In the Name of Love

There’s no greater feeling than being in love. When in love, it made me feel like all was well with the world. People could be swearing at me, pointing fingers, or angry with me and I would still respond with a smile. I wouldn’t be fazed, all because of how I felt.

Tato and I had been dating for a month now and things were going great. He was wonderful, considerate, and a great listener. He always said the right thing at the right time. He wanted to spend every moment of everyday with me.

Tato was a struggling musician. He still lived with his parents and sometimes crashed with friends. He didn’t own a car, didn’t have any savings in his account. He basically lived from hand to mouth. Even though that was a slight setback, I could live with it. What I couldn’t live with was his lack of ambition. He didn’t want to further his studies, even though I was willing to help him secure funding. We argued about this often.

I placed a stack of university and college brochures on the table.

‘All I’m asking you to do is consider it,’ I said. ‘You could study music or something related to the music industry.’

He ignored the brochures. By the way he looked at them, I knew he wouldn’t touch them. ‘So you have a problem dating an uneducated man?’ Tato said.

‘If I had a problem, I wouldn’t be with you, would I?’

He did not respond.

I sat next to him on the pale blue couch in my living room. ‘Look, I care about you and I know you have such potential. Don’t you want to improve your life?’

He moved closer to me and held my hand. ‘You make my life so much better. You improve my life,’ he said.

I wasn’t sure how to interpret that. So I decided not to.

‘But what if I’m not around? What then?’

A frown formed in his brow. He let go of my hand. ‘What does that mean? Are you breaking up with me?’

‘No, no, no,’ I said quickly, reassuring him. ‘That’s not what I mean.’

There was no guarantee we would be together forever. Bu I did not say that. I didn’t want to further upset him. The conversation was over. This was clearly a point on which we would never agree.

I got up and grabbed my handbag. We had a dinner date with my friends. This was the first time they would be meeting him. I was nervous. I wanted my friend to like him as much as I liked him. We were meeting them at Thando’s penthouse.

Dinner was fantastic. Tato talked about his love of music and about his dream to become a musician. My friends hung on every word he spoke. He was a charmer. I was quite pleased.

After dinner, I went to drop Tato at the taxi rank. He got out of my BMW X1 and jumped into a beat down corroded coffin on wheels, they called a taxi, which puffed a cloud of smoke as it taxied on.

I went back to Thando’s place where my friends were waiting for me. I was anxious to hear what they thought of my new boyfriend.

Thando was the first to comment. ‘You have to dump him,’ she said. ‘You had to drop him off at a taxi rank. That’s just not on.’

No surprises there. Thando didn’t date a man unless he had a supersized bank account. But I wasn’t like that.

‘Ja, what’s up with that?’ Ed asked. ‘Why didn’t you just drop him off in Alex?’

I poured myself a glass of wine. ‘It’s too far,’ I said. I took a seat between Thando and Ed. ‘It’s late. It’s not safe.’ I shrugged. ‘And, Thando, him not having a car is not an issue,’ I added. ‘Not for me anyway.’

‘He’s not a good fit for the group,’ Matt said. ‘He doesn’t have a job.’

‘Matt!’ I turned to look at Matt who sat cross-legged on a one-sitter. ‘I expected that from Thando, but not from you!’

‘Just saying… He won’t be able to afford you. Your outfit today costs more than his monthly salary.’

I glanced down at my outfit. ‘That is not true.’

‘That bag alone—’

I cut Ed off. ‘Fine, I get your point. But that doesn’t matter to me. I like him.’

Matt shook his head. ‘In all seriousness, I don’t have a problem with his employment situation. He is following his dream. Good for him.’

I smiled.

Matt continued, ‘But there’s something off about the guy. He’s too much of a smooth talker. I don’t trust him.’

Those words wiped away my smile. ‘You just met the guy. Would you give him a chance? If there’s something wrong with him, I’ll leave him. Would you please relax? I’m not planning to marry him or anything,’ I said.

I didn’t know whether our relationship would stand the test of time, but I was willing to give it my all. There was something special about Tato; I felt it, even if my friends didn’t.

‘As my friends, I was hoping you’d support me, but I guess I was wrong. You’re all materialistic. Shame on you,’ I said.

They mumbled something I couldn’t hear.

I waited. No one spoke.

‘Fine. We’ll give him a chance. But when he starts using you for what you have, don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ Matt said.

I was happy to have support from my friends, even though I had to coerce them into accepting him. I smiled, looking forward to a great future with this man. I had no idea that more troubles were to follow.