“Fikile!” 

I hear a male voice shout from outside my door. It sounds like Sibongiseni. I open my one eye to check the time. It’s 6am. Oh ja… he is going to pay damages for Khanyisa today. I just don’t understand why I’m being woken up. I gave him R20 000 and my car keys last night so that he wouldn’t bother me this morning. He even had the audacity to tell me that he’s paying nothing more than R5000 for damages. 
“Fikile!” 
“Sibongiseni, kwenze njani?”
“Vula phela“. 
I roll out of bed, wear a gown then open the door.
He is fully dressed and looks nice. But still, why am I awake at this hour? 
“Kwenze njani, Sibongiseni? It’s 6am.” 
“I just wanted to say thank you, sisi wami. Of all the people going to negotiate this for me, you are the one who needs to lead these negotiations.” 

Couldn’t he tell me this later on when I am actually awake? 
“Sibongiseni, you better not be asking me to bath now and go with you – 
He laughs and says, “I’m just saying thank you, Fikile.” 
I smile at him and say, “Our uncles will represent you well, bhuti. Don’t worry. All I ask is that you bring me back my baby girl. I went shopping for her and got all these nice things for her. Her crèche is even ready for her. It’s a Curro close to where my office is based.” 
He laughs. 
“And bhuti, give them whatever they ask for. Just please come back with Khanyisa.” 
He laughs and says, “I’m not giving them R20 000. Just forget it. But I will bring her back, don’t worry.” 
I laugh. 
“And sisi…”
I look at him. 
“You don’t have to give birth to be a mother. You’ve been an amazing one to Khanyisa and I thank you for that. She is your baby. I won’t stand in your way in raising her. There’s no other person I trust on this planet with her than you.” 
I just hug him and say, “We will raise him together”. 
“Ndodana, singahamba?” My dad says with my uncles following him. Sbo is driving them with my car. 
“You’ll be fine without the car?” Sbo asks me. 
“I’m going back to sleep. Good luck.” 
I close my door and I hear them all leaving. 

Now, I cannot go back to sleep. I grab my phone and decide that I will get some work done. I’ve already got multiple clients that want me to do campaigns and other brand/marketing/communications work for them. I’ve been outsourcing some of the stuff because I do not have resources yet, but now that I’m actually making some money, I want to start hiring people. I’d hire Neli to manage my admin because she’s amazing at it, but it’s not a good idea to do that with her. I love Sbo to bits, but he dodges work too much and I just know that working together will drive me crazy. He is coming with me though today to help me view the final look and feel of my office. I got myself a cute office space in a business park in Johannesburg. It’s affordable and I have enough space to hire a good team of creatives, have a studio and a professional storage. The business park has other businesses in different buildings. It will be extremely exciting for the purposes of networking and growing my company. I hired an interior designer to make sure that I have a great workplace and an innovative hub of a workplace. He ordered the furniture, the artwork and all the wallpaper. 

I push concept work and go through videos sent to me. I give my feedback and give people deadlines as well because I have meetings all week next week to provide feedback and launch strategies for eight different companies. I give three hours of my morning to just purely working. I have also had a few MC gigs that have paid off extremely well. 

When I am done, I phone a recruitment agency and set up a meeting with them. I need them to recruit a whole workforce for me. The work that I’ve been doing lately has given me an amazing start in a budget for employees. I need to prioritize what I can and get the ball rolling because I will crash if I do not get any help. 
It’s not easy being so amazing at what I do. Lol! 

Thomas phones me just as I wrap up for the day. It is almost 10am and I need to go and view my office space. I still have to shower and get ready because I worked in bed. 
“Hello handsome”, I answer my phone. 
“Hello beautiful”, him. 
“How’s your weekend with Rofhi going? How’s Venda?” 
“It’s great. The kids are all excited to see each other. I do miss you though.”
He’s in Venda for someone’s graduation celebration. One of his brothers graduated from Harvard and it’s a family thing. 
“You’ll see me when you get back, babe. Don’t worry.” I say. 
“I love it when you call me babe”, he says and laughs. I laugh too. 
“What are you getting up to today?” He asks me. 
“Just moving into the office space. The interior designer confirmed that they finished doing the walls, putting up artwork and moving in furniture yesterday.” 
“I wish I were there to go with you. This is a huge step and I’m so proud of you. You are one brave lady and I know that you will make this work.” 
“Thank you so much, baby. That really means a lot to me. And thank you so much for your advice and assisting me with the rollout of everything. I will never forget this.”

