“Khotso, please take me home. I need to get to work”, I tell him. 

“Just give me five minutes. I’m throwing away the condom”, he says. He is walking around naked and not even doing the bed. He comes back from the toilet after I hear the toilet flush. He wears his shorts, Jordans and some baggy t-shirt. I am still wearing my dress from last night. We had a fight because Thato and I had a sit down with Regodise. I don’t know why everyone is treating Thato like trash when Regodise is the pregnant side bitch. I found out about this pregnancy when Khotso was yelling at me about physically attacking a pregnant woman. Thato hit her, not me. I didn’t stop her because I knew that I would do the same if it were my man’s side trash that I was being left for. But we were both arrested. We spent five hours in a cell. I got released that night, Thato only got released last night by her father – not even Ona. 

Ona has never respected Thato, but Thato has always held him down and tolerated Ona’s shit for over three years now. That’s not an easy thing to do. Then Khotso spent the night in Mohase because they needed to take Regodise home. Now, Regodise and Ona are getting married because Regodise is pregnant. You know, between Regodise’s now conveniently-arranged marriage and Teboho Tlou coming out of nowhere and having Maboko do Linda dirty, I am feeling extremely uncomfortable and insecure in my own relationship with Khotso. I ended up spending the night after the “talk” that the Mohale royal house needed Khotso to have with me if we were to continue with our relationship. I don’t even like sleeping at the royal house. It is just uncomfortable. 

“Ready to go?” He says. 

Duh! 

I have a bag over my shoulder and am waiting at the door already. 

We finally leave. 

Great. His brother’s car has parked us in. Yho! I am getting fired today. I really am. 

He phones his brother and tells him to come move his car. Ona is probably drunk and asleep. But shame he walks out topless and throws keys at Khotso. 

“Use my car”, Ona says as he turns around and heads back into his house. 

Khotso and I hop into his Wrangler and Khotso finally takes me home. 

The drive from the royal house to my flat is about thirty minutes. I am so stressed and he sees it. 

“We can always just go to the mall and I’ll buy you an outfit to go to work. I’ll even drop you off”, he says. 

“Khotso, I begged you to come over to my place and we could have this conversation you needed us to have at my apartment. Why didn’t you just listen to me?” I say. I am actually very upset. 

“You know I can’t sleep out this week. We are preparing for my brother’s wedding”, he says. 

“Okay, then you should’ve just let me go back to my place after we spoke”, I say. 

“Why are you being like this? Is this really about you being late for work?” He says. 

It actually isn’t. It really isn’t. When is he marrying me? His brother is getting married to a woman he had a few one-night stands with then impregnated. He has dropped his three-year girlfriend for this situation. I’ve been with Khotso for five years now. What is he waiting for? Am I also going to be dropped when he meets someone else or do I need to get pregnant to have his mother force him to marry me too? 

I am saved by his elder brother calling him. He answers the phone through the Bluetooth function. 

“Sho, Pule”, Khotso. 

“Where are you?” Pule. 

“I’m taking Fiks home. Why?” Khotso.

“When will you be back?” Pule. 

“Probably after an hour”, Khotso. 

“Okay. Come straight home.” Pule says. 

Khotso looks at me as if he is about to say that we must turn around and go back to the house. He must never. As soon as Pule hangs up, he looks at me. 

“Don’t even think about it.” I say.

He stops the car. Yho this guy… 

“Go to work. I’ll jog back home. I’ll come pick up the car later.” And just like that, he is gone, jogging back home and leaving me with Ona’s car. I don’t even look back. I’m late. I just drive off. 

… 

I run to my desk as soon as I get into the office. I am about twenty minutes late and I am beyond relieved that my manager has not arrived yet. There is a bunch of red roses on my desk waiting for me. It is those roses that come in a round box of some sort. White roses are sorted between the red roses to form the letter F and the box itself has my name on it, Fikile. 

I smile. 

There is a note. I take it and read it. 

“I’m so sorry, my love.

– Khotso” 

My man though. 

I dial his number on my cellphone. 

Of course his phone is off. When is it ever on? 

I send him a text instead. 

“Hey baby. I’m at work and I saw the roses you got for me. Thank you handsome. “

I send the text then get started on my work. 

