“Fikile! Fikile!” 

This loud yelling is followed up with a bang on my door. 

What in the actual fuck?! 

I pull the blanket over my head and try to zone the noise out. 

“Fikile! Hai bo! Fikile! Wake up and open this door!” 

I open one eye just to inspect where I am. I need to understand why I am being bothered at 05H30am and being demanded to open the door to MY room. 

“Fikile!” 

“Fuck off!” I finally respond. 

“Hai wena! Open this door! The children need to print their projects and the PostNet is closed!” 

Ngeke! Aneva! Noni is very brave to be waking me up for such bullshit. I thought I made it very clear that my office space is for me to work, not for these kids to think they’ve scored an internet cafe. 

I hear Sbo laughing at them. Then he says, “Noni, did these kids not know that they’d need to print and submit today?” 

Noni replies, “They did, but they did the project last minute. I shouted at them, but there’s nothing that I can do about it now. They must print and go to school. And we are all going to be late because Fikile is being selfish. I don’t understand why she just doesn’t put that printing machine of hers in the house where we can all use it.”

“Uhlanyela uFikile wena. Your kids are disorganized and you are making it Fikile’s problem”. Sbo tells her. 

“Fikile, open this door mahn! We are going to be late. Or will you drive us to work?” This bitchis crazy. 

“Is she opening, Noni?” I hear Neli ask her. 

“She’s not. She just told me to fuck off”, Noni replies. 

Sbo is legit laughing at them. 

“Let me call mom”, Neli says. 

Oh fucken hell! 

I get out of bed and drag myself to my bathroom. The hectic bleeding has stopped from me birthing my deceased child. I had to take a pill to first terminate its life, then the baby was removed from my body. I’m healing – physically and emotionally. It’s not easy and the days are different. Some days I’m fine and other days lead me into a very dark place. Sbo slept in my room for the first three days when we came back from the surgery. He pumped an aerospace mattress and slept on the floor. He didn’t know how to be, but he was here and I appreciate him for that. Noni and Neli cared too. But they have their own issues and they judged me for aborting my child. I don’t blame Sbo for not telling them about Khanyisa. My cellphone has been off for the past couple of weeks. I just needed time to myself and I needed to be selfish about it. 

While I brush my teeth now as Noni, Neli and their kids yell for me to open MY door to my room and while Sbo laughs at them do this, I switch my cellphone on.

I finish brushing my teeth and finally go open for them. They storm into my room and start complaining about me being selfish and making them wait. I hear none of it. I just go through my phone and see umpteen missed calls from people at work and three unknown numbers. If it’s important, they’ll call me back. I’m not returning any call. I check my emails and see that I’ve been dismissed in my absence – I was expecting that. But at least I’ll be getting my pay out soon. I’ll put some of it into my savings and some of it will be used as capital for my business. Maybe I can get myself an office so I don’t have to deal with this crap of printing school assignments every morning. 

“So you were really going to let the kids go to school and fail?” Neli says to me. 

“It will teach them to be more responsible with their work. I’m not going to deprive myself of sleep just because they forgot about their assignments.” I say. 

“I guess you’d say that considering that you don’t have a single maternal bone in your body… you have more of a baby cemetery than love for kids in your body.” That comment does hurt my feelings, but she is not worthy to know that. 

“Yep. Rather that than bring children that I cannot afford onto this earth then I go around bothering people for their resources because I cannot handle my own children.” I say. 

Now this hurts her. 

Noni looks at us. I cannot read her expression. 

The children’s transport arrives and hoots at the gate. 

“Hurry up! Sheshisani! Mkhulu will leave you behind.” Noni shouts at the kids, rushing them. Mkhulu is the transport driver.

“Mama, I need R500 for the trip. You said you’d pay the balance today.” One of the kids say. 

“You said you’d pay for all of us”, the other one says. 

Noni and Neli raise their kids together. The baby daddies are present, but one is unemployed and the other is a useless trust fund baby that you cannot depend on. 

I owe Noni for the favour she did for me with the pregnancy. Now that she looks constipated about the money situation, let me be an aunt. 

“Give me your school’s payment details. I’ll settle the balance for all of you.” I say. 

I see relief on Noni’s face. 

“Thank you, Fikile. I’ll give you the details.” Noni tells me. 

“My teacher said we must bring the money today”, the eldest one says. 

Also, I’m not going to be played by kids. This one wants to keep the change and do other stuff with it.

“One of you go tell your transport to leave you. I’ll take you guys to school. Noni, please send me the details. I’ll make an EFT payment now then print out the proof of payment. They can take the proof of payment to their teachers.” I say. 

