2010: 

Maboko

“Listen, this weekend is the Mohale twins’ 18th birthday party. I want you to come as my date”, I tell her as we drive to school.

“For the whole weekend?” She asks me like this is something abnormal. 

“Yes. The whole weekend. It’s at a lodge in South Africa. In Mpumalanga.” He says. 

“That sounds far. So you going to drive to South Africa when?” 

“This evening”. The party is tomorrow and we will drive back on Monday. Monday is a public holiday.” 

“Maboko, where will I tell my parents that I’m going?” 

“Please think of something, baby. Please.” 

“Can we go with my sister? She will help me lie.” 

“Sure. We will pick you guys up at 6pm. Us three will travel with the Mohale twins, Zakes and their plus ones. We hired a party bus.” 

She just looks at me. She dials her sister. She has her phone on speaker. 

“Hey”, the sister is always in high spirits. How does she do it?

“Tiisetso, listen. We are invited to the Mohale twins’ birthday party”. 

The sister screams. Tebza laughs. 

“The problem is we leave today and will be back on Monday. What are we going to say to mama and papa?” 

“You are the baby here. I’m the one in matric. I’ll make up something and deal with them. Don’t worry.”

I like her. 

“If you guys can get out at 4pm, I’ll buy you something at a mall before we leave. It’s a themed party.” I say. 

She screams again. 

“Don’t you have class until late?” Tebza asks me. 

“Oh ja… okay, I’ll give you my card then you and your sister can- 

“Teboho, I’ll catch a taxi to your school then we will go to the mall together. Maboko, you’ll find us ready at 6pm. I promise.” 

“I’ve always known that I can count on you. Thanks so much.” 

She’s still screaming when Tebza hangs up. 

Tebza and I look at each other and we laugh. 

When we get to school, the matric parking lot is buzzing. I already see Tebza getting uncomfortable. 

“Do you want me to leave you at the front of the school?” I ask her. 

“Please?” 

I reverse my car and make my way to the front of the school. 

“Baby, I’m not ashamed of you. And I will take care of you. I’m sorry it’s like this for you.” 

She smiles at me. 

I hand her my bank debit card. 

“Buy yourself and your sister whatever you want. The theme is all white”, I tell her. 

“Are you sure about this, Maboko? We have clothes that we can wear.” She says. 

“I want to spoil you. I want you to also look and feel great. It will be quite a heavy crowd to please. I don’t want you to feel out of place.” 

“Out of place?” She says as if she’s offended. 

“T, I’m not ashamed of you. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” 

“I know that you don’t mean to offend me, but I’m feeling offended. No clothes and shoes will make my background more glamorous. I am who I am and I’m proud of how I’m making it better for me. I definitely don’t want to be the girl who slept her way out of poverty as I’m already labelled around here.” 

I smirk at her because I don’t like the direction of this conversation. 

“You still haven’t let me tap, though”, I rub her thighs. 

She giggles. 

I laugh. 

“So, should I stock up on some condoms this weekend?” 

She smiles at me and nods her head. 

“For real?” I honestly didn’t think she’d say yes. 

She nods her head with a smile. 

“We don’t have to. I can even get us separate rooms. I’m not doing all this for you just so you can have sex with me. I don’t want to buy sex from you. You are not a prostitute.” 

She kisses me and says, “I want to. I love you. And I don’t want to have sex with anyone else.” 

“You know I’ll be your first and last right? I’m going to marry you.”

“I know”, she says and giggles. 

I kiss her. 

“Tebza ngwana!” When did my friends get here? And why are they here? 

Tebza puts my card in the inside pocket of her blazer. 

“I’ll text you the pin”, I tell her as we unlock the doors.

“What do you want?” I ask as I get out the car. Tebza gets out of the car as well. 

“Tebza, you coming away with us, right?” Ona. 

Tebza nods her head. 

“She’s bringing her sister”, I say. 

“I’m tapping her. I hope you don’t mind”, Khotso says. 

“My sister?!” Tebza says in so much shock. 

Khotso smiles at her and says, “yeah”. 

We all laugh. 

He has a weird lust for Tiisetso and we’ve caught Tiisetso staring back. 

“Maboko, you do realise that if you smash Tebza, it’s statutory rape and your ass can go to jail. She’s not even sixteen yet.” Ona says. 

