BAYANDA
20 .
NARRATED
Two Range Rover cars park infront of Katlego’s apartment gate, one black and one white. The driver’s door opens and a girl that looks like she’s in her early 20’s jumps off the car, she’s tall in height—tall and petite, she’s brown skinned and very stylish.
“Make sure you get my bag..” She says checking her reflection on her phone, she fixes her hair while a guy gets off on the other side—holding her Gucci bag, the guy also looks like he’s in his early 20’s.
“You don’t need to treat me like your servant, if anything—you should be calling me your big brother.” He says, he resembles Katlego just a little bit.
“Whatever.” The girl says taking off her shades and glancing at Katlego’s apartment.
“My cousin does have taste, I’m not surprised.” She says, in the black Range Rover—a woman gets off the car. Very decent looking and attractive, she looks she’s in her late 20’s or early thirties.
“I need to get my princess out of her car seat, hold this for me babe.” She says, to the man that just jumped as well—we could say thats her husband.
“Sis, please open up for me. I don’t know how this car of yours works.” The girl in the back seat says, trying to open the door. The woman reaches out for the door and opens for her.
“It’s not that hard Kaboentle.” The woman says, Kaboentle jumps off the car and almost trips because of the high heels she has on.
“Why did you even bother? these heels are too long for you.” The woman says, reaching out for her baby’s bag.
“You need to understand fashion sometimes Mapule, these heels are fashion on their own.” Kaboentle says, closing the door and walking to the white Range Rover.
“Onthatile, please tell me you have my lipgloss with you. I can’t find it anywhere.” Kaboentle says, Onthatile turns back and glances at her.
“It’s in my bag, can we go inside? I haven’t seen Katlego in so long. We have a lot to catch up on, not forgetting that we have shopping to do for the barbecue.” Onthatile says walking ahead of them, Kaboentle follows with her younger brother—Thabang. While Mapule and her husband walk behind them with their little daughter.
Onthatile knocks on the door a couple of times. It’s been a while since they’ve seen each other, this is some type of reunion. Katlego opens the door, delighted to meet his cousins. He smiles, warmly and genuinely.
“Hi guys..” He says, Onthatile shakes her head.
“You can’t just say hi as if you saw us yesterday. You’re such a horrible cousin.” She says hugging him.
“I’m so happy to see you, we thought you were permanently staying in Germany!” Onthatile says, glancing at him and heaving a sigh.
“Well, I am here now.” Katlego says proceeding to hug his other cousins. No bad vibes or anything.
“It’s so good to see you after so long, you sure do look good for someone who’s not in any relationship.” Mapule says, Katlego chcukels once and shrugs.
“I don’t know about that, come in. You can’t be standing outside.” He says letting them inside after taking Mapule’s daughter in his arms.
“This is a very nice apartment here, it definitely needs an extra person.” Kaboentle says, Katlego shakes his head.
“Keep dreaming, you’re not moving in with me.” He says, Kaboentle rolls her eyes—because she has huge eyes, that enables her to look everywhere, even at unnecessary things. Her eyes land on the sandals on the floor in the lounge.
“Hold on, these are women sandals.. I have these, what are they doing here? do you wear women sandals now?” She asks him, Katlego sighs.
“The chatterbox is here and I won’t be able to escape anything.” He says, everyone laughs.
“Well, I also want to know. Do you have a guest over? We might be interrupting here.” Thabang says, looking around too.
“I do have a guest over and I want you to be as kind as you can be to her. She’s a very sweet person, treat her nicely.” Katlego says, Kaboentle and Onthatile glance at each other.
“You’re asking us to be kind to her? Bro, kind is basically our second name.” Onthatile says walking to the lounge and throwing herself on the couch.
“So what’s her name and how did she end up at your apartment? don’t tell me you stay together.” Mapule says, proceeding to place the baby’s things on the couch. Thabang and Mapule’s husband sit down.
“Her name is..” Before Katlego finishes speaking, Bayanda emerges from the bedroom—oh, she showered again by the way. She changed into beautiful long white summer dress, she left her sandals in here so she’s barefoot.
