Postcards From Africa

23

Tae paced up and down in her home, waiting for Choi to call but the call never came.

"Maybe you were dreaming," her mother said as she drank a glass of coke and whiskey. "It was 1am after all."

"But his number is here! Incoming calls!" Tae snapped.

She was both sad and angry. How could Choi do this to her? He said he would call but the day was ending and still nothing from him. Maybe he decided calling her was not such a good idea after all.

She looked at her mom, feeling deflated and dejected. "He's not gonna call, is he?" she whispered.

Her mother sadly shook her head. "I don't think so, baby girl. And just to ease your sorrows, you can drink my whiskey."

Tae chuckled a bit. "I can't drink. I'm just gonna take a walk, alright?"

"Be back before supper."

.

The following day after lunch and nursing her broken heart, Tae walked into the bakery and as she approached the counter, her eyes caught those of Luka.

His finely chiseled dark brown face upturned in a smile as he waved at her, beckoning her over. Beside him sat a beautiful blonde with dimples in her cheeks whenever she smiled.

Tae walked over and Luka stood up to hug her. She shyly hugged him back, careful not to overdo it because she could see the blonde watching them closely.

Luka introduced her. "This is my wife, Petra. Petra, this is Taera Lobane."

The smile went off Petra's face. "Please don't tell me you're the girl whose mother crashed my wedding."

Taera guiltily cringed. "Unfortunately."

Petra suddenly grinned. "Thank your mother for me. We made it to the number 1 trend spot on Twitter."

Tae was puzzled. The woman was happy about that?

Luka explained. "Petra is an influencer with her own business. So the publicity sort of got her recognised by many people and business has been real good since."

"Like they say, no publicity is bad publicity." Petra happily chirped.

Luka turned back to Tae. "How are you?"

"I'm great," she lied. "They retired me earlier than expected but life is good. I'm focusing more on me now." I miss my job, she mentally cried.

"You are lying. The sickness is getting worse, isn't it?"

"Luka," Tae whined like a child and be laughed. "Seriously, I'm fine. But yeah, it's getting worse. You know what, to show my appreciation for you, why don't you and Petra pick a whole cake? On me?"

The three of them walked to the counter, laughing and arguing about which cake to pick. This was a good enough distraction for Tae and she smiled, seeing how happy Luka and Petra were.

I wish this was me and Choi, she thought, sighing.

.

2 weeks later

"TAERAAAAA!!" Tae's mom yelled from the lounge. "THERE'S A RAT IN THE HOUSE!!"

Grabbing a broom, Tae went running downstairs, armed and prepared only to find her mom and dad laughing hysterically as the sat on the comfortable couches.

"Haha!" she dryly said. Then she looked at her father. "Welcome home, tata (father)," she whispered with a wide grin.

"Your old man's not getting a hug today?"