“Hai voetsek wena!” I say. 

Tebza is very embarrassed. 

“As long as you don’t accuse my boy of raping you, we good. We will all pretend you are a consenting adult.” 

“Ona, stop it.” 

This guy! 

I hug Tebza, kiss her and she goes to class. We all hop into my car and I drive to our parking lot.

…

There are three party busses headed out. Gwen has already left. She is sleeping with one of our white matric guys and I choose to pretend that I know nothing because it’s very disturbing that my sister is sleeping with my classmate. Our party bus picks me up and from here, we are picking up Tebza and Tiisetso. 

I get an sms that we can pick them up at the mall. Tebza’s parents are honestly hectic. If Tebza met a bastard of a guy, those parents would have a bigger problem on their hands. 

The bus gets to the mall and we find them waiting. They even had their hair done. I wonder what they got and how much they paid for what they got plus their hair. They didn’t even spend half of what I thought they would. When I give Gwen my card, she spends triple of what they spent and she’s just one person. 

We climb out and help them with their bags. Tebza is wearing beige Chino shorts and a white t-shirt with sandals. She has thick-ish braids that are very long. She looks very beautiful. I kiss her hello and tell her to sit on top of me. She has a jersey with her. She is the “pack a jersey just in case”, but I put it over her thighs because Zakes is looking at her thighs in a way that’s going to make me punch him. 

Tiisetso is wearing a very short black dress. She is slightly bigger than Tebza in body size, so something loose would have been more flattering. But Khotso is already chatting her up, so I guess he is happy. She cut her hair and did a cool curly hair thingy with the hair she didn’t cut off. They call this hairstyle a bob-cut. She looks nice. Her hair looks nice. She makes it work. These sisters are beautiful. 

Ona is already disrespecting this girl he says is his for the weekend. This is going to be a long drive.

…

We arrive in Mpumalanga at 5am. All of us are passed out when the driver wakes us up and tells us we are here. 

We climb off the car and we find people already in the pool. They couldn’t get into their rooms without Ona and Khotso signing them into their hotel rooms. Ona made it clear that he isn’t paying for anyone’s hotel room. I paid for mine and Tebza’s room. I even paid for an extra room in case Tiisetso wasn’t feeling Khotso. But I see that I wasted my money. Gwen and her dude also booked and paid for their own rooms. So we all make our way to our rooms without even entertaining the people at the pool. People really underestimate Ona’s ability to let these people sleep on the streets. Why would you attend an Ona and Khotso event and hope for the best? Lol. 

“Mama said we must phone her when we arrive”, I hear Tebza say. 

“Mama and papa have the house to themselves for the weekend. They are busy having sex. I sent her an sms”, Tiisetso’s mouth needs to be washed with Handy Andy and Jik. 

“Sies!” Tebza says. 

Ona laughs aloud then says, “I like you, Tiisetso. You are my cup of tea.” 

I sms my sister and make sure that she arrived here safely. Tebza is taking a shower and has already unpacked our bags into the cupboards for the weekend.

I would have joined her in the shower, but this is the first time we ever sleep out together, so I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. 

“I’m fine. I’m in room 608. Just super bushed. Will see you at breakfast.” Gwen responds to my text. 

Okay, now I can relax.

I undress and get into bed because I’m tired and need some sleep.

I see Tebza come into the bedroom wearing bum-shorts of pyjamas and some vest as a t-shirt. It is a matching set. They are white and lacy. I’ve never been this turned on by a woman in white before. 

She smiles at me as I stare at her. 

“You are torturing me”, I say. 

She gets into bed and says, “Goodnight boyfriend”. 

…

Teboho: 

“Good morning”, he keeps saying. We went to sleep at 6am. Why are we up at 9am? I’m tired! I open one eye and I see him studying at the desk in this room.

I wave at him then face the other way and try to go back to sleep.

He laughs and comes back to bed to cuddle with me. I try to sleep, but he is not letting it happen. 

“Why are you awake?” I ask him.

“How did you sleep through Ona kicking people out of reception? Reception kept on phoning him and saying people want to check in under his name – his and Khotso’s. They went downstairs and put people out on the streets”. 

We are both laughing as he says this. 

“So where are those people now?” I ask him. 

“I don’t know. I don’t care. My people are all here and safe.” He says. 

