Chapter Two

Munzi didn't know what had come over her but she started talking. Something like a voice in her head told her to trust him.

"I am a student studying medical psychology. It's my first year and with the new century you'd think people would be more evolved but they are not. My male classmates still think I belong in the kitchen. I try not to let it affect me but sometimes it still breaks my walls and penetrates making me think that they might be right and I'm not strong enough. My parents and I are not the best of friends because they wanted me to get married to a man twice my age and I refused." She said and let out another deep breath.

"Why would they want to marry you off especially since you are clearly a bright student with a bright future?" He asked her bewildered.

"Society and traditions dictate that a woman should get married and start bearing children as soon as she starts getting her monthly period." She said and looked down in shame. From what, she wasn't so sure.

"And you didn't want that?" He asked trying to understand where this story was heading.

"I do want kids and a family but I'm not ready yet. Also my supposed fiance already had two wives and seven children. I didn't want that kind of baggage in my life. I mean I'm only nineteen. I have dreams." She told him looking far away into the distance and smiling at the pink sky due to the setting sun.

"Couldn't you get married while still being a student?" He asked also turning to admire the view.

"You don't understand. Once I got married, I was my husband's possession. I couldn't do anything other than bear children, till the land and worship him. And I was love with someone else." He nodded finally getting to see things from her point of view.

"Did you want to marry the guy you were in love with?" He asked her.

"I wanted it all with him until I realized that he and I wanted different things." She said.

"What things?" He asked.

"I wanted to go to school and become a doctor for mentally ill people and he wanted to keep having coitus with my cousin Kwela." She told him.

"He was cheating on you. That must have hurt." He said.

"It did and still does. Him doing that changed my whole perspective of life. I became heartbroken and questioned everything. The man I refused to marry saw it as a chance to get close and force himself on me. His name is Kabila by the way. He's fat and wrinkly and his cock is just as shaky as him." She finished the sad story with a chuckle and wiped a tear.

"I'm sorry. You didn't deserve any of that." He said holding and squeezing her hand.

"Don't be. After that incident I told my parents what had happened and they accused me of being weak and a slut. I was hurt so I left home. They still send me a little money every once in a while. They don't want people to think that they are cold and unloving." She said wiping even more tears. She had always been afraid of telling that story since the judgement she had received especially from her mother. She hadn't even been able to say out loud that she had been raped. It would make it more real than it already was.

"Why did you choose medical psychology?" He asked wanting to change the subject. He could see that it wasn't something she liked to revisit. He would push at it again in the future.

"Growing up I was a weird kid. I lived for school and knowledge. I didn't like people and everyone treated me differently. It was depressing and I thought I was crazy. So I decided that when I grew up I would become a psychiatrist and prove to everyone that I am as sane as one can be. They would never call me crazy Munzi again." She said finally turning to look at him. This time instead of sadness and tears, he saw determination and strength in her brown eyes. Her eyes were the colour of the bark of a tree.

"That is a story worth telling. When it's finished, you will be a flower in the desert." He said admiring her. He had thought that his life was difficult yet here was a girl five years younger than him with more fight than he had ever dreamed of. He admired her.

"God was guiding you all along. He brought you here." He said and her expression turned dark.

"Don't talk to me about God's protection and guidance. I don't trust in him anymore." She said turning to look away.

"You shouldn't say that. You do know that he is real and can hear you right?" He asked her.

"I don't care. So what if he hears me? He will just punish me. Bring me more pain. Nothing that I'm not used to." She said.

"So you do know that he exists and that he is powerful but you don't trust?" He asked still not understanding. This girl was making him question his brilliance.

"I know that he exists and I know that he is powerful but I don't trust him anymore. Where was he when I was molested and cheated on and humiliated in front of the whole village? Where was he when I was fired today? He says that he will help you if you believe in him and pray. He didn't keep his word and I'm tired. I hope I go to hell. At least there I know what to expect." She said and crossed her arms around herself stubbornly.

"You know the Bible says that everything works for good for those that love the Lord." He said. This was one broken and lost girl.

"Well you can all take those words and shove them down your soft palates and into your throats. But I'm not changing my mind. God is bad and we are broken up beyond fixing." She said.

"With men, it may seem impossible but with God, everything is possible." He told her and if looks could kill, he would have been with his late wife a minute ago.

"You can keep quoting Matthew all you want but it's getting in through one ear and out through the other faster than and involuntary twitch of the eye." She said.

"Why won't you let God fight your battles? All this seems to be too much for one person to carry." He asked her.

"And here I was thinking that you would tell me, he wouldn't give me more than I can handle." She retorted. He laughed.

"You didn't forget God completely. You can still quote the scripture." He said. There was still hope yet for Munzi.

"I have a good memory." She said.

"That God blessed you with." He said wanting to hear her response. She was funny.

"It wasn't good enough to earn me a scholarship abroad." She said huffing.

"Everything happens for a reason and God says don't make this world your home. When our lives here are over, we will rejoice with him in heaven." He said to convince both of them.

"Oh no. I am not going to heaven. I'll go to hell just to spite him if need be. Maybe then I'll get to meet Hades. Unless of course I meet him here on earth and marry him." She said smiling dreamily.

"You are crazy." He said laughing, thinking about how unique she was. Not many people would choose pain over joy.

"You aren't the first nor will you be the last to say that." She said not even feeling offended anymore. Being called a lunatic had become a part of the normal for her. "It's getting late. I should go home." She said getting up and shivering. He would have offered her his coat but he didn't have anything under it. He wasn't so sure how people would react to seeing a semi naked man walking with a girl at night.

"You are feeling cold. Where's your coat?" He asked standing and starting to follow her.

"I lost it and I love the feeling of cold air and  moonlight on my skin." She said and picked up her pace. Elino in that time and age wasn't a safe place for a girl to walk in at night especially alone.

"I wouldn't have imagined. You look like the kind who would rather sunbathe in a skimpy bikini." He said and crouched to pass through the gate but still hit his head. She was short compared to his six feet height. She seemed to be only a five foot three.

"I hate the sun. It's hot and irritating. Ends up causing melanoma and sunburns." She said and then noticed that it was like he was following her. "Why are you following me?" She asked.

"It doesn't look like the safest of places for you to be walking alone at night. I just want to make sure you get home safe." He half lied. He didn't have a place to go home to and she clearly needed a savior. He was gonna be hers.