“Fiks”, Tony greets me as he settles into his desk opposite me.

“You good?” I ask him.

“Yep. The prince of Tholoana is still treating you good I see. Nice roses”, he says.

I just smile. 

“So Fiks, you are headed to Ona’s wedding?” Another colleague of mine enquires. Her name is Natasha. 

“Yes Tash, I am going. I am Khotso’s plus one”, I say. 

Why are people asking me stupid questions? Why wouldn’t I go to the wedding? 

“Friend, doesn’t this freak you out?” That would be Kim.

“What should freak me out?” I ask. 

“That Khotso is not hinting at marrying you and his brother has dropped his girlfriend for a sidepiece that got pregnant?” Kim. 

Now all eyes are on me. People were eavesdropping on this conversation and they want to hear what I have to say. I am freaked out. I hate open plan office structures for such reasons. I don’t know what I think is going to happen or what I am hoping will happen. 

I shrug my shoulders and say, “I don’t think about it. I know what I got myself into when I started dating Khotso Mohale”. 

“But still. It must hurt.” Kim. 

I choose to ignore Kim and put all my focus on my laptop. 

It is 6pm when I leave the office. I was making up for arriving twenty minutes late, but I also had a lot of work to do today. I am leading a campaign for one of the alcohol beverages that we sell. I am still driving Ona’s car and I make sure that people see me leave in it, especially after this morning’s uncomfortable conversation. 

I am Fikile Mbatha. I am quite an established young professional. I studied a BCom in Marketing and Management at Wits then did a postgraduate diploma in business administration for digital business. I then did my Honours at UCT in Marketing and Brand management then went on to study at Yale on scholarship. I worked in the United States then moved to the UK. That’s where I met Khotso. He was there for a year on sabbatical apparently and we have been joined at the hip ever since. I even came back to Tholoana Kingdom with him and got a job here. I am now a Marketing and Brand executive for an alcoholic beverage company. 

Do you now understand why I am expecting this man to marry me? 

I get to my apartment and throw myself on my couch. I have already dropped my bra on the floor and kicked my heels off. I check my cellphone as my back lies against the couch. I still don’t have any messages or missed calls from Khotso. I have one from Thato though. Thato was in a three-year long relationship with Onaleruna, Khotso’s twin brother. We were around each other so much that we became quite close. 

I call Thato back. 

“Hey babe”, she answers her phone.

“Hey gorgeous, I just saw your missed call. It’s been one of those days”, I tell her. 

“I completely understand. I was wondering if I could come over? I’m not up to being alone tonight”, she says. 

Seeing that I have no idea what Khotso’s plans are with his cellphone off and all, I say “Sure. I’ll get dinner started”.

“Thanks babe. I’ll bring the wine”. She says. 

We hang up and I get up from my couch. I try Khotso again, but his cellphone is still off. I call Ona’s phone and it rings. He does not answer it though. I am a little scared of Pule, so I will not dial his number even though I have it. 

I change from my work outfit and get comfortable then I start dinner. I hate these disappearing acts of his. It has been five years and my stomach still gets tense when I cannot reach him. 

I start cooking. As I wait for the food to cook, I send Khotso a text.

“You know I hate this shit! Why is your phone off? You’ve been uncontactable since this morning. What the fuck?!” 

I’m pissed off now. 

Thato arrives with wine as promised and I try to relax. I listen to her complain and express how hurt she is by what Ona did, but my mind is honestly on Khotso and where the fuck he is. At 8pm, there is a knock on my door. When I open it, it is a man. A random man. I have seen him at the royal house before, but we have never really engaged. 

“Mr Mohale asked me to come and collect his car”, the man says. 

“Tell him to call me. You not touching that car until he calls me”, I say.

The man sighs. 

“Ma’am –

“Get him on the phone”, I say. 

And I want my Mr Mohale, not Ona. 

The man walks away instead. 

I shut the door. 

“You know they carry spare keys, right?” Thato tells me. 

I immediately open the door and run to the car parking lot. The car is already driving out. Shit! 

I dial Ona’s number. This time I don’t give up until someone answers the phone. 

Lol, he switches off his phone instead. This is not happening. This cannot be happening. 