My phone rings. It’s Tiisetso. 

“Why are people awake? I don’t understand!” I mean really.

He is laughing. 

“Hey”, I answer the phone. 

“Are you coming to breakfast?” 

“You already at breakfast?” 

“Yeah. We waiting for you and Maboko.” 

“How? Guys, we arrived here four hours ago.”

“Just come.”

I’m very annoyed. But I wear a dress that’s tight at the top and open at the bottom. It’s an orange dress. It’s cute though. I wear sandals and tie my braids into a ponytail. Maboko wears shorts and a t-shirt and morning shoes. 

I brush my teeth and wash my face. As he brushes his teeth, I tidy up the room. 

We kiss each other then make our way to breakfast.

We dish up for ourselves at the buffet. Our table is already rowdy and I see more people than those we arrived with. Maboko gets us juice then we find seats next to Tiisetso and Khotso. Heh, these two. Tiisetso is also wearing his t-shirt and some shorts.

We hug each other good morning. She smells like him. 

That Linda girl is staring at Tiisetso and me so badly. I try to ignore her. 

“After this, we must go phone mama together just to check in and send her proof of life.” She says. 

I nod my head.

“So vele stocko in the township is a buy one get one free situation?” Linda says. She’s staring at Tiisetso and me. 

“Stocko sa “buy one get one free” ke mmao le rakgadi wa hao.” Tiisetso says. 

Ona bursts into laughter. 

Linda is angry now. She seems – 

“What’s this one’s problem?” Tiisetso asks as she eats. 

“She wants Maboko and your sister is the township girl standing between her and Maboko”, Ona says. 

“Hawu, kanti your money has its limits? It cannot buy you a man?” Tiisetso. 

“Actually it can, just not Maboko. Where’s scholarship Kabelo? He wants to be bought”, Ona. 

Yaz these two…

Linda stands up from the table and throws a drink at Tiisetso and me. It’s juice with alcohol in it. I’m cleaning myself up when Tiisetso has jumped over the table and taken Linda down to the floor. 

“I love your sister!” Ona says to me as he laughs. 

Tiisetso is officially pulled off Linda and she yells, “NONSENSE!” 

Maboko is helping me clean myself up. 

I really could be sleeping. Just saying. 

…

Tiisetso and I are getting ready together for the party tonight. We are in the extra room that Maboko had initially got for her.

“You know that you must have sex with Maboko right?” 

“Have to?”

“This is a very nice life! Linda wants to snatch him from you and kick you out of this lifestyle meaning she will kick me out of it. Aowa Teboho. Secure that man.” 

I just laugh. 

“He isn’t putting pressure on me”, I say. 

“He really loves you. But he will cheat on you if you are going to be slow. Up your game, girl. I’ve already smashed Khotso.” 

I look at her with my mouth open. 

“What?! I slept with a Mohale twin! Listen here! I am the girl that I think I am!” She says. 

We just laugh. 

“You know sis, I’m so happy for you that this happened for you. You work hard and this was always going to be your life someday. I just thank you for bringing me along with you. I feel like I’m in a movie.” 

We smile at each other and hug. 

My sister and I are dancing together with Gwen and her friends because the Mohale twins will do a grand entrance with their squad. Maboko is part of that squad. 

They indeed make their grand entrance and it’s so dramatic. 

But they are having fun. They arrive in Bentleys and naked dancers dancing and forming a guard of honour as the cars arrive. How is this even real? 

Their cake, Modimo Waka! It is six tiers tall and is in black and white. While I was looking forward to actually eating that cake, they smash the cake together. Maboko and Zakhele join them in smashing the cake and it’s just a mess! It gets worse when naked girls bring in champagne with star lights set off on each of the bottles. The twins, Maboko and Zakhele grab a bottle as the girls give them lap dances and drink from the bottles. This is very overwhelming. 

Then, the party begins. It’s a turn up! Maboko was dancing with me all night. We had so much fun. At 6am, we go to a lounge of some sort and we eat there. Ona is getting lap dances and Tiisetso is all over Khotso. Khotso is all over her too. 

Maboko and I go back to our room after we’ve eaten. We are holding hands. He is very drunk. I am tipsy. 

He passes out the minute we get into the room. I shower first then get into the blankets. 