“Anything for you, my love. I will always be here for you. And any business advice that you need, you can be more than sure that I am here and ready to just be anything that you need.” “You are the best, Thomas Ramaru. Ngiyabonga kakhulu.” 
“I have an extra PA that you can use at the office. Her name is Thando. She is very effecient and she will definitely get the job done.” 
“Don’t you need her?” 
“We make her manage all the other PAs because the person she used to support left and she’s been floating from one executive to another. We don’t want to lose her because she’s one of the best that we have. But I think you’d definitely give her more meaningful work. I’ll keep her on our payroll until you decide if you want her permanently or not and if she’s keen for a permanent move.” 
“Are you sure, baby?” 
“Very sure. And trust me, she’s a beast. Just make this feel like a promotion and you’ll get the best out of her.” He says. 
“Noted.” 
“Come into the office on Monday then I’ll organise a meet and greet between the two of you.” 
“Thanks so much, Thomas. I really appreciate this.” 
“Enjoy your day and let me know how the office viewing goes, okay?” 
“Sure thing.”
“I’m thinking about you, gorgeous.” 
“I’m thinking about you too, handsome.” 

I find myself smiling to myself as I shower. Thomas is such a thoughtful and handsome man. His wife must have been extremely blessed to have him as a husband. 
I quickly lotion myself after my shower then get dressed in black denim pants, a plain black t-shirt and cute pink Puma sneakers. Today I let my relaxed hair out. I just comb it and let it hit my back. I pack my handbag for the day, put on some perfume then grab my shades. 

I’m about to order an Uber when I see my car drive onto our street. I put my phone down and watch the car park. I search for Khanyisa and indeed, she is here, strapped in the car seat that I bought for her. Sbo hoots my hooter, calling out my mom and sisters from the house. I go for Khanyi and as I pull her out of her car seat, she’s already smiling at me. I’m so excited to see her. 
“Hello, girl. Hey pretty hun”, I greet her. 
She smiles at me. 
My mom takes her from me and greets her with so much excitement. I hug my brother and say, “I’m glad it went well.” 
“I paid R4000”, he says. 
We look at each other and laugh. 
“Let’s go see your office.” He says.
“I want Khanyisa to come with us”, I say. 
“She just got here. Makakhothwe yidlozi before you start gallivanting with her. Hai bo. She will be here when you come back.” My mom cuts me short very quickly. 
Then she tells the men to go inside the house because Neli and Noni have prepared lunch for them. The men are very happy with that. Sbo and I leave for my offices. 

“So, you are running around with my big big boss now?” He says. 
“Huh?” 
“Thomas Ramaru… I’m a construction worker for his company.” He says. 
“Oh really? Oh wow.”
“So, is he your new boyfriend or what?” 
“Wait, how do you even know that I know him?”
“I know things, Fikile. And I have connections everywhere.” 
I just look at him. 
“We are getting to know each other, bhuti. I like him and he seems to like me. So, we are seeing each other. But, it’s still too soon to put a label on things, so we will see how it goes.” I’m being as honest as I can. 
“Well, he’s a good man. I’d be lying if I said that I’ve seen him use women. He’s been married twice. His second wife ushaye istina on the first wife then ended up dying.” 
“How do you know such intricate details about someone’s life?” 
He laughs and says, “I should have been a detective. I just know how to find information.” 
I laugh. 

We drive into the business park and park in front of my office space. The name of my company is printed outside of the building with the logo underneath it. 

