6 Chapter Six

"Hey, can you at least answer me. Can you reach out your hands to me so I can pull you out, surely you're in pain as we speak unless you'd rather we wait for professional help". The unknown man was saying to me, frankly I wanted to tell him that his plan wouldn't work because I was super short in height but instead, I did what he told me since I also wanted to get out of here and go fetch my mom as soon as possible. The moment I stood up and tried stretching my hands to him my head went spinning I thought I was going to pass out again, so I sat back down. On the other hand, my rescuer started panicking and speaking very quick I didn't hear a single word he was saying.

"How old are you exactly, and what were you doing in this type of area all by yourself, didn't your parents tell you not to play here. Stay still I'm going to look for something I can use to pull you out with". I tried talking back to this guy and telling him that I was not a child, but he had left.

I kept quiet when the stranger was talking to me simply because I was busy gawking at his face. He was a white man, and he was quite breath taking; I know in my culture men are not beautiful but this one was. He had dark midnight black hair very long and curly, it was busy falling at his face when he was bending and he kept pushing it back behind his ears, his eyes were very weird but in attractive way, his pupils were green or blue I'm not really sure, because I was in the dark, but I saw them still and they were captivating even in my dizziness state but what was a white man doing here and coming to my rescue, wasn't I supposed to be rescued by my prince charming like all those books I read said. Nick was my prince not this beautiful man. I think I must have hit my head really hard when I fell because now, I was hallucinating I mean how can I find another guy attractive; Nick was my prince charming or wasn't he?

"I found a rope in my truck; it should help I suppose. What's your name, I didn't mean to shout at you I was just startled since I saw you plummet down there, and I think you hurt yourself". My rescuer said to me in a calm voice while bending down to toss the rope to me so I could catch it.

"My name is Zizwe and I'm not a child, please stop talking to me as if I'm one".

"I can tell that you’re mad, but I think you should be grateful because I'm the only person here that's trying to get you out of the pit you threw yourself into, now please tie the robe around your waist and I'll try lifting you ".

"Okay". I said, thankful to be getting out of here and feeling bad for being mean to the only person that's trying to help me.

"I'm sorry for being rude, my head and ankle just hurt a lot right now and th...thank you for your help".

"Don't thank me just yet Zizwe, let's try and get you out first and check your injuries, I hope you didn't break anything". I was surprised by how he said my name correctly since a lot of people pronounced it wrong all the time especially when they hear it for the first time and this man was white. I grabbed the rope, tied it on my waist and attached my legs to the wall so I could help lift myself up when he was pulling. I could finally see the light again and I knew I was almost there. When I was close, he quickly grabbed my tiny hands with his big ones and lifted me up with his own strength until I was outside in the sun again.

He placed me gently on the grass before he quickly removed my shoes from my feet, I wasn't complaining since they were dripping water. He kept touching my wrist making my body tingle under his touch. I felt lightheaded but I dint want to stress this man even more so when he asked me again for the fifth time if I was okay I just assured him I was feeling way too much better since he insisted I had to go to the hospital for an inspection and I'd refused, I was only going to the hospital to fetch my mom and not for any other reasons. He lay next to me in the grass, I think he was still trying to catch his breath after saving my life, I thought he would interrogate me on how I ended up in that pit, but he never said a thing he kept looking at me strangely though and when I say look I mean stare at me straight in the eyes making me blush like a fool.

This guy is terribly handsome I thought, now that he's laying so close and giving me an intense stare, I can see beautiful green eyes with a touch of blue in them, I thought they even sparkled as he kept gawking at me. I always thought Nick had handsome features, but this guy was just something else, the guy's lips were super red, and he kept wetting them with his tongue making them redder like fresh strawberries. I wondered what I'd done to deserve being in the presence of such a beautiful man, I only read about such beauty in my fiction Romance novels and never did I ever think that I'd see something so spectacular in real life, especially here I mean I live in the slums for God's sake.

I heard him clear his throat and came back to my senses when I saw him smirking at me and that's when I noticed that I was also ogling and to make matters worse I was staring at his lips.

"So, since you say that you're not a child, but your appearance says the opposite, do you mind me asking how old you are before start doctoring your injuries, I don't want to be labelled a paedophile when I start touching you". He said smiling and showing off his dimples and I had to ask myself I there was anything that this man didn't have to compliment his beauty.

The first thing that came to my mind was telling this guy off since well he was... uhm well he was already judging me by my appearance and calling me a child, but my rational mind told me to calm down because I still needed his help. I was so dirty to the point that I couldn't even tell the colour of my clothes anymore, every single part of my clothing was covered with red mud. I really didn't want to go home but it looked like I had no choice because I had to change and freshen up again.

