The second date

I am dolling up for our second date. He says I should be my most comfortable and wear the one outfit I would not mind getting dirty in. The makeup is thus minimal. I wear black gym tights and an oversized purple t-shirt. He arrives at 05H00, the exact time he told me to be ready by. After two knocks, I open for him. He is wearing long tracksuit pants and a vest. 

“Perfect”, he says as he walks in. 

“Where are we going, Zithulele?” I ask him. 

“It’s a surprise. You will need a cap. I bought you a pair of hiking boots”, he says. 

Oh hell no! 

“We are going hiking?” I ask him, annoyed actually.

He smiles at me. 

There is nothing amusing about this. SERIOUSLY?! I’m not a hiking kind of girl. 

He manages to get me out the house and we drive to the hiking place. 

I passed out in the car on our way to this hike. Zee wakes me up as he parks the car. We get out of the car and kiss. I was not happy about this hike this morning, but now that we are here, nature is making me fall in love with the idea. 

We make our way to the entrance and Zee pays. He speaks a bit with the security guard at the gate for a few minutes. We then start our hike. 

Five kilometres into the hike and we are still laughing. We are chatting about and laughing as if we are not doing some hectic workout. It starts drizzling and suddenly, this hike feels like the best part of my year. When we reach eight kilometres, the uphill climb begins. 

“You still okay?” He asks me. Shame he is even holding my hand. 

“I’m okay, baby. My ass just feels heavy”, I say. 

He laughs. 

“I love that ass. It’s sexy”, he says. 

We chuckle and walk about. 

We are on our way uphill when we bump into the Mohale twins with some girls that they are with. 

“Is this a group date?” I ask. I am also slightly offended because I actually like Regodise. I hope Ona is not cheating on her already.

Zee holds my hand and kisses it. He smiles at me as if begging me to be a little more tolerant. 

“Hey!” The two ladies who are with the Mohale twins greet me. 

“Hey ladies. How are you?” Me. 

“We good. I’m Maphito”, one of the girls says. 

“And I’m Cynthia, but everyone calls me Cynn”, the other says. 

“I’m Letlali. Lovely meeting you ladies”, I say. Maphito looks like she is older than all of us here. She is very pretty, but she’s old. She’s also wearing gym tights and a crop top. Her ass is as flat as a plank, I tell you. But her boobs are as massive as my ass. Cynn looks like she was picked up from a prostitution ring. Everything about her just tells you that you would find her outside of a motel called Stardust selling herself for R50 a night. Her outfit is concerning. She is hiking in a mini-dress that’s as short as the bumshorts that she is wearing underneath that dress. She has a weave on – human hair, but not 100% human hair. And she has her heels in her hands. Please don’t tell me this girl came to hike in high heels. 

The guys are already chatting about and hiking ahead of us. Us, the ladies, are talking about useless things and laughing behind them. I am actually enjoying this. Maphito, in her crop top, has well-toned abs. She clearly does this often amongst other ways of keeping fit. Cynn is forcing us to walk slower because hiking barefoot is not exactly recommended.  

The rain starts pouring and the men are no longer in sight. What kind of date is this? We keep walking uphill with the ladies trying our best not to slip on one of these rocks. We get to the top of the hill after an hour and a half. We find the men chatting to Morena Mohato Mohale and Shaka Maphumulo. They are in some car that seems to have driven up this hill instead of them walking like the rest of us. The conversation that they are having seems extremely tense. Maphito also suddenly looks very concerned and Cynn looks like she wants to burst into tears any minute now. I am the only person who is lost about what is going on here.  

I am just standing here being rained on and trying to catch my breath and feel my legs again. These girls are freezing in their crop tops and mini-dresses. I’m just as cold because even my oversized t-shirt is wet. Ona looks in our direction and instructs us to walk towards them. I hope they are giving us a lift back to the entrance. 

“Babe, not you.” Maphito says to me. 

