Celebrating 10 weeks of In Too Deep

I honestly don’t feel like going anywhere today. I actually like Oluremi’s house a lot. It is not as big as the royal house, but it is warm and cosy – just like its owner. It is the kind of house that you want to lock yourself up in the whole day and do nothing but just be in it. Now I know why my son is always here and I barely see him at the royal house.

My two daughters-in-law are very different, but they are amazing in their own rights. They understand my sons in a beautiful way and I love that they embrace my sons and this family as we are. They don’t try to change anything about my kids and that’s all that I have ever prayed for. I never liked Thato and Fikile. AT ALL. And they knew it. I would have never allowed my sons to marry those girls. They were not bad people, they were just not for my kids and they were not fit to marry my sons. I don’t care if people think I’m weird for knowing what my sons would be content with, but it is what it is. From the moment that I gave birth to two sons, I knew that I would have to hand them over to women one day. So, I made a list of what I would accept and what I wouldn’t accept as daughters-in-law because I made a promise to myself from the moment they were born that they would be okay in life no matter what – being okay with their wives is included in the ‘no matter what’. Oluremi and Regodise definitely tick my boxes of the kinds of daughters that I want. My boys can be full of nonsense, but having wives that can see them past that and still embrace them with love is everything to me.

My trainer has murdered me in the morning training session that I’ve just had, I have no plans of doing anything that requires a lot of energy today. We were working out in the garden and he loves it as much as I do. But, I am exhausted. The garden will deceive you to just stay in it throughout the day. So now that I am all showered up and lotioned, I dress up in my cute white sporty dress and wear it with a cute pair of Adidas sneakers that my sons bought for me. They do random things like that – buy me things just nje. My sons have style, so I know I will always receive proper things when they shop for me. Regodise tried to buy me a dress or two, but she’s definitely more on the village wife kind of dress code. Ona has actually been buying her a lot of clothes and surprising her. I think he also just wants to undo the village girl in her. But she’s beautiful, so we forgive her. It will take time, but we will get there. Oluremi is a stylish artist. I love her vibe. She is not the expensive designer clothes type of girl, but she will build a classy and expensive look out of something found in a Chinese store. She has so many maxi-dresses that I want to steal. I am waiting for her to come and live with us at the royal house and for Khotso to officially make her my daughter, then I will make sure that I go shopping with her and know her plugs. Now you know that I would have made an awesome girl mom.

I make my way to the kitchen to mix myself a nice smoothie and probably be lazy for the rest of the day. I was not expecting to see Mohato sitting in the dining area. But he is busy and on his cellphone as usual.
I walk towards where he is sitting and I stand in front of him. He looks at me then ends his call. As soon as his call has ended, he stands up and gives me his undivided attention.
“Dumela”, I say.
“Hey. Is everything okay?”
I start feeling emotional. I really need to put Reahile behind me. I cry as if I’m getting paid for it. But I do appreciate that my tears still mean something to Mohato.
“Can we talk? Somewhere away from here where we are guaranteed privacy?” I say.
He is concerned now.
“Kea, you are scaring me. What’s going on?”
“Please Mohato. Can we just go for a drive and talk?”
“Okay”, he says then he grabs his keys and leads me to one of his cars.

We drive out and he just drives us… I’m not sure to where, so I say, “Can I drive?”
He parks the car on the side of the road and gets out of the car. I jump over into the driver’s seat. He comes into the passenger seat and I drive off.
“You can attend to your meetings if you like. It’s going to be a long drive”, I say.
He looks at me. He really is unsettled. But Shaka phones him and rescues me from having to explain myself.

We arrive in South Africa, Mpumalanga, after nine hours of being on the road. Mohato was on the phone for the full nine hours, jumping from one meeting to another. It’s late so I find us accommodation and we check in.
“Is this a surprise holiday or something? We didn’t even bring clothes!” He is quite irritated as he says this.
“So your wife can’t be nice?” I say.
“Not like this, no.” He says and I just laugh at him.