“Gorgeous..” Kaboentle says getting up and glancing at Bayanda. Her skin is smooth and very warm. Her eyes are dark brown, shining brightly in the sunlight. Her hair is rich and dark, framing her face perfectly. She’s not too tall but not too short also, she’s just in the middle.
“This is Bayanda, my woman—Yanda, these are my cousins. The one that’s standing is Kaboentle, the youngest cousin. That’s Thabang, the second youngest cousin. This is Onthatile, the second oldest cousin and that’s the eldest cousin, Mapule. He’s Xola, her husband and this is their baby—baby Rea.” Katlego says, Bayanda nods lightly.
“Hi everyone.” She says, thinking it came out as a whisper but they heard her perfectly. Kaboentle smiles and approaches her.
“I was already imagining you in my head when I saw the sandals and I knew you’d be beautiful, it’s so good to meet you. You’re very beautiful.” She says, giving Bayanda a hug—she smells like honey, vanilla and chocolate all at once.
“So you’re like.. boyfriend and girlfriend? like.. you’re in a relationship?” Onthatile asks getting up, asking the both of them.
“I don’t like the term boyfriend and girlfriend but yes.” Katlego says, Onthatile gives Bayanda a hug.
“Hi, nice to meet you.” She says, Thabang gets up and bumps into Kaboentle.
“Ouch! can’t you see where you’re going? eish!” Kaboentle says sitting down again.
“Hi, I’m pleased to meet you. Bro hasn’t introduced anyone he has ever dated to us, this is the first time. It’s an honor to meet you, Bayanda.” Thabang says, shaking her hand yet smirking at Katlego.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard your name Bayanda, I swear he spoke about you before.” Mapule says, sitting still on the couch.
“Bayanda is my best friend, my childhood best friend.” Katlego says, Onthatile widens her eyes.
“You mean, you’ve known her since childhood?—that’s crazy, so now you’re basically best friends and a couple too.” She says, Katlego nods.
“Take a seat, I’m serving everyone drinks.” Kaboentle says getting up, Bayanda sits down after she walks to the kitchen.
“I was thinking, instead of doing a babercue here. Why don’t we go eat at an expensive restaurant here in Morningside? I hear there are some nice places to eat at.” Onthatile says, she’s not worried about spending any money because Mapule and Katlego are loaded.
“That’s not a bad idea, what do you think?” Katlego asks Mapule who just nods.
“That’s fine by me but I’m not paying any bill, I was insisting on paying for the groceries of the barbecue but if we’re going to a restaurant then the bill is on someone else.” She says, sitting back.
“I’ll pay.” Katlego says, Onthatile smiles. Her plan to eat an an expensive resturant worked, she’s not gonna pay for anything.
“So Bayanda, what do you do?” Mapule asks Bayanda who’s trying by all means to relax.
“I’m a nurse pediatrician.” Bayanda says, Mapule nods.
“That’s a very interesting career you have there, what pushed you to become a nurse pediatrician? I think that’s very cool, I’m a social worker myself.” She says, starting to soften up. Bayanda heaves a sigh and glances at Katlego who nods, giving her reassurance.
“I was once disabled, my legs were disabled and I lived on a wheelchair for a few years. Being a nurse pediatrician is something I always dreamt of from the time I was on a wheelchair.” She says, Kaboentle places the tray down in the kitchen as silence fills the whole apartment.
“You were disabled? but.. how? I mean, you look fine now.” Kaboentle says, Bayanda nods.
“I attended physio, my parents made sure that they took me to the best physio so I could be able to walk.” She says, by her parents—she means her uncle and aunt.
“Oh, that’s great. So what led you to be disabled? If you don’t mind me asking.” Thabang says sitting forward, Bayanda heaves a shaky sigh. It’s not something to be ashamed of.
“My parents and I got into a terrible accident, I lost my ability to walk then and my parents lost both their lives.” She says, it feels just like yesterday when they were in that car with her parents, they were just returning from picking her up at school and… it just happened.