I feel so proud. I climb out my car and walk towards the building. I feel so emotional already. I did this. Me. I did this. I step into my reception area and it’s beautiful… it’s cosy. It has a coffee station at the waiting area as well as a reception desk. On this floor sits a kitchen and thirteen creative cubicles that are creatively designed as offices for all the executives that I will be hiring. There is an open plan space where all managers will be sitting. There are ten printers set up for people to use as well as multiple whiteboards that can be used. Everything is creatively spaced, and I absolutely love it. It is perfect! There are six restrooms here and they are beautiful. You’d be very comfortable to do a number two in here. Sibongiseni is already using one of the male-designated restrooms. 

I make my way up the stairs and I see the second floor. There are five offices here and the rest of the space is an open plan. These offices will be for the five managing directors that I will be hiring. All the specialists and senior specialists will sit on this floor. Each of the managing directors will have personal assistants and those personal assistants have desks right outside of the offices of their designated managing directors. All offices are transparent on this floor. We are here to work, not for privacy and when I walk in here, I want to see people working. The artwork is spectacular. It is creatively placed next to whiteboards that have covered the walls of this floor. There are restrooms as well as common areas on this floor where people can go to have conversations to avoid annoying people who are working hard at their desks. You can just tell that this floor is going to be a vibe. 

Then I head to the third floor where I will be sitting. My office is not transparent. I can have the privacy because I’m the main bitch in town. My office has a walk-in closet, an in-suite bathroom and a mini kitchen that has a fridge, microwave and kettle. I also have a bar in here as well as my own boardroom. I love this! I deserve this! I have a main desk, a meeting desk and a small kiddies table for Khanyisa. After school she will come here with her baby tutor and they will keep each other occupied at her little desk. We got her nanny who will fetch her from school every day, bring her here to my office, make sure that she is fed and ensure that she naps before her tutor arrives. There is also a play area and a crib for her when she takes her nap. My office is HUGE and I love it. It takes up most of this floor.

I look behind me and Sbo is standing there. 
“So, this is for you and Khanyi?” 
I smile at him. 
He gets emotional. 
“We made it. We did it. Bhuti, look at how far we’ve come.” 
“You’ve made it! I’m so proud of you.” 
We smile at each other. Outside of my office are all the boardrooms. So, I’ll have a nice peep view of all creative sessions. There are only two executive desks in front of my office: for my PA and for my secretary. 
“This place is very nice. You must bring mom and dad here before you officially open for business.” 
“I will. They’ll come tomorrow. Mama said she wants to bring a priest who will also pray for the place and splash holy water all over it. So, after church, we will come here.” 
He nods his head. 
Honestly, I’m just gushing with pride. 

He follows me into my walk-in closet and we see a few suits and dresses hung in here already. There are also baby dresses and tracksuits. I see a massive bunch of red roses and I just know that this has Thomas written all over it. I read the card that I find in here. 
“Congratulations my gorgeous lady. You, Khanyisa and I will celebrate together Monday evening. Wear anything in here. I have a nice plan for us.
T.R.” 
I’m so moved. Sbo just laughs and says, “he is so whipped.” 
Mxm! 
I videocall him. 
“Hey baby” 
“You are beyond amazing, you know that.”
“You got my gift?” 
“I did. Khanyi is not with us. It’s just Sbo and I. But I’ll definitely bring her on the date.” 
“Okay baby. Show me the office. I just had the stuff delivered.” 
I take him on a video tour around the building and he really likes it. He keeps telling me how proud he is of me and that my business will be nothing but a success. After the tour, we say goodbye and promise each other to phone each other later. 

…

Thomas has just picked up Khanyisa and I from my office. Thando definitely is a dynamite. She is an over-achiever and I love it. I’m happy that she agreed to work with me. I think she was excited about the new challenge as well and fresh on her plate is helping me with recruitment while helping me with work for our clients. She referred someone to be considered for the secretary role. I said she must just discuss it with the HR company that will be helping us with the recruitment of the workforce. She even got an increase from Thomas, so she’s a happy lady. 
Now, Khanyisa and I are about to be spoiled rotten by the main man himself. 

