BONDED FOREVER By Kuli Writes Chapter 6

BONDED FOREVER.
BONUS chapter sponsored by Kuli Writes 😊 for her amazing people❤️
6. I’VE BEEN THINKING.
ANDZISO
“Papa!” Khanyisa screams her lungs out in excitement while running towards my first big brother, Nhlamulo.
I had planned to have a chilled Saturday indoors but Khanyisa here had different plans and she made sure I deliver and now we’re in Johannesburg visiting our family.
” There’s my princess,” He matches her energy and picks her up then he spins her around a couple of times before stopping “Look at how tall you’re getting, soon I won’t be able to carry you,”
“You promised to carry me until I turn twenty,papa,” she reminds him, with her little hands wrapped around his neck. That’s one thing about Khanyisa, she will never forget the things you tell her, even if you said them over a year ago.
“I did, didn’t I? That means I have to make sure I stay fit.”
“You’re fit, just don’t grow too old, old people get tired easily,” she points out and he chuckles.
“Did you hear that? Khanyisa doesn’t think I’m old,” boti Nhlamulo says to me as we proceed to walk around the house and straight to the backyard where everyone is, Khanyisa is still on his arms and neither of them look ready to let go of the other.
“She’s too young to tell the difference”
When he finally decided to move out of his first house in Soweto, Protea north his wife left him no choice but to get a house of her dreams. I say her dreams because I know my brother, he wouldn’t have left the loxion life for a suburb one unless it makes his wife happy. The one thing that gives him peace is that just like in Protea north, the people here know to leave him alone. My brother is not a people’s person, his jolly self is reserved for us, his people.
“Is the food ready?” Khanyisa asks him like she didn’t have a meal before we left and a snack in the car.
“Yes it is,” He says then looks at me but I stop him before he says anything.
“Don’t even… You know she’s always looking or asking for food,” one would swear I don’t feed her.
“I’m just making sure that my daughter is getting everything that she wants,”
The minute everyone comes into view has Khanyisa wanting to hop off her uncle’s arms like they are made of hot coal.
“My girl is here!” boti Nhlamulo’s wife, sesi Voni is the first to lay eyes on her an they meet each other half way for a hug. Sesi Voni tries to bend so she can meet Khanyisa at her level but her pregnant belly won’t allow her to go that far.
Behind her is my nephew, Kuhlula who is three years younger than Khanyisa. Last I was here he was always following his mother around, it seems things haven’t changed.
“Famba xeweta papantsongo, (go and greet your uncle)” sesi Voni says to him and with a frown he comes to stand in front of me, I swear this kid is the spitting image of boti Nhlamulo and not just that, he doesn’t like people either.
“Hi,” his greets with his little voice and I kneel in front of him.
“Kunjhani? (how are you?”
“Nipfukile (I’m good)” he shyly looks away.
“I’m good too, are you too big for hugs now?” I ask and see a little smile forming on his lips as he shakes his head. “Come here then,” I open my arms for him and he allows me to hug him, I unexpectedly lift him and bounce him in the air, making him laugh, that’s more like it.
Sesi Voni and I exchange a hug too “You look tired,” I tell her, earning a glare from her and her husband.
“What exactly are you saying, Andziso?” she asks with a half threatening tone.
“Nothing, sesi. It’s just an observation, when are we meeting our baby again?”
“We’re just weeks away now until we meet him. I can’t wait, I’m so done with this,” she sighs.
“Then you’ll be trying for a girl,” I know exactly what I’m doing and it’s worth the looks on their faces.
“No way, we’re done,” she declares.
“But mama, we agreed on one more,” her husband tries to soften her up.
“You don’t have sisters Nhlamulo, I don’t have sisters too. I don’t think we’ll get a girl,”
“I got a girl and I don’t have sisters either, well biological sisters because there’s you and sesi Kago,” I chip in
“Stop planting ideas in your brother’s head. We’re done and I love my boys.” she takes Khanyisa’s little hand and walks away with her.
“Well, it looks like you really are done,” I say to my brother when we are left alone and he chuckles like he knows something I don’t.
“She says that now, wait until-”
“Wait! I may be grown but I’m still your baby brother and I don’t need to know everything,”
At the corner of my eye I spot my second brother, Tiyani step outside of the house with my sister in-law, sesi Kago. They try to act normal but I can see through them. I look at my brother and mouth “I see you,”
He mouths back “Don’t.” sesi Kago just smiles at me and walks past me to join sesi Voni.
“Dad! Where were you?” Khanyisa asks when she sees Tiyani. Yes, Khanyisa has grown to understand that she has three fathers because as our African culture will have it, your father’s brothers are your fathers too.
Her calling boti Nhlamulo “papa” and Tiyani “dad,” stems from the fact that there is no English term for “papahulu”so she decided on her own that she would address them in the manner that she does. She has daddy, papa and dad.
Once we’re over the excitement of seeing each other, I join my brothers on one side of the yard where there’s the built in braai stand and mini bar.
“Will you be sleeping over?” Boti Nhlamulo asks.
