VUYO

It has been 3 weeks and a couple of days since I went to the club to fetch my daughter, and Nandi/Nomonde still hasn’t called me yet, I guess she doesn’t want anything to do with me, even after she’s seen the results in black & white or maybe she didn’t even get time to view them. I should’ve just dragged her out of there while she kicked and screamed, thinking about all those men she’s been sleeping with it’s pissing me off, it fucking pisses me off! Dammit.

“Whoa, Van Damme. What did the fridge do to you for it to get such a hard kick?” Dineo implores stepping inside the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, I’m just stressed.”

Her: “About Nandi?” I nod. “Give her some time, I’m sure she’s still trying to process the orbits you’ve thrown at her. Remember that she grew up knowing that Blessing’s mother is her mother, and now you show up telling her that you are her father and that confuses her more, and a lot of questions running in her mind. All this feels surreal to her, she will come around that’s for sure.”

Me: “Yeah, guess time is all that she needs. But my worry is the fact that what if she continues sleeping with those men on a daily basis, honey. That’s what worries me more.”

Her: “You might find that she’s not even sleeping with them, but too stressed & confused about certain things and asking herself questions with no answers as I’ve told you before, and I’m sure she’s even ashamed that she almost slept with her father unknowingly. Hhe, if it wasn’t for the birthmark, we would be talking a whole different story right now,” I nod. She’s right, but I still hope that she will call me today at least asking me to come and fetch her, I’m sure she’d also be happy to see Blessing.

Me: “You are right. Anyway, how are you feeling? You are almost due.”

Her: “Exhausted is an understatement, I’m drained that’s all I can tell you, and to think that I have 2 more weeks left before I give birth makes me want to cry.”

Me: “You are almost there darling, I can’t wait to meet my little one,” brushing her tummy.

Her: “Same here, and I pray that he/she doesn’t look like you.”

Me: “Huh? Why?” I raise my brow.

Her: “You are too charming, I sometimes ask myself as to how did I even end up being your girlfriend. I’m so blessed to have you, Vuyo. Thank you for loving me.”

Me: “I’m the lucky one here, or let’s just say we are both lucky then.” She chuckles. “Yes?”

Her: “I guess we can say that.”

“And the both of you love me too, right?” Blessing implores stepping inside the kitchen standing in between me & Dineo, he was watching TV in the lounge or maybe he was just eavesdropping.

Me: “Yes, boy. We love you too.”

Him: “And I love you extra,” we all laugh as we group hug.

Dineo: “Almost forgot, I have something to show you. Blessing, please go and fetch for me that treasure box we found at the old house while we were moving things it’s on top of the washing machine, hurry up.” Blessing waits for no further instructions and he takes off, I wonder what is it that she wants to show me.

“Here mommy,” Blessing hands her the treasure box.

Her: “Thank you, son.” She opens the box, and comes out with a stack of letters, pictures, and other random stuff. “Take a look at this,” she hands me 5 letters and 3 pictures.

In the pictures stands my father with me when I was at least 2-3 years old on his arm, and on the other hand, another toddler, a girl to be exact I wonder who is she. I put the pictures on the side and open one of the letters. What? I read it till I’m done and I read the other ones. But how? When? And why was she never mentioned? I don’t remember my parents talking about having a daughter out there, yet, there are letters written to her. Well, not unless my father cheated on my mother back then, and this sister of mine is the same age as me. Shit! So, I have a half-sister out there in these streets? Wow, who would’ve thought? I wonder where is she and if she knows that she has a brother out there. I need to find her, I must find her. Unfortunately, my parents are not here to answer all the questions I have for them, and I can’t go to that Zithobele village for reasons known by me of course. Guess I have another task at hand now, sighs. Where do I even begin?

“You had no idea?” Dineo’s voice brings me back to reality as she implores.

Me: “None, at all. I wonder why didn’t my parents mention this to me.”

Her: “Maybe they had valid reasons as to why they never told you.”

Me: “I guess,” just then my phone vibrates in my pocket, I take it out and I don’t recognize the numbers I answer anyway, maybe it’s Nandi.

“Hello, it’s me.” She speaks out after a couple of silence into the call. Thank you. Relief overcomes me when I hear her voice.

Me: “Thank God. Thought you’d never call. How are you?”

Her: “Good. Confused, I honestly don’t know. Are you busy?”

Me: “No. Why?”

Her: “I have a lot of questions to ask you, can you come and fetch me?”

Me: “Are your bags ready?”

Her: “All ready. What time can I expect you?”

Me: ”Give me 2 hours and I’ll be there.”

Her: “Okay, see you then,” she hangs up leaving me with a smile on my face.

Dineo: “Well, guess I should start preparing the guestroom and cook enough for everyone.”

Me: “That won’t be substantial, we can always grab some food on our way here, just prepare the guestroom and don’t tell Blessing anything, okay?”

Her: “My lips are sealed you better leave now so that you don’t come back late.”

Me: “I’ll be having all my favorite people in one house,” I kiss her forehead, then her tummy and she giggles throwing her head back.