“I brought you shoes and locked up your apartment. Let’s go. Here are your car keys”, Thato. 

We jump into my BMW X3 and drive to the royal house. 

Thato and I lie to each other about how we will handle this situation when we get to the royal house. The plan is that she is going to help me shit on Khotso for going ghost on me the whole day then sending staff to come collect a car that he promised he would come and collect. Who does he think he is? Who does he think I am? I am Fikile Mbatha. 

We get to the royal house and good, we find Ona, Khotso, Pule, Maboko, Zakes and the Khuzwayo brothers sitting outside the royal house gate and music playing from Pule’s car. There are girls here as well. I jump out of my car. Thato comes out of the passenger seat. 

“Yho!” I hear Ona say. I am not sure if it is a “yho” that I am here or a “yho” that Thato is here. Khotso looks up and sees me. He starts walking towards me and I lean against the front of my car. Thato is standing next to me. I am fuming. He gets to me and tries to hug me, kiss me and just behave as if all is well. It’s not happening dude. 

“What the hell?!” Me. 

“What?” Him.

“Why is your phone off?” I ask him. 

“My phone is off? Eish, and I was wondering why it’s been quiet all this time watsiba. I didn’t realize it was off.” He says without a care in the world. 

“Why are you lying? Stop lying to me! I even tried to call Onaleruna and he ended up switching off his phone. Who the fuck are these bitches you are chilling with while you send staff to fetch Ona’s car after you committed you’d come do it yourself?” Me. 

“Fiks, what’s going on? You’ve been sour since this morning. You just open your mouth and you spit out aggression. What’s going on?” He says. 

I sigh. 

He looks at Thato who is now staring at Ona drink beer and laugh about. Ona is a dog. I don’t know how or why Thato runs after this guy.

“I’ll be right back”, he says. 

He walks away from us and briefly speaks to Ona. They walk back towards us together.

“T”, Ona says to Thato. 

Thato suddenly gets emotional. 

“Let’s go”, Khotso says to me. 

I did not plan this. 

“I’ll park the car inside”, Ona says. 

Wow, I am clearly spending the night here. But at least my car is here, so I will run out on time to get to the office. 

Khotso and I get into his room and we have sex before we start talking. 

As we lie in bed, he starts, “What’s going on with you?” 

“Why aren’t we married?” I finally drop the bomb. 

He sighs. He looks at me. 

“You want us to get married?” He asks me.

“We’ve been together for five years, Khotso. What are we waiting for? Are you also going to impregnate some random bitch that you fuck on occasion then have your mother force you to marry her?” Me.

He smirks at me. 

“You think I’ll leave you high and dry?” Him. 

The way he says it makes me chuckle. 

“You do know that Ona actually loves Regodise, right? I know that Thato is your ace and you have a loyalty to her, but even you should know that Ona was never going to marry Thato. He met Regodise and we all knew that she would be Mrs Ona Mohale – the pregnancy just escalated the inevitable”, he says.

“He did my friend dirty and he knows that Thato loves him to death.” Me. 

“That doesn’t make Thato entitled to being loved by Ona. Ona has every right to choose whoever he wants to choose and you need to respect that because Regodise is about to be my sister and she is someone you need to keep close if you have any plans of us getting married.” 

The audacity! But we will address that shitty statement another day, for now, “When are we getting married?” 

“We are not ready, Fiks.” He says.

“I’m ready. What are you still waiting for?” 

“Fikile, don’t be like that. You want to pressure me to get married now because Ona is getting married?” 

“I want to marry you because I love you and I don’t have any doubts about spending the rest of my life with you.” 

“And we will get married. Just not now.” 

“Then when?” 

He is quiet. 

He holds my hand. 

“You are not ready. You have no idea what it is like to be married into this family.” Him.

“That’s what Ona told Thato until he married his side slut in five minutes because it got pregnant.”

“What the fuck? You want to be married to me, yet that’s how you refer to my family and you keep behaving like some street bitch?!”

“So Regodise is your family now?”

“She is. I thought you and I concluded this conversation”, he sternly says. 

I stare at him. 

