Authoress Hope's Library

I went on a date yesterday with this guy I met on a dating app. We’ve been talking for three weeks and he finally asked me out properly. Took me to a nice fancy restaurant in Sandton.We sat down, ordered drinks, everything seemed perfect. Then I decided to go to the bathroom. As I’m walking, I feel someone behind me. I turn around and it’s one of the waitresses. But the way she’s looking at me, I can tell she wants to say something. So I stop and look at her. She leans in close and says “wena unesibindi” (you’re brave). I’m confused. I ask “why are you saying that?” She takes a breath and says “the person who was serving your table? That’s his wife.”
I froze. Completely froze. I’m standing there outside the bathroom trying to process what she just said. The woman who brought us menus and took our drink orders is his WIFE? I asked if she’s sure. She said “yes, I work with her, that’s her husband. She’s been watching you two since you sat down.” I went into the bathroom, grabbed toilet paper and sanitizer, sat on the toilet and tried to breathe. My heart was pounding. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t run out because my handbag was still at the table. My phone. My wallet. Everything. I was trapped in a bathroom knowing his wife is out there serving us drinks while he sits there on a date with me like nothing is wrong.
I pulled myself together and walked back to the table. I sat down, looked him dead in the eye and asked “is that woman your wife?” He didn’t even flinch. Didn’t panic. Didn’t try to deny it. Just looked at me calmly and said “so?” SO?! That’s your response?! I’m on a date with you and your WIFE is serving us and you’re saying “so” like I’m overreacting?! He said “we’re separated, she just works here, She smiled at me when we ordered! And the whole time she knew I was on a date with her husband and said nothing!
I grabbed my bag, my phone, my jacket I was shaking so badly I could barely hold anything. He tried to stop me. Put his hand on my arm...

Ladies today was hectic.

My husband just closed his shop at 8pm and he just came back and something strange happened. We just started talking about the yard and we just Can outside and we started cleaning that front side talking.

It's been like 5 months since we really had a conversation and we barley see each other . I just finish work and go home and cook and go to my room and he knocks of at his shop and come home eat and sleep in his room.

It's just crazy today we had a chat and im just realizing how strange it is we like strangers living together

From being a slave and punching bag to being a Dr..🥺

I was thrown out of my own home… because I was the black sheep. 😔 My family didn’t hesitate, they decided I wasn’t capable, not worth keeping. And I was just in Grade 11.
Oh, mother… was I really your child? 😢
Siblings… was I really your little sister?
That same day, standing next to a cold bridge 🌉 with nowhere to go, no hope left in me, I felt like I had no life inside. That’s when a car stopped beside me. I wasn’t scared at first… because what could a stranger do that my own family hadn’t already done?
To my shock, it was a woman. She got out and walked toward me. That’s when fear finally hit me. I shivered, trauma written all over me. She noticed. She stopped. She asked if I was cold. ❄️
She gave me her jacket, left some food she bought on the ground, and stepped back. She asked if I could talk, safely, from a distance. I cried. I told her everything… my story of being a slave at home. 💔
That night, she offered me a place to stay. I agreed. She comforted me, tried to make me feel safe.
A night passed…
A day passed…
A week passed.
Then she came back, with a school uniform, asking me to go back to school. 📚 She had even tried to intervene at my home, but it failed. I saw her heartbreak that day, she didn’t even want to tell me the bad news.
I agreed. And she took me in.
I was 18… still living with trauma and depression… still hated by my family for my potential. But this woman, this stranger turned guardian angel, stood by me. She made sure I was okay. She became my mother, because God knew I needed one. 💖
Today, I am who I am because of her. Today, I’m married, I’m a doctor 👩‍⚕️… and I owe it all to the woman God blessed me with. She didn’t have a child of her own, but God had other plans.
Thank you, Mama. For seeing me when nobody else did. For believing in me when my own blood didn’t. 🙏🏾❤️

What can R10K do for you right now?