“I said I want nothing,” Shawty responded in a rough tone.
Reo and his girlfriend Shawty were having their worst argument yet since she moved to Gweru. The noise and life of the city wrapped around them as they stood on a street corner right outside TM Rank in the middle of town. It was just after six in the evening and the city was alive in its usual way. People were coming from work. Mothers balanced grocery bags in both hands, plastic rustling with each step. School kids ran in groups, their laughter and shouts chasing each other down the street as they tried to get home before the dark fully settled. Kombis and buses lined the road while conductors leaned out the doors with voices that cut through the air, calling “Mkoba! Woodlands! Ascot!” Car horns tooted without patience and the steady cries of vendors selling airtime, fruit and roasted maize filled the gaps. The evening sun was almost gone, leaving long shadows that made the pavements look cracked with gold.
Shawty shifted from one foot to the other, restless and with her arms folded tightly. She bounced around like a cork that had lost its bottle. Reo was growing impatient. This was not the time or place for such a heated conversation. They stood out in the open with the rough pavement under their feet and the chaos of the city pressing in. Yet somehow their argument felt louder than the traffic and the shouting vendors combined.
“Excuses. It’s always an excuse with you babe. You’ve changed. This is not the you I fell for. To think I moved to Gweru just for you. I could have chosen a better university you know.”
“No babes…” Reo started to explain but Shawty cut him off sharply. A few passersby glanced their way but quickly looked away, their minds occupied with their own burdens. The smell of roasted maize and braaied meat drifted from the stalls near the rank and blended with the warm scent of dust and the oily smell of hot tar.
Reo’s mind flickered back to the beginning. They had met just a few months earlier in an online dating group. It had started simply with late-night texts, jokes, memes and voice notes. Reo, sharp with words and never short of charm, worked as a sales assistant in Gweru. On paper his job was to market products on WhatsApp groups, but in reality his days were often filled with flirting. He would skip lunch to save money for sending airtime to women he chatted with. If they lived in Gweru he made sure to visit. Nights could end in beer, sometimes powder and sometimes more.
To the outside world though, Reo was the model young man. Always neat with hair trimmed and shirts pressed. On Sundays he never missed church no matter how late he had stayed out. He knew how to greet elders properly, could lead a strong prayer in youth meetings and never failed to help at weddings or funerals. His neighbors trusted him. At work he respected his boss and even went the extra mile to help colleagues. No one suspected the double life. Reo could slip from church leader to streetwise charmer without missing a beat. Sometimes even he wondered if anyone would ever truly see him.
Shawty was different from the women he usually met. She had stumbled into his world after reading an unfinished confession online. It had stopped halfway with a message that said “To finish this story join our group.” She joined out of curiosity without knowing her life would change. In that group people posted their numbers freely and strangers talked as if they had known each other for years. That was where Reo saw her number.
At first she was just another name to him. But she laughed at his jokes, asked about his day and listened when he spoke about his dreams. For the first time in years he found himself caring about more than a casual meeting. He thought about her even when he was not on his phone.
Shawty too found herself caught off guard. She had only dated twice before, both in her school days in Lower Gweru. She had never imagined she would fall for a boy she met online. But Reo had a way of making her feel special as if she was the only person that mattered. Soon his messages became her morning ritual. She wanted more than texts. She wanted a life with him.
So she made her first big choice. She had planned to study in Mutare but love pulled her in another direction. She applied to a university in Gweru and was thrilled when she got in. Five months after their first conversation she packed her life into a few bags, leaving her grandmother, her friends and the rural home she had always known.
Around the same time Reo’s work life changed. His focus on the job and on Shawty earned him a promotion from assistant to full-time sales manager. On the surface it was all good news. But the title came with longer hours, heavier responsibility and less time for everything else including Shawty. He tried to give up his old habits and focus only on her but change did not come easy. The pressure of work and love began to weigh on him.
Now here they were in the city they had chosen to share, learning that reality was different from the dream. Life in Gweru was noisy, rushed and full of small unseen tensions. What had begun in late-night chats was now a relationship exposed under the bright and unforgiving lights of everyday life.
Reo slipped his phone into his jacket pocket. “Let’s go get some fresh air,” he said, though the air around them was thick with dust and exhaust fumes.
“You never have time for me!” Shawty snapped, her voice shaking. “You’re always at work or tired or busy with something else. I didn’t come to Gweru to be alone.”
Reo reached for her hand. “Let’s go for a walk. Or a date. Let’s just talk.” She pulled away, her eyes wet.
That was when they saw him. A tall man in a plain jacket moving at an unhurried pace as if the chaos of TM Rank did not exist for him. He stopped in front of them and his voice was calm but carried over the street noise.
“Love is a strange thing,” he said. “It tests even the strongest of us. The Bible says, ‘Test all spirits whether they are from God.’”
They stared, surprised. Reo instinctively placed an arm around Shawty. She glanced at him then at the man, irritation flickering in her eyes at the interruption.
The stranger’s smile deepened and his eyes stayed steady. “You’re not here by accident. There’s a reason our paths have crossed today.”
Reo tensed and his body stayed on alert. Shawty looked away.
Then the man spoke their names.
“Reo Maheti,” he said softly, looking straight at him. “Let me prove myself. I’ll tell you something you’ve never told anyone.” He leaned in and whispered. Reo’s eyes widened.
He turned to Shawty. “Shawty Villa, you too.” He bent close and spoke quietly. Her mouth fell open. She clutched her chest.
The man straightened. “Don’t tell each other what I said. Some things are best kept between us and God.” He tipped an invisible hat, stepped back and melted into the crowd.
Reo and Shawty stood frozen, their hearts pounding, each holding a secret they could not share.
It was the beginning and the Love Prophet had just stepped into their lives.