"I'm twenty-five and that's old enough for me". I retorted back unable to make eye contact with him, he kept looking at me as if I were an unknown object he had just discovered, and that was just driving me crazy. Those beautiful eyes were eyeing me from head to toe without no shame making me dizzy and causing a fuzzy feeling in my belly.

" There's no need to be rude I'm just checking, forgive me for calling you a child, I'll grab my first aid kit in the car and see how I can fix you up.' He said gesturing his hands in a surrender manner.

''By the way, my name is Gage and I'm doing some construction work at this site".

"Zizwe" Gage said calling my name from his truck, it was parked some distance from where I was. "I think you should come here so you can clean up, there's water here but it's in a huge container and I can't carry it there, can you walk, or I can carry you?". he said holding a first aid box in his hands.

I tried getting up, but my knees gave up on me and I went straight to the ground, Eh today I think I was supposed to have a chat with my ancestors I mean all this falling was not a good sign. Gage was next to me in an instant, he hooked his hand under my legs while the other one went to my upper body and started lifting me up as if I was just a packet of sweets. Was I that tiny? God this was awkward and embarrassing since I was also getting him dirty with all the mud I had. I really tried to stop the tears that threatened to spill out, but they just wouldn't listen to me, again they flowed like the Jordan river not caring that I was humiliating myself in the hands of a superbly hot guy.

"Hey... look at me". He said taking my small chin in his hands and looking me straight in the eye, those mesmerizing green eyes were looking at me as if they could read the depths beneath my soul, but I could also spot worry etched into his features.

"Don't cry please I'm sorry, you know things like this happen all the time. I'll help clean you up and...and give you something for the pain yeah, I have some pain killers in the car just please stop crying sweetheart. If my mom were here, she'd smack me in the head thinking that I’m the cause of your tears, it's okay shh... I've got you now". I was sniffling like an idiot now and the damn tears wouldn't stop, I'm sure this guy was regretting saving my ass now.

"Thank you so much for helping me, for taking me out of that muddy ditch and now I'm a burden, I know I'm not heavy but still I'm wasting your time and....and I'm sure you should be somewhere else than....thank you for taking care of...." Suddenly my vision went blurry and I started seeing a double Gage carrying me. "I don't feel go-...".

''No... hey...No, hold on don't.... just stay with me okay hey... damnit'' I heard gentle but frantic slaps on my face, but I was far too gone to listen to him, everything became dark again.

I heard voices at first, they sounded a little bit like they were underwater, muted and not exactly decipherable. As I became more aware, I realized they were speaking clearly it was just muddled by the fuzziness in my brain. They were arguing, that's when heard Nick 's voice but it was not cheerful as usual. Was Nick still arguing with his mother? I thought, I was now wide awake, but my eyes were still closed due to the intense throbbing in my head, I guess they didn't notice that I was stirring. Natasha's voice came next, she was saying I was their responsibility to this unknown person whom I had not yet discovered his voice but when he spoke his voice had a lot of authority in it and he sounded very mad.

"Now you listen to me, I'm the one who found her in that bloody ditch, do have any idea what could have happened to her if she had spent even thirty minutes down there?". The unknown voice spoke this time with annoyance clear in his voice. What on earth were they on about and what's with the drama, my friends knew I hated when people fought, and this argument sounded very intense I didn't like it.

"I told you I appreciate everything you did for my girlfriend already and I'll certainly have her checked up, now please let me take Zizwe and we can all part ways in a civil manner".

" I won't let you take her, this young lady stays with me until she wakes up and I'll have her checked up too so it's either you both go with me or stay here".

"For Christ sake Gate or whatever your name is, I told you that I'll take care of Zizwe and she's my girlfriend how many times should I repeat that to you".

'' Frankly I don't really care how many times you repeat yourself since I've been choosing to ignore everything that you've been telling me simply because I think that you're a shitty boyfriend, where were you all this time when your girlfriend was stuck in that pit honourable boyfriend? And I bet you're the reason she was crying and wound up trying to kill herself".

I heard enough of their argument and decided it was time to grace them with my presence, Natasha noticed that I was awake because she was standing next to the car I was currently lying at. I was at the front seat and every door was opened, I tried getting up, but my throbbing head contacted with the steering wheel and I fell back again.

"Zizwe...oh thank God your awake, I was worried sick about you, I'm really sorry about earlier on friend. How are you feeling now?". Natasha said attempting to help me get up. Nick and Gage had suddenly stopped their bickering and rushed to me all at once.

"Sweetheart how are feel..."Gage said trying to touch my head but Nick quickly interrupted him and snatched me to his side, like seriously.

"Listen here man, this is my girlfriend and I repeat she's mine, please stop being all touchy with her. What's wrong with you, you really look like a pervert now".

"But she doesn't have a ring and she's not a thing you can simply claim as yours, to me she's still single". Gage cast a thunderous glare at Nick. My goodness, I didn't really understand what got into him because I remember that earlier on, he was a sweet guy but now he was being mean to Nick and trying to spike his temper but what for?