I step out of the house, and straight to my car. My heart is filled with contentment, things are finally coming together for me. But, I still have one more task to carry then all is well with my soul.

★»★«

LUXOLO

I scan my eyes around Z&B restaurant looking for Tsebo, and he’s nowhere on-site, if only he knew how much I detest waiting for someone he wouldn’t have made scan for him for more than a minute. I hiss under my breath when I don’t see him, I’m about to leave when he propels me back inside the restaurant as I bump into him at the entrance.

“Sorry I’m late, I had things to do,” he says as we settle down.

“I detest people who can’t keep time. You should’ve sent me a text or something.”

Him: “I’ll remember that next time, my apologies once more.” I nod acknowledging his apology.

“Good day, my name is Ase and I’m at your service. Here are the menus, you can browse through them, and once ready to order feel free to call me. Any refreshments so long?” Ase, our waitress informs us.

What a waitress, she has some manners, I like. Zubenathi must be very strict when it comes to her employees this restaurant has been running for years. Oh, and Tsebo is the one who suggested this place, I’m sold.

Me: “Soda water will do for now.”

Tsebo: “Coffee for me, thank you.”

Her: “Coming right up,” she saunters away.

Me: “What a bubbly and respectful waitress.”

Him: “That’s why I love this place, the service here is exceptional.”

Me: “I can tell. You know, it will complete my day if I were to see the face behind this successful restaurant.”

Him: “I will introduce you to her once she comes back, she’s currently on a vacation with her family, but once she comes back I’ll introduce you to her, and maybe you might learn a thing or 2 about business from here.”

Me: “I’d really appreciate that, thank you.”

Him: “So, I did my little research about you, and I must say that I’m very impressed with my findings, but once again I’m not proud of the route you took.” He better not start lecturing me because I’m not in the mood for lectures.

Me: “Well, I’m proud of it, and so is Nomalanga,” he huffs at the mention of my mother’s name. Oh, well.

Him: “Why did you choose the gangster route? Or should I say the mafias route?”

Me: “Mafia? I’m not at that level yet and don’t think I will be any time soon. And, this route chose me, I didn’t choose it.”

Him: “How so? Because we all have a choice.”

Me: “I’ve gone through a lot of shit the past year, I was forced into this, I was created by those fuckers to be what I am today. Tortured me as if I’m not someone’s daughter and someone’s girlfriend.”

Him: “Tell me everything don’t leave a single thing out. I know that I haven’t been part of your life for the past 29 years or should I say 30 years?”

Me: “I have 3 months left before I turn 30, so I’m still 29. So, here’s what happened…,” his mouth is left hanging after all that I told him, not believing that I went through all that shit and still survived. I don’t even know why I’m telling him this but it feels right.

Him: “And they are still alive?”

Me: “Only the boss left, oh, and few of his men.”

Him: “Why did you let him live?”

Me: “As they say; ‘save the last for the best’ or whatever the saying goes,” he shakes his head. “I will visit him the least he expects it, I’m sure he’s even forgotten about me.”

Him: “When you go and deal with him, do not hesitate to call me

I’ll be there to feed him his own heart.” 

Me: “And your wife won’t have a problem with me calling you anyhow?”

Him: “I’m a divorcee. So, you can hit me up any time.”

Me: “Oh, any kids apart from me?”

Him: “I have 4 sons and another girl which makes up to 6 of you and out of all the 6 you are the 5th born, born from out of wedlock. All 5 of my kids are from my wife.” Wow, giving a man 5 kids than divorce at the end, it can never be me. Wuuhhh, by fire by force I will fight for my marriage there will be no divorce, only death will do us apart until then we are going to make our marriage work.

Me: “So, you are not seeing anyone at the moment?”

Him: “No. And I’m definitely not looking, my work is keeping me busy. Women are very stressful, I don’t think you even understand yourself at times,” I giggle. So, he and my mother are both not looking for any spouses, and even if I were to hook them up it will be a complete waste of time because they did not part on good terms, and Tsebo seems like the abusive and controlling type. Ey, let me not judge a person without knowing their full story.

Me: “So, if a chance springs out from out of nowhere for you & Nomalanga to make up for the lost time, will you take it?”

Him: “No. I will kick that fucken chance straight to Saturn.” I laugh, wow. He really hates my mother, yuhhh. No hope for them. “And don’t even think about hooking us up, Luxolo.”

Me: Giggling. “Not even.”

Him: “Good. We need to go out more and as time goes by I will introduce you to your other siblings.”

Me: “Siblings? No, thank you.”

Him: “I was not asking you, I was telling you. And when is that boy with 10 dreadlocks marrying you?” Wow, 10 dreadlocks. This man, a joker he is.

Me: “His dreads are full, clean, and well plaited. He washes them twice a week. And when the time is right he will definitely put a ring on it, we still have a lot of time together. He’s my soulmate that one.”

Him: “Young love, but don’t worry I will have a talk with him, you know, I watched that boy growing in front of me, I practically raised him.”

Me: “Have any idea who his father is?”