“Maybe you should spend all of this energy really thinking about whether or not you have what it takes to be a Mohale wife because from where I am standing, you don’t even have a teaspoon of an idea of what would be required of you. I love you, Fikile. I truly do. But I will not be ambushed into a marriage with you only to be frustrated by you because you don’t even realise that Thato is your weakness and she will be the reason you and I could end up breaking up at this point.” 

I cannot believe my ears. 

“And by the way, if you are not going to respect Regodise, don’t bother ever coming back to this house. The lobola has been concluded. She is Ona’s wife and now it’s just a matter of a formality. The fact that you brought Thato here today makes a loud statement. You may think you pissing off Ona with that statement, but the statement is saying a lot more about and your readiness to be part of this family.” 

… 

It is 6am when I wake up naked in Khotso’s bed – don’t ask how we ended up doing the dance after he insulted me the way that he did yesterday. I am still extremely hurt by the things that he said to me yesterday, but I also know that the subject will not be discussed again. He really has me thinking though if this really is something that is for me. I dress up in yesterday’s clothes and dial Thato. Khotso is still asleep. Her phone rings, but she doesn’t answer. There is a loud knock on the door. Khotso jumps out of bed and looks at me. 

“Why are you dressed up?” He asks me. 

“I’m going to work. I need to go change first at home”, I say. 

“When we get married a couple of years from now, you are going to be a housewife. We can’t live like this”, he says.

A couple years from now? Really?! I feel like crying.

“Khotso! Eh monna! Wake up. Get Fiks to get up and get Thato the fuck out of here”, Ona is furious as he says this. 

“Ke a tla“, Khotso. 

He jumps out of bed and gets dressed. We both go to the door. 

“Get your friend out of my room”, he says as he sees me. 

I run to Ona’s room. Ona and Khotso follow me. I get to the door and knock. 

“Walk in!” Ona yells. 

I walk in. 

I find Thato trashing Ona’s room. 

It is too early for this shit. Honestly. 

I just go to her and touch her hand. She responds to me. She looks at me. I get emotional. I hug her. She wails in my arms. We cry together. Khotso and Ona look at us. Why is Ona being so cold? 

“I don’t want to lose him!” Thato keeps telling me through her sobs.

I just rub her back and cry with her. 

“Let’s get out of here”, I say to her after we’ve broken down on Ona’s floor. 

We get up from the floor and go to the car. Khotso walks us to the car and kisses me. 

“Call me when you get to the office”, Khotso says.

“Make sure your phone is on”, I say.

He smirks at me. 

“Will you come back if it’s off again?” Him.

“Bye Khotso”, me. 

He laughs. I cannot believe that he is actually over the nonsense that he said to me last night and actually expects me to be over it too. 

…

It’s not that I don’t want to marry Fiks. I will not marry anyone else if I don’t marry her. The problem with Fiks is that she is a liability because waphapha! While she also understands what loyalty is, she has a habit of directing it in the wrong direction. This Thato thing is just one of many – but Fiks is a messy liability and sometimes I do fear that she will get herself into situations that will force the church’s hand to end her. 

She is a beautiful woman – gorgeous actually. She is accomplished and doing extremely well for herself. Ona and I decided a long time ago that we would marry women who would be able to survive without this throne. My mother always tells us that with this throne, nothing is certain and nothing is permanent. My father was going to be the next king then life happened. Because he didn’t amicably accept the change that came with life happening, his life ended. My mom always says that if one day someone barges into the royal house and says, “Get the fuck out, the throne is mine”, we must just run, not fight and never look back. So we’ve always prepared ourselves for that day and we made sure that the women we ended up with would not be so dependent on this throne that when it’s time to let it go, they are our weakness that consistently convinces us to stay. 

I’m happy that Ona chose to marry Regodise over Thato. Thato is a MALKOP! She and Ona would have this Kingdom in flames if they had to lead it together. Ona was a man I was least proud to call my brother when he was with Thato. Their fights would get so bad that they’d end up beating each other up and see nothing wrong with it. Thato had baseball bats stashed everywhere and would whip one out when it was time to go boxing with the man she sleeps with. 

I remember the day he came home after being away for a weekend. He was just so happy and chirpy and relaxed. I knew he wasn’t away with Thato and none of the women he played around with had that kind of effect on him. 