“Hamba Kamva! Go tell mkhulu you’ll just come back with him. Gijima!” Noni tells Neli’s child. Kamva is the youngest of the three. 

“Why must it be my child?” Neli is unnecessarily petty yaz.

“Okay, Kamva sit down. Lethukuthula, go tell mkhulu”, Noni says, sending her last born now. I’m already on my laptop. Noni sits next to me and gives me the school’s payment details. I make the R2000 outstanding payment. I print out three copies. While the printer prints the copies, I change into a tennis dress and tennis sneakers. I quickly wash my face as well and wear a cap over my braids. 

“Siyabonga ncane”, the kids say to me.

“Okay”, I say. 

Noni gives them their copies of the proof of payment. Siyamthanda, the eldest, is quite upset that there isn’t cash in her hands. I actually giggle to myself. 

“Asambe Noni, I’ll drop you off at work”, I say because shame I can see that I’ve made her late. 

“Thank you so much, Fikile. Yho! You are a lifesaver.” 

Neli is still bitter. 

“Nelisile, thank Fikile. Even Kamva can say thank you and wena you are too proud to say thank you? Khona manje the child wouldn’t be going on a trip.” Sbo tells Neli. 

“I agree nawe, bhuti. Neli, bonga phela.” Noni. 

“These kids are also Fikile’s kids. She was being a parent”, Neli says. What’s this heifer‘s problem? 

“You just reminded Fikile that she killed her baby. She has no forced responsibility, please say thank you. She’s not going to be Kamva’s parent only when it suits you. What she just did is more than what Kamva’s dad ever did”, Sbo continues to defend me. I really love my brother guys. Imagine if I had him on my side against the Mohales? 

“Asambeni“, I say. I’m not in the mood to wait for a “thank you” that’s not coming.

Sbo is the one driving us. I did say that this guy just wants to drive my car. I’m sitting at the back with the kids because I’m quite thin and can fit with them. Noni is on the bigger side of life. She had two C-sections and never cared to gym her way back to her body, so now she occupies my entire front seat. Sbo made Neli catch a taxi because she refused to say thank you to me. I honestly don’t care. Neli and I care about each other differently. We will be there for each other – like after the abortion, she’s the one who begged me to eat and cooked all my meals for me. She sat in my room, watching TV and pretending not to care by not talking to me. But she wouldn’t leave until I’d finish my food. I didn’t say thank you, but she knows I’m thankful. So I also paid for Kamva’s trip that they are going on today. She didn’t say thank you, but I know she’s thankful. We have issues and when we are ready, we will address them. But it unsettles Sbo and he thinks that Neli abuses me. Noni is usually on team Neli and that’s why Sbo will side with me because the fights look like it’s Noni and Neli against me. 

We drop Noni off at work first. She is even fifteen minutes early and even brags that she will have amagwinya today. I’ll let you conclude on why she is still this big. 

I now sit in the front seat. The kids are all talking about their trips to each other. 

“Are you all going on one trip? I thought you were in different grades”, I enquire. 

“Today is trip day. The whole school is going on a trip, but each grade has its own destination. So my grade, the grade 4s, we are going to the museum at Wits. Kamva’s grade, the grade 1s, is going to the Pretoria zoo. Then Siyamthanda’s grade, the grade 7s, is going to a leadership obstacle course at Go-Ape.” Lethu explains.

“Ohhhh, I see. That’s very smart.” I say. 

“But we might not go. I hope you all know that”, Siyamthanda kills the vibe. 

“Why?” I ask. 

“Because our school fees are outstanding. But my mom spoke to the school principal and made a payment plan”, Kamva. 

“Which your mom or my mom haven’t stuck too for three months. The money from court didn’t come through”, Siyamthanda. 

“Court?” Me.

“Child support from our dads”, Siyamthanda says as she rolls her eyes. Now the younger two are depressed. 

I look at Sbo and he shrugs his shoulders.

We get to the school and I ask Sbo to park the car so that we can go into the office and sort this school fees thing out. Sbo and I walk into the office with all three of these kids. The administrator is there and greets us so politely. 

“Good morning. Im here to enquire about the school fees for Siyamthanda Mbatha, Lethukuthula Mbatha and Kamva Mbatha.” I say. 

She pulls out some file. She goes through the file. Some teacher walks in and says, “Anything from the Mbatha family? Else those three kids are staying behind”. 

The administrator is super uncomfortable. She even pulls a face. The teacher is confused. 

“Mrs Roberts, this is my aunt and uncle.” Kamva tells the teacher. 

Now the teacher is uncomfortable. 

“Fikile Mbatha”, I say, extending my hand for a handshake. 

“Can we talk in the principal’s office?” The teacher. 