I am officially annoyed! But I am also extremely curious now as to what the hell is going on here. Cynn is THROWN – not put in – aggressively THROWN into the boot of the car that the king and Mr Maphumulo are driving. Maphito is now arguing with the king and the king slaps the crap out of her. Zithulele and Khotso both look at me. I can see everything, but I cannot hear anything. The rain is pouring and also messing with the vision of my eyes. I do, however, see Ona shove Maphito in the boot where Cynn was thrown in. 

What’s happening? 

Eventually, the guys come back to me. I give Zithulele a sour face. This is not a date. I don’t know what this is, but I don’t like it at all. I’m not impressed. He takes his wet vest and pulls it over my head. Now my body and his are under his vest. He is busy kissing me, not even giving me a chance to complain. 

“You want us to make our way down the hill now? We will spend the rest of the afternoon cuddled together on my couch.” He says. 

“That sound very tempting. But the first thing that we are doing before we even cuddle is drinking a cup of moringa”, I say. 

He laughs aloud. 

“You lovebirds are headed down the trail with us?” Ona. 

Zee and I become decent again then make our way down the hill with the Mohale twins. No one is even addressing what I just witnessed. Ona is cracking jokes and everyone is laughing because he actually is funny. It takes us two and half hours in the rain to get to the bottom then to our cars again. All three of these men were absolute gentlemen in helping me down the climb. 

The drive back is great. We get comfort food and drive to his apartment. I am actually going to his apartment for the first time today. We are parking the car and I can already see that this is quite the apartment. We make our way to his apartment using an elevator from the basement parking. This guy has a lot of money for a student. Nice apartment and an expensive car? He cannot just be a student. But it bothers me that the Mohale twins almost treat him like the weakest link in their team. Nobody wants to be committed to someone’s bitch. It just seems that Zee is the Mohale bitch and I do not like it. 

We walk into his apartment and it is absolutely beautiful. 

“Your place is really nice”, I say.

“Our place. You are welcome here any day and any time”, he says.

I smile at him. 

“Get out of those wet clothes. You’ll get sick”, he says. 

“Do you mind if we shower in different bathrooms? I just – 

“Tlali, I want you to be comfortable. I will not put any pressure on you to do anything that you are not comfortable with doing. We are doing this at your pace, okay my love?” Zee. 

I smile at him. I kiss him. Now I’m turned on and he seems to notice it because he pushes me back and says, “Different bathrooms remember? Don’t get me all excited only to leave me with blue balls.” He says. 

We both laugh aloud. After we have showered up, we drank a cup of moringa then cuddled to a movie. And yes, he hated every sip of that moringa cup.

…

Today, Zee and I are going on our very first weekend away. He is taking me to Mount C Cabins for the weekend. It is a beautiful tourist attraction holiday destination. We will be there for the weekend and I am very excited. 

“Baby, thank you for not asking me about what happened that evening I showed up completely fucked up at your place. It’s been a week now and you’ve been really cool about it. I really appreciate that.” He says.

“I figured you’d tell me what happened when you were ready. But don’t get comfortable with me not asking you questions. Now that you are my boyfriend, there are some answers I will demand”, I say. 

“You strike me as the kind of woman who knows when to ask questions and also knows when to back off. That’s why I like you”, he says.

I don’t know how to swallow that statement. I just keep quiet and look out of the window. 

We arrive at the lodge and check in. We are staying at a hotel because it is just the two of us. The chalets house a minimum of six people. These hotels are so beautiful. I have never been to a hotel before. Everything is super white and perfect. 

“Thank you”, I say to him. 

He smiles at me. 

“Our game drive starts in the next thirty minutes, so if you want to change, now is the time to do it”, he says. 

I went shopping for this weekend, so I have an outfit for everything. We put the itinerary together and we are very excited about this. 