We arrive at some park and we are picked up by some horse carrying a chariot. I’m already laughing because this man is so cheesy. I told him about Khanyisa and how I plan to just make her mine – raise her and make sure she turns out amazing. He has found a place in his heart for her in his heart and could not be happier. He will be meeting Khanyisa for the first time today and he is clearly very excited about it.

We climb on this chariot and it takes us on a trip around Johannesburg as we eat our dinner. Khanyisa is chirpy and obviously happy. She is making us laugh and just being cute. After I’ve fed her and she has seen enough of Joburg, she passes out. Thomas is actually the one who cradles her and puts a blanket over her as she sleeps on his chest. I’m impressed. I rest my head on his shoulder. 
“Thank you, Thomas. Truly, ngiyabonga.” 
“Thank you, Fikile, for reviving my heart.” 
My heart is so happy. 
“So, my brother was telling me that you’ve been married twice before.” I say.
“But how does your brother know me?”
“He’s a construction worker in your company.” 
“I see”. 
“Well?” Me. 
“Well what?” 
“You’ve told me about one wife. Who’s the other one?” 
“Pearl. Yes, we were married. But our marriage ended because we were not happy together anymore.” 
“Your second wife had nothing to do with that unhappiness?” 
“My affair with my second wife and her getting pregnant just fast-tracked the inevitable. But Pearl and I were already in a bad place by the time that I met Lydia.” 
“So, where’s Pearl now?” I ask. 
“Somewhere in KZN remarried to the father of her daughter that she had before she met me.”
“Are you talking about Pearl Hadebe?” I ask. Was this man married to Aunt Pearl? 
“I don’t care to know what her new surname is.” 
I Google a picture of Aunt Pearl and show Thomas. 
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“You were married to Aunt Pearl?” 
“She’s your aunt?”
“No. She’s friends with my ex’s mother. We all just called her Aunt Pearl.” 
We look at each other and actually just laugh. This is such a small world. He could have easily been our Uncle Tom. Lol! The thought just makes me laugh. 
“The point is that I’m with you now. And baby, I want us to be exclusive. I have strong feelings for you, Fikile. And I want us to start building together.” 
I smile at him and we kiss. 

“I haven’t done this in a while, so I hope that I haven’t lost my touch.” He says as he carries Khanyi up the stairs to put her down in a very nice room. This must be Rofhiwa’s room. This is my first time at his house and I must say, it’s a beautiful house. 
I watch him put Khanyisa down and cover her with a blanket. 
He is so sincere. Wow. Rofhiwa must be one lucky girl. 
He walks towards me and watches me smile in admiration at him. He wraps his arm around my waist and starts kissing me. I pull back, hold his hand and whisper to him, “Lead me to the headquarters.”
He does just that. 

A million things are racing through my mind as he unzips my dress and let’s it fall to the ground. I feel so nervous as he nibbles on my neck. Why do I feel like I’m doing this for the first time? I’m no virgin at all. Tom has me under a spell. 
He lifts my face towards him and as I look up at him, he kisses me. He drinks passion off my lips and everything about him just hypnotises me. I start unbuttoning his shirt and I unbuckle his belt, helping him out of his pants. 
He pushes me to the bed so seductively. Before I know it, he is inside of me. He makes sensual love to me. In fact, we make love to each other. We are rolling on the bed, taking turns to be in control and to be controlled. When we reach our happy ending, I feel extremely emotional.  I feel so LOVED. Something happens to him too. I see it in his eyes. I brush his face and peck his lips. 
“I haven’t made love with my spirit in a very long time… until now. I love you, Fikile Mbatha.” 
He sees the tear race down my face. He kisses me again. 
This time, he leaves traces of kisses down my body. He covers my nipples with love filled kisses and when he starts feasting on something cuisine, he sends me to heaven instantly. My v-lady has never been dined on like that, ever! Talk about a man who knows what to do with a woman. I am moaning and grabbing on everything. I feel like I’m going to come in his mouth at this point. When my body starts shaking, he leaves trails of kisses again as he makes his way back up to my lips. We just make love until our bodies tell us that they are done with us. 

