BAYANDA
07 .
KATLEGO
Being out of the country after leaving Bayanda was something that I never saw coming—it came as a shock to me when my mother told me that we were moving out of the country permanently. The job she had received required us to move. It felt like a destiny type of thing, like destiny was trying to separate Yanda and me.
I changed schools and had to manage being in an international school. Because I was far away from someone I promised to come back for, my mental state shifted. I constantly kept thinking about her, at some point. I thought she started hating me because I hadn’t reached out in weeks.
Weeks turned into months and I continued growing, when my mom married my step-dad—we came back to South Africa and I didn’t hear a word about Bayanda. I didn’t find her on any social media platform and when I went to her home in Durban but I found no one. I was 18 at that time, they told me that the people that have been staying there sold their house.
In my mind, I thought that she had already forgotten about me because I didn’t come back for her so I gave up, punched myself hard for giving up but I did give up. I thought I hurt her, I didn’t keep my promise—I have a lot to apologize for. I fumbled up a good friendship.
“You thought I was mad at you?” She asks me, I nod. Playing with her fingers, she sighs.
“I was hurt, not mad. I didn’t understand how you could disappear without a single trace. I also thought you had forgotten about me. So I continued living my life.” She says, looking aside.
“I’m sorry for not looking enough and giving up. It’s crazy that I’m meeting you when you’re 26 years old, yet I last saw you when you were 12 years old.” I say, I can’t get enough of her beauty—she was cute in her days but she’s gorgeous now.
“I still have the bracelet, it’s in my memory box.” She says, I still remember that bracelet that I gave her when I first met her—I swear I never looked back.
“The album?” I ask her, she nods.
“Why would I throw it away? it’s very priceless to me.” She says, I smile. She makes everything feel so much easier, been feeling guilty all these years for not pitching up but I am glad she doesn’t hate me like that.
“So, Sipho? how did that happen?” I ask her, she glances at me and raises her eyebrow.
“Why would you ask me something like that?—that’s something you should have asked your brother.” She says, come to think of it—she’s 3 years younger than Sipho. She doesn’t mind?
“I want you to answer it, I’m very interested in your love story.” I say, she rolls her eyes. I’m not that interested, I just want to keep the conversation going.
“We met at a friend’s party, he was there with his friends and he spotted me. He came to talk to me and I gave him my numbers because I thought he was handsome, we started talking and then days later—we made things official.” She says, because he’s handsome?
“So you go for looks in a relationship?” I ask her, she shakes her head.
“I don’t go for looks but who would want to be with an ugly guy? definitely not me.” She says, I nod.
“And you feel he’s the one?” I ask her, she should be answering the question in a second but she’s hesitating. She glances at me and shrugs.
“I have no idea, I don’t know how my future looks like so I wouldn’t be able to know if he’s the one.” She says, I didn’t ask if she knows that Sipho is the one or what. I asked her if she feels that he’s the one.
“Do you feel he’s the one?” I ask her again, she sighs.
“No, but I love him.” She says, I nod. I can’t protest against anything she feels after I disappeared for 14 years—she had to live her life.
“And you? do you have a girlfriend? I bet you picked up a good looking woman in Germany.” She says, I chuckle—she’s very funny.
“We just broke up recently.” I say, she rolls her eyes.
“So you were in a relationship while you were away? wow.” She says folding her arms, uhm? I don’t get it.
“But you were also in a relationship with Sipho while I was away so what are you getting upset for?” I ask her, she rolls her eyes.
“Whatever, I need to get back to work. You need to leave.” She says getting up, I didn’t mean to look at her body but she has a beautiful body.
“Have a great day.” I say getting up.
“Thank you for the gifts.” She says, I lean over and kiss her forehead. I want to be here for the rest of my life but I can’t also imagine Sipho’s reaction to all of this.
“You’re welcome.” I say walking out, I’m holding my car keys and phone in my hands. I walk out of the hospital and head to my car. I unlock it and get inside. I start the engine and drive off, I need to have a conversation with my mother.
