My family and I have just come back from the Maldives. We actually had so much fun there. It was a good break for Meme and a well-needed holiday for Thabang. We actually saw him laugh and let loose again. Now we are all back in the kingdom and we are legitimately looking forward to some rest before kids go back to school and I go back to work. 

“Guys, all bags in the laundry please. Sisi will help us by washing our clothes and unpacking for us”, I announce.
“Yes mommy”, they all say.
“Yes love”, Thabang says, attacking me with a kiss. 
“I’m worried about you”, I tell him. 
“Why?” He asks me.
“You are ignoring their calls. And I know this issue is hanging over your head”, I say.
“I’m fine with you. I’m happy with you.”
“I know. But it doesn’t mean that you aren’t hurting.”
We look at each other.
“Come here”, I say, hugging him. 

“Let me charge my phone”, I say. I had forgot my charger, so my phone has been off all holiday. 
“Okay babe”, he says.
“Then I’ll just put a snack together for everyone. I’m a bit hungry.” I say.
“Will you give me dessert?”
“Are you not tired? My vagina can’t stand me right now. It’s mad at me.” 
He laughs. No wonder he has three wives. His appetite! Yoh! 
“But you are hot! Am I just supposed to look at you and do nothing?” He says.
I just laugh. 
He smiles at me. 

I’m in the kitchen preparing some lunch for my family. I know Thabang is in the bedroom lazing on the bed and probably watching some TV. Meme, Mosetsana and Tshenolo are freshening up. It was a long flight. We all feel tired and sticky. I’m preparing chicken burgers and some chips for them. 
My domestic workers are busy in the house. I see laundry being done and some cleaning happening as well. 

As soon as I’m done with the burgers and chips, I put them on our dining table. I call everyone to come down and eat. 
Thabang comes down with Tshenolo. They are chatting and laughing about. Mosetsana and Meme come down together. 
We all sit at the table. 
There’s chatter while we all eat away. 
Thabang is laughing and engaging and all, but I’m worried about him. This thing that has happened is honestly weighing on him. It’s weighing on me if I’m being honest, so I cannot imagine how this is not weighing on him. 

“Dumelang”, we hear a voice say. 
It’s his mother. I forget that she has keys and access to all our houses. One day, she must find us having sex in the kitchen. That way, she will learn to not just show up at people’s houses unannounced. 
Everyone happily greets her – my kids included. 
She joins us at the table, grabbing a burger and enjoying. 
She asks us about our trip and the kids are more than excited to share all of these details with her. Thabang and I chip in here and there, but really… the trip was theirs and they loved it! I enjoyed it too. It was both a family trip as well as a honeymoon. And we really did do a lot of honeymooning. It was nice. 

When the burgers are finished, Mme says, “Morafe, I need to speak to you please.” 
“About?” Thabang enquires. 
“It’s between Morafe and I for now, Thabang.” The mom says. 
“Morafe is my wife. And unlike the other wives that I have, she actually knows what that means.” There’s that anger in Thabang coming out. 
“Thabang, I’m here to speak to Morafe. Please let me speak to Morafe.” 
“Alone? Considering everything that’s going on, I’d imagine that you are here to manipulate her and get her to do what you want her to do so that I do what you want me to do.” 
She’s quiet. She actually seems hurt. 
“Baby, it’s okay. Let me speak to mme. I’ll be fine, I promise.” I say. 
Even my kids are uncomfortable.
Thabang gets up from the table and leaves the dining room. The kids get up and follow him, moving as fast as they can. 