“Goodnight, my love.” He says as I pass out in his arms. He just came back into the bedroom from checking up on Khanyisa. He is an amazing father and an incredible lover. 
“Goodnight, sthandwa sami.” I say. I can just feel it in my blood. This one may just be it for me. My heart performs cartwheels as I shut my eyes next to him for this evening.

…

“Put some clothes on!” She says as she laughs and walks into the gym that we have inside our house. 
She’s such a beautiful woman. I enjoy annoying her because her reactions make me laugh. I know she will always say something when I walk around the house naked. I love walking around this place naked. It’s our house and I know that not just anyone will walk in here. 
“Good morning, baby”, I say as I laugh at her. 
She is wearing short white pants and a black t-shirt. She isn’t wearing any shoes. 
“Why are you in the gym naked?” She asks me. 
“Please just let me be a nudist in my own house. Please.” I say and she laughs. 
She was undoing her hair last night, so her hair is in a huge afro and is curly as hell. 
“It’s really nice to wake up next to you and watch you do weird things like walk around the house naked for no reason. We got this big house together and it’s really nice to actually have you enjoy it with me.” She says. 
“Come here”, I say as I pull her towards me. We kiss. 
“I’ll try my best to be around here more often, okay?” 
She smiles at me. 
“What time are Ona and Dise arriving?” She asks me. 
“Probably around midday.” 
“Okay. I want to go quickly do my hair then collect dessert on my way back. I had already started preparing lunch. I’ve marinated the meat so you and Ona can just braai when he gets here. Then I’ll just put a few things on the stove and get cooking…”
She blabs on and I watch her reminding herself of all the things that she needs to do. I just smile at her because it means a lot to me that she’s making a big deal out of this lunch. She even had a baby feeding chair delivered yesterday to accommodate Mohale at our table. 

I just kiss her to stop her from talking. She lets me. 
“You are an amazing host”, I tell her. 
She looks at me and says, “maybe I should rather cook the meat neh, make the meal heartier and more of a home cooked meal, you know”, she says. 
I kiss her again then say, “Nothile, we will braai the meat. The food will be fine. Relax.” 
Now she smiles. 
“Okay, let me quickly get going. I’ll see you when I get back, babe.” She says then runs out the house. 
I just laugh and shake my head. 

I spend the next few hours naked on my couch playing Fifa on my PS5. Nothile ended up getting a new console delivered here for me. It’s honestly these little things that she does for me that just make me drawn to her. I actually enjoy playing on this console and on this TV that we have in this TV room. About two hours into my playing, Nothile phones me. I answer the phone and put her on loud speaker because I can’t just pause this game. 
“Hey baby”, me.
“Hey cakes. The people from the events company have arrived. I’ve just let them in at the gate. They are going to set up for us in the garden.” 
“Events company? What are they setting up?” 
“They are creating a nice ambiance for us to enjoy our lunch”. 
“All of this just for us to swallow food?” 
“Khotso, just please get dressed – because I know that you are probably still naked – and let them in.” 
I laugh. 
“I’ve finished doing my hair and I’ve just collected the dessert. I should be home in the next fifteen minutes.” 
“Okay baby.”
She hangs up. 
I still have five minutes left of this game. If I quit this game, my opponent will win by default. Those events people can wait. 

As I come down the stairs finally dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, I see Nothile pacing about in the kitchen while the events people set up outside. I wore a gown when I let them in then went upstairs to shower and get dressed. The pots are now cooking and the oven is roasting something. It smells good in here. Her hair looks really nice, but she has a doek over the front part of it. She went to the salon to just glue on a wig, but it’s nice. She looks nice. Yesterday, she went for her monthly facial, so she’s glowing. 
I get to her and kiss her. 
“Blonde hair?” I ask. It suits her though. 
“Yep. I’ve had black hair for too long”, she says. 
I laugh. 
“You look beautiful”, I tell her. 
“Thank you, baby.” 
“Can I help?” I offer because my house is very busy and while I feel the urge to go back to my PlayStation, I might have her in my ear busy sending me on errands as if she doesn’t see that I’m about to win games. 
“Please start chilling the wine for Dise and I. She loves hers white and dry. I love mine red and dry. I got some nice bottles delivered from Stellenbosch yesterday”, she says. 
“Isn’t Dise still nursing?” 
She shakes her head and says, “She stopped when Mohale turned a year old. Oh and love, I’ve put the beer in the fridge for you and Ona.”
I smile at her. She really went all out for this. 
“So, you and Dise talk now?” I ask. I’m very curious. 
“Yep. She’s invited me to lunch a few times and I appreciate it.” Dise is a true baby sister. I just love it. 