I quickly shower while he is on the phone talking to someone. I lotion myself then wear black denim shorts, a Lakers basketball jersey that he once left at my place and is now never getting back and a pair of black Jordan fours that Zee bought for me. I have braids on my hair that I did myself. They look good. I’m good at doing my own hair. I wear a black sweatband on my hair and have my braids hanging low. The basketball jersey is longer than my shorts. 

“You look nice”, he says as he gets off his phone and walks up to me. 

“Thank you, baby”, I reply.

We kiss. 

“Ready to go?” Him.

I nod my head. 

I grab a purple sling bag then put my phone and bankcard inside of it. I throw in the three hundred cash I had in my purse as well. 

“You not going to need that”, Zee says to me. 

“What?” I ask. What is he talking about?

“Money and your bankcard. You will never need that when you go anywhere with me”, he says. 

“Okay. I was just taking it in case we needed to buy something small along the way like food or snacks or drinks. Maybe they don’t have card machines. It’s not always a bad idea to have cash on you”, I say. 

“Love, everything we do gets charged to our room. We settle the bill when we leave. You don’t need the cash”, he says. 

With that, I take out my cash and bankcard and put it back in my purse. 

We leave our room holding hands. I feel so out of place. 

The game drive was nice. We had fun. We were actually in the moment and cellphones only came out to take pictures. 

“You joining me in the jacuzzi? I booked it out for the night so we could have some privacy”. He says. 

I googled what a jacuzzi was before we got here because I didn’t want to feel like a poor girl from the shack behaving rural around a jacuzzi. 

“Sure. But can we eat first? I’m starving”, I say. 

“Our meals are on their way up. We will eat in here then dash out”, he says. 

I bought a cool bikini that I saw online. I change into that then throw a gown over it. I’d like to believe that I have a nice body. I’m fit and toned. I can’t do anything about my big ass. No matter how much I workout – and I know it’s not a lot – my ass always looks like it’s ready to twerk. Apparently it’s cool to have a big ass. For me, it’s a major insecurity. 

We eat dinner then head to the jacuzzi. 

Zee is in the water, topless and divinely good looking. He looks at me. 

“Join me”, he says. 

I take off my gown and his jaw drops.

“Don’t look at me like that. You making me nervous”, I tell him.

“Why? Baby, you are so beautiful. And your body – wow”. He says.

I get into the water. As soon as the water has covered my body, I feel a lot better. 

“Umuhle“, he says to me.

“Kea leboha“, I reply. 

“I’m still marrying you at the end of the year”, he says.

I laugh. 

“I’m serious”, he says, chuckling. 

“Okay Zithulele”, I say, laughing. Mxim. 

We talk about this and that. He tells me about some of his childhood memories- the great ones, the bad ones and the ones that made him. 

I listen and laugh a lot. He is actually a very funny guy. He is funny when he is not picking on me all the time and calling me Moringa. 

After an hour in the jacuzzi, we go to our room. I take off the gown with my back to him and my ass is just there, in his face. Before I know it, his hands are on my ass and he is horny. I turn around. We look at each other.

“I want to, but what if I mess it up?” I ask him. 

“Let me take care of you. Come here,” he replies. I follow him to the bed. He lies me down on my tummy. 

He starts laying gentle kisses on me, starting from my feet and making his way to my neck. While he does this, his hands are gently massaging my fat ass. I thought I’d be scared. I thought I’d be nervous. But, I’m so turned on. 

He is caressing my neck with his lips and caressing my lower back with his hands. 

I always knew that I’d never lose my virginity to another virgin because I always thought that would be quite a painful mess. But I never believed that losing my virginity to someone experienced meant that I would be taken care of like this and that for the first time in my whole life, everything is about me. In this moment right now, he has made the entire experience about me and I’m so wet. 

I am now lying on my back and he is on top of me. He is kissing me, making love to me without penetrating me. He is making love me with every part of his body except his penis. His lips are not kissing me. They are making love to my lips, my breasts, my tummy and my inner thighs. 

His hands are not holding me. His hands are locating all my g-spots and penetrating me without even being inside my vagina. 