I am the one up early the following morning, but I stay in bed and respect that people are still asleep. I stay in bed and just scroll through my social media.  

“Hey”, Maboko says as he wakes up. 

“Hey”, me.

“Did you sleep okay?” He asks me. 

“I did. You?” 

“I did. I just feel like some truck ran me over”.

“It did when those naked girls danced on top of you in front of me”, I say. 

We both laugh. 

“My eyes were only on you though”, he says as he touches my thighs. 

I put my phone down and face him. He pulls me into him. 

“I love you, T.” 

“I love you too.” 

“Are you sure?” 

I nod my head. 

He rolls over and pulls out a box of condoms. He unseals it and takes one condom out. Then he starts kissing me. I kiss him back. I run my hands on his chest. He starts kissing my neck and be puts me on my back. He dry humps me as he kisses my entire body. 

He finally wears the condom. 

“This might hurt”, he whispers to me. 

“I’ll be okay”, I say.

He pushes himself inside of me.

I scream. 

He stops. 

“You okay?” He asks me. 

I nod my head. 

Then, he has sex with me. I don’t know what to do, but I moan because it’s nice. I also moan because it’s painful. And when he is done, he breathes in a way that makes me feel a bit happy that he got to be my first. 

We spent our Sunday in our room and finishing the box of condoms that he had. When they were finished, we wanted to get more, but we didn’t want to leave the room. So we just cuddled and enjoyed ourselves for the day. 

Until…

“Maboko!” Ona yells. 

“What?!” 

“It’s Gwen. She and Cam got into an accident. We need to go to the hospital.”

…

Present Day

Tonight is a big night for the K-Pable-C brand. Their skincare line is king in the brand’s exposure and the Queen of Tholoana Kingdom and the diamond of Tholoana Kingdom have done amazing work to put this brand on international stages. Tonight, K-Pable-C launches their very first perfume. 

It is going to be an exciting night. Khabane is staying with my mom and Gwen while Tebza and I attend this event together. K-Pable-C events are known to be explosive and people talk about them for months. Ona’s parents will be in attendance, so the twins and their partners will be there as well. I know Linda will be there as well. I just wonder if she will be there with Kabelo. Our divorce has already made news and we’ve been trending all week and people have definitely attacked Tebza as well. 

Tebza is having her make-up done. She, Regodise and Gcina (Khotso’s new situation) are getting ready together. Apparently Fikile is gone – as in GONE GONE. We are at the royal house. Ona, Khotso and I are having whiskey and are already dressed up and ready. Ona’s mother got ready with Aunt Nosi and Aunt Gugu. They’ve already left. The television is playing in the background and some presenter is discussing this event. 

Presenter: “We have been informed that beauty business giants will be in attendance. Linda Khumalo-Seete will be amongst the beauty moguls there. Rumour has it that she and her hunky husband, Maboko Seete – the business giant in Tholoana Kingdom and son to business phenomena – Joseph Seete, are going through a divorce. We definitely should not expect to see Maboko by Linda’s side tonight, unless they too are all about the optics.” 

I can see Tebza looking like she wants to cry. Ona hands me another glass of whiskey and I down it. I set off to see if Tebza is okay and Ona holds me back saying, “Not now.” 

TV Presenter: “And of course Tholoana Kingdom’s very own diamond will be in attendance. She returned from LA at the announcement of her being the face of K-Pable-C’s skincare line, Connie.K. Rumour has it that Teboho Tlou will be revealed as the face of the K-Pable-C perfume line. Tonight will be a night to remember.” 

Regodise and Teboho smile at each other. 

“Are you excited?” Gcina asks her. 

“I’m nervous. I don’t even know why.” 

“Babe, you are going to be great tonight. Don’t stress.” Gcina says. 

“Let’s check on the kids one more time, then we can go”, Teboho. 

Mohale is also with my mother and sister. But his nanny is there with him. Apparently Regodise does not trust her enough to leave her alone with Mohale. 

“They are fine. Can we please go? The red carpet has started already.” Ona says. 

They roll their eyes at us. 

Okay. 

We get into one car – a limo – and we leave for the event. 

We are literally watching the red carpet from inside the limo. There is a television screen in here. 

“So are you the new face?” Dise asks Tebza. 

