Have You Ever

  They met beneath the fluttering banners of a regional dog show, drawn to the same exuberant Rhodesian Ridgeback with eyes full of fire and a gait like poetry in motion. Both breeders in their own right, they bonded over the subtleties of lineage and the art of raising dogs with both heart and heritage. That day, surrounded by barking excitement and the smell of fresh sawdust, something unspoken passed between them—an understanding, like two souls recognizing home in each other. Weeks turned into months, and soon they had joined lives and kennels, building not just a business, but a sanctuary. Their most prized companion was Thandi, the Ridgeback they’d chosen together from impeccable bloodlines. She was majestic, spirited, and somehow the embodiment of their love. They spent every evening walking her along the coastline, imagining her future litters, envisioning the legacy she'd leave behind. But fate, as it sometimes does, took a cruel turn. Thandi began to weaken. Her eyes l...

  It started as a quiet ache, an unease lurking just beneath the surface, easily ignored in the moments when life felt familiar and stable. But guilt has a way of creeping in—slowly at first, then all at once, until it colours every thought, every memory, every decision that led to this point. The weight of his choices sat heavy on his chest. What had once been impulsive, fuelled by fleeting emotions and fractured logic, had now become an undeniable reckoning. It was never meant to spiral into something this profound, this consuming—but the past has a way of lingering far beyond its expiration date. Facing his wife was the hardest part. The betrayal was done, the truth laid bare, but consequences move differently than regrets. They don’t dissolve with apologies or grand gestures. They sit in the quiet spaces between conversations, in the looks exchanged but never spoken aloud. He had hurt her. That much was undeniable. No matter how he framed it—whether it was loneliness, confus...