“I’ve met my wife”, that’s what he said to me when I asked him why he was so chirpy. 

The next weekend, I drove with him to go see her and I just knew that it was over for Thato. Zithulele and I saw her and we looked at each other. We both automatically knew that Dise was the one. Her energy is amazing, you involuntarily feed off it and your heart becomes content. When she smiles at Ona, his world is complete. The way he looked at her – he even behaves around her. I know that their marriage will work. Dise is not a typical village girl. She gives off that vibe, but she has a bit of thug in her and if anyone taps into that bit of thug, she and Ona will show us miracles when they run the church and this Kingdom. Stru. 

“Why did she bring Thato here last night?” Ona asks me as we have breakfast.

“Thato was here?” Pule. 

“Yeah. She came here with Fiks. She said she was here with Fiks, so I left her outside with Fiks’ car. Then she comes to my room and says she needed closure. I directed her to outside so we could speak there. You never know what people are coming with and my wife is pregnant so she’s sensitive to anything people will use to fight us spiritually.” Ona explains. 

“So how did she end up in your room?” I ask. I mean that’s where Fiks and I found her. 

“She kept crying and crying and saying nothing. So I left her to cry outside because her tears seemed to be doing a good job at giving her that closure. That MALKOP followed me in with a baseball bat and trashed my place”. 

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF TOWN!” Pule says as we all burst into laughter. 

“Onaleruna, I’ve asked the staff to clean your room properly and prepare it for our bride. The royal traditional healer will go cleanse it afterwards. I don’t ever want to see that Thato lunatic in my house ever again. Do you understand me?” My mom walks into the eating area and says. She looks pissed, she is not being nice in her tone. She has never liked Thato. She doesn’t like Fikile much either, but she’s not as bad as Thato. And with some work, Fikile can be her favourite person because my mom does appreciate her work ethic and does acknowledge that she is a beast at what she does. But my mom also believes that Fikile will trap me with a baby one day so she gave me some liquid to drink once a month as extra protection on top of the condoms I use when I sleep with her. 

Imagine! LOL! 

“Mama, she came here with Fikile. I didn’t invite her over.” Ona says. 

The look my mother gives me! 

“Wabona Fikile nyana e ya hao! I’m very close to banning her from ever entering this house ever again!” My mom. 

“It was a mistake, mama. And I spoke to her about it.” I tell my mom.

“I don’t care! Fikile has been around long enough to know that what she has done is unacceptable. She does this nonsense on purpose and trust me, one day she will catch me on a bad day and she will be sorry. I promise you!” 

I think my mom and morena had a fight because her mood today is honestly unwarranted. Fiks is being blamed for Thato’s shit and it’s unfair. Thato is alone in this. 

“You know, the two of you have brought women in this house that have compromised the dignity of this house and of the name that we carry. Now look at the audacity that your girlfriends have to come into this house and just trash our things! We set a terrible precedence when we let Fikile come and go as she pleases here and now the Thatos of the world have come in and didn’t stay, but definitely dragged us in the mud with them.” My mom yells on. 

Morena walks into the room. He observes the situation then kisses my mother good morning. She’s too pissed off to respond. Instead, she continues her rant and says, “We have a makoti arriving in this house and we will not subject her to this nonsense ever again. Khotso, for as long as Fikile maintains a friendship with Thato, she is no longer welcome here. If this girl plans to stay in our lives, she better start acting like she should if she wants to find herself within these walls one day. I don’t ever want to see that Thato lunatic on my premises ever again. And if I even see a shadow of her, the one who brought her onto my property will know me!” 

My mom now leaves the room.

“Morena, you know very well that when you piss her off, we are all in the firing line.” Ona says.

“It wasn’t me this time.” Morena says. 

“Was it really just Thato?” I ask.

“Yes… and Maphodile.” Morena. 

“YHO!” Ona and I say at the same time. 

“Ja, it’s about to get real for all of us.” Morena says with actual concern. My mother is the only person on this planet who can make Morena nervous. It’s a skill, I tell you. 

We are all fitting our suits for the wedding day. It’s really just suit paints and blazer jackets with seshweshwe material. Ona’s blazer jacket is black and is trimmed with animal skin. I’m really happy for him. We all are. And we are throwing a bachelor party for him tonight. 