“No need. How much do we owe you?” I say, attitude accelerated. 

The office administrator puts a piece of paper in front of me. The fees are outstanding by R4000 in total. The fees are R6000 for each kid. They are doing this to kids for a mere R4000? 

I make a transfer into the school’s account and email them proof of payment alongside the proof of payment for the trips.

The principal has also come out now. 

“Good morning Miss Mbatha”, the teacher. 

“Hello”, I coldly say. 

“Sage, please get textbooks for the girls. Their fees are paid in full”, the teacher. 

“So, they didn’t have textbooks because of R4000?” I’m actually getting upset. What kind of school is this? 

“Ma’am, we have rules here and – 

“I’m waiting for a simple yes or no. My kids didn’t have textbooks because of FOUR!FLIPPEN!THOUSAND.RANDS?”

Silence. 

Siyamthanda is smiling. She’s clearly entertained. 

I just turn around and say, “Enjoy your trip guys. Ni-shup with pocket money?” 

“Mam’khulu bought us food, snacks and juice for the trip”, Kamva says.

“But we wouldn’t mind pocket money”, Siyamthanda the chancer says.

“Uthanda imali, Siyamthanda”, Sbo. 

“Hai malume, ncane offered.” Siyamthanda. 

I give Siyamthanda R300. I give Lethu R200 I give Kamva five R20 notes just so she can manage the money better. Her amount totals to R100. 

“Siyabonga, ncane” they say. 

They go to class while Sbo and I leave the office to the car. We see the teacher, principal and administrator watch us make our way to my car. As per standard procedure, Sbo drives and I’m the township girl in the front seat. Lol! 

We are now driving back to the township. I’m going to drop Sbo off at work then head back home. 

“Bhuti, are things bad at home financially?” I ask him. 

“Eish, Fikile. Noni got fired at work. She was involved in some PPE scandal during the covid time and she got fired. She didn’t tell mama and baba. She lied and said she was moving to another hospital. But where she works, it’s an old age home owned by the state and she cleans old people’s bums. She’s not getting paid like she used to and she’s not saying anything. I asked my connections and they told me the truth. And you know Nelisile is selfish. She told Noni she won’t pay the remainder of the fees because she says she did a lot. Neli complains about money and likes being our saviour, so we don’t like asking her for anything. Nelisile will remind us every day of what she has done for us.”

“But bhuti, why didn’t you call me? Especially wena!” 

“Things changed, Fikile. We don’t operate like we used to. Neli definitely made it a “every dog for itself”. 

“We’ve always had our issues neh, but we’ve always showed up for each other. That’s how mama and baba raised us.”

“Ja eish. I’m glad you are back. I couldn’t even tell anyone about Khanyisa. I really missed you.”

“Tell me, why isn’t she in crèche?” 

“Where, sisi? I’d love her to start. She’s 11 months now. Her mother brings strange men to the house while she’s there. What if one of those men rape her? It will be good for her to leave the house during the day.” 

“Bhuti, why don’t you tell mama and baba about the baby? Yes they’ll be upset. But tell them you have a plan to pay damages for the child. I get my payout from work soon. I’ll help you with the money. Then bring the child here. Mama will be happy to be kept busy. She will help. I don’t know anything about raising kids, but I’ll do what I can. Then she can go to crèche and she will be close to us.” 

He is so moved he actually looks like he is about to cry. 

“Bhuti, please. Just tell them. Then we take it from there.” 

“Ngiyabonga, sisi. Thank you so much. I know you messed up neh, but Khotso really missed out on a good woman.” 

“Ja neh. Maybe it’s a good thing that we broke up. My family needed me too.” 

…

I’ve just finished showering and am lotioning myself. 

“Fikile”, my mom calls for me.

You know what!!!! 

Then she knocks on my door. I unlock the door and she walks in. 

“Why did you guys leave Nelisile behind in the morning?” She asks me. 

“She was fighting with Sibongiseni. He was driving. He left her behind.” I say. 

“I’m worried, Fikile. Nelisile has changed.” She says.

“So, I hear.” Me. 

“Anyway, your dad and I are going to Jabulani Mall to buy a few things that are missing here at home. Your dad got his pension money today and we don’t have groceries.” 

This honestly breaks my heart. Now this entire household lives off my parents’ pension money because Neli refuses to support them? You know life is something else. Today she’s in a position to help the family. Tomorrow, she will be in a position where she needs the help. You don’t treat people like this. Now my parents must go on taxis to buy them food because she doesn’t want to be taken advantage of? 

“Mama, give me five minutes to get dressed. I’ll take you guys to the mall and I’ll buy you groceries. Please make a list of everything that you will need.” 