Now, it’s just mme and me. 
I look at her. 
“Thabang cannot divorce Mmakabelo and Mahali.” She says to me. 
“I never asked him to. I never even suggested that he does.” I say. 
“But you didn’t stop him from cutting them off. He sold their houses and their cars. How could you let that happen?”
“What exactly do you want me to do, mama? I’m very confused. Because no one ever spoke to me about whatever is going on here. In fact, I’m still in the dark. But apparently, I must tell Thabang what to do and when to do it with things that belong to him… about things that I know nothing about.” 
“Your role is to not cause havoc in this family!” 
“How have I done that? I’m not the one who lied to him about the paternity of children that he believed were his all this time. Why is it my fault that he has reacted the way that he has about a situation that I had nothing to do with?!”
She looks at me. 
I look at her.
She’s honestly being unfair and I’m not going to sit here and just take whatever she’s giving me. No ways! 
“Morafe, the family did what they believed was best. Thabang couldn’t have any children. Mmakabelo and Mahali did what the family instructed them to do. They did nothing wrong.” She says. 
“From what I understand, Mahali married Thabang because she got pregnant. Was the family involved in that too?” I ask. 
“Morafe, no one in this family answers to you.” 
“But you are here, asking for my help.”
“Because you are the only person who can talk some sense into Thabang right now.”
“But none of this makes sense to me, so how would I speak it as sense to Thabang?” 
She looks at me like she wants to slap me. I don’t back down. I stare right back at her.
“There’s going to be a meeting tonight in Dithabneg to discuss this. Make sure that Thabang is there.” She says.
“I’ll let him know, but I’m not forcing him to do anything.” I say.
“Morafe!”
“No mama, this is not how this works. You want my help, you tell me everything. If no one answers to me, it’s fine. But then no one has the right to bully me into doing things for them for their benefit… especially at the expense of my husband’s hurt. Thabang matters to me. Clearly, no one else is thinking about him in all of this that’s going on. So I’ll protect him. And with the information that I have, I don’t think I have enough information to make him bekezela for rubbish.”
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll make sure that Thabang is at that meeting.” She says, threatening me actually. 
“Like I said, I’ll let him know about the meeting.” I say. 
She just turns around and walks away. 

…

8pm 

Thabang insisted that I attend this meeting with him. I don’t want to be here. His mother and his other wives don’t want me here. Every time they’ve kicked me out, Thabang got up and left with me. So now, we all have no choice. If we want Thabang here, I have to be here. My kids are at home. Thabang and I drove down here together. I had to drive because Thabang was trying to kill us nje. 
So many people are here at this meeting: his parents, the wives, their families, some uncles that I recognise as they are the ones who negotiated my lobola, Tumelo’s two wives (I’m not sure why they are here), then me and Thabang. 
Le tona is the one who breaks the awkward silence that has now occurred. 
“Thabang, I believe that you have kicked your first and second wife out of their houses. You’ve even gone to the extent of selling their houses and cars.” 
“That’s very true, le tona”, Thabang. 
“My question is, why?” Le tona. 
“Both Mmakabelo and Mahali made it clear that the kids I believed were mine all this time are not my kids. I found them fighting like witches with a failed plan, arguing about how they need to ensure that I never find out about the paternity of their kids. This is not something that I heard on the streets, I heard it from their own mouths.” Thabang. 
The other two wives are giving me quite the look. 
“Those kids are yours, Thabang.” Le tona. 
“They are not.”
“The family made a plan. There had to be kids that came from your household. Your wives came to us to inform us that you were unable to produce kids. As a family, we did what we needed to do.” Le tona.
“Without talking to me? Really?! And Mahali yena? I married her because she became pregnant. How did she become pregnant before she could come to the family and express my infertility?” Thabang. 
There’s silence. 
“Well?” Thabang.
“Thabang, please my son. I’m asking you to please be reasonable.” The mom.
“If you are not going to answer my question, I will leave this meeting then moving forward, you’ll deal with my lawyers. I will not sit here and listen to this shit while I get no answers out of it.” Thabang says.
“When we were dating, I made a mistake with someone else. But he was married and his wife, at the time, was not prepared to accept a second wife. So the elders decided that I’d marry you for the sake of not having conflict”, Mahali says. 
“Who exactly is the father of these kids?” Thabang.
I’m still picking up my bottom lip from the ground from what Mahali has just told us.
The mother, Mmakabelo and Mahali look uncomfortable. Everyone else looks at them.
“This is a fucken waste of my time. Baby, let’s go home”, Thabang says, standing up. 
“Tumelo! Ke Tumelo. He’s the father of all our kids.” Mmakabelo says.
“MANG?!” Kgomotso, Tumelo’s first wife, barks. 
This situation is worse than I thought. 
“Kgomotso, please!” The mother.
Kgomotso is already on her feet and has somehow smashed Mahali’s and Mmakabelo’s heads together. This girl ke wa straata hle!
The other two try to fight back, but Tumelo’s second wife is also involved in the fight now.
My husband is actually heartbroken. He was disappointed with his wives… but his brother? That, he didn’t expect. He’s just hurt. 
I hold his hand. 
He kisses my hand. 