I pay for our hotel room then ask them to please bring us supper to our room. I order food for both of us and pay for it. Mohato and I walk up to our room.
As we walk into our bedroom, his phone rings and the caller ID reads, “Ona”.
“Ona?” He answers his phone and puts it on speaker.
“Where are you guys?” Ona enquires.
“In Mpumalanga”.
“South Africa?”
“Yep”.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Your mother told me that we are going for a drive. Nine hours later, we are here.”
“No bags or anything?”
“Nothing”.
Ona starts laughing. I’m not even sure what he is laughing at.
“So when will you be back?” Ona asks.
Mohato looks at me and expects me to answer Ona.
“We will be back tomorrow”. I say.
“Couldn’t you drive to another province right here in Tholoana Kingdom?” Ona again.
“Ona, do you need anything? Why did you call us?” I ask him.
“Don’t shit on Ona. He is asking very valid questions”, Mohato.
“We don’t question him when he is out and about with Regodise. Why is he questioning us? We are adults. We are allowed to be spontaneous.” I say.
“Spontaneous?!” Mohato is really not impressed by what I’ve just done.
Ona is in stitches.
“Morena, I’ll send you guys more bodyguards. You probably only have two there with you.” Ona says.
“Thank you, son. Please tell them to bring us overnight bags. Tell the packers to pack those bags for us”, Mohato instructs Ona.
“And tell them to pack gym clothes”, I add.
“WHAT?!” Mohato though. Can he just live in the moment?
Ona just laughs aloud and says, “Goodnight.”

I need to get this man into a better mood because he’s beginning to even annoy me now.
“Join me for a shower?” I seductively say.
He looks at me and smiles. I didn’t think it would be that easy.
He is already undressing himself and walking towards me, leaving trails of his clothes on the ground. I laugh at him and run into the shower. We haven’t showered together in a very long time and it’s actually really nice. The act is familiar to us. Instinctively, we wash each other. He lets me wash him and I let him wash me. We kiss as we wash each other and we just have a lot of moments. This obviously leads to nice things that married people need to keep alive in their marriages. By the time our supper arrives, we just want to cuddle and sleep. But we dress up in bath robes and eat our supper.

As we sit at a table eating supper, he asks me, “Why are we here, baby?”
“I just wanted us to connect again”, I say.
He nods his head.
“I just want us to be happy again. But just trust me, okay. I want to show you something tomorrow and you’ll understand why this trip has been important. We should have done this a long time ago, but now I’m ready.”
He holds my hand and says, “Okay. Just promise me that you didn’t bring me here to kill me.”
I laugh aloud and he just giggles.

…

We are woken up by a knock on our door. I check the time and it is 8am. Mohato is already awake, so he attends to the door. Ona and Khotso walk in together.
“Why the hell are you here?” I ask them. Mohato is laughing and hugging them.
“You guys went on a holiday without us. We don’t understand.” Ona says.
“Guys, this was just for Mohato and I. How can you just gate-crash a holiday for two?” Me.
“Well, it’s a family vacation now. We love you, mommy. Here are your bags. We just arrived, so we will go and sleep now. But we will see you later when we wake up.” Khotso says.
Mohato finds this entire thing extremely funny. I’m a bit annoyed.
“Where’s Regodise and Mohale?” I ask.
“Settling into our room. Olu is also here and settling into the room she and Khotso will be sleeping in.” Ona says.
I honestly have no words.

…

Mohato and I are climbing up the trail to God’s window. He hates it and I am still not used to it. I know he is annoyed because he is silent and he is leaving me behind as he climbs up the trail. He just wants to get it over and done with. If only he knew.

We climb up until we reach the beautiful destination and it is still the wonder that it has always been. Even he is amazed. He just stands there and takes in the wonder before him. You cannot even take a picture of this place. Nothing beats seeing this wonder with the naked eye.

I stand next to him. I am overwhelmed with emotion.
“The day after Thapelo raped me, Reahile found me falling apart on the floor while breakfast was burning on the stove. My wrist was broken and he promised to take me to a doctor as soon as he had showed me something. He brought me here and this was the beginning of our relationship.” I tell him.
He is silent. He wants to swear at me and I can smell his irritation in his aura.
“I came here and I cried. I cried at what had become of my life. I cried because I wanted to leave it all here, so I could move on with a cleansed soul. But, I haven’t brought you here to talk about Reahile. I came up here with you because I want us to leave Reahile behind us and move on. I want us to cry and leave that painful part of us here – where he began to become a significant part of my life – and I want to finally just let him go.”
He looks at me like I’ve just changed his life.
I take a deep breath, tears still rolling down my face, then say, “The twins had a conversation with me the other day. They asked me to let him go. They told me that I held onto Reahile so much that they lost happy moments with me. They told me they went to you when they needed protection from his memory because it consumed me so much. They promised me that his legacy will live forever, but I need to start remembering him in a healthy way and not let his memory become me. They told me I’m not betraying Reahile by being happy with you. And they told me that they wouldn’t be upset with me if I chose to move on and be happy with you.”
I sob now and he holds me – hugs me and allows me to just release Reahile from my system. Each tear that rolls out of my eyes is a part of Reahile that I’ve held onto for years, hoping I can still keep him with me somehow.