“Are you sure you can afford, Isiphosethusifikile?” This name neh…

“Yes mama. Let me finish.” 

She hugs me and says, “You are home now, my baby. We don’t expect you to pay for being here. Sibongiseni tells me that you paid the fees for the kids and you paid for their trip. I don’t want anyone taking advantage of you – especially Nelisile.” 

“Don’t worry, mama. I can take care of myself.” 

She smiles at me. 

I was trying to involve myself and help push the grocery trolley, but this is clearly my parents’ thing – one of their moments to jola. So, I just gave them R5000 cash and am now waiting for them in the car. Imagine holding a candle for such an old couple! 

My phone rings as I’m doing research on my cellphone for my business. It’s an unknown number, but Truecaller tells me that it is Thomas Ramaru. 

“Fikile, hello?” 

“Fikile, you are a very difficult woman to get hold of. You know I had to go back to Eastgate hoping I’d bump into you again.” 

Oh, it’s that guy. 

I laugh and say, “Hi Thomas. How are you?” 

“All the better for hearing your voice, ma’am. How are you?” 

“I’m okay, thank you.” 

“I’m glad to have finally reached you. I was hoping that I’d ask you to join me for dinner today?” 

“Dinner?” 

“Yeah. A good meal and some good wine at a fine restaurant.” He says.

“That’s not a bad idea. I need to hang out with someone other than my family members.” 

“That’s perfect. So where do I fetch you?” 

“I’ll meet you there. Just send me the time and place.” I say. 

“Okay. How about Marble Restaurant in Johannesburg?” 

“Sure. 7pm okay?” 

“See you then, pretty lady.” 

I hang up. Im actually excited to be wined and dined tonight! I do a little happy dance. 

…

I arrive at Marble five minutes late. I had to look cute and with everything that’s been happening, starting fresh feels so good. I am wearing a beige dress that is very hugging around my body. It’s a short dress, but it’s classy. I’m wearing it with black sandal block heels. My braids are tied up into a bun and I’ve accessorized with jewellery, makeup and a very sexy scent. 

“You look amazing”, he says as he creeps up behind me. He is dressed up in a navy blue suit and looks very nice too. 

“Thank you. You clean up very well yourself too”, I say. 

He hugs me and kisses my cheek. Isn’t he a bit forward…

“Shall we?” Him. 

I lead him to a reserved table that a waiter leads us to. 

After we have sat down and have ordered our meals, we start chatting. 

“So, what do you do for a living, Thomas?” 

“I run a company. It’s a construction company in the Eastrand. My brothers and I own various businesses and each of us run one. I have the construction one”. 

“I see. And what’s it like working with your siblings?” 

“It’s okay. We all have a common goal and that’s to make money. We will clash here and there, but we all know that it’s for a common goal.” 

I nod my head. 

“And your daughter? Tell me about her”. 

His face lights up and this excitement becomes him, “Well, she is six years old now. We used to live together when her mother was alive. When she passed away, we carried on staying together, but I’m always so busy at work and I’d come home late. The nanny was there for her more than I was. I’d come home and she’s fast asleep. I’d leave for work with her being fast asleep. Her grandparents took her for some time to help me, but she didn’t like it there. I think my wife’s parents sank into a depression after she passed away. Rofhi and I went to therapy to deal with it because I could feel myself slipping into a depressed state. So the grandparents were just not great with having Rofhiwa around them. Her psychologist, myself and Rofhi then decided that she should go to a boarding school and every Friday I fetch her, pack my work away and we just be together.” 

“That’s so beautiful. What happened to your wife?” 

He becomes a bit stiff. 

“Sorry”.

“It was an attempted hijacking. But she managed to get away then her tyres got caught into something that ripped them apart. She got out the car and tried to run on foot. She was hit by a car. She and the baby she was carrying passed away.” 

I suddenly feel so cold. 

I hold his hand. Eish, I regret asking. I thought he’d say that she was sick or something. 

Our meal arrives. A bottle of wine is opened in front of us and the waiter pours some wine in each of our glasses then leaves the rest of the wine in the bottle chilled in a chill bucket next to us.

He leaves. 

“Tell me about yourself. I know you are a legendary digital marketer. I know you have international credentials and experience and I know that you’ve launched some big brands. I know that you dated the prince of Tholoana Kingdom as well”. 

“Somebody stalked me”, I say. 

“You are Fikile Mbatha. Your profile is everywhere.” 

I laugh. 

“But behind all of that, who are you? What keeps you human?” He asks me. 

That’s quite a deep question. 

