Clash over cash
Rachel runs back to her sugardaddy when her know-it-all mom Celia accuses her of stealing money.
With Rachel’s (Lesego Marakalla) family firmly in a financial crisis, her strict mother Celia (Shoki Sebotsane) has had to trim unnecessary costs just to make ends meet. And that means cutting off Rachel’s monthly allowance on Wednesday 11 April when the nursing student is rude and disrespectful to Celia. And it gets worse – money goes missing from Celia’s purse that day and she knows she didn’t spend it. Money is tight, so she wouldn’t have misplaced it either. Rachel isn’t getting a stipend from her nursing school and Celia thinks that her suspicions are confirmed when she finds clothes tags in her daughter’s room. “There is no way Rachel could afford this,” sighs Lesego. “It means that Rachel stole the money from her mother!” But there might be another explanation that Celia isn’t realising…
MONEY MEN
Rachel tried to blackmail her restaurant boss Lehasa (Cedric Fourie) in April last year for his rude and lewd behaviour, not to mention how he’d stolen businesses from hard-working people in Turfloop. Lehasa didn’t fall for Rachel’s tricks then and Celia isn’t falling for them now either, explains Lesego. Rachel lies through her teeth at the best of times, “So the issue Celia has is that she simply doesn’t trust her daughter,” adds Lesego. Celia confronts Rachel on Thursday 12 April about the missing money and orders her to take the clothes back. “It’s embarrassing for Rachel because she’s actually innocent,” admits the actress. What Celia doesn’t know is that Rachel has gone back to her abusive sugardaddy Marothi (Macks Papo) and he gave her the money for clothes. “Rachel actually can’t believe that her mother would think she stole money from her and on top of that, embarrass her with the accusations,” adds the actress.
CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTS
Rachel storms out of her family home and stays with a friend until both she and Celia have cooled down on Monday 16 April. “Their mother-daughter relationship is strained to say the least! Celia is always complaining about her daughter’s attitude and Rachel has had enough of her mom thinking that she’s always right,” says Lesego. Like Rachel, Celia is relieved to have a break from their arguing and that gives her time do focus on the household chores on Monday 16 April. But what’s that in the laundry? It looks like a bank note sticking out of a pocket… and it’s one of Celia’s outfits! “Celia rushes to find her daughter and apologises to Rachel. She unashamedly admits that she was wrong and asks Rachel to work on their broken bond,” adds Lesego. But while Rachel agrees to wave the white flag and call a truce, she knows that she’s got one up on her mom because Celia would flip if she knew about Marothi. Celia clashed with the businessman in mid-2016 when he stalked Rachel after their first break-up, and Celia is against a man old enough to be Rachel’s dad dating her. “She somewhat blames him for the way that Rachel has turned out. Having this ammo is priceless “and Rachel will keep it until the perfect opportunity,” says Lesego.
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH
Rachel’s family have also been trying to save cash to help her brother Nimrod (Buhle Maseko) with his varsity project but they’ve “only got peanuts” on Thursday 19 April, sighs Lesego. “The only person who can help is rich businessman Marothi,” explains the actress. “Rachel doesn’t want to struggle like her family. She wants a comfortable life that Marothi can provide her.” Later that day, Rachel surprises her brother with the money and hushes him when he asks where she got it. “Celia will be furious. Marothi is old enough to be Rachel’s father,” says Lesego. Celia would rather see her family go without than take money from the likes of Marothi.
A RISKY MATCH
Lesego admits that while Marothi will always have Rachel’s back, their dating life was doomed from the start because of their age gap. “Rachel likes the finer things in life, so she overlooks the age thing.” While Celia and Rachel have made up over the missing money, there may be no way of fixing things when she finds out that Marothi is back in the picture…