I release a tear. 

“What’s wrong, my love?” Even his voice is bringing me closer to an orgasm. 

“Nothing. Everything is perfect. Thank you for rewarding me for waiting until the time is right. Now my first time is going to be everything waiting promised it would be”, I say. 

“Damn girl, you got game”, he says. 

We both giggle. 

The condom comes out and he slides it on after unwrapping it. 

He comes inside of me. It is a bit painful. But I can handle the pain. He kisses me. He is now in motion. It is everything. It is slow. It is fast. It is reaching spots inside of me I never thought existed. I start moaning. He is moaning. He lifts my left leg up and pushes himself in deeper. Now I’m screaming and he is laying his face against my inner thigh as he just satisfies me. My body starts shaking and I feel an orgasmic feeling as he groans like an animal being slaughtered and shakes too. 

We are now breathing heavily. 

I try to get comfortable and he says, “Don’t move, love. You are bleeding. I’m going to put my t-shirt underneath you so you don’t mess the white sheets okay?” Him. 

He reaches for his t-shirt then instead of just giving it to me to sort myself out, he wipes me quite clean. 

We climb off the bed. He gets into the toilet and takes off the condom. There is a lot of sperm in there. He gets into the shower and asks me to join him. I oblige. We make out in the shower. We wash each other’s bodies then we step out. We dry ourselves up and get into bed. 

“You are perfect. Thank you for giving yourself to me. I love you”, he says.

I kiss him.

“Thank you for taking care of me. You are perfect. I love you too.” Me.

My phone rings while I’m wrapped in Zee’s arms and we are both deep in sleep. He wakes up and stretches his arms. My body feels a bit sore. 

“You okay?” He asks me. 

“Yeah, my body just hurts a little. You put it on me real good last night”, I say. 

We chortle. 

My phone rings again. 

It is Atisang. 

I answer my phone. 

“Ati?” 

“Tlali”, he says. 

But there is shouting and a lot of commotion in the background. I put him on speaker. 

“Ati, what’s going on?” I ask. I’m nervous now. 

“Papa. He is at it again. He beat up mama, brought some woman home and is now kicking mama and me out. We tried to reach Reitumetsi and Suzi, but I cannot reach them.” He says. 

Zee jumps out the bed and starts getting dressed. 

“Come on, let’s hurry up.” He says as he throws clothes at me. 

“Ati, I am coming”, I say. 

We hang up. 

As we drive home, Zee driving like he is trying to kill us, I sob in the car. My father is honestly the worst. How could he? 

We arrive and find the community already watching my dad swearing at my mother and throwing her clothes at her. I climb out of the car and so does Zithulele. He gets my mom and puts her in the car. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I yell my dad. 

“Don’t disrespect me, you ungrateful piece of shit“, he yells back. 

“You are the ungrateful piece of shit! How dare you kick my mother out of her own house! Who the hell do you think you are?” I fight back. 

Atisang packs what he can and gets into the car with my mom. Zee tries to pull me back while my dad is busy swearing at me. 

“You know what papa, I wish you find a woman who has a killing STD and gives it to you so that you can die a slow and painful death. You are better off to us dead”, I say. 

The people in the community are shocked and are basically calling me disrespectful. Some people are on my side and are saying I’m absolutely right. My dad slaps me. Zithulele steps up to him, threatening to hit him, basically. 

“What do you think you are doing, young man?! You want to hit me?! You want to hit me?!” My dad is honestly a piece of shit. 

“Come on baby. Let’s go”, I say to him. 

He puts his arm around me and leads me to the car. We take off.

He moves my mom into a bedroom upstairs that is next to his main bedroom. He moves my brother to the guest bedroom downstairs. 

“Baby, are you okay?” He asks me. 

“Mama just went to sleep. Ati seems comfortable in front of the TV. Thank you for bringing us here”, I say. 

He kisses me. 