“Love keeps me human. I love hard and I give my all to people that I love… from my family right up to a man that I want to share life with. So when I get hurt, I break into pieces. But it’s my strength that surprises me the most. There are times where I didn’t think I’d come out of a situation that honestly had my back against the wall. But here I am.” 

He looks at me and says, “When was the last time you cried?” 

“A week ago”, I say feeling emotional all over again.

Now he holds my hand. 

“You are very beautiful”, he says. 

“Thank you.” 

“So what are your plans with you being back in South Africa?” 

“I’m going to start my own business, but also just be of service to my family.” 

“That’s beautiful.” 

“Yeah, I was gone for too long.” 

He nods his head. 

“Tell me about this business you are starting”. 

We chat about the business and sports for hours. The time flies so quickly, we only notice when we are asked to leave the restaurant that it is just after midnight. And we’ve been sitting here just talking and laughing. This was nice. I missed this part of my life – the happiness without strings. 

Thomas settles the bill then walks me to my car. When we get to the door, I lean against my door and he leans into me.

“I want to do this again”, he says.

“Me too.” 

“So let’s do it again, please.” 

“When?”

“Well, I’m picking up my daughter tomorrow for the weekend. She heads back Sunday. How about dinner on Sunday night when I come back from dropping her off?” 

I wrap my arm around his waist and I pull him in for a kiss. And we kiss… my head feels so light. This fine piece of meat is exactly the distraction that I need right now. 

We smile at each other. 

“Goodnight, Fikile.” 

“Goodnight, Thomas.” 

…

Gcina and I were meant to go to Sun City this weekend, but as luck would have it, Mohale is getting baptized this weekend and I’m his god-father. Unfortunately, Sunday City has to wait. For whatever reason, Gcina is not happy that my child’s baptism takes preference over some trip to Sun City to have sex – because honestly, what are we going there to do? It is important to me that Gcina understands how important family is to me and how it will always come first. I’m not an only child like she is, so she’s going to struggle to be with me if she’s expecting me to put her first and above my family. 

“Are you ready to go?” Dise asks me.

Dise, Ona and I are going to be sleeping in Mohase tonight. We will come back tomorrow after the baptism.

“Sure”, I say. I grab my overnight bag and walk with her to the car. We are using Ona’s car to drive down to Mohase. 

Ona straps Mohale in his car seat and puts him at the back. Dise sits next to Mohale in the backseat. I sit in the front with Ona as he is the one who will be driving. 

“Please drive safely and phone us when you guys arrive”, my mom tells us as we all buckle up our seat belts. 

“We will, mama. Don’t worry. What time will you and morena arrive?” Ona asks. 

“We are waiting for Pearl and Qaphela to arrive. Once they are here, we are driving down tonight together. Nosi and Shaka are already on their way.” My mom says. 

“Oh, tonight?” 

“Yeah, we’ve booked at a hotel”, my mom says. 

“Oh nice. Oh okay, mama. We will see you in the morning then. The service starts at 8am.” 

“We will be there, don’t worry.” My mom reassures us. 

We finally drive off. 

…

We arrive in Mohase just after sunset – two stops and awesome conversations later. We fetched Maboko, Tebza and Khabane and drove down with them. Tebza is Mohale’s godmother, so we are all sleeping over at Regodise’s home. Our guards have scouted the place and have now stationed themselves around the house. Ona, Maboko and I offload the bags. Ona and Regodise will be sleeping in one bedroom. Maboko, Tebza and Khabane will be sleeping in one bedroom. And I’ll be sleeping with Mohale in one bedroom. This house is big. It is one of the houses in the village that you look at and just feel that the owners can more than afford to live in the suburbs – they just don’t want to let go of their roots. Their yard is even bigger. It’s massive! The kraal for cows is on one side, sheep are on the other side, there is a corner for chickens and another one for goats. This yard is just busy and it smells like animals. But in Tholoana Kingdom, anything that smells like animals smells like money. 

Mme (Regodise’s mother) is beyond excited to see us. She is hugging all of us one by one. She’s even close to tears. We should do this more often – visit her that is. 

We are all so tired from the drive, but we find ourselves in the dining area chatting away with mme. Regodise and Tebza have set up a play space for Khabane and Mohale. Khabane is so patient with Mohale. He takes the big brother role extremely seriously. Maboko and Tebza must give him a sibling. Mme is just laughing a lot and telling very weird jokes. 

“Mme Bontse! Mme Bontse!” Someone yells for her at the gate. 

Her reaction kills me. 

“Keng?!”

“There are guards at your gate and they are not letting us in”, the person yells. 

“Okay!” Mme’s response and we all actually laugh. 

“Mme Bontse, hle! Please tell them to let me in.  I’m coming for tea”, the person. 

