Appetite For Love

Chapter Twenty Three

Whoever was at the gate was certainly impatiently. Aden quickly put on a grey hoodie and a pair of tekkies before taking the stairs two by two.

The cold night air smacked him in the face but he was too shocked to care. The sight in front of him made him freeze on the spot.

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"Where are you, chomma? You've totally ruined my surprise." Zoë murmured to herself while waiting in the corridor outside Aïda's flat.

She had been tried to get hold of Aïda but to no avail. All the calls went straight to voicemail.

She had been waiting for her friend for nearly an hour, after returning from Tuis Kombuis and finding out that Aïda had taken the afternoon and night off, to go to a rugby match. She had called Aïda later on and found out that she was out eating with some friends. Of cause, she did not reveal to Aïda that she was in the Mother City.

Hanging out in a corridor in the middle of the night all by yourself is not a nice situation.

She tried calling her chomma again, for the umpteenth time in about an hour.

"Please answer!"
"The number you have dialled-"
"Argh! Damn!" Zoë nearly threw her phone down.

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"Good evening sir, we're looking for a Mr. Aden van den Heever."

Aden looked at the two police officers in front of him. One male and one female. The man was the one speaking. Aden was frozen to the spot.

"Sir, are you okay?" The male officer said.
"Why are you here?"
"We're here to see Mr van den-" Aden cut him off.
"I am he. Erm... again, why are you here? Did someone...die?"
"No. No. Not yet."

Aden gave the officer a quizzical look. He motioned for him to continue. He couldn't make a statement like that and say nothing, however, the officer seemed starstruck.

Aden cleared his throat, "What do you mean by that?"
"Well sit, we need your help in saving a life. I'm officer Justin Plaatjies and this is officer Najwa Dawood," they showed their identification to him, "we need your assistance."
"I don't understand."
"We'll inform you."

And that's what they did.

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"Zoë! What are you doing here!" Aïda exclaimed upon seeing her bestie laying in front of her door.
Zoë got up, "Well I wanted to surprise you but the surprise was on me: you apparently got a life while I was gone."

The friends hugged each other.

"Oh come on. An evening out is not that exciting more importantly, are you back for good?"
"Unfortunately, I mean fortunately,no. Although it's also unfortunate because, we'll, I missed you but I love Gauteng."
"So I've been thrown aside now."
"Of cause, chomma."
"It's okay, Zoë. I understand."
"Chomma, I love you but please open the door. It's already way past one and I'm freezing out here."
"Okay. Okay." Aïda dishes her keyes out of her bags and the two went inside the flat.

"Far how long are you visiting?"
"I have to be back in Johannesburg by Tuesday. We should have a coffee date tomorrow well, today, don't you think?"
"I'd love that."
"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on your work."
"Zoë, I want nothing more than to hang out with my bestie. Okay? I need some normalcy in my life."
"Ah! So I go away and suddenly I'm normal. Please don't insult me like that." Zoë teased.
"That could never happen. You will never be normal or average. Crazy woman." Aïda retorted.