“This place is really nice. Are you sure you are just a club manager?” Me. 

He smiles at me. 

“You drive a very nice car and you live in a beautiful townhouse. Why can’t you just be honest with me about how you make your money? I’m not going to break up with you just because you are rich”, I say. 

“You promise?” Him. 

I giggle. 

“The club is mine. I bought it with some money that my parents had left for us. I didn’t want to blow the money on stupid shit, so I found a way to invest the money in something that would make me money back. I’m in school because I definitely want to grow my money. The club is a good start for me.” He says. 

“Why wouldn’t you tell me that?” I say. 

“I wanted you to just see me. Many women see my money and what it can do for them. I liked the fact that you saw a student driving around in a car that a sibling could have bought for him and still loved me. I know you are here for me and I want to share everything I have with you.” He says. 

I nod my head. 

“I saw boxes of 72 hour emergency morning after pills in your room. Why do you have those?” Me. 

“I give them to bitches I spend the night with. I’m not trying to be trapped by anyone”, he says.

“It’s called a condom”, I say.

“I use one too. Nothing wrong with extra protection. God helps those who help themselves”, he says.

“You tight with God like that?” Me. 

“Well, that man has a way with words. Quoting the Bible can get you a girl in all age groups. And his words just get you out of shit arguments and can get a woman in your bed. That song of songs chapter man – damn”, he says. 

I am in stitches. 

What the hell?!

He smiles at me. 

“I love you, Tlali”, he says. 

“Then get rid of those morning after pills because no bitch is setting foot in here ever again.” 

He laughs aloud.

My mom walks into the bedroom we have assigned to her as I bring in tea and a slice of chocolate cake. She was taking a shower in the in-suite bathroom.  

“That looks nice”, my mom says. 

She lotions herself and dresses into pyjamas that I bought for her earlier on. Zithulele has gone back to the lodge to get our stuff. Atisang walks in with his slice of cake and tea. We all sit on the floor because my mom doesn’t allow us to eat while sitting on the bed. 

This is nice. 

Reitumetsi did call us to check if we were okay. He promised to come by to see us tomorrow before Zee and I drive mama back to the royal house. 

“Mama, you should leave him”, I say. 

“I’m not having this conversation with you. Besides, this is your father that we are talking about”, my mom says.

“More like a sperm donour”, I mumble. 

“Hhe eh bathung! Glass windows!” She always says that when she is about to call us hypocrites. 

“You have your own man now, Tlali. Leave me and mine alone. I’ve been with that man for thirty-five years. I can’t just leave the home that he has provided me and my children”, she says.

“What home is that, mama? The same home he has always chased us out of every time he got drunk and met a woman?” I say. 

My mom passes me a sharp look. 

I raises my hands in surrender. 

“So, are things serious with this boy?” My mom asks me. 

I smile. 

“And then?” Mama.

“We are serious”, I say. 

“He loves you, you know”, Atisang. 

“I know. I love him too”, I say. 

“Well, you are definitely glowing. Nana, these things are not easy and forever is a very long time to be with a man. It requires you to be very selfless. Sometimes, it’s going to be about you and he will probably be selfless in making everything about you. Then when it is time to make everything about him, you also need to remember to be selfless enough to make sure that he gets everything he needs from you and of you in that moment. That’s how you make it to thirty-five years and three children”, my mom says. 

Ati and I laugh. 

Zee walks into the bedroom after two knocks. 

“Why are you sitting on the floor?” That’s his first question. 

“You and Tlali better not be eating in bed or on blankets”, my mom. 

We all laugh. 

“Come sit with us, my son”, my mom says. 

This moves Zee. He sits next to me. 

We spend the rest of the evening on the floor eating junk and drinking the worst of things. This is nice. It is really nice.

I have left Moringa with her mother and her brother at my place this morning. I have business to do. I know that I have to take the mother back to the royal house some time later today, so I am hoping that we will be done with whatever pope wants us to do here today. 