“I don’t know. They haven’t told us either. I know that in the running, it’s myself, Ona’s mother, Linda and some other people. There is about ten of us. So even we will hear tonight. Clearly they knew we’d be bombarded with questions and we would be cornered to answer”, Tebza says and we all laugh. 

“The Mthethwas are also there”, I say. 

“Mzwakhe is there with the one wife. He should actually take all three of his wives to all these events. Phela this is favouritism. He takes Thobile to everything.” Ona says and we all laugh. 

“She makes the most sense. She is the most business-intelligence of the wives and she is the face of the brand of that family”, Tebza says. 

“I feel bad for the first wife. She must really want to hang herself. Nna baby, I’ll always put you first, even when more wives come”, Ona. 

Regodise does not give him a nice look. Tebza and I giggle. 

“How do you do it? I’ve been around this guy since I was thirteen and I still can’t get used to his mouth”, Tebza asks Dise. 

Dise laughs and says, “He makes up for it in every other way. And he will make up for it the most by not taking on a second wife.” 

This got awkward very quickly!

There is noise now at the red carpet and we see that Ona’s parents are now on the red carpet. They look very good together. They are led by some people dressed in traditional attire and reciting their clan names as they walk into the venue. 

After that beautiful commotion, Linda takes the red carpet and Kabelo is by her side. Everyone looks at me. 

“I warned you about this motherfucker”, Ona says. 

“You’ve just never liked him. You’ve never even invited him to any of your events – not even at your birthday parties in school.” I say and we all laugh. 

“I’ve never liked this guy. Ever!” Ona says while laughing. 

“But why?” Tebza asks him. 

“It can’t be the scholarship thing because I was one of the scholarships”, Tebza continues. 

“He wanted everyone to feel bad about their wealth and wanted to prove that he was better than all of us and worked harder than all of us. He wanted every girl in our grade and would always say that he would make more money than we were all born with. I mean if he hates us that much, why force yourself into our world?” Ona says. 

“I think he was very insecure – still is. He convinced himself to work harder than everyone else to validate the one thing he didn’t have in common with the rest of you guys – money.” Tebza says. 

“Hai. We all have our insecurities. Keep that shit to yourself. You didn’t do that shit to us. And you weren’t sleeping with everyone to overcome that insecurity”, Ona. 

“Maybe I had it easier because I had less pressure to be rich. We work hard as women in this country, but we all know that crown will always fall on the man’s head. So I could have gone to any school and settled to be a housewife. A man like Maboko marrying me would have lifted my status anyway. He didn’t have that option. Him going to that school meant a lot more in society’s eyes that it did for me and he had to make sure that failure wasn’t even an option. Then of all the friends he could have, he picked you guys to be friends with.” Tebza says. 

Ona is now silent. 

“Look, I’m sure he’s an asshole, because really, who steals his friend’s wife? But hate him for that, leave his economic class out of it. We all have a flaw somewhere in our backyard.” Tebza says.

Ona downs whiskey. 

Tebza looks at me and says, “Are you going to be okay tonight?” 

“I will be okay. I’m not even hurt by this. I just think that Kabelo is an ass.” I say.

“He is. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even know his name. You took him and forced him on all of us. He was more your friend than anyone else’s. You are the last person he should have done this to”, Ona says and I actually agree with him. 

“Maboko, we don’t have to deal with this if you don’t want to. We can go home”, Tebza says to me. 

“No my love, I’m good. Besides, I’d rather he do this with Linda than with you.” I say. 

“Tebza would never let him do this with her. That’s why she’s the real one”, Ona says and Tebza smiles. 

“I know”, I say and smile. 

A door opens in the car. We are here already? Reina, Tebza’s PR specialist, peeps her head in. 

“Are you guys ready?” She asks us. 

We all nod our heads. 

“Khotso and Gcina, you will go out first.”

They nod their heads. 

“Please stay on the red carpet for three minutes, nothing more.” She tells them. 

“How will we know that we would have been on the red carpet for three minutes?” Gcina asks a valid question. 

“Look for me, I will give you a heads up.” Reina says. 

“Khotso, they will ask you about Fikile. Keep your answer short and vague.” 

“Can I just say no comment?” Khotso asks. 

Reina gives him a feint smile. She wants to say no, but Khotso’s aura is not giving her a chance to do that. 

“Teboho and Maboko, you will go up second.” Reina. 

“Okay” Tebza says. 