“I really am a charming motherfucker”, Zithulele says as he looks at himself in the mirror. 

“Tebza says I remind her of when – 

Maboko freezes when he realises that we are all now staring at him. 

“And what’s Linda saying?” Ona asks him. 

“She’s not talking to me”, Maboko tells us. But he doesn’t seem hurt by his wife not talking to him. 

“No shit“, Ona sarcastically says.

“You, my man, are very lucky to be marrying a woman you actually love”, Maboko sincerely says. 

“Why did you marry Linda?” Zakes enquires. 

Pule is just over us. He has even changed back into his tracksuit. 

“I proposed when she told me she was pregnant – you know, like Ona did.” Maboko.

Suddenly, I’m so glad that my mother mixes liquids for me to not get trapped into marriage by unplanned babies. 

“But Linda lost the baby. I actually don’t even think she was pregnant.” Ona has no filter! None! We all didn’t think she was really pregnant, but no one ever said it out loud. 

Maboko is giving Ona an enquiring eye.

“Come on, Seete, think about it. Tebza walks in on you fucking her sworn enemy in a bed you shared with her. That was no coincidence. Linda planned that shit, she knew you’d fall for it and she knew that Tebza would leave you. Then you still mad over Tebza and follow her to LA determined not to come back without her. Suddenly she’s pregnant? Now, unless you go around collecting STDs by smashing these bitches raw, were you fucking both Linda and Tebza raw?” Ona needs to stop it. But we are all quiet and we are watching Maboko deeply think about what Ona is saying. 

“Fikile told us that Linda told her that the condom broke. Thato told me that the two of you fucked raw. I don’t know which one it is, but I think you should have made that bitch pee on a stick in front of you.” 

“Ona – ” I try to stop him.

“My point is, don’t feel bad about dumping Linda. Scholarship Kabelo is already picking up the pieces. Linda has always had an issue with Tebza because she wanted Tebza to know that she cannot date outside of her economic bracket. I don’t think being with you was ever about you to Linda… she had a point to prove to Tebza then ended up addicted to just being with you. You are a nice lifetime settlement for any woman.”

“I think we should change now”, Zakes says then we all follow him to the changing rooms, including Ona. Maboko is left alone and you can just feel that he is not okay. 

I lag behind then go stand next to him. 

“You can still choose Tebza. You don’t have kids with Linda”, I say to him. 

“Ona is right. I compromised Tebza for absolutely nothing. Linda is not worth it – she is not worth… can you help me?” 

I look at him. 

“I need to know if she was really ever pregnant.”

“She never told me anything. How am I going to help you?” 

“The doctor that she says confirmed her pregnancy… he is your mother’s gynae as well. Is there any way that you can get me a meeting with him?” 

Is this man cooked in the head? 

“Let this go, Maboko. What’s done is done. You don’t love Linda. Just leave her. Don’t do anything that’s going to make you resent her. This separation can be amicable.” 

He looks at me. 

“Let’s go change man.” Me. 

…

“Tebza ngwana!” We all shout and greet Tebza as we walk into Maboko’s apartment. She and Maboko are already secretly hooking up at their love nest apartment? Hai Khona, this is moving too fast even for me.

“I’m on my way out so I can let you guys be immoral!” She says and we all laugh. She prepared food, finger snacks, cheeseboards and snacks for us. Tebza man – bless her heart. But her being here is still weird.

“Can I see you for just two seconds?” Maboko says to Tebza before they disappear into a bedroom. There seems to be a bit of friction between them. She seems like she was here to help because Linda told Maboko to fuck off. But Maboko and Tebza do not seem anywhere close to getting back together again.

Us guys are making a noise and the music is already playing. 

“Are you and Fiks okay?” Ona says to me as he pulls me aside.

“She wants to get married”, I tell him.

He is shocked! 

“And you? What do you want?” He asks me.

“I’m not ready to marry her”, I tell him. 

“Okay. Why? What’s missing?” He asks me. 

“She’s not ready, Ona. She’s still a huge liability. And I’m not one of those people who believe that marriage changes a person.” 

“So what’s it going to take for her to get ready? And when will you be ready?” 