Pule is not here today and the twins seem a bit – I don’t know – off. Pope is in a good mood though and he is even paying us bonuses in travel bags. Basically, he stashes money in travel bags and gives us each a travel bag full of money. It is not the kind of money that you walk into a bank and deposit into your account. Now that Moringa is at my place with her family, I am going to struggle with hiding this bag of money. 

Ona’s phone goes off and he reaches for it. Since he got married, he actually cares about his phone ringing and about text messages coming into his phone. There was a time where Ona would go an entire weekend with his cellphone off and he would say that he didn’t want to be bothered. Now, he is all about his phone because he never wants to miss a call or text message from his wife. I respect Regodise like I’ve never respected another human being in life. 

“Ona, is there a problem?” bishop asks him. He has been staring at his cellphone for a very long time and his face tells us that something is extremely wrong. 

“I think we are being recorded”, Ona says. 

We all jump off our chairs. Ona keeps staring at his phone. Pope grabs the cellphone from Ona and reads off his screen. 

“Who sent this to you?” Pope enquires. 

“It says that it is an untraceable number.” Ona says. 

“Is there anyone who can uncover it for us?” Pope. 

“We don’t have the time for that, pope. Let’s get out of here and go talk somewhere else.” Bishop.

Pope and bishop left without us. Ona, Khotso, Jabu, Phendu and I decide to go to some guy’s apartment. His name is Maboko. I have seen him around the twins a lot. He has a lot of drama and needs an ass-whipping for the kind of man that he is. Khotso is not okay. He is very depressed today. And I can tell you now that when Khotso is this way, someone is going to die. 

We are led to a clubhouse and we will be hanging out there. I miss Moringa. Let me phone her.

“Hey baby”, she answers her phone. 

“You must call me baby and other nice things every day.” 

She laughs. 

“Are you guys okay? Did mom and Atisang sleep well?” I ask her.

“We are all fine. Mama has cooked and Atisang is binch-watching stuff on the TV. Where are you?” She asks me. 

“I’m with the guys – the twins and my brothers. We had some work to do this morning.”

“So when will you be back?” 

“What’s wrong, love? Do you miss me?”

She laughs then says, “There’s something that I need to talk to you about.” 

“It sounds serious.” 

“It kinda is. Can you come back home? I want us to chat before we take mama back to the royal house.” 

“Okay baby. I’ll see you in about an hour or so.” 

She hangs up. 

“Here’s some beer”, Khotso says as he gives me beer. 

I accept the beer and say, “Thanks man. Are you alright?” 

He slightly giggles then says, “Fiks is pregnant.” 

“Shouldn’t you be happy?” 

“I would if it were my child.” 

OH SHIT! 

I did say that someone is going to die for Khotso being depressed. 

He laughs at my reaction then he says, “My mother was right about her. She just wanted what I came with, she didn’t want me.” 

Suddenly, the gents are all around us now and we are all listening to what Khotso is saying. 

“Last night, she was sleeping next to me and I couldn’t even get a wince of sleep. I wanted to kill her right there and then. How could Fiks do this to me?” 

“Do you know who the man is that she is cheating with?” Maboko, the most scandalous of us all, enquires.    

“I have one better. I put cameras all over her apartment and in her car. The bastard is at her place as we speak.” Khotso says. 

These men are twisted. There is no way that this is normal. In fact, when you get to this level of distrust in your relationship, end it. That relationship has no point when it gets to this stage. You know, Ona is the heartless twin, but at least he will tell you to phone your side piece and invite him over. Then he will force you to have sex in front of him so he has evidence of what he needs and make the two of you kill each other. Khotso is very calculative and all his moves have a purpose. They lead to an entire story and by the time you die, he doesn’t even have to tell you why you are dying. You will just know that your name has been called at the pearly gates. 

Ona has organised that the club house give us a screen we can project on and asks the staff to give us space. Khotso projects his phone on the screen and we are all watching Fikile and her guy on the screen. They are talking while Fikile is cooking for him. 

