Romeo wrecks Lindiwe’s life!
Romeo tosses trouble magnet Lindiwe from the frying pan into the fire.
Romeo (Hungani Ndlovu) loves living on the edge, whether he’s getting in Neo’s (Jerry Mofokeng) face or pranking the staff at the Newtownian hotel. And now he has desperate schoolgirl Lindiwe Ngema (Nomvelo Makhanya) hiding under his bed (well, kind of) after she ran away from home on Monday 21 November to escape the exam cheating crisis that Romeo landed her in. “Where else is she going to go?” asks Hungani. But playing secret host to clingy Lindiwe rapidly loses its charm after Romeo smuggles her into the hotel on Monday 28 November. “Every time Romeo mentions that she needs to go back to her parents, she doesn’t want to do anything but stay in Romeo’s hotel room and come up with ideas about running away with him to Cape Town. She keeps getting clingier and more issues are arising. It’s a burden. Romeo starts to plot a way to get rid of her...”
DITCHING LINDIWE
And do you know what brings families back together? Fear! “In his mind, the best way to forgive and forget would be for the kid to be put in a life-threa- tening situation and be miraculously saved. So the parents will be relieved the kid is back; no need to talk about whatever happened before,” explains Hungani. On Thursday 1 December, Romeo hatches a plan for making the Ngemas’ relief at getting Lindiwe back so overwhelming that they’ll even pay for her return. After all, bad things can happen to a young girl in the big city… “The amount that he chooses – R10 000 – needs to be something that looks like he can pay it with ‘pocket money’ from his mom but might be a little bit of a stretch for her folks,” adds Hungani.
THE GAMBLER
Everything seems to be running according to plan on Friday 2 December, but it falls apart after the weekend. “The world works in mysterious ways and we don’t know who’s watching, and when someone’s watching, certain things happen,” hints Hungani. That’s when the critical difference between Romeo and Lindiwe comes out – he’s not paralysed by fear and thrives on it. “Even though it’s very challenging for him, it’s kind of fun because of the risk that’s involved,” explains Hungani. “It’s a gamble.” So if drama magnet Lindiwe comes out of this in one piece, she may want to step away from Romeo’s table. She’s playing out of her league…