Finally, people calm down. Clothes are torn, mzala. There’s blood here and there. I don’t even know who is bleeding. 
“Thabang, we did what we believed was best. You have to believe us”, the mom.
“Best for who, mama? For who?!”
“For the family.” The mother. 
“Did anyone ever think about what this would mean for me? How I would feel about this?”
Silence. 
“You know what…? I’ve heard enough. I’ll be in contact with my lawyers and you’ll be in touch with them moving forward.” Thabang.
“You’ll do no such thing! Calm down! And stop being selfish!” Le tona.
“I’m not taking these women back. I’m most certainly not going to be looking after kids that are not mine! Never!”
“Let me remind you, Thabang Mothipa… those businesses you’ll be using to pay your little lawyers are Mothipa family businesses. If you walk out, divorce these women and not do your part in protecting this family, I’ll take it all away from you, including that house you live in with Morafe oe wahao! We’ve accepted her children, but you want to spit on Mothipa blood?! Boy, I will end you!” Le tona.
I actually unintentionally laugh. 
Everyone looks at me. 
“Something funny?” The mother.
“Your audacity is what makes me laugh.” I say. 
Everyone is shocked. 
“Excuse me?” Le tona.
“I have a job… an actual paying job. I’m not the housewife who was sitting at home and lying to my husband while he looks after me.” 
“O reng wena?!” Mmakabelo. 
“Don’t interrupt me. I’m not done talking”, I say.
“Bathung!” Mahali.
“Thabang and I will not starve. And that house you speak of is in my name. You can’t do shit to it.” Me.
“Morafe, you are out of your limits now.” Le tona.
“With all due respect, le tona… I have connections too – connections higher than this royal home. Your forget my connections to the Mohale throne and you forget that Tumelo’s safety in prison is a favour to me that I personally asked for after you failed to reach an agreement without me with the king. If you cut my husband off, just know that I no longer have loyalty to this family… and I’ll personally tell the king that he can do as he pleases to the baby daddy to every woman in this room. With all these revelations, I’m sure you need him out faster than his sentence, so I’d highly advise against testing me.” 
There’s silence. 
Thabang holds my hand. 
“Is this what that prostitute of a mother and sister taught you? This is how your family taught you to behave in your in-law’s home?” Le tona.
“I love Thabang. To me, Thabang comes first. No one else and nothing else. If you think you can treat the man that I love like this, then you leave me no choice. You put everyone in this position, and now you are upset that Thabang is not aligned with you brilliant plan? Did you really underestimate his manhood to the extent that you played God over his life and marriages? Well, the buck stops here! It stops with me. You are done hurting my husband. Try me! Just test what I will do to protect my husband from all you! Try me! I dare you!” I say. 
With this, Thabang stands up, takes my hand, and he leads me out of the house. 
I’m actually shaking! 
I also don’t know where that bravery came from. 

…

Today, I woke up and appreciated my family. I started with my wife – she who fights for me as hard as I fight for her… she who protects me as much as I protect her… she who loves me as I love her. My equal. My best friend. The love of my life. Then I appreciated my kids. They think I’m their world. I’m their giant and it is on my shoulders that they stand on. They know that I’m not their birth father… they know. But to them, blood couldn’t make us any closer. I love them. And our relationship is honest, more than anything. 