“Yeah, I think so,”
“Alright,” He says and passes me a beer, had I said no I’d be drinking juice. No matter how old I get, his overprotectiveness doesn’t change. Infact, it’s gotten worse since Khanyisa came into our lives.
“How is business going?” boti Tiyani asks.
“Do you want me to bore you with the details or to just tell you if we’re making more money or not?”
“Spare us the details, just tell us if we are closer to becoming millionaires,” He says and boti Nhlamulo nods.
When I was ready to make my dream a reality, I approached my two brothers with a plan. I felt safer going into business with my own people than strangers and they welcomed my business plan with open arms and money.
They decided that they would rather be silent partners considering they don’t know much about software development, it’s what I went to school for and in all honesty, the passion was and remains to be mine alone. My brothers only chipped in because they also weren’t fond of the idea of me getting into such an agreement with anyone else, especially Tiyani, he was against that idea from the moment it left my lips.
They provided the capital and supported me as I got Khanyisa Tech Solutions off the ground. What started as me working from my car, providing services to different businesses ended up with us being able to lease two floors of a building for our office space. That’s where we currently are and from here, the only way to go is the top, when time passes I’ll look into getting a permanent place.
“Alright. Business is looking good. I’ve got more pitches lined up and word is quickly spreading that Khanyisa Tech is the place to go. So we’ll be rolling in more money soon,” I smirk.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Tiyani says excitedly.
My brothers and I didn’t have the best upbringing, we weren’t always rolling in wealth and comfort the way that we are right now but boti Nhlamulo made it his priority to send both myself and Tiyani to school. I don’t know where we would both be if it weren’t for him and I am happy that he has lived to see what all his hard work was for.
Tiyani opened his own firm a year ago and it’s still on its growing stages, I’m busy with the tech company and the man who assumed the role of a father even though he had been dealt the same cards as us, if not worse? He went on to open a private security company with his best friend, Lefa. He’s also a landlord, he invested in student accommodation and he’s looking to expand that business as well. Looking at us right now, one wouldn’t say that there was a time we all couldn’t stand to even be in the same room and looking at Khanyisa and I? One wouldn’t say there was a time I was scared and didn’t even know what to do with her. It’s not a complete lie that life does get better with time.
“How is Pearl?” Boti Nhlamulo asks, putting a smile on my face.
“Pearl is great, everything is going good, I just need to make more time for us,”
“Just make sure she doesn’t have an unhinged uncle before knocking her up,” Tiyani jokes and I try giving him a straight face before I smiling and shaking my head at the memory.
“I’ll be sure to investigate the whole family, I’d hate to end up in hospital again,”
“Get their mental medical records too, we need to know what we’re getting into,” He adds.
“You better do that,” Boti Nhlamulo says.
“I’ve been thinking… Maybe I don’t want to wait a year to introduce her to Khanyisa,” I tell them and it goes quiet for a moment.
“Why is that?” – Tiyani.
“The truth is we’ve been taking a bit of strain and I feel like it’s because I’m trying so hard to not have the two parts of my life mix. You know how I feel about introducing people to Khanyisa, I’ve never even done it but this time…I don’t know, I feel like we might be in it for the long haul and maybe things would be easier of I got my two people together. ”
” That makes sense, only if you are sure about her though. Kids are quick to get attached, I’d say only let her meet Pearl if you are very sure that Pearl is who you want to be with, “-Boti Nhlamulo.
” She is, we’re doing good together, ”
” How does she feel about meeting Khanyisa? This is about her too, “-Tiyani.
” She has hinted multiple times that she’s ready, she’s just waiting for me to be ready, ”
” Then you have your answer, ” Tiyani adds.
“Have you told Pearl about Khanyisa’s mother?” – Boti Nhlamulo.
“I told her the basics, that she’s not around,” I answer, trying not to let my mind fall into thinking about Shamiso. We haven’t spoken in eight years, I don’t know if she will ever be back, if she’s still alive… A lot happened when Khanyisa was born and none of it is fond memories. It doesn’t help that Khanyisa has started noticing that other kids have mothers and she doesn’t. She’s asked me about it before and the best thing I could tell her is that not all families are the same. When she asked where her mother was I just said she had to go but she might be back someday. I know my daughter is holding on to that wish and the more she grows, the more I worry that she will start to believe that wasn’t wanted.
“We will keep her little heart sheltered for as long as we can, hopefully Shamiso will find her way back to her daughter before she’s old enough to draw her own conclusions,”
“I don’t know. I don’t think she’s coming back and I’ve started to make peace with it. Hopefully Khanyisa will make peace with it too when she’s old enough to understand,”
“Whatever happens, she knows she’s got us. We are her family,” He says and I agree.
“Alright, I’m going to leave the depressing talk to go and swim with my kids. Don’t finish the liquor!” he says as he gets up to go and join Khanyisa and Kuhlula who are already in their swimwear and have their floaties on them.
“Come take a picture, daddy!” Khanyisa says and I get on my feet too “Don’t forget to post it,” she smiles, sometimes she forgets that my Instagram account is mine, not hers.
“Yes, boss. I’ll post it.”