Episode 16

Angie stormed out of her dad's room and into her room, banging the door shut behind her. She was furious. Her dad kept calling her but with no response. Jessica who knew what had happened, decided to not interfere with the issue.

Angie locked the door and went straight to her bed. Mr Paul walked up to closed door and began knocking for her to open up. "Come on Angie, don't be like this. You have to understand I'm doing this for you guys" He said, pleading for her to open up.

"And I'm not gonna stop you. Do whatever you want. I just don't want to see you 'till you leave" She yelled out amidst sobs, her voice sounding quaky.

"Don't say that. Working is how we keep the family going. If I don't attend to work how am I going to care for the family especially you" He explained

"Well keep on going like this and there isn't going to be a family to care for anymore. You and Mom never had time for us and you never create time too. Just leave me alone" She retorted. Her father pleaded some more and seeing that she wasn't yielding neither was she replying him, he soon gave up and drove off.

***

Loud knocking on the door woke Angie up. She had fallen asleep some minutes after her quarrrel with her dad. She unlocked the door and it was Jessica standing there with a plate of fried eggs and toast bread. The smell woke her fully. She was hungry quite alright.

Jessica followed her in, shutting door behind her. Angie took the plate from her and placed it front of her on the bed. Jessica observed her for a while and said "You could fall sick you know" She sat next to her

"And whose fault is that?" Angie replied, rubbing her eyes

"I know it can be very hard but just try to go easy on them" Jessica said softly to her

"'Go easy on them'? Are you seriou? I wa..." Angie paused with the doorbell interrupting her.

"Don't worry I'll get it. Just eat" Jessica said, standing up.

Jessica got downstairs, opened the door and was surprised to see Kelvin standing there. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a puzzled look.

"Erm...to clean" He answered

"Its evening. I thought you weren't going to come today" she explained

"Something came up and took almost the whole day to be done with it. So after we were done with that, I decided to come do the cleaning. I don't want to miss a day" He said to her smiling.

"Well suit yourself" she said smiling as she moved out of the way for him to get in.

Jessica went to the kitchen to finish up with what she was doing. Soon Kelvin was done with the down floor cleaning and went up to finish. He knocked on Angie's door and soon heard her urging whoever was on the door to come in.

He went in and stood still at the first glance he had of her. "You don't look so good" He pointed out.

Emma looked up from her food when she heard Kelvin's voice. she was surprised seeing him standing there. She was not expecting to see him at her house late in the day. "What are you doing here? Why would you just come in like that?" She quarrelled.

"If I remember correctly, you said come in" He said, imitating her voice.

"That's because you didn't Introduce yourself. I thought you were my sister. I could easily have been dressing or not putting on clothes at all" She said with her brows furrowed.

"Why would you not be putting on clothes?" He said smiling

"I don't know...but that's not the point. This is a girl's room and a lot of things goes on in here that boys are not suppose to see" She explained

"So why didn't you look for a female cleaner?"

"That's what we did dumbass, your mum" She quipped

"But I bet you love this version More" He smiled, pointing at himself

"Ahh...forget it" She said, throwing a piece of bread at him.

"So tell me, what's making you look sorrowfully crazy?" He asked, pulling up a chair to sit down closer to her.

"What makes you think I'm not fine?" She questioned

"Well for starters, the way you're currently looking and then your red eyes. Which can either mean two things. It's either you've been crying or you have been smoking and I don't think is smoking because if it was, you would probably be dancing naked. So tell me, what made you cry?"

Not knowing what to say anymore or if there was even any point in dragging it out. She needed someone to talk to anyway, so she gave in and told him "Well it's my dad" She said with a sigh

"Your dad?! What about him?" Kelvin asked looking serious and interested.

"Since i've been a kid, my parents have never been around that much. All they care about is work and it got worse when they had to move outside the country to expand. They only visit once in two months and they take turns doing it. Now that he is here, what's supposed to be visiting has turn into business trip. I hardly see him at home not to talk of talking with him." She explained, looking at Kelvin who sat listening intently.

"Alright, stand up" Kelvin said getting up from his seat.

"What?" Angie asked confused

"stand up, get changed and meet me downstairs, I know what will cheer you up" He explained as he was making his way out of the room.