Mme stands up and stands at the door. The distance from the door to the gate is far. But she yells at that lady saying, “Rosina, my children are visiting me. Why must I stop spending time with them to have tea with you?” 

“Mme Bontse, we all heard that the princes of Tholoana Kingdom are here. We want to see them!” 

People in this village are funny. Are we animals in the zoo now on display for them to see? 

We are honestly laughing at this entire conversation. 

“Voetsek wena Rosina! These are my children and they are here to visit me. If you annoy me again, I’m going to tell those guards that you’ve come to my house to poison us. And can you see how tough they are? They kill you with one choke-slam!” 

Now we are in stitches! Dise’s mother is extremely hilarious. Who still says choke-slam? Who? 

She comes back to where we are sitting and has a platter of fruit for Khabane and Mohale. Dise is annoyed because she knows that she will need to feed Mohale that fruit and its always messy. 

“I’ll feed them”, Tebza offers. 

I think Tebza just has baby fever. Maboko smiles as Tebza speaks to Mohale and wraps a baby bib around his neck. Mohale smiles at Tebza, laughing even. 

We are all smiling at this.

“Mommy, can I try to feed him?” Khabane asks. 

“You can. But you must also eat.” Tebza says. 

The platter is of Mango, peaches, pineapple and grapes. 

Mohale turns a year old next month. He is walking now and he grabs everything in sight. He thinks he is old enough to even feed himself and Dise always goes to war with him when she has to feed him. But Tebza accepts the challenge and she actually manages him well. She gives him an interactive toy to distract him, dividing his attention between eating and playing. So he eats to get Tebza to stop annoying him with food so he can just play. Tebza’s experience in this mom thing is showing. 

As Tebza feeds the kids, our platters of fruit arrive as well. The helper then comes in to tell us that our food is warming up and she will serve us when the food is ready. She informs mme that she will set up on the upstairs patio. Mme Bontse tells her to tell the other helpers to help her. I was about to ask if that one lady cleans this entire house alone. Also, how does someone who lives it up like this make gemere, umqombothi and bake scones from scratch? I’d say that the helpers did it if I didn’t see her do it all again at Maboko’s house when we had run out. Humility is one thing she never outgrew when she landed on money.

“Set up a buffet. I just spoke to Kea, they are ten minutes away. Set up for thirteen adults and two children. Set up one extra room as well. Gcina will be sleeping here with her age-mates”, mme says. 

“My mom?” Ona.

“Gcina?” Me.

“They must have a home-cooked meal instead of hotel food. They’ll leave after dinner.” Mme explains.

“No need to set up an extra room. I’ll sleep with Gcina, then Ona will sleep with Khotso”, Dise says. 

We all know what she did there and we all caught it. We all giggle – except her mother.

“Okay then.” Mme says. 

Our parents arrive and it’s just a noise. I take Gcina’s bags and take them upstairs to where I am sleeping. When I come back downstairs, Dise whispers to me, “Does this mean Mohale is sleeping with us now and Ona and I cannot have sex?” 

I laugh aloud and she just giggles and slyly smiles at me. 

We go and join everyone outside. She sits next to Ona and I sit next to Gcina. She is happy to see me and I’m glad that we will not be fighting because the last time we spoke, her tongue was out of control. Gcina’s tongue needs timeout every now and then. Mohale is still on Tebza’s lap and Khabane is on Maboko’s lap. Their chairs are vacant. 

As per standard procedure, mme starts off with a prayer. We are now standing and listening to the prayer. Mme’s prayers are never shorter than five minutes. Ona and I have timed them. She averages between eight to ten minutes of just speaking to the Lord while the rest of us have our eyes closed. Weird enough, it’s Mohale’s noise that makes us giggle because he is probably over the prayer. Morena takes Mohale from Tebza and tries to do the “I’ll step outside with him” act. My mom stops him dead in his tracks and he just has Mohale in his arms making a noise. I see Tebza bringing a pacifier to them and morena shakes his head. He wants the noise. 

“Say amen, papa. Say amen”, morena says to Mohale. 

Mohale just screams in laughter instead. Ona and I cannot hold it in. Eventually, mme says amen and we notice that quite a few people are in tears from laughing internally. All the women go to the buffet to start dishing up for us. Gcina always says that she’s not married, so she doesn’t do that shit. She says, “It’s women with rings who behave like they are on a Kunta Kinte show and the men are their masters.” 

Dise serves Ona and me our plates. Gcina brings Ona and me juice. I don’t know what Dise said to her, but this is a start to getting her into Kunta Kinte as well. 

As we start eating, ntate walks onto the patio. Regodise’s face lights up while mme’s face goes from joy to irritation. 