When I’m done crying, I tell Mohato, “I’m letting him go, Mohato. And I’m choosing to forgive you for what happened and what led us to a point where I had to come to this place to let you go. I’ve come back here to fetch my love and affection for you again, letting Reahile rest in peace. I’m going to leave you here for a while as well because I need you to let go of what you did to him. You murdered him and I saw you do it. I forgive you. But clear your conscience and release the guilt. When we climb down from here, we start afresh with peace. Mohale needs us to do that.”
He nods his head.
I leave him up here and start making my way down the trail. I feel so much lighter. I had to do this and I had to do this with him.

…

“So this is where you brought my wife and flexed your game to take her from me, huh?” I speak into the space and to the spirit of my eldest brother.
I sit down and hold my knees close to my chest and just beneath my chin.
“I wish it never got to this. But we both know that there was never going to be enough room for both of us in Kearabetsoe’s heart, just like there was never going to be enough room for the both of us on the throne. The two of us were never going to live and coexist in one world, especially after Kea got pregnant. I could forgive you for everything else, monna. I could forgive you for always sabotaging me and always trying to prove that I was the wrong man on the throne. I could forgive you for calling my mother names and basically treating me like I was an outsider who had no right to the throne. But touching my wife – that’s the part that I could never forgive you for, especially because she loved you too. I’ve hated you so much over the last thirty years. My sons cannot call me father because they believe that your blood is in my hands and I’m the reason that they are growing up without a father. But we’ve come a long way and they know that even though they fail to call me their father, I wake up everyday to love them and be their dad.”

I’m so emotional. I can feel my heart breaking. I cry a bit, sobbing and trying to comfort my heart as I gather strength to speak again.

“I have hated you for the last thirty years because I laid next to my wife loving her, while she cried for you and mourned for you every single fucken day!”
I cry some more. My chest feels so heavy. I hate this. I hate being weak.
“But here I am today, accompanying my wife to let you go. She asked me to let you go as well, and I suppose to adequately do that, I need to apologise for the role that I played in fucking up our relationship too.”
I take a deep breath.
“Remember on my sixteenth birthday, before our mothers poisoned us with hatred for each other… you took me to a bar for the first time and bought me my first drink.”
I laugh because that day was such a ridiculous day.
“You told everyone that I was your laatie and we drank so much at that fucked up tavern. You bought me my first box of condoms and told me that I can have as many bitches as I wanted to fuck – everyone wants a Mohale brother – those were your words. But I should make sure that the children I have must be aligned to the number of children I can afford. You told me that enough people are burdening the government with children they cannot afford and one day when you are king, you are re-directing grants to something that will benefit the kingdom and not reward people who are making reckless decisions. You even said to me that you’d make an example out of me if I made a reckless decision about kids.”
Then something overcomes me…
“That’s the same night that my mother told me that I were the next king, not you. I suppose your mother told you the same thing because we woke up the next day as enemies. We didn’t talk to each other at the breakfast table like we always used to and you started excluding me from stuff, only acknowledging Morena as your brother. I stopped being your laaitie and it hurt. I didn’t choose this neither, Reahile. I would have chosen being your brother over being a king if I had the choice. And I truly apologise for all the times that I behaved as if I always chose the throne over being your brother. That’s why I will murder anyone if they turn the twins into what our mothers turned us into that day they told us I was going to be the next king. These boys will retell the story of brotherhood and I will make sure that even in death, they are legacy of family over the throne. That’s my promise to you, grootman, as my eternal apology for killing you and not telling you enough, while you were alive, that you were my hero. I looked up to you and when Kea left me for you, I understood more than you know. You’ve always been the better brother. Morena and I competed to be your favourite laaitie every chance we got. I wanted to win every time, but you chose him over me – even on days when I’d wish you’d choose me simply because I was the youngest of us three. Today I sit here, having murdered you both, as the most powerful man in this kingdom and possibly the most powerful man in the underworld. As my eternal apology to you and Morena, I will use all the power that I have to make sure that my boys become everything we could have been if we chose to love each other over hating each other. I ask that you please forgive me and please let Kearabetsoe go. Robalang ka khotso my brothers.