The guy: “So, how did Khotso react to the news?” 

Fikile: “At first, he was an asshole and told me that the pregnancy is impossible. But now he is warming up to it.” 

The guy: “Just like that?” 

Fikile: “Just like that.”

The guy: “And that doesn’t worry you?” 

Fikile: “Why should it worry me?”

The guy: “These are Mohato’s sons. If there ever was a doubt in their minds about the paternity of this child, it is still there. They have just become creative in dealing with you. I would feel better if Khotso was actually showing you that he is upset and he is doubting you. But if he is accepting of this child – after denying it – then you should be worried.” 

Fikile thinks a bit. Then she says, “Nah, if it were Ona that we are talking about, I’d understand. Khotso loves me and he is very genuine. He would never hurt me.” 

The guy: “If it were Ona, we wouldn’t even be talking. You would know that your days are officially numbered. Khotso is the one that you should be worried about. You wont even see your death coming with that one.” 

Fikile is not convinced. In fact, she shuts him up with a kiss. We are all looking at Khotso now and he is taking all of this in – all of it. The kissing. The caressing. The moaning. The whispers about how much this man cares about Fikile and how he can take better care of her and their child. Phendu looks like he wants to fly out of here and tell Fikile that Khotso is watching her. Phendu has no heart at all. His face! Ona looks like he is itching to murder her. 

The video is now playing in the background as a call comes through Khotso’s phone. The caller ID reads “Maphito Lentsoe”. Khotso and Ona look at each other. Khotso disconnects his cellphone from the screen then takes the call outside. 

“Daddy, what are you guys watching?” Maboko’s son startles all of us. Maboko is mortified! Ona is the one who steps in and says, “Some stupid people signing off their death wish.” Wow! Such language to a child. We are all deeply disturbed by what Ona just told a child.

“A death wish?” The kid. 

“Bane, where’s your mom?” Maboko asks him. 

The kid points in a direction and we see the mother chilling on a bench and working on her laptop. 

“What did you see on the screen?” I ask because we need to establish how much lying we are going to need to do here.

“Just someone phoning Uncle Khotso. Do you all watch phone calls come into your phones?” 

To say that we are relieved would be an understatement. We actually all laugh at how relieved we are. 

“Uncle Ona, do you want to go and play Fifa?” This child though… 

I excuse myself from the day and make my way back home to talk to Tlali before taking her mother back to the royal house. 

I get home and find a lot of activity in my penthouse. I like this and all, but it really is overwhelming. I would think that it would be Tlali and I first before her family is all over my house. Had I known that having sex with her would mean marriage from the get-go, I would have delayed it a bit further. It’s not that I mind taking care of Tlali and her family. I just would prefer it if we were taking care of them in their own house. I would be more comfortable with paying rent for them somewhere than having them here. 

“Hey”, Tlali meets me at the door and greets me. She plants a kiss on my lips. 

“Hey baby. How are you?” I ask her. 

“I’m good. Are you alright?” 

I nod my head then say, “So what’s up? You said we needed to talk.” 

She leads me outside and shuts the door. Now we are talking outside of our own house. Hai cha!

“So, mama and I were thinking that maybe Atisang should stay here with you for some time until things get a bit better with my dad.” She says. 

“Letlali, how do you go and speak to your mother about something like that before you come and speak to me about it? You are not asking me or talking to me about it at this point, you are informing me.” 

“I didn’t think you’d have a problem with it.” 

“How do you reach that conclusion? You were sleeping over at my house for the first time yesterday. At what point did you feel the need to make a decision about the living arrangements in my house without even spending a week here?” 

“Bathung Zithulele! Are you being serious right now?” 

“Please get your mother so that we could take her back to the royal house.” I say this then leave her standing there and make my way back to my car. I need to do something about this travel bag full of money. 

