Thandolwami (on hold)

Chapter 1

Ntando's POV

Love.

love is a beautiful thing.

Love is a beautiful feeling.

And l am a girl love.

Loved by the most amazing man in the whole wide world.

I only had to look in his eyes and l would see the love. His words said it and his actions confirmed it.

I reached my hand inside my top and produced the necklace pendant that was hanging inside.

It was not just any pendant, it was a ring, a promise ring, that the love of my life, Gilbert, had given me a couple of weeks before the semester ended.

I remembered the moment and smiled, we were coming from a movie and then he bought us some food, we ate and then he drove me back to campus.

Exams were starting in a week and this was our last date of the year, Gilbert was going to audit a branch of their company in Malawi and by the time he would be back the semester would be over and l would have returned home, Bulawayo the country's second largest city, by then.

We had been dating for a year, we met on campus when he was a final year finance student and l was in 2nd year sociology, at the university of Zimbabwe situated in the country's capital city . The following year l was on my 3rd and final year and he was graduated and working - with a good job at that.

He is a quiet guy, tall and lean. His physique reminded me of my father. I am daddy's girl - no wonder l was attracted to a man who could pass as my father son anytime of the day.

But there was no way Gilbert could be my fathers son because he was Gilbert Rufaro Chitsikwapasi.

My father is Madodana Dlamini.

To any other person, there is nothing amazing about these names. But to me, they were a painful reminder of what they meant.

Gilbert was from the Shona tribe and my father was from the Ndebele tribe.

According to my father, my relatives, church mates and a whole lot of random people all over the country, Shona and Ndebele were like oil and water, they simply did not mix.

For a long time l too carried this belief firmly, and would have never dreamt of ending up with a Shona guy - the mere thought was despicable. But Cupid had shot his arrow. Yes blame it on Cupid, how else do you explain my falling in love with a Shona after being raised to hate them the same way they hated us.

Yes they hated us. My mother and my older brother lshamel were an every day reminder that Shonas hated us and were a ruthless people.

I sighed and pushed the unhappy thoughts away, my mind went back to the time when Gilbert gave me the promise ring.

We were seated in his car, parked outside my hostel, chatting about our movie highlights and he held my hands, and looked into my eyes intently.

I blushed.

I had dated the guy for a little over a year but when he looked at me like that l still smiled like the first days when he was a guy l admired from afar AKA my crush.

"Why are you looking at me like that" l giggled.

He smiled. "Thandolwami"

"Yes Thandolwami" l blushed back.

Thandolwami meant my love in Ndebele, it's what we called each other.

"Close your eyes"

I laughed, "why should l close my eyes"