—
I get home and park my car, Sipho is here. I see his car, I get off mine and walk inside. I head to the kitchen because that’s where my mom likes to be, in hopes that I don’t find Sipho in there.
“Oh, you’re here? I didn’t expect to see you this early. What’s wrong?” She asks me, I sigh and give her a side hug.
“I’m sure you know why I am here.” I say, she chuckles and sits down. I sit down as well.
“Bayanda is quite beautiful, isn’t she?” She says, I sigh again and nod. I can’t really deny that, it’s so obvious.
“Let me not resort to hurting my brother, I’m inlove with her but I can’t also risk hurting Sipho. It seems like he really does love her, they’re inlove.” I say—Bayanda said she loves him, that’s how she truly feels about him.
“Bayanda was yours in the beginning.” She says, if she hadn’t gotten a new job then things would have been totally different—I would have never separated from my best friend, everything would’ve went according to plan.
“But I disappeared for 14 years Ma, Sipho saw her and he fell for her. I can’t just snatch her from him like that, I do care about Sipho too.” I say, in this case—I can’t think of myself only in this situation, my brother is also involved.
“So you’re letting her go and letting your brother continue dating her? that doesn’t sound very right.” She says, I nod.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future but I can’t confess my love to her while she’s in a relationship with my brother.” I say, getting up.
“I’ll be in my room, I have some work to do before going to meet Mbuso.” I say walking out, I head upstairs. His music is on and it’s making a lot of noise, I’m wondering why Yanda puts up with him—she’s not a very huge fan of noise.
I get into my bedroom and close the door. I take off my jacket and sigh heavily. I need to catch my breath before I go crazy.
“Brother..” I turn back and he’s standing by the door.
“Come in.” I say, he walks inside and closes the door again. I sit on the bed and wait for him to sit too.
“Is there a problem?” I ask him, he sighs.
“I want you to give your blessings to marry Bayanda—to actually propose to her.” He says, yeah—my heart just dropped to my stomach. What does he mean “marry” and “propose”?
“You want to propose to Bayanda?” I ask him, he nods and chuckles.
“I really think she’s the one, we’ve together for a short space of time but it feels like we’ve known each other for a lifetime. She makes me so happy, I want to make her my fiance.” He says, he’s serious—he’s really serious?
“(clears throat), you’re too young to get married. Why don’t you wait for rhe right time?” I ask him, he shakes his head.
“I’m not waiting for any rught time brother, I want to propose to her and marry her within the next 3 months. Age doesn’t matter, I have everything planned out.” He says, is he crazy? propose to her and marry her within the next 3 months? thats too soon, he has smoked something that is bigger than him this one. What’s wrong with this boy?
“Is she ready to get married?” I ask him, Yanda said she isn’t sure about him being the one, why would she want to get married to him?
“Bayanda would never refuse anything that I want for both our futures. She knows that I love her and she loves me just as much, she’s my soulmate.” He says, I want to vomit. He should leave this room now.
“And you want my blessings? you’re crazy.” I say, it feels like he’s deciding for her without her permission. I may not have seen Yanda for 14 years but I still know her like the back of my hand.
“I’m crazy?—but why would you say something like that? I love her, what’s wrong with marrying her?” He asks me, everything is so wrong. I mean, it’s not because I’m jealous or anything.
“I don’t think you should be asking for blessings from me, go to mom and dad. Talk to them, I don’t have anything to do with this.” I say pulling out my laptop out of the bag.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you don’t want me to get married to Bayanda?—or yini? you want her? I saw the way you were looking at her last night. That wasn’t a normal stare.” He says, I sigh. I don’t have time for Sipho, like… I really don’t.
“Get out of my room with your nonsense, you’re talking bullsh!t.” I say, he gets up and stops on his tracks. His eyes land on the pictures on the wall, he hasn’t realized that the little girl in the pictures is Bayanda.
“You’re very slow.” I say, he glances at me and walks out. These pictures have been getting renewed every year and he hasn’t realized. He must know that Bayanda once was in a wheelchair, the girl in the picture is also in a wheelchair—can’t he read between the lines? hasn’t Yanda shown him her childhood pictures? I fail to understand.