Reina hands Tebza a piece of paper and says, “Here are the questions that the media will ask you and that you will respond to. The reporter you look at and speak to only is Zama Nkosi – you too Khotso and Gcina – only her. This is her picture”, she says handing Tebza another paper. 

“Thanks Reina”, Tebza says. 

“T, you will be asked about arriving with Maboko, especially in the midst of his divorce and considering your history with him. Maboko, I will leave that response to you. Keep it short.” 

“Thanks for the heads up.” I say. If Khotso gets away with ‘no comment’, I am also applying that sentence.

Then she looks at Ona and Regodise. 

“Mr and Mrs Mohale, these are your questions for the red carpet. You too will also only look at and answer questions from Zama Nkosi. Ona, you will have questions about Thato. I’ve told Zama to keep it to one question. Mrs Mohale, please remain unbothered by that question. Cameras capture everything and tabloids sensationalise everything. Keep the answer short and along the lines of Thato having never been your wife and you can only speak on she who is your wife now.” 

“Got it”, Ona and Dise say. 

“Good luck guys. I’ll be inside making sure your table is set. You will be sitting with the king, queen, the Maphumulo couple and the Hadebe couple. Just look for me after the red carpet and I’ll lead you to your table”, Reina says. She’s gone and has shut the door before we can even say thank you. 

We all laugh for a brief minute. 

“Is this really your life?” Gcina enquires. 

We all look at her, giggling. 

“I’m going to have to be a cow like Nobantu for this”. Gcina says then gulps down a glass of champagne. We all laugh at her as she does this. 

Khotso and Gcina go out first. We watch them on the screen. Khotso is annoyed and Gcina has her clutch bag over her face, ducking the flash lights in her face. 

“Who is the lovely lady next to you, prince Mohale?” someone asks Khotso. 

Khotso smiles, kisses Gcina and walks into the venue. Every camera caught that. We all laugh in the car. 

“You good?” I ask Tebza.

“I want to check on Khabane”, she says. 

“He is fine, baby. He is with my mom and Gwen. They’d call us if something was wrong”, I say. 

“I know. I’m just nervous. I’ve never left him overnight anywhere before.”

“He’s with family, baby. He is with his granny and his rakgadi. He is perfectly okay”, I reassure her. 

She nods her head and says, “Okay, you are right. Let’s get out there.” 

“You look incredible”, I tell her. 

“You look like a man I’ll be sleeping with tonight”, Tebza says. 

“Woooaaahhh!” Ona and Dise say then we all laugh. 

We finally take the red carpet. All these flashing lights are extremely distracting. Now we smile and look for Zama whoever and answer her questions. How does anyone do this for a living? Tebza handles it like a pro, answers all the questions, including one about Linda and me. When we are done, we walk into the venue and the first thing I want is a drink. I find the bar and order a shot. Khotso is already downing his third shot and Gcina is downing a glass of champagne. Tebza laughs at us. I smile at her and kiss her. 

“Thank you for being here”, she says. 

I kiss her again and say, “I hated every minute of it, but for you, I’d do it over and over again”. 

She smiles and kisses me. 

Ona and Dise walk to us holding hands. Ona is annoyed. He also orders a shot. Dise and Tebza laugh at us. Reina finds us and she is already giving us instructions.

“Listen here, we need three shots before we proceed with this evening, please”, Ona says and poor Reina just looks constipated. 

Now we make our way to our table and the venue is filled with veiled pictures. Okay… this event is nice. I’m happy for Tebza. She’s done so well for herself. 

Ketso Madonsela, the brand owner of K-Pable-C, is giving a speech at the podium. About ten minutes into her speech, she calls up King Mohato Mohale to the stage to help reveal the face of the perfume line. He makes his way to the stage accompanied by loud cheers. Then, all the pictures in the venue are unveiled and it’s pictures of Tebza and the queen dancing in the rain. The queen of Tholoana Kingdom and the diamond of Tholoana Kingdom are the new faces of the perfume line: Raining Diamonds & Queens. They both hug each other and make their way to the stage. We are all standing and cheering for them as they make their way to the stage. I spot Linda at a table behind us and she looks extremely unhappy.