Yesterday, Morafe and I went to a fertility clinic. We spoke to a fertility specialist about my issue. He took some of my blood then he also needed a good sample of my semen. So, he told us that I could either jerk off to porn or I could fuck my wife, but I’d have to use a condom so I cum in the condom and they could use it/test it. Obviously, I fucked my stunning wife. And I released cum that was far much more needed. Lol! 
So now we wait for the results. 
On our drive back home, I asked her if she’d have kids with me – even if it’s just one child – should my problem be fixable. I know that we agreed that we wouldn’t have kids together. But I need this. I need at least one child that’s of my semen. She raised concerns about what that would mean for my relationship with Mosetsana and Tshenolo. I promised her that things won’t change. I love those kids. They are mine. I just need to have this one child that I can say, “ja, ke monna.” She actually said yes. She promised me that she’d birth my baby if I can fix whatever is wrong with me. 

Now, I’m at this prison to see my brother. It’s not a day for visitations, but I asked for a favour. I’m here. I need to talk to my brother. I have a few things that I seriously need to understand. 
I’m sitting in the seat I’m told to sit in. 
In no time, he walks out in his grey prison overalls.
We look at each other. He’s looking at me like he already knows why I’m here. I guess my dad briefed him already… or maybe it was my mom, I don’t know. 
He sits in the seat opposite me. 
He leans against his chair, arrogantly so.
“Sho”, he says.
“Sho”, I say.
“Di ntsang?” He says.
“You smashed my wives?” I get straight to the point.
“Mmakabelo, the family asked me to intervene. Mahali… I didn’t know the two of you were vibing when I was tapping her on the side. That’s the truth. When I found out, we literally stopped talking. That’s why she and I never talk. Like ever. The first kid was my bad. But the second kid, the family asked me for that one.” He says.
“I really thought that I could trust you. I trusted you more than anyone that’s walking this earth, Tumelo. How could you? And then you hide something like this from me? You guys didn’t even give me an opportunity to at least go and get myself checked out. You just decided and went with it? What kind of people are you?”
“Why do you think that I never wanted you to get with Morafe? One, I hated what I was doing. Two, I hated going behind your back like that. And three, I know that you love Morafe more than life. If you guys wanted to have kids, I’d have to smash there and with Morafe, I knew you’d murder me. We were all scared that with Morafe, you’d find out about the paternity situation and we’d all be fucked. You don’t think we know that we messed up? We all didn’t want Morafe around because –
“Stop putting this on Morafe. Stop it! And you would have never touched Morafe because she would have never hurt me like this!” 
“Are you sure about that?”
“You know what, I actually am! And you are all right… she would have come to me and we would have had the necessary conversations, possibly go see doctors and try to fix this. She wouldn’t have betrayed me the way that all of you did.” 
“That’s because you’ve given her the allowance to do that. You’ve given her a safe space to talk to you and engage you like that. Do you ever think about the safe space that you give Mmakabelo and Mahali? Do you ever ask yourself why they couldn’t come to you? Why they couldn’t talk to you about this? Do you ever ask yourself why they don’t feel as safe as Morafe does with you?” 
“You can say whatever you want, Tumelo. They did this shit! They chose what they chose. So did you! So did mom! So did Le tona!”
“Thabang, stop being so pussy-whipped, man! I get it, Morafe is the shit. But you know very well the responsibilities that come with being born into this family. You know very well that you can’t divorce Mmakabelo and Mahali because of this shit! You know this! Now you have Morafe talking shit to our parents and blackmailing them because they are holding you accountable to what needs to happen? You acting like you are the first person to go through something like this? You know damn well that if the roles were reversed, you’d have to impregnate my wives so that each household is fulfilled! Just like you are currently looking after my wives right now while I’m locked up in here.” 
“I’m not fucking your wives! Unlike you, I am very clear where my duty ends and where my loyalty begins. I’m not going to apologise that I have at least one person who’s in my corner because you and that whole family have no fucking clue where loyalty begins. But it’s fine… I see that you are not remorseful for any of this. None of you are.”
“We did nothing wrong!”
“I hope you remember that for the rest of your lives!” I say then leave this prison. 

