Troy was a simple boy yet everything about him was typical, great smile, a smile that lit a house full of dark shadows with darker stories that lied within the darkest souls that roamed around the house. His soul was as handsome as him, beautiful brown eyes, light skin, rich, intelligent yet so humble.

All girls threw themselves at him with no hesitation and depending on his mood, he, without a shadow of a doubt, caught them with no intention of holding them, he was a heart breaker that needed only love to cure his ‘disease’, that’s what he called it. His love for Stacy was irrevocable and with the love that lacked no more, he hoped the baby would be the pillar and the source that kept them bind together and that it was the only thing that could cure him entirely.

“Troy, you done packing?”, his mother eagerly questioned him, a woman of courage, style, and held a strong title in society, her husband divorced her 5 years ago, leaving her with all debt they had accumulated together and with the debt he had accumulated on his own. With nobody to help her, she persistently got herself up using her vision and life goals as a tool to guide her. Now being the wealthy successful woman of wisdom, the last thing she’d let ruin her title was a baby. It seemed as if the love that left her years back is the same kind of love she doesn’t want anybody around her to find.
“Mom I can’t leave Stacy”, Troy said, his voice so broken, his tone containing no emotion, he was hurt, bruised, that his own mother didn’t care about him except for the title she held in society, he was hurt. Troy sat on the rocking chair that used to belong to his father, it was a chair that made him think, a chair that gave him solutions but at that moment, it had nothing, it seemed to share the same feeling of abandonment that he felt. Troy had hopes, dreams and a future for Stacy and their baby, she was 6 months now, carrying a baby girl, Troy couldn’t just abandon the responsibility, the last thing he wanted for his daughter was for her to not know what genuine love feels like.
He got up and left, “Where are you going young man?”, his mother questioned him, “mom, I can’t just leave Stacy like this, listen to me.” She fought with him trying to get her point across but he managed to sit her down, “Mom, look, I know I might seem a bit too young to be a dad or anything and I understand that your title in society means a lot to you, but I honestly don’t care...”, he began to fade out, “Mom I love Stacy, I don’t know what love is but I know what it feels like and if what I have with her isn’t love then I don’t want love, I want what I have with her, we both know she’s not the world’s hottest or richest but she’s pure gold, her smile when I get her biltong, her laugh when she tells me I’m stupid, it’s in the way she carries a smile on her face despite her difficulties, how she’s not afraid to walk alone, her confidence, her faith..” he started to smile as if seeing her in front of him then he zoned out, “Point is mom she gave me so much to fall in love with and I can’t just leave her like that, her mother died recently and she has too much going on for her on top of all that she is carrying my daughter, your granddaughter, the only peace in life that I purely believe will make me whole, love is so cliché but with her it’s not, it’s enormously inexplicable and I love it. I am a father and I have to start acting like one” he gave his mom a soft kiss on the cheek and left her searching for words she never knew how to find, she watched him exit the door, there was something in the way Troy spoke to her and it made her realise that he wasn’t just a little boy anymore but that he was growing and he was willing to take responsibility for his actions.

Troy drove off and made his way to Stacey’s house, on his way there his phone rang
“Hello?”
“Hello son, are you Stacy’s boyfriend?”
“Yes I am and who am I speaking to?”, concern in his voice he drove slower and parked his car on the side of the road.
“This is Dr Eugene, I am here Dr and Sir I think it’s best we talk here in hospital, please come quickly”, he was scared, his heart raced, was Stacy okay? His mind filled with scenarios on what could’ve possibly went wrong, was it stress? Anxiety? He dropped the phone and immediately drove straight to the hospital.