“Papa?” Dise.

“Lehakoelapeloyaka“, that’s what he calls her. 

Dise stands up and hugs her father with so much excitement. 

“What are you doing here, Aobakoe?” Mme asks ntate. 

“This is my house, Bontse.” 

“You forgot about that when you left to go and live with your little whore and your child!” Dise is extremely shocked. 

“Mommy, what’s a whore?” Khabane asks Tebza. 

“Nothing you need to know about at the moment. Shut your ears!” Tebza says. 

Khabane looks at Ona and says, “Uncle Ona, is it a bad word?” 

“A very bad word. You should probably hear it so you know to never say it”, Ona replies. 

“Come here, my boy.” I say. He runs to me and I shut his ears for him. 

“A child?” Dise enquires. 

“Bontse, I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t involve our daughter in this. Do I need to keep reminding you that I’ve asked you multiple times to allow me to take a second wife? You refused. What did you want to happen?” 

“Wait a minute! You want to take a what?!” Dise is about to have a heart attack. 

Ona and I would go up there and hold Dise, but we knew all this was happening and as soon as one of them mention this shit, Ona and I are sleeping at a hotel with our parents. We just know Dise will kick us out.

“You want a second wife? Where will you put her? Because she’s not coming here to my house. And we both know you cannot afford to look after two houses. You cannot even afford to maintain this house, buy food or maintain our garden and our livestock! My sons, Ona and Khotso have been taking care of this house for the past five months. They are the ones buying me groceries every month! They make sure that our garden is kept neat and our livestock is taken care of. Morena and Kea have been kind enough to ensure that our staff gets paid from the royal house payroll. Where have you been, Aobakoe? Where? You didn’t even call to check on how I was doing! You didn’t even know if I was going to bed on a full stomach or not. Now you want to bring your whore into my house to do what when you cannot even afford her?!” 

The look that Dise is giving Ona, morena, my mother and me! We all just know that she is going to shit on us. The entire table suddenly has indigestion and honestly, we were looking forward to eating this food. 

“Bontse –

“You are not welcome here, Aobakoe. I’ve already started the process of getting your name off this house’s title deed. My sons are helping me.” 

Ja no, mme is frying us with this snitching. Even my mom is now looking at us like we’ve lost our minds and morena is equally guilty. 

“You can have your whore and all your illegitimate bastards, but it will be a cold day in hell before those street dogs put their hands on anything that has my name on it.” Mme keeps telling ntate. 

Dise is now crying. 

“Lehakoelapeloyaka, I’ll leave now. But I’ll be at the church tomorrow. I hope that you and Ona will allow me to be part of this journey in my grandson’s life”, ntate says then leaves. 

The moment – tense!

We are not even sure if we should eat. Regodise storms off the patio and heads into the house. Ona gets up and runs after her. 

“Let’s eat!” Mme yells. 

It’s just not even the same now. 

“Khotso, you also need to go and explain yourself. I suggest you follow them. Wena Mohato, you’ll explain yourself to me!” My mom says. 

I get up and make my way into the house. 

“Why wouldn’t you tell me this, Ona? Why?! My family is falling apart then you and Khotso help my parents get a divorce?” Regodise is yelling at Ona. 

“No baby, listen –

They notice me. Ona looks relieved to see me. 

“Khotso, le wena, abuti? Seriously?” Regodise says to me. She is so hurt. Tears are all over her face.

My parents and mme walk in. 

“Regodise, they helped me. What exactly is wrong with that? They did far more than what your father ever did for me”. Why is mme gas-lighting Dise like this? 

“Baby, listen to me. You were stressed out about your parents and how your mother was feeling about you and Mohale not coming back to Mohase with her. Khotso and I dug in and found out what was happening. Mama hadn’t had electricity for a month, baby. She was in debt with a loan shark just so she could eat. The loan shark was about to take the house and – 

“ONALERUNA!” Dise screams. 

Okay, now we are all shit-scared! Dise has completely lost it. It’s interesting how Dise makes Ona so stupid. If it were a different situation, he would know to withhold all the details and tell her that shit is now solved. Now he must answer to why he kept quiet about Dise’s mom suffering.

“WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU KEEP SOMETHING LIKE THIS AWAY FROM ME?!” 

Dise  is going to smack Ona at this rate.

Ona looks at me to say something, so I sceptically say, “Dise, our first instinct was to make sure that mme is okay. So we called morena and explained what was happening. We paid off the loan shark, paid the electricity and bought mama food. We just wanted to make sure that she was okay again before stressing you out.” 

“And at what point did it slip your mind to inform her daughter that she was suffering?!” Now I’m quiet. 