Nothile is just fussing in the kitchen. There are shopping bags on the couch because she hasn’t made it to the bedroom yet. 
“Evelyn, please make sure the guest bedroom is clean and that all the bedding has been changed”, she tells our domestic worker. I didn’t even see her come into the kitchen. She’s followed in by two of our other domestic workers. 
“We have, Sis’ Nothile. We’ve cleaned the bathroom and also set up a crib and playpen for Mohale”. Evelyn replies. 
“Ngiyabonga sisi.” Nothile says and buzzes around. 
The helpers go about their jobs. 

Nothile got two helpers from KZN, so it’s a lot of isiZulu spoken in the house. I brought Evelyn because I need bit of seSotho in here and I need someone to speak seSotho with Nothile so she learns. She hears it and understands it, but she replies in isiZulu. Hearing her and Evelyn communicate is interesting because they speak different languages to each other, but they understand each other. Evelyn had to learn isiZulu along the way, shame. At first, she didn’t hear a word of what Nothile would say. But her two colleagues helped her a lot. 
I’m used to the isiZulu because Fikile is also Zulu. I can even speak the language. Ona refuses to speak the language, but he understands it. I alternate between seSotho and isiZulu when I communicate with Nothile. She doesn’t compromise at all. It’s English or isiZulu. 
Nothile insists on cooking every day. The domestic workers do everything but cook. And I’m not complaining at all because I absolutely love her cooking. Ona loves her cooking too. I’ve taken skhaftin back to the royal house with me multiple times and we’ve both just feasted. 

The food is now in its warmers and set up outside close to the very beautiful table that is set up for us. There is even a mini-stretch tent set up around the table to protect us from frying in the sun. She cooked all the meat and has us having options of lamb, beef, pork and chicken. So, there will be no braai. 
I honestly could live with a woman who makes a home so warm and hearty like this. As beautiful as this is, it has one hell of a hint of love. I love this! 
The domestic workers are washing dishes and leaving no evidence of all the hard labour that took place in this kitchen. 
Nothile comes down the stairs and into the TV room dressed in a beautiful and flattering short loose dress. She is wearing flat sandals and has her hair nicely combed and flowing. This wig is long! But she looks hot! Beautiful and hot! Such a rare combination. 
“They are here, baby. The gate called and I let them in.” She says. 
I kiss her as we wait for Ona and Dise to reach our house. 
“I appreciate you and I thank you so much for all of this. You are one in a million.” 
She smiles at me and we kiss again. 

