Nina was really good at what she did. Her ultimate goal was to get to play at Coachella and then at Tomorrowland.