Him: “Yes, I do. And unfortunately, he disappeared when Tsakani was 8 years old, that was the last time we saw of him,” I nod. “We wish to know what really happened to him, and if he’s dead; where is he buried? We need closure, he was a very good friend of mine.”

Me: “Hmmmm, hectic, but there’s another thing. The time we launched our club there was a man whom Tsakani introduced to me as Mr. Mazibuko who looked like him, but not that too much lookalike. Tsakani, told me that he once worked for him, and Mr. Mazibuko even said that I look like his old friend, guess he was referring to you.”

Him: “This is interesting. How does he look like?”

Me: “Stop by the club later on and I will show you footage of the launch, maybe it’s him.”

Him: “I will do so. And if that was him, couldn’t he see that he resembles Tsakani?”

Me: “I don’t know,” shrugging.

Him: “Hmmm.” What if Mr. Mazibuko is Tsakani’s father? Yohh, imagine Tsakani finding out that the man he was working for all those years and almost killed is his father? Ehhh, koshuba mus…

★»★»

TSAKANI

Days are never the same without Batista and Talon around, we are incomplete. We miss Talon’s jokes & Batista putting him in order, their little quarrels were funny because, at the end of the day, they would’ve longed ironed things out. It’s just the 3 of us and it’s really hard for us to move on from this honestly, but hopefully one of these good days we will smile again, and be whole once more. Batista’s death hit Leon hard because they were very close, they did almost everything together and as for me, I’m really grateful for having bubbles by my side, she’s the only thing that’s keeping me sane if it wasn’t for her I don’t know where I would be, I’d probably be drowning myself in alcohol. Coming to think of it, I and the two guys are only sane because of the women in our lives, if It wasn’t for them we’d be talking a different story.

“I’ve brought you food, gentlemen.” Milan, informs us placing the food on top of the coffee table, we are at Leon’s house.

“Thank you,” I say.

Her: “I’ll come back to fetch the empty plates once you are done, or you can take them to the kitchen but if they are cleaned out, I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” she informs us and saunter away. One thing I know with the guys is that we never say no to food no matter how much shit we go through especially when there’s plenty of well-cooked meat in the dish.

Lee, leads us into a small prayer, and we start eating, no words exchange as it has been like for the past 3 hours we’ve spent here, and we are fine like this. Silence is also unspoken words, our thoughts are the ones doing all the talking. Replaying old memories, thinking of all the good times we shared together individually. Shit, death is the mother of all bitches. Fuck! It hurts the most if it’s someone closer to you.

★»★«

VUYO

Music is keeping us company as we are driving back home, Nandi is sitting at the back leaning her head on the window, looking outside. I’m just glad that Adele didn’t give me any hassles, in fact, she was relieved that finally someone has come for Nandi, plus she was the youngest out of all the girls working there. Blessing is going to be so happy once he sees Nandi, I hope Nandi will be at ease once she sees Blessing, she loves him after all there’s no doubt about that. She was worried when we went to her old home and found no one there, she didn’t ask the neighbors about her mother, she only asked about Blessing and the pain in her eyes when they told her that they haven’t seen him in months stung my heart. I wish I could’ve told her right there & then just to ease her agonizing heart, but I was going to spoil the surprise.

We park on the driveway and the sun is already setting which means that Blessing has already bathed, Dineo is very strict when it comes to Blessing, she wants him to do things accordingly. Nandi steps out of the car, I do too, and help her with her luggage then head toward the door. Before I can even knock the door is yanked open and Blessing is already hugging Nandi’s knees.

“Sisi.” He says excitedly, I look at the Nandi and her face beams with excitement the worry her eyes had minutes ago is now replaced with tears, tears of happiness I guess. She hauls him and pulls him into a tight hug.

“Don’t just stand there, get inside remember that we have noisy neighbors,” Dineo tells us. I get in first leaving brother & sister to catch up. “I’ve never witness Blessing this happy, the sight is just heart-melting.” She continues to say.

Me: “Beautiful sight indeed, I hope Nandi will feel comfortable now that she has reunited with her brother. They may not be biological siblings, but the bond between the two of them runs deep.”

Her: “Yeah, at least now I will have someone who will be helping me around the house, and helping Blessing with his homework.” Speaking of homework, Nandi will have to go back to school.

Me: “Exactly. Aren’t you tired?”

Her: “I am, but let me finish making my tea then I will go and take a nap.”

“I’ll take it from here, you can go rest,” Nandi says behind us. I turn to look at her, and she has her arm around Blessing’s shoulders.

Her: “Oh, thank you. Just put one teaspoon of sugar, and 3 teaspoons of powder milk I’ve already put rooibos in my cup. You can make yourself some too if you want.”

Blessing: “I’ll come and massage your feet, Yezwe is making your feet swell,” yeap, he gave him that name.

Her: Laughing. “No, not today, spend some time with your sister the big baby will massage my feet today, take it as your day-off,” he giggles.

Me: “Urh, urh, okay, just for today and that’s it.”

Her: “Yes sir.” From the corner of my eye, I can see Nandi smiling. The ice has melted, time to dilute the water with juice. Hope she will allow me, I’m willing to make it all work.