“I keep thinking she will get better. But there’s always something with her. She’s very impressionable and she has the worst idea of what being my wife actually entails. I’m scared that she won’t stay – she will take my kids and leave me if she finds out who we really are.” I confess.

“Imagine how I feel about Regodise. Thato knew I was an animal. She expected nothing from me. Regodise is so… and I love her. I fear losing her. But I just hope and pray that she stays even on days when she sees sides to me she never thought I had.” 

I look at him. 

“She loves you – all of you.” I tell him. I’ve seen how Dise looks at him. 

“And Fiks loves you – all of you. Her judgement is questionable at times, but she’s genuinely for you”, he tells me. 

I nod my head. I don’t want to think too much about this. 

“Let’s get you married first, brother. Oh and before I forget”

I pull my phone out of my pocket. I show him my screen as I say, “I know Dise is pregnant at the moment, but when you are ready to travel, I bought you guys timeshare at a holiday place in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, South Africa. You can take her to mom’s and dad’s favourite place on this planet…”

“God’s window”, we both say together.

Ona throws his arms around me and we hug. I know that’s where I’m taking my wife one day and I thought it would be quite the gift for him and my new sister. 

The strippers are here and Thebe brought stock. I already have Maps waiting for me tonight so I’m good as far as Thebe’s stock is concerned. Zithulele just wants his Moringa, so he is going there after the strippers tease us. 

Ona’s phone rings. The caller ID reads “My Wife”. Wow! Things truly do change. He goes outside to answer the phone. 

Ona has been on the phone for over three hours and the strippers are even done working. I go to him on the balcony…

“I’m out!” 

He tells Dise that he will phone her when he gets to the hotel then hangs up. 

“You going to meet up with Dise? You not supposed to see her until the wedding.” I remind him. 

He just smiles at me. I raise my hands in surrender. 

We leave. The guys fight it, but we are out and we leave them with the strippers and Thebe’s stock. 

She’s already in lingerie- purple lingerie. I stand at the door and smile at her. She starts dancing for me. She’s so sexy – as flat as her ass is – she is extremely sexy. She turns around and starts walking towards me. My back is now against the closed door. She goes down her knees, sliding down my pants and underwear as she goes down. Now, my penis is inside her mouth. My knees get weaker by the minute and my grip on her hair starts getting tighter because she is really… wow… 

She pulls out handcuffs. She ties up my wrists and my ankles. She lies me down on the floor and she actually just fucks the fuck out of me. I feel so vulnerable. When she shakes on top of me, I also release it all. Thanks to my mother, I know my sperm has created no child inside of her. 

“How are you baby?” She asks me as she brushes my head lying on her thighs.

“I’ve been stressed out all day. Fiks wants to get married.” I tell her. 

She laughs aloud. 

“That girl is something else. She must calm down, man. You’ve already boosted her image by choosing her. What more does she want?” 

“I think she’s feeling pressured because Ona is getting married.” I say.

“Oh please man. This is not the Soweto that she’s from. She must humble herself. Don’t marry that girl, Khotso. She’s not for you.” 

“And who is for me, Maphito? You? You know I love Fikile.” 

“Fikile doesn’t know what to do with the animal inside of you. How do you marry a woman you still need to make love to after you’ve murdered someone and all you need is to be fucked? I saw you walk in today and I knew that it was my job to fuck you and make you feel better. If you went to Fikile, you’d be even more worn out because she’s so self-absorbed and she believes that being with you is about her being taken care of, she doesn’t realise that you need to be taken care of as well. If you marry Fikile, you’ll definitely be a cheating husband. That much I can tell you.” 

I hate to admit it, but Maps is right.

“Just let her grow up a little bit more. She’s too childish for you. Khotso, you are a man. Fikile is a baby girl playing in the big league. She will drown if you give her too much water to swim in. She must calm the fuck down.” She says. 

I hit her up for round two. But she massages me first with some oils. When she flips me over and as she massages my chest, she rides my dick. Maps is so….

Then I realise that as she is fucking me, we have butt-dialled Fiks and she is probably listening to me fucking Maps. But this is too good for me to stop. I just slide the phone to hang up. And now Fiks will not stop calling.