THE COVEN’S BRIDE
CHAPTER 17
NALEDI
Sibusiso has one hand on the steering wheel, and another is holding my hand. I am shaking, not because I am cold, but because I am nervous about meeting his family. Sibusiso has assured me that they like me and that I have nothing to worry about, but I am still scared. What if they don’t like me? What if I am not rich enough for them? What if they think I am not the perfect candidate to be with their son?
“We are about two minutes away from the house,” says Sibusiso. That makes me more nervous. I feel like I am going to be sick. I am even thinking of faking being sick.
“Do you have water in here?”
“I don’t, I will get you some at the house,” he says, then brings my hand to her lips and kisses it. “You will be fine, my love, you have nothing to be scared about.”
“I cannot help it. I am meeting the family of the man I love.”
“They love you. If it makes you feel better, my older brother Senzo thinks you are beautiful.” He opens the gate with the remote and drives in.
It’s like those mansions from the TV where people drive in, and the house is at a distance. I try to suppress my shock when I see the house. It is huge. If I remember correctly, he said he lives with his parents, two brothers, Senzo and Jules, along with his little sister Jasmine, the one he was with at the party.
“Your house is huge.”
He says, “This old thing.”
He parks the car and comes to open the door for me. We stand outside the car. He cups my face and kisses me, telling me that I will be fine. He promises to be by my side the whole evening and that he will not let me feel out of place and uncomfortable. He also tells me that he is not sure how many people will be at the dinner, but the whole Gumbi family will be there. Sibusiso holds my hand and leads me to the front door. Someone opens the door for us and greets us. The man is wearing all white.
Sibusiso says to me. “Everyone you see wearing all white is the house stuff. If you need something, ask me or them. Don’t be shy to ask for anything.”
I nod and try not to look around too much. Their house is beautiful, and their stuff is neatly dressed. They are all greeting us as we pass by. I love how polite they are and how they are complimenting me. We see a male, a distance from us. Sibusiso tells me that it’s his younger brother Jules. Jules is wearing black trousers with a top inside, but it’s not a T-shirt, and a gold blazer that matches his shoes.
“Let me guess, this is Naledi?” says Jules, and I smile. What else can I do? He leans and kisses me on the cheek. “Hello, Naledi, nice to finally meet you.”
I have learnt to accept that rich people love hugging and kissing people. “Nice to meet you too, Jules. Your brother has told me good things about you.”
“I doubt that. This idiot hates me,” says Jules, then he extends his hand to me. “Let me show you around.”
I look at Sibusiso, who nods and tells me that I will be fine with his brother. I take Jules’s hand – he first gets us drinks and then shows me around. Their house is beautiful, and they have beautiful and expensive portraits, the kind that one sees in art galleries and museums.
“I am happy to finally meet the woman who makes my brother happy,” Jules says to me.
“He also makes me happy.”
“I am glad. What do you do, Naledi?” he takes the empty glass from my hand and hands it to the first helper we run into.
“I work at a salon, I do hair.”
“Did you see my hair? I think it’s not long enough to be plaited, can you plait it?” he asks, and I look at him. I didn’t even look at him closely, I was focused on the gold jacket.
“I think we can plait it, have you plaited it before?”
He answers, “I normally do, but I stopped about 2 months ago. I think I should get back to plaiting it.”
“Come to our salon and we will sort you out.”
Martha will be happy to have more rich clients. She knows that rich people refer each other to the people who do their hair, and her salon will be packed. No wonder Martha loves me. I bring the rich people to her – Tshidi is always referring people to us.
“That is Mzilikazi,” Jules gestures with his head. “He is very old and our great grandfather, I think.”
I look in the direction where Mzilikazi is, and he turns to look in our direction as if he feels that we are looking at him. My eyes lock with his, and my heart skips a beat. What does that mean? He gestures that we come to him. I look at Jules, and he nods. We walk towards Mzilikazi, and I cannot help but feel chills all over my body. The man has an intimidating aura, and I feel scared.