…

The mood is extremely fun here. Dise and Nothile are getting along very well and Mohale has been on Nothile’s lap since we started eating. 
“This food is amazing, Nothile. Wow!” Dise keeps saying. 
“Thank you so much”, Nothile keeps saying. 
“Baby, we are taking leftovers in a skhaftin“, Ona says. 
“Ona, don’t be black.” Dise says and we all laugh. 
Nothile is happy and you can just see that she is relieved that this is going well. 
“Mohale, you must tell Mama Nothile that everything is perfect. Now she must make you a sibling to play with”, Dise says and Nothile practically jokes on her food. We all laugh at her reaction and Mohale just laughs. 
“Imagine how nice it would be raising the next generation of Mohales together”, Dise says to her. 
“I mean, Khotso hasn’t really said anything about wanting kids.” Nothile says.
“Would you be opposed to it if he says he’d like to have some babies?” Ona asks her. 
She’s slightly uncomfortable and says, “Babies? As in more than one?” 
We all laugh. 
I hold her hand and say, “We’d make beautiful babies though, wouldn’t we?” 
“They’ll betray me like Mohale betrayed Dise and look exactly like the two of you”. Nothile says and we all laugh again. 
Dise is smiling at Nothile. 
“I don’t think you should be drinking wine today, babe.” Dise says to Nothile. 
“Why not?” Nothile enquires. 
“I love your glow. And you know, at first I thought you had slightly put on weight, but your cheeks are very full and your nose is beginning to look like mine when I was expecting Mohale.” Now both Nothile and I are spooked. Nothile looks like she’s going to faint. Ona giggles as if he and Dise have been talking about this. 
“And I must add that Mohale is not this nice around people. You are carrying his fellow Jesus-mate in there. They were in heaven together playing something and now they are about to meet on earth.” Dise needs to stop because Nothile looks like she has seen a ghost. She stands up and starts panicking. 
I stand up and hold Nothile, trying to calm her down. Dise stands up and hugs her saying, “Don’t stress. You are going to be perfect at this.” 
We don’t even know if Dise’s theory is true. 
“I’m going to the pharmacy. I need to get a pregnancy test”, Nothile says in panic. 
“I have one in my bag. Come”, Dise says as she takes Nothile by the hand. Dise really came prepared for this. I don’t know if I should follow them in or…? 
Ona puts a glass of whiskey in front of me and says, “You are going to need this.” 
“How long have you guys been suspecting?” I ask Ona.
“Mom suspected the day Nothile came to the house to drop off some stuff for you. She asked me if Nothile were pregnant and I told her I didn’t know. I told her you would have told me if she were. She mentioned that she had stopped giving you that liquid that made you shoot blanks and one of the after effects is that it makes you extremely fertile. You may have possibly made twins.” Ona says and honestly, that’s not funny. 
“So, she and Dise have been talking about it a lot and noticing Nothile change.” He says. 
I just down the whiskey. 
“You will never be ready, monna. You just keep waking up every day and hoping that you are close enough to not messing the kid up. But you know that this also means that you must marry her, right?” Ona points out. 
“I could live with being married to Nothile.” 
“And what are you going to do with this big ass house you bought together? Mom and morena will want you guys back at the royal house.”
“Let’s just figure out if she is pregnant first or not”, I say. 

Nothile and Regodise have been locked up in the master in-suite bathroom for thirty minutes now. I just hear Nothile crying and Dise trying to tell her that this is not the end of the world. Clearly, she’s pregnant. She’s been crying for over twenty minutes now. I’m just as freaked out about this, but is having a child with me really that bad for her? 
“Baby, please come out of there so we can talk?” I try speaking through the closed door. Mohale is just walking around the bedroom. Ona is sitting on the floor watching me suffer here. 
“Khotso, what are we going to do about this baby? You have a million girlfriends that I’m still hidden from and now we must prepare to have a child together?” She says through her sobs. 
So that’s why she’s pissed. 
“Baby, our baby is going to come first.” 
“Ey wena Khotso, you want me to be your baby-mama? One of many? Seriously?” She’s gone from heartbroken to angry. 
“That’s not what I meant, baby. I was just saying –
“What are you going to tell Gcina? What are you going to do about her? You are going to take my child away from me and give it to her so you can raise my child together?” 
When did Nothile play out all these scenarios in her head? We both just found out about this pregnancy and she’s played out every scenario of me being a douche bag to her and not the one scenario that will actually happen of me marrying her. But I can’t exactly propose through a closed door. 
“Nothile, baby, please come out of there. If you don’t, I’m breaking down this door. This is happening to me too and I want to be part of this with you.” 
There is silence.
The door unlocks. 
I step away from the door. 
Dise comes out first and pulls Ona out of the bedroom. They take Mohale with them. 

I hear the guest bedroom door closing. 

