Chapter {4} Destiny

A week had passed by smoothly but the weather had drastically changed, after all, it was September and Winter was approaching but regardless of the weather school had been going great.

Today I was getting ready to go on a coffee date Sienna had suggested and afterwards, she would be showing me around the beautiful city of Rome, where I was currently staying.

I toke in my reflection from my full-length mirror, my hair was let down its usual bun, today I left it wild and free, with curly hairs in front. I wore an earthly brown plaid belted hooded coat with my black leather pants and short black boots.

Satisfied with my work, I was about to walk out when my phone started ringing. The call read MOM. I excitedly picked it up. I hadn't spoken to my mom or dad this whole week as I was swamped with schoolwork, not that it was a reasonable excuse.

"Mma, what a surprise!" I exclaimed as I sat on my bed.

"What a surprise indeed. How are you, my baby." My mom's melodic voice asked.

"I'm fine, vhone?" I asked.

"Ndi hone after hearing your voice." She said making me smile. "How has school been?"

"Schools been going well, I even made a new friend," I told her about Sienna and she laughed after hearing about we met.

"How is my other baby?" I knew she was referring to Thato, whom she considered her own child.

"She's fine and happy to finally be here," I told her.

"I miss you guys so much, this house feels lonely without my annoying babies but I'm proud of you sweetheart and I hope you remember to stay focused and achieve your goals." She reprimands and I can practically see her proud smile far across the world.

"I will."

We spoke for thirty more minutes, just catching up with each other before deciding to end our call.

I was late for my coffee date and that just comes to prove how punctuality and I cannot be put in the same sentence.

I grabbed my small cross-body bag, stuffed in my wipes, little bible, lip-gloss, a portable mirror and some hand lotion.

I had already called a cab so I jogged down the stairs and made it into the living room where I found Thato dressed in an all-black outfit that consisted of black jeans, a jean jacket, a black sweater and thigh-high boot heels. She looked ready to go somewhere.

She had not noticed me as she was watching some Italian drama on our medium-sized TV.

"Morning girl, where are going so slayed up," I asked grabbing an apple from our fridge.

"Morning darling, I should be asking you the same question but anywho I am going with you wherever you are going." She seemed so nonchalant.

"And where exactly am I going?" I folded my hands across my chest. I would never be independent if everywhere I went she was behind me.

"I don't know, but I'm coming with." She persisted.

I sighed, "How did you know that I was going somewhere?"

"I heard the water running and since you aren't an early bird, I figured you had to be going somewhere. Without telling me." She emphasized the last sentence.

"I was going to tell you." I lied as I had just wanted to spend a with my other friend. What a bad person I was for excluding the one person who had been my sister and smile keeper for the longest time.

Lord, please forgive me.

"Really?" Now she was the one with the arms folded on her chest.

"No... I just wanted to be more independent." I guiltily admitted.

" I... can understand that but what if something had happened to you and somehow you got lost and forgot your phone, where would I begin my search for you? In this foreign country?" Thato asked her brows furrowed and mouth in a sad frown.

I had not thought about that and I know I would be angry if she had done the same thing.

"I'm sorry I will never do this again, I promise." I walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"It's fine but please inform me of these kinds of things. I cannot lose you." She said sadly.

My best friend is indeed one of a kind and the sister I was deprived of having.

We stayed in the tight-knit hug for a minute before pulling away. My phone dinged and that sound meant that someone had sent me a message. I toke it from the stand where I had put it. Sienna was written in bold.

Sienna

Hello, my granny suddenly got sick and I had to take her to the doctor. Unfortunately, we cannot have our coffee date. I'm so sorry.

Destiny

I'm so sorry about your grandmother and it's fine we can reschedule the coffee date for another day. I hope she gets well.

I wanted to add by the Lord's grace but decided against it.

"What is wrong," Thato asked looking at me worriedly.

"Sienna's grandma is in hospital," I replied expressing my sadness. But I had hope that the Lord would heal her for Isaiah 53:5 said:

'But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed.'

I believed that she would be healed and made whole by our Lord and Savior

"I hope she will be fine." Thato is not much of a Christian, yes she prays and reads the bible but she still has her doubts and still has to give it all.

I pray for her salvation every day and she is getting there one day at a time afterall being Christain takes a long time, years just to be able to understand and talk to God.

"She will," I answered.

"But, we can't have woken up early, dolled up and slayed up just to stay here. When we have an entire city waiting for us." She truly explained. It would be a pity to stay locked in here.

"Okay, where should we go? Remember we don't even know this city." I asked.

"Anywhere and everywhere and have some fun." She said waving her hands around dramatically.

"Okay." I grabbed my crossover and she grabbed her burgundy red purse before we made it out of the apartment. We made sure to double-check that the doors were locked.

The South African us would not allow us to walk away without some form of security.

We made our way out of our apartment complex, talking about our love life status or more like Thato's love life.

"His eyes are enchanting, you should see him." She dreamily said her hand on her heart, sometimes I thought she would make an exceptional actress.

