Love Prey

By Tidimalo Motukwa

Past experiences made Amogelang close off to love and people. However, after losing her job, circumstances force her to open her home to new housemates. They become sisters who help each other navigate the tribulations of life. Soon she secures a new job, and there’s a possibility for romance when she meets her new boss, Thobo. But old habits die hard. Will she finally release her fears and allow herself to take a chance on love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Love Africa Press
• Release date: Feb 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215367605

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First Published in Great Britain in 2024 by

LOVE AFRICA PRESS

103 Reaver House, 12 East Street, Epsom KT17 1HX

www.loveafricapress.com

Text copyright © Tidimalo Motukwa, 2024

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

The right of Tidimalo Motukwa to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

1

Auntie knows best.

Amogelang’s mobile phone rang again, waking her from a fitful sleep. She glanced at the gadget beside her pillow.

11 a.m. on the digital readout. Her aunt’s name, Sandrah, flashed on the caller ID. The older woman obviously wanted to chat, but Amogelang wasn’t in the mood.

Ignoring it, she closed her eyes against the bright sunshine peeking through the window drapes announcing a new day. She would rather return to dreamland than face the nightmare reality of her life.

Still, the ringing persisted and became annoying.

Alright! she grumbled, rolled over, grabbed the phone, and clicked to answer it.

How are you, Amo? Sandrah asked with a sigh of relief, probably because Amogelang finally answered her phone after several days of ignoring calls.

She rubbed a palm against her temple, trying to disperse the throbbing headache, which had become a constant annoyance since her job retrenchment nine months ago, along with her drastic weight loss.

I’m okay, she hoped her voice didn’t betray her lie. She didn’t want to worry her aunt.

Just nine months ago, Amogelang had a well-paying, fulfilling job and lived a comfortable life for a twenty-nine-year-old. Now she was back at home and feeling like a total failure. Sandrah was her mother’s younger sister, who became her guardian when she lost both parents in a car accident at seven years old.

Amo had never met her father’s relatives. His parents had died before she was born, and he hadn’t been close to his siblings. They hadn’t spoken to each other since they had a fallout during the distribution of their inheritance.

Amo’s parents only had her because her mother had difficulties falling pregnant, something which seemed to run in her family. Her grandmother also struggled for years, and in her late 40s, when she had lost all hope and wasn’t trying anymore, she fell pregnant with fraternal twins, Amogelang’s mother and her aunt, Sandrah.

Sandrah, unlike her sister, who died a happily married woman, had two failed marriages because she was infertile. Her depression landed her in and out of therapy. At some point, they feared it might send her to the straitjacket. The death of her sister and her husband blessed her with a purpose. She found fulfilment in caring for Amogelang, although adjusting to being a woman with a child had been challenging. As the fun aunt, she’d had no idea how to be a mom and had to learn fast.

She’d relocated to Gaborone and changed jobs, moving in with Amo rather than uprooting her so soon after the funeral and disrupting her life even more.

Amo grew fiercely independent and marched to her own drum. She was a loner, keeping a small circle of friends. People mistook her quietness for shyness until they got into a discussion about things she believed in. She wasn’t afraid to stand by her values, even if it meant standing alone. Her inquisitive trait for how things work landed her at the Faculty of Engineering, where she studied Civil Engineering and got a job in a mining company in Francistown immediately after completing her studies.

Did you manage to go to the bank and negotiate a payment plan? Sandrah asked, pulling her out of her musings.

The manager has agreed to see me this afternoon, Amogelang reassured.

Have you given any thought to my suggestion about getting housemates to help you with the bank loan instalment?

If my meeting with the bank manager goes well, I might not need to go to that extent.

Well, let me know how it goes. Okay?

Okay. Bye, Auntie.

Bye.

The call ended, but Amo couldn't shake off the woman’s worry.

Sandrah had never doubted her judgement because she was responsible and level-headed. However, her decision-making hadn’t pleased her aunt since the retrenchment. The older woman wished Amogelang had a long-time boyfriend who would support and help her navigate through life.

However, Amo feared a serious relationship would expose answers she wasn’t willing to deal with. She would rather deal with one thing at a time—a career.

Her ideas about men and what they stood for didn’t help either. Her friends were married, engaged, or in a long-committed relationship.

Still, she never felt she needed a man. She was too independent.

Looking back, she’d had it all.

A well-paying job, thriving career as a civil engineer, luxury vacations with a small circle of friends, and good-natured on-and-off casual relationships which didn’t demand much of her peace. Her life had been in perfect balance until she was made redundant, turning it into chaos.

Now, she was alone in a big house with no one except her aunt, who was on another continent. Would it make her situation any less painful if she had a partner?

Sighing, Amo walked to the bathroom and had a quick shower. Afterwards, she stared at her reflection in the misted mirror.

I’m in control of my life, she chanted. My meeting with the bank manager will go well.

Self-affirmations and all that. If she spoke them aloud, the Universe would hear her and bring them into existence, right?

She felt light-hearted, and her limbs tingled with hope as she dressed and dashed out of the house. She glanced at her watch as she hailed a taxi. Her pulse quickened. She had barely fifteen minutes to get to the CBD head office. By the time she arrived in the building and rode the elevator, her anxiety had returned, her emotions scattered.

She found the branch manager waiting for her behind