At the after party, Khotso, Ona I are chilling together because Tebza took Regodise and Gcina with her to network. I appreciate their friendship and I can see that Ona appreciates Tebza a lot more because she makes sure that Dise is comfortable at all times. Nobody really misses Fikile. Uncle Shaka, Uncle Qaphela, morena and uncle Mzwakhe join us. They are too old for these kinds of vibes and they look like they are over this. We all chat about nonsense. Then I see Linda next to me after she had tapped on my shoulder. I’m really not in the mood for this. I’m not. 

“Hey”, her. 

“Hi”, me. 

“How are you?” She asks me. 

“I’m good. How are you?” 

“I’m okay. I just wanted us to talk. Please Maboko. I just need five minutes.” 

“Linda –

“Ngiyakucela, Maboko. I’ve already signed the divorce papers. We are never getting back together. I just need to talk. Please.” 

We are all shocked! Ona wants to say something, but morena shakes his head. 

I nod my head and say, “Let me let Tebza know. Give me two minutes.” 

This hurts her, but she nods her head. I’m not going to fight with Tebza tonight because of Linda, she must just forget it. So yes, I do need Tebza’s permission to hear Linda out.

“Baby”, I pull Tebza aside. 

“Hey.”

“Linda wants to talk. She says she’s signed the divorce papers and just wants to talk. I’m not sure about what. But-

“Maboko, what does she want to talk about?” 

“I don’t know. I’ll pull her outside to hear her out. I’m asking you to trust me.” 

“Maboko –

“T, trust me. I love you. I want to be with you. I have no plans of compromising us ever again.” 

She smiles at me. 

“Okay?” 

“Okay.” 

I kiss her, then I make my way to Linda. I lead her to a quieter garden. I sit on a stair of a rather long staircase and she sits three steps ahead of me. Good. There is good distance between us. 

“I really wanted our marriage to work, Maboko. I actually love you. It doesn’t make me happy that we are where we are right now. Surely, what we had counts for something because we did make it to the altar.” She says. 

“I don’t hate you, Linda. I could never hate you. I am extremely hurt that you lied about being pregnant and I’m highly upset about what you did with Kabelo. But now, it’s none of my business anymore. I am extremely disappointed with how you handled me having a son. I know you could have handled the situation better, despite your reservations about Tebza. But I will admit that you are not entirely to blame for getting us to this point. I do love Tebza in a way that I will never love another woman in this lifetime. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t love you. I did. Believe it or not, us men are able to love more than one woman”, I explain. 

She chuckles at this. I smile at her. I am actually glad we are talking. This can be an amicable separation. 

I continue, “But with Tebza returning, I had to make a choice. I may have married you, but I did choose her and I’m sorry for making you feel crazy and insecure about seeing that”. 

“Thank you for admitting to that and apologizing for it. It really means more than you can imagine.” 

I nod my head. 

She continues, “I don’t want us to be enemies, Maboko.”

“We can’t be friends neither. I could never do that to Tebza. We have a history of hurting her. That history brought us to where we are now. With this, I would really like to respect her insecurity when it comes to you and I having any form of friendship or relationship.’

She nods her head. 

“Besides, I am sure that Kabelo wouldn’t appreciate a friendship between us neither.” 

She ignores that and says, “I hope Teboho makes you very happy. She is really lucky to have you in a way that I always wanted you.” 

“She does. She makes me extremely happy.”

“That’s good.” 

“And I wish you all the best with Kabelo. He is a bastard, but I am sure that you can handle him.” 

She laughs. 

Kabelo walks up to us. He looks at us then says, “There you are. I have been looking everywhere for you.” 

Both Linda and I look at him and say nothing. 

“I am missing you inside, baby. I am hoping I can steal you back from Maboko. I am sure his Tebza is looking for him inside too.” He says. 

Finally I see it – the insecurity that Ona was frustrated by all these years. I see it and it’s making me want to punch him more than anything. 

Linda stands up from the staircase while Kabelo and I stare at each other. Linda stands next to Kabelo. 

“Thank you, Maboko”, Linda says to me. 

I nod my head. 

“I’m right behind you, babe.” Kabelo says to Linda. Linda looks at us. I nod my head at her and she walks off. I stand up and face Kabelo. 

“I am sure Teboho wouldn’t appreciate you disappearing with your ex-wife”. 

“Teboho is fine and she is not your concern”.

“As Linda isn’t yours.”