"Uhm excuse me, I'm here and I can hear every word you say". I said to them. "Does anyone have painkillers because my head is killing me, and you guys are not making it any better with your bickering". Gage quickly passed me tablets and a bottle of water and I gulped them looking at Gage shyly. I really wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, I don't know how long I was out but I still had to go fetch my mom and these three arguing was just a waste of precious time.

"Uhm, Gage I'm really thankful for what you did for me, I honestly don't know how to repay you for your kindness and taking care of me all this time. My friends here are protective of me so please don't mind them. Right now, I need to go to the hospital and I'm not sure if I still have time to freshen up, so guys please be nice to Gage after all he saved my life, I don't think he deserves to have you two ganging up on him".

"Good choice sweetheart, that's exactly what I've been trying to tell your boyfriend, you need to go to the doctor and I'm taking you with me to get you checked up, you nearly gave me a heart attack when you passed out".

"I'm really fine thank you..., and I actually have to rush to the hospital to fetch my mother".

"So, you not getting yourself checked out, are you seriously that careless about your health?". Gage was now looking at me with thunderous eyes.

"I swear I'm fine and I'll definitely get myself checked up if that makes you feel better, but right now I said turning to face Natasha again I need something to change into and I can't really go back to my house, Tash do you have any spare clothes I can change into so we can get going". Natasha nodded and went to her car which was parked a few feet away from us along with Nick's car. Gage finally accepted that I was going to be fine, but I could see he was not happy with everything but agreed anyway, Nick on the other hand still had a murderous look on his face directed at Gage while holding me with a tight grip on my waist. I was wondering what was wrong with these two, they were really behaving like caveman.

"Take care of yourself sweetheart, until we meet again then". Gage said to me when I was done changing and gave me a stern look that I couldn't quite decipher.

"Well, I can tell you that you're just fooling yourself GATE, you won't be seeing my girlfriend anymore but for peace sake and I know Zizwe might kill me if I don't do this, so thank you very much for helping my girlfriend while I was not around, and it definitely won't happen again".

"I'm sure I definitely look better than your gate but since you insist on calling me by that name, I'll assume you have a problem with your hearing skills and I'll advise you to fix that as soon as possible, I wouldn't want us to encounter problems in our business due to your hearing impairment.'' Gage retaliated with a smirk toward Nick.

"Anyways it was nice meeting all of you, especially you Zizwe, oh and I just made new business associates in this area, we're hoping to build a small shopping centre right here since this place looks abandoned, I guess I'll see you around then.'' Gage said to me with a wink, I really failed to understand this guy's personality but seeing the look in Nick 's eyes I decided not to give Gage a second look because that would definitely lead to war, so I just shrugged my shoulders and went to stand beside Nick.

"Can we just go now and stop all the chit chatting; it's not even getting us anywhere". Natasha said heading to her car. We all parted ways, I left with Nick and Gage went to his van as well. Part of me was sad to see the man who had just saved my life leave just like that, I don't even know why I was sad about him leaving but I pushed it at the back of my mind and focused on Nick who was holding my hand the entire way while driving us to fetch my mom.

The ride to the hospital was quick but with Nick apologising the whole way it felt like ages. I forgave him for happened it's not like he could control his mother's actions, what she said back then really hurt my feelings, but it was not the first and surely it wouldn't be the last time she spoke hurtful words like that to me. The rest of the day went well apart from my Aunt being at the hospital with us when my mother was discharged, she was at her best behaviour in front of my mom and even lied about us being in good terms. My aunt's boyfriend was not around though I kept wondering where they had stashed him because not even a word was said about him. The doctor came and announced that mom was all good to go home but she needed a lot of rest and no stressing, luckily there were two cars available so we could all fit. I left with my mom in Nick's car while Aunt Mary and her daughter rode with Natasha, I could see Natasha was not happy with the whole arrangement but being the good friend that she is, she still agreed to take them with her.

Apparently, mom was aware of Prince being around cause when we got home and found him there, she didn't say a word about it, she just told me to prepare her bed so she could get some rest. I really wanted to ask her about all these unwanted guests at the house, but she just brushed me off and told me to go and have a good time with my friends and also forced me to take Enhle along with me. We went to the park which was close by and stayed there until it was late, I really didn't want to go back to my house but with mom there I guess things would be better. Enhle on the other hand kept throwing herself at my boyfriend with no shame while he pretended as if she was not there. Nick had bought takeaways earlier on for the four of us and we were currently eating when my phone started vibrating in my jeans pocket. I really didn't have a lot of people calling me except for the one's I was with now; I took out my phone worried who could be calling me. I was shell shocked by the name I saw on my screen and immediately tried to end the call, but it kept ringing again and again almost giving me a nervous breakdown.