I stand up and cry some more, my hands are in my pocket and I’m just leaving it all here so I can walk down a better man. I just cry. I needed this. May my wife be blessed.

…

We get back to the lodge and we find the kids around the pool. No one is inside the pool. They must stop embarrassing me by making this look like a black pool party. Kea is over them being here. She just says hi to Dise and Olu then heads into our room.
I follow Kea to the bedroom

“Baby, are you really upset that the boys are here?” I ask her.
“Yes I am. I didn’t want to be a mom and a grandmother today. I wanted to just be Mohato’s wife. Re jole mahn.” She says and I actually laugh.

But I get what she means. We haven’t really connected like that in a long time – just being two irresponsible people in love. Everything has had to be in the confinement of our bedroom because our house is always filled with staff or our children or we are babysitting our grandson. It’s even worse now that we are at Oluremi’s house. It’s a very small house – compared to what we are used to. We are all in each other’s faces and spaces. It’s just crowded.

“Okay, I’m going to take you out and we will leave them here. We will do some stuff together and only meet up with them later when we come back to sleep.” I say.
She smiles at me.
“But Kea le wena…”
“Keng Mohato?”
“How do you just drive us here without a plan of what we are going to do when we get here? Now I must plan things I didn’t even think I’d be doing today.”
“I was being spontaneous, Mohato.”
“Spontaneous? You are a whole magogo. Being spontaneous for you is choosing a different colour of wool to experiment with when sewing”.
She throws a pillow at me and it actually hurts my face. I can’t help but laugh at her.
“You are so stupid”, she says.
“I love you too.”
I walk towards her and hug her – the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’ve travelled the world. I’ve been with a lot of women. Some were more serious than the others. But not one of them have ever measured up to my wife. I can bravely say that I got the cream of the crop. From her smile to her strength. From her beauty to her resilience. There is no better Queen fit to lead beside me. In Kearabetsoe’s soul, I have found my mate. Her happiness remains being my purpose.

“Morena!” Ona shouts as he bangs on our door in panic.
“Onaleruna, what do you want?” Kea asks him.
“Mah, this is serious. Please.”
I walk to the door and open it. All five of them walk in – including Mohale. It must be extremely serious because Regodise and Oluremi are dressed in bikinis as they walk in here. That’s just inappropriate- especially in my presence.
They notice my disapproval and they cover themselves in their towels. Good.
“The bodyguards have just been picked up.”
Khotso explains.
“Picked up?” I enquire.
“Yes. It’s an instruction from the interim king.” Ona.
“What interim king?” Kea asks.

My phone rings and I step away from the boys explaining what has just happened to their mother.
“Shaka. What’s going on?”
“Some man is here. He says he is the interim king. He says that you are being dethroned.”
“What?!”
“I have the soldiers on the ground here with me. Zithulele is in the roof of the royal house. We have a perfect view and the perfect number of people to take all of these people inside of their out. I just need your go-ahead.”
“My bodyguards have just left. They were picked up and –
“All bodyguards who have turned on you are dead. Those that left your holiday place there are already dead.”
“Good job, bishop.”
“You need to come back though. I’ve got a feeling that there is more to what has happened than what is currently being let on. The prime minister seems to be in on it”.
“Prime minister? Why?”
“Pope, just get back. This is bad news for us. They could use the church to dethrone you and we don’t know what that prime minister has with him that he is using to lead this coup. We need to know why he is willingly committing treason.”
“Bishop, do what you need to do. I’m on my way.”

I turn around and everyone’s bags are already packed. They are leading the way to the V300 that the kids arrived in. My boys and I get into the car that Kea and I arrived in and we lead the way back to Tholoana Kingdom.
“How did they know that we would be away today?” Ona asks me.
Does it look like I know? These two are going to make this a long ride back home. They need to give me a break and allow me to just think as we drive back. I just step on the accelerator and speed towards my kingdom. I need to be there as in yesterday.

…

We are dropped off at Oluremi’s house. By the time we get to this house, Zithulele and some men are already here and they are armed.
I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.

Mohato instructed me to go inside the house with Oluremi and Regodise. He is outside with my sons and they are basically about to go out there and be animals again.