–

I get home and Morafe is not here. She did say that she would be busy at work all day. Let me phone her. 
“Hey baby”, she answers her phone.
“Hey my love.” 
“You okay? How did the prison visit go?” 
“I’m okay. He’s not even remorseful, baby. None of them are.” 
“Askies hle, baby. I’m so sorry. Your mom also came to see me.” She says.
“What does she want?” 
“She was telling me that Mmakabelo and Mahali now live with her until further notice… with all the kids.” 
“And what’s that got to do with you?”
“She wants me to stop you from divorcing them. She even slapped me for disagreeing with her.” 
“She what?!” 
“I’m okay baby. I just don’t appreciate being hit like I’m such child.” 
“I’ll speak to her”, I say.
“Thank you. I’d appreciate that. Because next time, I’ll have her arrested for assault.” 
I’m just quiet because I feel like she’s being unnecessary right now. 
“Do you think I’m being unreasonable?” I ask her.
“With what, baby?”
“The divorce.” I say.
“I don’t know, love. I really don’t. I’m not in your shoes. I know you are upset and I know you are hurting. I’m just not sure about the depth of the pain. Your mom says I must tell you that you are wrong. That you are unreasonable. And that you must stop this. But I’m the one who sleeps next to you every night. I’m the one who hears you cry at night when you think I’m fast asleep. I’m the one who holds you, and I feel and see you fall apart. Of everyone, I’m the one who sees what you are going through. I may not feel it in its entirety, but I know that you are not okay. And when you are not okay, I’m not okay. So it’s difficult for me to tell you to make a decision that I know will keep you unhappy. No one has the right to tell you how to feel or how to deal with this. Only you know what will make this more bearable for you, helping you put this behind you.” 
“You know that I love you, right?” I tell her. 
“I love you too, baby. I really do. And I’m here for you, T. No matter what, I’m here for you.” 
“Okay baby. I’ll see you when you get home.” 
“I love you.” 
“I love you too.”
We hang up. 

“Ntate Mothipa”, I hear a voice. I turn around to see who’s there. 
Yey! Yey! Yey! What the hell is this?! Why is this domestic worker in lingerie?!
“Keng wena?!” I respond with aggression. Because I will tell Morafe and let Morafe deal with her. She clearly hasn’t seen Morafe in action.
“I thought I’d keep you company while Mme Mothipa asiyo.” 
“Ke bo febe bo jwang bona bo?! I love my wife, wena! What could I possibly want from you?!”
She instantly feels uncomfortable. She suddenly wants to cover herself up with a jacket or something, but there’s not one in sight. 
“I want you to leave this house and never come back! Do you understand me? If I ever see you here again, I’ll tell Morafe what you’ve done and I’ll let her deal with you! Do you understand me?!”
“Ntate Mothipa, please don’t fire me. I’m begging you. I really need this job. I only did this because Mme Mahali, Mme Mmakabelo and your mother told me to do this. They even put a camera up, look…” she says, pointing at some camera. 
What’s wrong with these people?! 
“Get the fuck out of my face!” I tell her.
“I can’t lose my job, sir. I’m begging you. Please don’t tell Mme Mothipa. I’m really scared of her.” She says.
“I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE!” I yell. She sprints out of here. 
Now I dial my mother… 
“Thabang”, she answers her phone.
“Do you want to lose me forever? Do you want me so out of this family that I practically declare you dead to me?”
“Ey wena! You phoned me for nonsense?” 
“Not only are you going around slapping my wife, you are also paying domestic workers to seduce me in my wife’s house? What exactly do you want to see happen, Mme?” 
She’s quiet.
“To be clear, the next time you put your hands on my wife again, I’ll personally have you arrested!”
“Thabang!”
“And the next time you pay or ask anyone to seduce me again, I will tell Morafe and I’ll allow her to do whatever the hell she wants to do with all of you.” 
“What did this girl feed you?”
“Feed me? Le yetsa manyala and when I disagree with your shit le re ke jesitswe? Ema pele!” 
“Thabang, ke kopa re buwe, ngwana waka. Please.” 
“I’m done talking. Respect my marriage! It’s the least that you can do at this point. If that’s going to be difficult for you, you’ll leave me no choice but to want nothing to do with the Mothipa family ever again.” 
With this I hang up! 
Let me actually go and take a nap!