“Regodise, your father and I have been in debt for a very long time. You know your father, he never sticks around when the going gets tough. Remember when you had to go to school and he just disappeared? You went into the army because that’s the only way you could study. Leaving is no longer what Aobakoe does, it’s who he is. Back then, I had you and you sent money for me every month. I was okay. Now, I have two more sons and they’ve more than taken their place in this home. Please don’t be upset with them.” Mme says. 

The animal that was coming out of Dise is taming. 

“I’m learning to live without him, Regodise. I can’t keep doing this with him. Your father belongs to the streets and we’ve always suffered because of it. Now, we have to let him go and let him be, so that we can be okay.” Mme. 

“He’s my father! You want me to let go of my father?” Dise says as she sobs. 

“No, nana. I’m letting him go as my husband. You are the only person who can decide what you want to do with him as your father.” 

Dise just leaves us all in the kitchen and starts running outside. Ona and I run after her. She is running after her father. Three guards follow us with guns. Ntate stops when he sees Dise running towards him. Dise just throws herself around her father and as they hug, they both cry in each other’s arms. This is extremely sad. Even Ona is getting emotional. 

…

We are in church now. Tebza and I are sitting in front with Ona and Dise. We have to take the baby to the basin where he will be baptized. Tebza has sleeping Mohale in her arms. Everyone else is sitting right behind us. Behind our family and friends, it is three rows of bodyguards (the others are scattered outside of the church) then the audience sit behind two seats behind the bodyguards. Morena and my mother have been acknowledged. This is their kingdom. It’s quite an event. Mme is sitting with the choir. Ntate is here and he is sitting with morena and everyone else that has come with us. I saw Zakes also arrived with his girlfriend. 

The priest then says, “My brothers and sisters in Christ, we have our sister in Christ here with us today – Mme Regodise Mohale”. 

This actually makes Dise laugh and the church cheers her on. This church seems to be a bit of those show-off churches. Aren’t we all equal before the Lord? Why are people getting special mentions because we are of royal blood or because they are married to the royal family? Ten babies were supposed to be baptized today. Instead, it’s just Mohale being baptized here today because he is a prince and the first grandchild to the king. Yet, this church is PACKED!

“She is accompanied by her husband and her new family. They’ve all brought our future leader to be a child of God. Regodise grew up in this very church. We saw Mr and Mrs Thibane raise this beautiful girl and now she is a wife and a mother. She has led this church in song many times and that angelic voice of hers has saved many souls.” 

Hai khona! What is this? When is this man of God reading the Bible? The congregation just keeps cheering him on. 

“Regodise, please come lead our choir in song today as we baptise Mohale to our Lord and Saviour.” 

Regodise stands up and makes her way to the choir. Her father takes the piano. This is quite the musical family. Dise takes the mic and starts singing. The song is on some, “When I remember what the Lord has done, I will never go back anymore.”

Her voice is extremely powerful. Mohale notices it and he wakes up. Tebza and I take Mohale forward as the priest instructs us. Dise sings, bringing people to stand and mince in the glory of her voice. The priest prays for Mohale and Mohale is looking at me as if seeking an explanation of what is going on. I hold his hand and he wraps his entire hand around my one finger. I smile at him. He smiles at me. Dise is now showing off with her voice – the higher the song goes, the more she flexes her voice from her stomach. I had no idea that she could sing like that until I heard her sing at Mme-Seete’s funeral. 

The priest: “Teboho Seete and Khotso Mohale, as the godparents that have been trusted by Onaleruna Mohale and Regodise Mohale, do you commit to ensuring that this child grows up in the Lord? Will you make sure that he knows the Lord, loves the Lord and has faith in the Lord until the day he passes to meet His creator?”

Tebza and I look at each other. We both know we are about to lie. 

“We do”, we both say. 

Ja neh. 

Now the priest takes water and runs is past Mohale’s head saying, “Mohale Lehakoelaruna Mohale, I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit. Amen”.

“Amen, papa.” My mom says. She and Ona are standing behind Tebza and me. My mom is standing in for Dise as Dise is busy blessing everyone with her voice. 

The service is another thirty minutes then people go and eat Holy Communion, with Dise singing away again. Now Mohale is getting restless. Ona gives us a bottle with his juice in it. Tebza feeds him and the little champ is a happy man. 

The service finally ends three fucken hours later and we have to be escorted out of the church by our guards because people are being weird. The priest keeps saying he set up for us to eat afterwards. Do these people not know that that’s not how we live? We don’t just eat anywhere. Mme invites the priest to the house for lunch instead and he is more than happy to leave with us. The congregation will have that lunch that was set up for us.