"But..." Angie was cut short before she could finish

"No but...meet me downstairs in five minutes" He concluded shutting the door behind him.

She wondered what he was planning and where they were going. She went through her wardrobe, deciding on what to put on. Not knowing where they were going made it harder for her to decide what she was going to wear. She contemplated for a minute before finally settling for a tracksuit.

She put on her tracksuit and made her way downstairs. She met Kelvin who just rounded up with his cleaning. He looked at her giggled "You know when I Said we were going somewhere, I didn't mean we where going for a sport competition" He said

"Shut up" She said a bit shyly

"Alright let's go" He said amidst laughter

"I should inform Jessica" She pointed out.

"Don't worry, I told her already" He said opening the front door and gesturing for her to go out

"what?! You told my sister that you were taking me out?" She asked surprised.

"Well if I remember correctly, that's what I'm doing" He flashed her a smile. she rolled her eyes as they both moved out of the house.

"So where are we going?" Angie asked as they walked along the street.

"To my side of the world" Kelvin replied

"And where might that be?" She asked tucking her arms into her shirt pocket.

"The suburbs" Kelvin said smiling at her

"What!" She almost shouted. Soon they got to the bus stop. They boarded a bus going to kelvin's area. After about ten minutes on the road, they arrived at their destination. They got down from the bus and Angie was taken aback by what she was seeing. She hadn't been to this part of town before, she had only just driven past. It was crowded. People moving about, going to their various destination, cars honking, people chatting, others shouting, kids playing. "There are lots of noise here in this part of town" She pointed out.

"Yeah, that's the beauty of it" Kelvin replied "Come on" He grabbed her hand, leading her through the tight and rowdy environment. Soon they arrived at the main market. It was a very busy place with people trying to buy what they came to the market for and head back home before nightfall. Angie and Kelvin squeezed through the crowd viewing things that was hung out for sale.

"What is that? Is it a traditional pot?" She said, pointing it out to kelvin. Kelvin looked at the object and burst out laughing.

"Wait, you want to actually tell me you don't know what a mortar is?" He asked

"A mortar?! No I don't and why are you laughing? Am I suppose to know everything?" She said with pouted lips.

"Nope but at least you should know this. You must have heard it in school or somewhere" He said, holding back laughs.

"Well I don't" She said folding her arms angrily.

"Well it's used for pounding or crunching things" Kelvin explained "come on" Kelvin said. They moved further some more and stopped. "You see that guy over there? He's called Angry Hassan" Kelvin said pointing at a short man selling pork.

"Why?" Angie asked with a puzzled look.

"Because he is always angry and tends to lose it whenever you don't negotiate good price for his meat. Come let's put it to test but get ready to run" He said, walking over to where Angry Hassan had his pork laid out.

"But he looks harmless" Angie whispered to Kelvin, standing beside him, examining the man.

"Don't be fooled by his innocent look, those are the dangerous ones" He said and then cleared his throat. "Evening" Kelvin greeted

"Evening, what do you want to buy?" The man asked forcimg a dry smile at them.

"That pork over there" Kelvin replied pointing at a particular one.

"Oh, that would be twenty three rands"

"You see I told you he's not that bad" She whispered in kelvin's ear.

"Watch this" He whispered back at her. "Won't you sell it for eleven rands?" Kelvin said with a Stern face. The man's smile faded immediately and he swiftly pulled out a long knife from under the table. Kelvin grabbed Angie's hands swiftly and ran into the crowd as the man chased them for a short distance and stopped

"If I see you here again, I'll use you for the next pork!" Angry Hassan shouted after them.

Kelvin and Angie ran a little further putting some distance between them and the man's cubicle. They stopped to catch their breath and Angie then burst out laughing. She laughed so hard, holding her stomach that tears formed in her eyes. Kelvin joined her and they both laughed hard. "That was unexpected and funny. Did you see the way he snapped and changed from a cutie to gangster quickly?" She asked in between laughs.

"Yeah I did" Kelvin replied, laughing.

They continued their strolls and the incident was all Angie was talking about. They got to the other side of the market. "Hey chump, buy this beautiful hand chain for your girlfriend" A jewelry monger, standing beside the road called.

"Oh no, he is not my boyfriend" Angie stated.