Oluremi is quiet. I fear her silence a lot. Ever since she came into this family, it’s been one dramatic event after another and when she is silent, I wonder what it is that she is going through and I wonder what it is that she will end up deciding when it comes to Khotso. Khotso loves her – a lot. She seems to love him too. But everyone has their breaking point. She has had more drama than she has had happy days. I wouldn’t be shocked if she is wondering whether or not Khotso is worth it.

Her cellphone buzzes and she snaps out of her thoughts. Regodise is upstairs taking a shower and I’m in the kitchen trying to put together something to eat for us. Mohale is glued to Oluremi as per usual. Oluremi starts shaking her head in disbelief. I look at her. She is shaking.
She puts Mohale down and she runs to the door. She opens the door and interrupts the men going into vehicles to leave this place. I see Khotso in front of her in an instant and she slaps my son. Yerrrrr! I’ll murder this child.
“You impregnated someone, Khotso? This is how you do me?!”
Khotso mara. I think my son is bewitched, honestly.
“Lulu, I can explain.” Khotso mara.
“We are done! Do you hear me?! You and I are fucken done.” Then she throws her ring at him and she leaves the house.
“Baby! Lulu! Baby –
Lulu gets into her car and she just drives off, leaving all of us behind. At least she didn’t kick us out of her house.

Khotso looks like he wants to run after her, but Mohato grabs him and shoves him in the car. They have work to do.

…

I’m wide awake at 4am worrying terribly about what will come out today. I don’t know where my husband or where my sons are for starters. And secondly, do I have to now accept another woman as a daughter-in-law because of what Khotso has done? Especially if she is carrying a son because that is our next king. I’m also worried about Oluremi. She wasn’t okay when she left here. I hope she’s with Teboho wherever she is.

I make my way out of the bedroom and I go sit in the TV room. I see that Regodise is sitting here as well.
“Hello”, I greet her.
Wait. She’s not alone. She’s with some girl I don’t know and this girl looks very pregnant. Regodise knew about this?
“This is Lethabo. She’s the one that Khotso impregnated. She’s my cousin.” Regodise says.
It’s worse than I thought.
“So you bring her here? In Oluremi’s house? Are you mad?” I don’t understand this disconnect between Regodise’s actions and thinking.
“The family sent her to find us. I –
“She’s not welcome here. Khotso hasn’t even explained himself and explained what’s actually going on. Oluremi just heard about this and you are already shoving her down our throats in a house where you are a guest? Where’s your sensitivity?”
They are both quiet.
“Regodise, get this girl out of this house. Right now.”
Regodise nods her head and she prepares to leave. As they get to the door, Mohato walks in with my sons.
Khotso locks eyes with this Lethabo girl and at the blink of an eye, Khotso drags this girl across the room holding her throat. The poor girl is choking and falling. Khotso is just enraged.
Ona tries to stop Khotso, but Khotso takes out a gun and everyone backs off. I guess this girl is on her own now. Regodise is very upset so she goes up to Khotso and jumps on top of him, stopping him from what he’s doing. When Khotso takes his hands off Lethabo, she cannot even walk or run. She is fighting for air to breathe as she lies on the floor and she rubs her stomach because it did hit the floor a few times in that struggle.
“What did I tell you about that pregnancy?” Khotso yells at this girl. So, he knew vele?
“And what did I say to you about staying away from my fucken fiancé? Do you want to die?”
Hai bo!

Mohato just looks over this entire situation. He is actually just on his phone, unbothered by the scene before him.
“Khotso, she didn’t make this child by herself. Why did you cheat on Oluremi and sleep with her? Without using protection, nogal?” Regodise asks out of frustration as her cousin tries to still catch her breath on the floor.
“I don’t owe you any explanation about my life. Lethabo knew what this was and it was nothing more than just a one night stand. When she told me she was pregnant, I gave her fifty thousand rands to go and have an abortion. Why is she still pregnant?”

I always used to think that Onaleruna is the one who took Mohato’s heart. Now I’m learning that both my children are thoughtless and heartless.
Regodise slaps Khotso. I’m going to throttle these girls who keep putting their hands on my son.
“I’m going to kill this girl.” Khotso says as he points at Lethabo.
“What?!“ Lethabo.
“I am not losing Oluremi over you. I’m really not. I don’t love you. I don’t want you carrying my child. And I certainly have no plans of marrying you. I’m going to fix things with Oluremi and you had better pray that she will take me back. Because if she doesn’t, I will murder you.”
Poor Lethabo is just there crying on the floor.

