According to Zeraiah, his dad always wished he’d had a daughter, and since he considered me as one, I became the target of his doting. But not only that, Mama Nadine had always been kind to us, and my parents had always treated Zioh, Zeraiah, and even Zaeem with the same warmth. Mum would even make time to cook for them, because they loved her cooking.
We shared family, because we were family.
Usually, Zeraiah would grumble whenever I was treated specially. Last year, he even sulked because Uncle Bakti gave me two presents while he only got one.
But this time, he tore open his gift with no interest.
I knew why, because we all felt the same. It was Mama Nadine.
If she were well, she would’ve been here: snapping photos, fussing over us, and urging us to hurry so we wouldn’t be late for church. Her absence was like a hole in the room.
Minutes passed, but still no sign of Zioh. A tense energy crawled under my skin; even the pile of presents in my lap lost meaning. My eyes kept darting in the direction he had gone.
Was he angry at me? But why?
I sighed and let my head drop. Tsabinu glanced at me, and just as he reached out to rest his hand on my shoulder, someone sat down between us. Tsabinu’s hand froze mid-air.
All of us turned at once.
Zioh had come back. He tilted his head towards me, a faint smile softening his lips, though his skin looked pale and his lips almost colourless. “Merry Christmas, Sophie.” His voice was husky and low as he handed me a wrapped gift.
My eyes brightened as I looked at him. A strange heat swelled in my chest and climbed up into my eyes. But his gentle smile… It eased something inside me.
I grinned back, wide and genuine. “Thank you,” I said, our eyes meeting, holding, and speaking in ways words couldn’t.
My smile rose all the way to my eyes when a memory crossed my mind. “Oh! I have something for you, too!” I quickly leaned forward, grabbed a black box from beneath the tree, and handed it to him.
He accepted it with a tender smile, and I caught Zeraiah’s sarcastic glare from the corner of my eye. I clicked my tongue at him. “Yes, you have one too,” I snapped, handing over gifts to both him and Tsabinu.
Zeraiah smirked, his eyes glinting with amusement, and he shook his box.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t open it yet!” I warned.
Zioh let out a small laugh, brushing my cheek with his hand. “Thank you, Sophie,” he whispered.
I looked up at him.I hope you’ll always smile like this, Zioh.Holding his hand, I said, unable to hide my excitement, “Tomorrow we—”
But my words never finished.
Because they were cut short by a sudden, deafening scream that tore through the house.
We froze, startled, staring upwards towards the source. The sound came again, louder, raw with anguish and pain.
Mama Nadine.
The housemaids rushed past us, sprinting upstairs towards her room. My body stiffened as my mind struggled to process the sudden chaos. Zioh and Zeraiah leapt up in panic, bolting up the stairs.
I made to follow, but Tsabinu’s hand caught mine before I could rise, gripping hard. His face was pale, his eyes wide with fear.
“Don’t… don’t, Dek,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “We… we stay here.”
46
Tshabina
The noise around me began to fade, as though a thick wall had risen between me and the world. The only thing echoing in my mind was the woman’s voice in front of me, repeating, clawing at my thoughts. Beside me, Zioh’s grip slipped from my arm. He stood like a statue, his eyes locked on her.
I tore my gaze away to look at the woman standing before us. She was strikingly beautiful. Long black hair, olive skin glowing under the light, and gleaming brown eyes that sparkled as she smiled. But her smile wasn’t for me—it was for Zioh.