"Ba tlao hurda." I joked with the currently trending saying that means 'they will hurt you'.

"Says the girl who has never dated." She replied as we got into the cab.

"Hello."

"Hello."

We greeted the middle-aged cab driver, that looked all too happy to see us.

"Ciao belle signore," He replied making me look at him weirdly, I might have not known Italian but simple phrases and words I knew and this one might have sounded more on the sexual than the friendly side. Maybe they just greeted women in that manner who knows?

The ride was filled with small talk, till we reached our destination but as we were about to exit the car, the man asked in a thick Italian accent, "May I have your numbers." He turned to make quick eye contact with the both of us, smiling widely.

Thato and I looked at each other for a long time before bursting out with laughter. Why would an old man, old enough to be our father's age pursue us?

"Please try asking someone in your age group." Thato so kindly said as I gave the angered man a sympathetic smile before getting out of the cab.

Rome was indeed one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The building looked historical but not the old kind of historical but the look-at-me kind of historical. The dominating colour was yellow and orange with the street bustling with people speaking what I recognized as Italian, Spanish, French and English however, it wasn't as populated as I had thought it would be considering that Rome was one of the world's biggest tourist attractions but the fast approaching Winter season was probably the reason.

One building that caught my attention was what looked like a mosque situated further away from us. It had a big yellow roof that looked to be made from glass with a huge round body painted cream white, it looked like a place of worship or prayer that I definitely needed to visit.

"This is a very beautiful city. Remember when we said we wanted to see the pizza creators?" There was a mouthwatering aroma like pizza and when I looked to my far right I saw a man dressed in white making pizza on what seemed like an outdoor stove.

"Look." I pointed at the pizza man.

She looked in the direction that I was pointing and her eyes seemed to light up like kids' ones when they are at a candy store.

"We have to go there." The chef in her said tugging me in that direction. Seems like my best friend has a habit of grabbing my hand and pulling me to places.

"Don't you think, we should drink some coffee before stuffing ourselves with pizzas? Afterall it's cold and drinking helps with digestion. You don't want to be constipated in an unknown place or do you?" I raised my brow.

"Urgh, why are you always right? Ms Doctor." She rolled her eyes with a fake scowl on her mouth. I could see that she wanted to smile.

"Not always, sometimes. Now let's go." I smiled as I tugged her to a paved sidewalk, where shops were lined up one after the other on each side, passing boutiques, men's clothing shops, a jewellery store and a salon we admired them from the display window.

Soon we saw a small restaurant with the words, Faro, Luminaries of Coffee written in black and white colour at the top of the building.

"Let's get in." Thato ushered me in.

A small chime resonated from the top of the grey door making me get jump in fright from the sound. Thato chuckled from behind as a few heads turned to look as it chimed.

Once my fright was settled, the distinct smell of coffee and cookies took over my senses. It smelled heavenly, I know I always say that but can you blame me? My sweet tooth always had to be fed with yummy goods.

Soon we were in front of a big counter filled with utensils and a young lady dressed in a black shirt written FARO and an Italian phrase, I must say it matched the dark theme of the café.

"Good morning." I smiled at the girl that looked about my age.

"Good morning, what would you like to have this morning?" She just looked at me, no smile, nothing. Her English was flowing perfectly so we didn't need to practise our bad Italian on her.

"We are new, so we don't know. Would you mind showing us the menu?" I was doing the talking as my best friend looked fairly distracted.

She handed each of us a menu and pointed us to one of the tables, saying we would call her to take our orders and we left with a curt nod. I sat opposite Thato. What a weird waitress.

"Babes, why do you look so distracted?" I asked her as she finally moved her eyes from a table where a lady and man were seated, holding hands. Usually, she would have given the rude waitress a witty comment but she didn't.

"That's him, the guy I was talking about," She said sadly. No wonder she looked so down and distracted. I did not have to ask her who she was talking about, obviously the guy she was gushing about earlier.

"So you didn't know that he was dating?" I questioned as I subtly looked at the couple who looked to be in love.

"Not at all," She sighed. It takes a lot to hurt my best friend so she must have really liked him.

"Don't worry, God has the perfect man in store for you," I moved my hand across the table and gently squeezed it with hers.

"Yeah, he does."

Thato isn't the one you would refer to as an atheist, she actually believes in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, has been baptized and I actually met her at church but her relationship with God is growing on rocky ground but who said the seed on rocky ground can't grow? I can see improvements every day and we have bible study every Friday plus my prayers for her are reaching God's ears and he is working on her.

"Do you want us to go somewhere else?" I asked.

"No no, today is our day and I'm not going to let my stupid infatuation ruin that," She smiled a smile too fake to be a called a smile.

"It's not stupid." I had had my fair share of crushes and I knew the pain surrounding them.

"Let's go and eat somewhere else." I insisted and after more persuasion, we left the café.

________

Mma- Mom

Ndi hone- I'm fine

Vhone- You?

Ciao Bella Signore- Hello beautiful ladies