“Oh Gosh, that must’ve been so painful. I don’t even want to imagine what you went through, you’re so strong Bayanda—I wouldn’t have coped.” Onthatile says shaking her head.
“I’m sorry about your parents. It’s good to know that you went through all of that and you’re here right now. We absolutely need women like you, strong and independent.” Mapule says, Bayands nods lightly.
“Okay guys, I have drinks. Let’s just chill for a while before we go to the restaurant that I picked.” Kaboentle says, Onthatile deadly glances at her.
“You just blew our cover Kabo, what is wrong with you? they weren’t supposed to know that we have a resturant picked out already.” Onthatile says.
“Oops…” Kaboentle says, giving everyone their drinks. She sits down besides Onthatile while Onthatile is sitting besides Bayanda.
“We just came and this is our first stop. Aunt is gonna be so mad at us for this.” Onthatile says referring to Katlego’s mother.
“We are only coming tomorrow, tell her that so we avoid a lot of trouble.” Thabang says, gulping down the drink in the glass.
“What have you guys been up to? I’m seeing gucci handbags and heels. What’s going on? with school, perhaps..” Katlego says, Kaboentle clears her throat.
“Well…” She glances at Onthatile who shrugs.
“I’m done with my second semester, nothing hectic. I’m just on recess now, curled up in my apartment.” She says, Katlego glances at Kaboentle.
“And you?” He asks her, Kaboentle sighs.
“Nothing much from my side, I’m just studying hard right now. But I’m also trying to have a little fun on the side.” She says, Thabang chuckles—that sounded like a mischievous smile.
“Everything’s good on my side too.” That’s all he says before getting up and walking to the kitchen, the only person who hasn’t said anything here is Mapule’s husband and he has her eyes on Bayanda.
“Where is Sipho by the way? we haven’t heard from him in a long time.” Mapule says, Bayanda instantly tenses up. She glances at Katlego, who seems relaxed.
“He’s in jail.” He says, Onthatile almost spills out the drink in her mouth. She widens her eyes and glances at Katlego shocked.
“What do you mean he’s in jail?” Mapule asks him, Katlego heaves a sigh.
“He commited a crime and he’s in jail right now.” He says, keeping his face straight.
“Oh my God, will he even make it to his dad’s birthday? what if he’s not out by then? Katlego, how did this even happen?” Mapule asks, sitting up and carrying the baby out of his arms.
“I don’t want to talk about Sipho right now, Jail might be the perfect place for him to reflect on what he has done so let’s just drop it. Everyone should refresh before we go to the resturant. It’s almost 6pm.” Katlego says, holding onto Bayanda’s shaking hand.
“We booked at a guest house nearby, I don’t know if we can go there now and go get ready.” Mapule’s husband finally speaks, Bayanda’s eyes land on the bracelet he has on, is he a traditional healer? that bracelet..
“Sure, you guys can go. We’ll also get ready in the meantime.” Katlego says.
“Can I get ready over here? I really would like to stay behind.” Kaboentle says.
“That’s no problem, we know Katlego is your favourite cousin so whatever.” Mapule says getting up and covering her baby. Everyone else gets up.
“We’ll see you guys in about an hour and half.” Mapule says walking out first, followed by Thabang and Onthatile. The husband, Xola walks past Bayanda but stops on his tracks.
“I haven’t greeted you yet, hi..” He says, with a smile on his face—he extends his hand out for a handshake and Bayanda accepts it. She freezes right there and glances at him.
“It’s okay.” He says before letting go of her hand and walking off. Bayanda stands there, what the hell was that? Kaboentle closes the door after Katlego walks them out.
“He is what you think he is, he just freaks me out sometimes because he does a lot of reading and sometimes, he tells me things that hurt me—messages from my deceased family members, I get so scared.” She says, Bayanda sighs a bit.
“I’m not a very huge believer in these, hence I felt tense. I’ve grown up as a Christian.” She says cleaning the space, her heart is pounding slightly fast.
to be continued..