"Hey! Don't mind her. She hasn't come to terms with it yet, right babe?" Kelvin said, smiling sarcastically. He browsed through the chain collection and choosed one silver colored hand chain that has a crown placed ontop a heart attached to it. He bought the chain and Angie was about to say something, when a dog jumped out from a corner barking. Angie jumped, screaming, grabbing Kelvin's arm. Kelvin calmed her down and told her that the dog was chained.

She checked and uttered a sigh Of relief. The dog was still barking at them, struggling to get free from the chain. "Don't worry I'm like your Superman here, I'll protect you" He smiled at her and just then the chain got loose. Kelvin grabbed Angie's hand immediately. "Run!" He shouted.

The dog chased them angrily "What did we do to the dog? Why is it chasing us?" Angie shouted, running.

"Maybe you should stop and ask it" Kelvin shouted in reply.

"What! You're crazy" She retorted. They ran for some distance before a guy jumped out from a shop and scare the dog. The dog stopped and then retreated.

"You see. that's a guy like you, you couldn't scare the dog away" Angie said, stopping and catching her breath.

"You're human too, why didn't you scare it away?" Kelvin asked. Breathing heavily and they both started laughing. "Come on" he said.

He took her to the hill at the back of the suburb. They climbed the hill for a while and soon got to the top. Angie was mesmerized by the view that was before her. "Surreal right?! You can see the whole suburb from up here" Kelvin said as he sat on the ground

"Yeah, it is rowdy and beautiful to look" She said sitting on the ground too, next to him. They sat still in silence just taking in the view.

"Oh before I forget. This is originally for you" Kelvin said, bringing out the hand chain he bought.

"Thank you" She smiled, extending her wrist for him to put it on.

"Alright" He said, locking it in place on her wrist.

She examined the handchain and smiled. "Not bad. I love it"

They fell back into silence for a while. "So I was meaning to ask you. If you really want to see your parents often, why didn't you just follow them and school outside the country?" Kelvin asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah it was the initial plan but Jessica was staying and she said she had no interest in traveling for now. So they had a change of heart and decided that I should just finish high school here first before coming over there to further" She explained

"Well that's still a good plan. So which means after graduation you're leaving?" He inquired

"Yeaah I guess so" She shrugged. Kelvin became silent for a while and she noticed this. "Why keeping quiet? If I didn't know better I would say you're sad that I'm gonna leave" She said, nudging him

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm happy" He nudged her too.

"If you say so" She laughed. They stayed some more, just staring in silence, each in their own thoughts. Angie stole a a quick look at him and smiled. It was getting dark and they decided it was time to start heading home.

***

They got to Angie's house when it was already dark. She opened the front door and then turned to face Kelvin. "Thanks for today. It really did take my mind of things" She said rather shyly

"You're welcome" He smiled

"You should start getting home before it gets darker than this" Angie stated

"Yeah" Kelvin replied turning to leave

"Wait..." Angie called

"Yeah??" He asked, turning toward her.

Angie hesitated for a minute. "I...I should...you know, probably get your number. So I can know when you get home" She said avoiding his eyes. Kelvin smiled, took her phone and dialled his number. He took hers too.

"Well goodnight" Kelvin said

"Goodnight" She replied and hugged him quickly, broke the hug and rushed inside, shutting the door before he could say anything. She stood leaning against the door, her heart skipped a beat and she gave a nervous sigh and smiled. She knew right then her friends were right, she has developed feelings for him.

***

Kelvin got home exhausted. Kyle was already asleep which was odd. Kelvin checked on his mom and then went straight to bed. He thought about the events of that evening and smiled "She isn't that bad" He muttered. His phone started ringing and he immediately picked up the phone. "Hey what's up?" He said

"I'm good. So I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how I have been acting lately. I admit I was a bit jealous, I'm sorry" Valerie said from the other end of the phone.

"It's all good but you should try giving benefit of doubt next time" Kelvin replied

"Sure. Those this mean we are cool now?" She asked

"Yeah we are" Kelvin replied

"Alright thanks. Goodnight sleep tight, kisses" She said with excitement in her voice.

"Goodnight" Kelvin concluded ending the call. He scroll through his contact and stopped on Angie's. He stared at her name for a while. He sighed and then turned off his phone and soon he fell asleep.