I walk into my garage and try to look for a hiding space. There is a cupboard of old stuff in here. I go grab the bag and put it in here. Now I must hide things in my own damn house! Nx! 

The drive back to the royal house is silent. Letlali is sulking and I’m just driving while listening to the radio. Tlali’s mother is sewing something while sitting in the backseat and Atisang has headsets on. We arrive at the royal house and we are let in. The servant quarters are a bit of a drive away, so we drive there and stop outside the house that Tlali’s mother stays in. I offload her bags for her and put them in her room. Then I head back to the car, giving the three of them space to talk. 

Tlali comes back to the car alone. She shuts the door with aggression. 

“Is Atisang coming?” I ask her. 

“You made it very clear that you don’t want him in your house. He will stay with mama.” 

If that was an option, why was my house the first suggestion brought forward? Mxm! I just start my engine and start driving. If Tlali is expecting an apology from me, it’s not coming!

The Mohale twins drive in as I drive out and they stop the car. I guess they saw me. I stop my car. Regodise is sitting in the backseat. 

“Sho”, Khotso greets me. He is the one who is driving.

“Sho. I was just dropping off Tlali’s mother.” I say. 

“Why don’t you stay for a late lunch with us?” 

I really don’t want to. I want to drop Tlali off at her res room then go and have peace in my house. But I agree and drive back in. 

“Why are we staying? I’m not in the mood for people.” She says to me. 

“Then stay in the car. But I’m not going to be rude just because you think you are too good to be nice and respectful to people.” 

She is offended by this. She even looks like she wants to cry. 

I get out of the car after I have parked it. It is Regodise who gets Tlali out of the car and at this point, I couldn’t care less what she told Regodise about me and why she is crying and in a mood. 

“And then?” Ona is the one who asks me. 

“She’s just annoying me today.” I say. 

“At least she’s not cheating on you, man.” Khotso. By the way, his problems are bigger than all of us. 

Food is served and we eat. Tlali’s mother is one of the servants who are serving us food and drinks and this suddenly feels uncomfortable. The rules are that the servants are not even allowed to look us in the eye, nevermind talk to us. 

“MmeThokoane, you are excused for the rest of the afternoon, mama.” The queen says. I think she picked up the discomfort at the table. 

Tlali walks up and runs after her mother. I am not sure what I need to do, but I stand up and say, “Please excuse us. We are really sorry about this.” 

“We understand”, Regodise says to me.

I walk out and find Tlali talking to her mother outside. I cannot read their emotions. I stand at a distance and just let them talk. When they are done, Tlali walks towards me then says, “Can we please just go?” 

We both head to the car. 

As I park the car outside of her room, she starts crying. I switch off my engine and just sit there. I am waiting for her to start talking. I look out the window as I wait. She eventually stops crying and she says, “Zithulele, my family is very important to me. If you reject them, you reject me.” 

“How did I reject them, Letlali?” 

“Why don’t you want Atisang at your place?” 

“I don’t have to explain that to anyone. It is my place and if I want my privacy, I don’t need to explain why I want it. That’s not rejecting your family, that’s me being entitled to whatever I want in my house.  But you, Letlali, you did all of this and put everyone in an uncomfortable position. You were supposed to talk to me first. You don’t make decisions about my space and expect me to just agree. It doesn’t work that way.” 

“I really didn’t think this would be a big deal. I honestly thought that you understood what my family meant to me. You were there with me, Zithulele, watching my father kick my brother and mother out. I just thought you’d understand why Atisang wouldn’t be able to go back there alone.” 

“I’m not saying that I don’t understand, Letlali. I do understand. I’m saying that I am also part of your life now and my role in your life is not to just carry you and your family however you see fit. You need to talk to me. We could have sat down and talked about the options that we do have then go to your mother and brother with a solution. You don’t do that with your mother then come to inform me – especially if you are making a decision about my house.” 

She takes a deep sigh and nods her head. 

“I’m sorry”, she says. 

I end up staying the night at her postgraduate res.