Chapter 9: Love and Control

 

Things were heating up very fast. Lulu, Zinhle, and Bonolo were falling deeply in love. Their new boyfriends were smooth, good-looking, and always knew how to make a girl feel special. They sent good morning texts, dropped off takeaways after class, and took cute couple pictures on campus. Everything felt like a dream. The girls couldn’t stop smiling. They posted pictures online with captions like, “My man is the best,” or “Spoiled again, thanks bae!” They believed they had found real love. But in the background, Themba was the one controlling everything. He told the boys exactly what to say and do. He planned the dates, the gifts, even the sweet messages. He was pulling all the strings, like a puppet master.

Once the girls were emotionally invested, Themba moved to the next phase of his plan. He started creating fake drama. He used burner accounts to send fake evidence to the boys. He edited screenshots that made it look like Lulu was flirting with other guys. He made fake DMs showing Zinhle laughing at a guy’s joke in a suspicious way. He even used old photos of Bonolo and her ex, changing the dates to make it seem recent. The boys didn’t question anything. They believed the lies. Instead of confronting the girls in private, they exposed them publicly. Each of the boys went live on Instagram . They posted Twitter threads. They called the girls out in front of everyone. One of them said, “Imagine being loyal, and she’s out here entertaining other guys.” Another posted, “She’s not the person I thought she was.” A third one simply said, “She’s for the streets. Done.” The drama exploded across campus. Everyone was watching. Students were tuning into the live videos like it was a reality show. 

People were commenting, liking, and sharing. Memes were being created within minutes. Lulu cried on her Instagram story. She tried to explain, but people just laughed or ignored her. Zinhle couldn’t handle it she deleted all her social media accounts and stopped coming to lectures. Bonolo tried to defend herself, but no one believed her side of the story. The shame was too much. People whispered about them in the cafeteria. They were pointed at during lectures. They became the centre of gossip at Wits. “Did you see what happened to Lulu?” “Zinhle got dumped live?” “Bonolo? Yoh, she looked so confused.” But here’s the painful truth the girls were innocent. They had never cheated. They had done nothing wrong. Everything had been planned. All of it had been fake. It was Themba. He sat in the background, quietly watching everything unfold. He didn’t say a word, but he smiled as the chaos unfolded. This was never about love. For Themba, it was about power. It was about control. And this was only the beginning.