I walk into the bathroom and find Nothile sitting on the floor, crying and staring at the pregnancy test. 
I sit down next to her and stare at the wall ahead of me. 
“I’m not going to take the baby from you and give it to another woman to raise. We are going to raise this child together. I’m going to make this right. We are going to get married and we will figure this out together.” I say. 
She is inconsolable.
“I’m so scared”, she says. 
“Of what, baby?” 
“What if I’m a terrible mother?”
“You are amazing at everything else that you do. I know that you are going to be an amazing mother… and an amazing wife.” 
“You really want us to get married? Because we don’t have to. I’m not expecting you to force yourself into this. Marriage is serious and you shouldn’t knee-jerk into it.” 
“I want to marry you. I want us to raise this child in a stable environment. I want us to be a family.” I reassure her. 
She nods her head. 
“Zithulele, Jabu and Phendu are going to kill me though”, I say and she laughs. At least I’m making her laugh. 
“I’ll protect you from them. Don’t worry.” She says. I smile at her. 
“We need to go to your ex-husband’s family though and get rid of his surname next to your name. I can’t marry you while you have another man’s surname.” 
She nods her head then says, “I’ll ask Phendu to handle it. He will know what to do.” 
“Okay. Let me set up a meeting with your brothers and let them know of my intentions first… because if they hear it from you first, they will murder me.” She laughs at how scared I am of her brothers. She has three of the toughest. Without a gun, they’d end me. I know my strengths. 
She has such a beautiful laugh. I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. 

I pull her close to me, kissing her forehead, then laying her head on my chest. 
“We are going to be okay, baby.” I tell her. 
“I know. It’s just that I’m such a planner. When things happen and I didn’t plan for them, I panic. In a weird way, it just triggers me. It takes me back to when my family had planned to have a family lunch and welcome Thule’s pregnant fiancé to our home, then the community came to our house without any planning that we knew about then killed my parents and Thule’s fiancé. We woke up that day planning to have a good day and to plan a celebration, then we unexpectedly ended the day on the run while our parents were being burned to death. Our entire lives changed forever on that day and we didn’t plan it.” She tells me. 
“Life is what happens to us when we are busy making plans, my love. We planned to just be sex buddies, then I started falling in love with you and we started building together. We bought property together and now we are getting married and expecting a child. We didn’t plan all of this, but what’s happening is better than what we actually planned. That’s the thing with surprises. Some are great – better than the plans we have for ourselves. Some will rip our souls apart and see if we can still live. But I don’t want you to feel like we must live in constant panic in case an unplanned event takes over our plans. It happens. The point is that we have each other and now Mohale has a sibling.” 
She kisses me and I let her. I do love her. A lot. 
“Dise’s delivery of her suspicions could have been better”, she says. 
We both laugh. I agree with her. You don’t just drop a bomb like that on someone. 
“But I know she meant well. And I will thank her for keeping me away from the wine today.” She says. 
You see why I love her and could even be married to her in a heartbeat?
“Guys, we going back to get seconds from the lunch”, Ona shouts from the passage. 
“Sho!” I say. 
Nothile and I smile at each other. 
“So, are you trying to tell me that we have to leave this nice house of ours?” 
I laugh as she says this because I’ve been trying to find a way to say it. 
Then I say, “Yes baby. After the wedding, we have to move to the royal house permanently.” 
“What are going to do with this house? I love it so much.” 
“I love it too, baby. But we will have to sell it.” 
“Sell?!” 
“What do you want to do with it?” 
“Yho Khotso. It’s such a beautiful house.” 
I laugh at her. 
“I’ll buy you a house in every country you want to have holidays in. Those houses will replicate this one. If they don’t replicate this, we will just build.” 
She laughs and says, “ugula ngekhanda wena.” 
Then she says, while laughing, “It’s fine, we can move, babe. I’m a bit sad, but for you, I’ll do it.” 
I love this woman. 
“And what about Gcina?” She asks me. 
“What about her?”
“I’m going to be your wife, Khotso. She must disappear from our lives.” 
“You know our families are close, right? We are going to see a lot of her.” 
“Khotso, end whatever is going on between you and Gcina and every other woman you are busy with.” She commands. 
I just look at her and agree.
“Promise me”, she says. 
Why am I being forced into this? 
“Khotso?” 
“I promise, baby. I got you. I promise.”