“Jules, I am scared.” The words slip out of my mouth. I don’t know why I feel scared.
“Do you want us to go back?”
“Won’t that seem rude to him?” I whisper, even though I don’t know why I am whispering.
“I understand that you are scared. But he is chilled, I promise, and we will just say hi, and I will get you out of there. Trust me, okay?”
I nod and we continue walking towards Mzilikazi. When we get close, Mzilikazi extends his hand to me. I hesitate but take it. “Good evening, sir.”
He kneels in front one me. “MaNkala.”
“Please don’t kneel, please, I should be the one kneeling.” Why would he do that? I should be humbling myself before him, not the other way around. He is also the first person to call me MaNkala, everyone uses my name.
“It is nice to finally meet the new member of the Gumbi family. Welcome to the family, child.”
I smile, that is very sweet of him. All the fear I was feeling has disappeared. “Thank you, sir.”
“Walk with me,” he requests, and I look at Jules who nods. Mzilikazi gives me his arm, and we walk together. Indeed, Sibusiso’s family is chilled. “I am honoured to finally meet you, MaNkala.”
“The pleasure is all mine, sir.”
He says, “I hope Sibusiso treats you well, or I am going to kick him.”
I chuckle, “There is no need for that. He treats me like a queen, and it’s nice to finally meet his family.”
“The pleasure is all ours.”
We reach a room and the door opens. The stuff is everywhere, opening doors and everything. In the room, there is one woman and three men. They all look past their fifties. They all stand when they see us.
“I brought MaNkala with me,” Mzilikazi says. He says it with much pride like I am royalty.
One of the men walks to us and says, “Hello, dear. I am Sibusiso’s father.”
“Mr. Gumbi, hello!”
“Welcome to the family, dear,” he says with a smile and says, “This is my father, Mkhonto, his brother, Zolani, and our sister, Ntombizodwa.”
“Nice to meet you all,” I say after shaking hands with the men, Ntombizodwa hugs me.
“She is so beautiful, Sibusiso chose well,” says Ntombizodwa.
The staff walks to us with what I assume are drinks, the glasses are gold, and I cannot see what is inside. They all hand us glasses. Mzilikazi raises his glass and says, “To the new Gumbi family member.”
Everyone raises their glass and drinks. I also drink. I don’t know what drink this is, but it tastes horrible. I try to hide it, but it tastes horrible. Zolani says, “We are sorry it’s a little bitter. We old people love bitter drinks.”
“It’s okay, thank you so much for the warm welcome,” I say with a smile.
“Let me take her back to Sibusiso before he thinks we did something to her.” Sibusiso’s father takes my arm and leads me out. Sibusiso’s family is so lovely – indeed, I had nothing to worry about. As we walk, I can tell something is on Mr. Gumbi’s mind, he looks lost in his thoughts or sad about something.
“Are you okay, sir?”
He flashes a smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I am fine, dear, just tired, you know, old age. We get tired easily.”
“I understand.”
We run into Sibusiso, and he seems to have been looking for me. His father says, “I was just introducing her to the elders. Sorry, I beat you to it.”
“No problem,” Sibusiso takes my hand, and we walk away. He asks, “Are you okay? Did they bother you?”
“I am fine, my love. I met your grandfather and great grandfather. Your family is lovely, especially Mzilikazi.”
He exhales heavily. “I was worried they were bothering you.”
“Not at all.”
“Come meet the woman who gave birth to me,” he leads me to what I assume is the kitchen. Before he can even introduce us, a woman walks up to us.
“Is this her?” she hugs me. “Nice to meet you, Naledi.”
“Nice to meet you too, ma’am.”
“Call me Rosa,” she says, cupping my face. “You are so gorgeous, no wonder Sibusiso cannot stop smiling.”
“Thank you.”