—
—
SIPHO
If he can’t give me his blessings then I’ll just ask my dad, I can’t really continue treating Katlego like gold just because he’s making his mark in the business industry. It feels like he doesn’t want me to get married to Bayanda or I’m just overreacting?
“Mom, I’m going to see Bayanda. Please don’t wait up for me.” I say grabbing my car keys and walking out of the house. I get to my car and get inside, I start the engine and drive off.
We’ve been together for so many months. I should propose to her, I’m going to look for an expensive ring for her. One that would suit her beautiful fingers.
She’s at work right now so I’m going to drive to her place and prepare a romantic setup for her. Since the time we were dating, she has never attempted to make love with me—she has always said she isn’t ready but I don’t get what she’s not ready for, she’s a 26 year old. She should stop acting like a baby.
—
She must be on her way right now, I’ve prepared a little setup in her bedroom. Hopefully she’ll like it even though she doesn’t drink, she frustrates me so much when she doesn’t drink because it feels like she wants me to drink all alone and be in the mood alone.
There was a piece of my lingerie in my car, I got it for her. It’s the best in stock, I think it would look nice on her. I hear the door opening downstairs, I’ve sent Sarah to do some groceries for her—so she doesn’t disturb us.
“Sipho?” She says standing by the door, I smile and walk to her. She looks shocked.
“Hey baby, come.” I say holding her hand and closing the door. I take her handbag and place it down.
“I prepared this for the both of us, we haven’t spent much time together these days.” I say, she raises her eyebrow.
“You saw me yesterday, what do you mean we haven’t spent much time together?” She asks, I pull her closer to me.
“I mean exactly that.” I say, holding her waist tight.
“I need to take a shower, I’m tired. Please let me go.” She says, moving uncomfortably. That’s all she does, she does this all the time. She keeps making it seem like I’m touching her in the wrong way.
“Wait, don’t you think it’s time you finally let me break your purity? it’s been months baby.” I say, she frowns.
“Are you insane or what?—you’ve been asking the same thing over and over again and I’ve been telling you that I’m not ready. I should trust you fully to be able to give you my virginity. Who are you pushing for it to happen?” She asks me, I heave a sigh—she’s getting on my nerves.
“Am I not your boyfriend?—aren’t we both adults? then what are you unsure of? You don’t even trust me Bayanda, what’s the use of being in this relationship?” I ask her, letting her go.
“So you came into this relationship just to have sex with me? that’s all that matters to you? If I’m not ready, should I force myself to be ready? You told me you’d wait, what the f!ck are you doing now?” She asks, taking off her shoes.
“Is there someone who you’re giving it to? is that why you keep saying you’re not ready?” I ask her, she chuckles—irritated.
“I need my bedroom to be the way it was before, remove everything you have added and leave.” She says walking to the bathroom, I stand there—I’m already annoyed as it is. Let me just pack up and leave.
I pack up everything, not ready my foot. She’s just acting like a child, I’m not even sure she’s the virgin she keeps claiming she is. She’s just lying to me. I open one of her drawers and come across an medium sized brown box. It’s written “memories”.
I take the album and close the drawer. I sit on the bed and open the album, the first page is written “I(Katlego) met her first, she told me her name is Bayanda” it reads like that, I frown confused.
I turn over the first page and come across the same picture that I saw in Katlego’s room.
“What are you doing with my personal things?” I raise my head and find her standing there. So…
“You and Katlego know each other?” I ask her, she tries snatching the album from me.
“Give me that!” She says, she’s fighting for it like she’s fighting for her life.
“I’m asking you a question.” I say.
“So what if we know each other? That doesn’t give you the right to search my things!” She says, she’s raising her voice at me. Next thing I know, she’s on the floor—Did I… I look at my hand, I slapped her.
“Bayanda…” I try to touch her but she moves back.
“Leave, before I call the police on you. LEAVE!” She screams, I throw the album on the bed and walk out. What just happened?—why does Katlego know Bayanda? damn, him.