…

Lethabo was a mistake. We were drunk. We were away and I smashed. But I made sure that she knew that I was committed to someone and that she was never going to get anything out of me. When things started getting serious between Oluremi and I – when we got engaged to be exact and this engagement made the news – Lethabo phoned me and told me that she was pregnant. We spoke about this. I told her that she cannot give birth to my child. I told her that she cannot risk my relationship with Oluremi and that she had to have an abortion. She asked me for twenty thousand rands. She said if I gave her twenty thousand rands, she would get rid of the child. I gave her fifty thousand rands. She’s still pregnant and now Oluremi and I are not even on speaking terms. She left before I could even explain myself and she hasn’t been picking up my calls.
I’ve been camping outside of Tebza’s house all week because Maboko told me that she is here. She will not even step outside the house to just come and say hi to me.

Maboko brings me food in the car. He lets me sleep in the outside cabin that they have here and I shower in there as well. But I haven’t even laid eyes on my fiancé. Why won’t she at least just hear me out? I won’t make up any excuses. I’ll apologise, admit that I’m wrong and promise her to never do something like this ever again. She has to believe me. But she has to hear me first.

Ona phones me.
“Sho?”
“Sho. Monna, you need to come back here. Lethabo and her family are here demanding damages and demanding that you marry her.”
Yoh, I don’t need this right now.
“No.”
“Come and tell them yourself.”
“You are all in Oluremi’s house. How are you letting this happen in Oluremi’s house? What the fuck is wrong with all of you?”
“You created this mess. You don’t get to put blame on anyone else. Come and take responsibility for your shit.”
“What I will do is call the fucken cops and tell them that you are trespassing. Get those fucken lunatics out of my house.”
I hang up!
The nerve.
Morena now phones me.
I don’t answer it. I just get on the road and make my way to the house.
When I arrive, I see some people standing outside and I just walk into the house. What is Oluremi doing here? When did she leave Tebza’s house?

“So you are really going to discuss the damages of your little unborn bastard in my house, Khotso?” Oluremi says and these people are all shocked.
“No baby. I didn’t even know these people were coming. I was coming here to tell them to fuck off.”
“Do I look like a fool to you?” Lulu.
“Baby, I need you to hear me out.”
“Hear what? That you are going to marry this girl? Where will she live? In my house?”
This is such a mess.
“And lona?!” She says looking at my family.
“This is how you treat people and reward your son for being an absolute whore?”
There is silence.
“I want you all out of my house within the next hour. Let Khotso’s latest slut accommodate you in whatever backstreet corner she crawled out of.”

Lulu storms out of the living area and I run after her. I get to the bedroom just on time and she cannot slam the door in my face. I push myself in then I close the door and lock it.
“Lulu, please let me explain.”
“I’m not interested”.
“What do you mean you are not interested?”
“I’m not interested in what you have to say! You betrayed me!”
“I DONT EVEN LOVE HER! I TOLD HER TO HAVE AN ABORTION! SHE IS STILL GOING TO HAVE THAT ABORTION!”
“THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE BABY! THAT FUCKEN BABY IS JUST A SYMBOL AND REMINDER OF YOUR BETRAYAL AND JUST HOW TRASH YOU ARE!”
“Baby –
“KHOTSO! I WANT YOU TO PACK YOUR SHIT, TAKE ALL THOSE JUDAS MOHALES DOWNSTAIRS, TAKE YOUR FOUR-MINUTE SLUT AND THE BASTARD GROWING INSIDE OF HER AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
I just look at her. She is so hurt. I’ve never seen her this way before and we are practically yelling at each other. Everyone in here has heard everything we’ve said.
“I am Oluremi Mokoena. You don’t complete me. I am a powerhouse on my own. I’m not these many sluts of Tholoana Kingdom that need the Mohale name as their last name. I’ll breathe and live just fine without you. So don’t even waste your time hoping that I’m going to tolerate this shit that you’ve put me in. We are done, Khotso.”
“I’m not done with you, Oluremi. And I’m begging you… I know you are upset right now, but I’m begging you, my love… please don’t give up on us. Please.”
She just looks at me.

I get out of the bedroom and I just see Lethabo and her people are the ones that have left. My family – the Judas Mohales – they are all sitting in the living room.
I look at them. I know they heard that screaming match upstairs.
“We are not leaving, Khotso.” Morena says.
I really don’t even have the energy for this.