“She came to me and asked to speak to me.” 

“Of course she did. Now, I am coming to you and I am telling you that the ship has sailed. You want Teboho, you have her. Leave Linda to those of us who know what to do with a beautiful woman. I don’t want to go to war with you, my friend. Hell, I want to make you my best man when I marry Linda. But if you push me –

“What are you going to do, Kabelo? If I push you, what will happen?” 

“I’ll make sure that I have Tebza by my side as I take her and that brat you made with her away from your confused hands. If you come after Linda one more time, you better make sure that you want to end up with her because you will see the end of Tebza and that brat.” 

I punch him instantly. I’ve had enough of this guy.

I leave him there and I go find Tebza inside. I see her disappearing into a rest room and Linda follows her. Ona and I both saw that and we look at each other. Ona jogs towards them first and I follow. We stand at the door. They don’t see us, but we see them. Tebza is putting on lipstick and Linda stares at her. Tebza notices Linda then puts her powder and lipstick into this small clutch bag she has with her. 

“Congratulations on tonight”, Linda says to Tebza.

“Thank you”, Tebza. 

“Please take care of him”, Linda. She just had to go there. 

Tebza just looks at Linda and walks out of the restroom. She bumps into Ona and I then looks at me and says, “I’m ready to go”. 

…

This morning, Tebza and I are lying naked in bed in the hotel room we were in. Last night was explosive! 

Tebza’s phone rings and wakes me up. I reach for her phone and read the caller ID. It’s Gwen. I answer her phone. 

“Sis, what’s going on?” 

“Hi daddy”, Khabane responds instead. 

“Hey my boy, you good?” 

“Yes, I’m fine. I didn’t cry and I was able to sleep with granny and baby brother Mohale.” He sounds like he wants to cry.

“That’s good, my boy.” 

“I want to tell mommy that I’m a big boy”. 

“Okay, my boy. I’ll tell her when she wakes up. She’s still sleeping”. 

I can hear him want to burst into tears. This kid is a mommy’s boy.

“When are you guys coming back?” He asks me.

“When mommy wakes up, we will shower and come back to you.” 

“Okay, at what time?” Modimo!

“What time is it now?” 

“The big hand is on the three and the small hand is on the seven”. This child woke up at 7:15 to cry on the phone wanting his mother?

“Okay, we will be there when the small hand is on the eleven and big one is on the six.” 

“Okay. Please tell mommy to phone me on rakgadi Gwen’s phone when she wakes up”, he says.

“Who are you talking to?” Tebza is waking up now.

“Hold on. Your mommy just woke up”, I say and hand Tebza the phone. 

“Hello?” 

“MOMMY!”

I actually just laugh because wow.

“Hello my baby. How’s my favourite boy in the world doing?” 

“I’m fine. I didn’t cry yesterday, mommy. I watched TV and I went to sleep with granny and baby brother Mohale. I’m a big boy. I didn’t cry.” 

“I’m so proud of you. Mommy is going to spoil you today. I miss you so much.” 

“I miss you too, mommy. Daddy says you guys are going to arrive when the small hand is on the eleven and big hand is on the six.” 

“Yes baby, we will. I will see you soon, okay? Be good for rakgadi Gwen and granny. I love you, my boy.” 

“I love you, mommy.” 

Tebza hangs up.

We lie next to each other. 

“I’m too drunk and exhausted.” Tebza tells me. 

“It’s those quality rounds you gave me all night”, I tell her. Because wow, last night was amazing. She laughs and I kiss her on the cheek. 

“You make me happy, T.” I tell her. 

She smiles at me and says, “And you make me just as happy. I wish I were Mrs Seete though.” 

“We are going to make that happen soon. Don’t worry your pretty self about that. Okay?” 

She nods her head. 

Teboho climbs on top of me and starts kissing me. I rub her ass and thighs while she rides me. 

…

It’s time to leave. We are all showered up and packed up. Tebza is wearing cute black shorts and a black t-shirt. She has black Converse sneakers on. I carry our bags out and we bump into Kabelo and Linda at reception. Tebza walks right past them.

“You good?” Kabelo asks Linda. 

“I’m good baby”, Linda replies. 

I keep walking. My car is brought around by the valet, I put our bags in the boot, then get in the car where Tebza is already waiting for me, and I drive us off to our son.