Sandile and KG are not back from their honeymoon yet. It was supposed to be a weekend. It’s been a week now. I’d be worried if KG didn’t call me to let me know that they are okay. So I have been mothering the kids and taking care of the businesses. I go to my shop to make sure that everything is great. KG appointed a supervisor, but I don’t trust her and I am not at ease without KG. The taxis… well, I do what I need to do. I make sure that the taxis are on the road by 5am and are back by 9pm with all the count needed for the day. In the morning, I drop off the kids and make sure that I go and bank the money. If I am not too tired at that 9pm when they bring the taxis in, I go do an ATM deposit in the evening. It’s dangerous, I know. But sometimes, that’s when I feel as if nobody is expecting me to be depositing the money. I’d get a call from Sandile when he gets the notification of the deposit and he would preach safety to me. He even assigned a bodyguard to me.

His girlfriend, yes the helper in the house, avoids me at all costs. And I make sure that ngiya-avoideka because I know it will be a war if we accidentally end up in the same room at the same time. I thought she resigned. I do not understand why she’s back. I know it has everything to do with my mother feeling sorry for her being unemployed. I must sleep with her husband one of these days just because I can. That’s how she plays the game, so why must she be spared? My mom has also started giving Hoodrat the cold shoulder. My mother used to adore her, but now that she has seen her for who and what she is,she is making her pay. Go mommy! I’m just happy that Hoodrat doesn’t believe that in my mother, she has found a mamazala. 

My phone rings. It’s George calling me from prison. He never calls me at this time. Ever. I hope that everything is okay.

“Hey”. I answer.

“I miss you.” He says.

“I’m coming this weekend.” I say.

“I know, but I just needed to hear your voice.” He says. He doesn’t sound okay.

“What’s wrong, babe?” I ask.

“It’s just been a bad day.”

It’s only morning, but okay.

“What happened?”

“I don’t want you exposed to what I go through here. Just hearing your voice is enough healing for me. I just wanted to say thank you for everything. And if I die in here, please continue to look after Luthando and my kids.”

“George, you are scaring me now. What’s going on? Did someone try to kill you?”

“This is prison, Sindi. You fight to stay alive more than you fight for anything.”

I am silent.

“Sindi?”

“Yes?”

“Can you make me that promise? That no matter what, you’ll take care of my family.”

“You know I will. I promise I always will.”

“Thank you. I tried to call you yesterday.”

“I know. Sandile and KG have gone away for a few days. It’s me and the kids so when you called, I was tucking them in.” I explain myself.

“Sindi, when I call you, I expect you to pick up the phone. All the time. You stop whatever it is that you are doing and you pick up my calls.”

How is this guy still abusing and controlling me from behind bars? What do you think will happen if I just stopped picking up his calls? He’ll probably have me killed.

“Sindi? Do I need to repeat myself?”

“No, it’s cool. I hear you.”

“Good. I hope this never becomes a fight. Now, I’m trying to arrange for you to come see me so we can have sex. I’m dry. So be on the lookout for my call. Then I need you here at the exact date and time that I give you. Do we understand one another?”

“Okay”.

“Good girl.”

The line goes dead.

I am feeling that feeling that I felt when we ran away from Diepkloof. I am feeling empty and used again. Why isn’t he doing this with and to his wife? Why me? Why?

I am about to get emotional when another call comes through my phone. It’s an unknown number. I would ignore it, but my fear of ignoring George’s calls make me fear ignoring this call.

“Hello?”

“Sister boss.”

“Who’s this?”

“Tankiso. Sister boss I’ve been arrested. Tickets.” He says.

Tankiso is one of our taxi drivers.

“They’ve also confiscated the car.” He says.

“I’m on my way.” Me.

The plan was to start the day at the beauty bar. Now, I must sort this out. Gosh.

I dial Sandile.

“Sisi”

“Tankiso has been arrested. Tickets. I’m going to bail him and our taxi out.”

“Okay. Let me make a quick phone call. I’ll get back to you.”

“Cool”.

I drive until I get to the police station. I wait for Sandile’s call before I get out of the door. Indeed he calls me back then tells me that I must look for an officer called Mthethwa, tell him who I am, then Tankiso as well as our taxi will be released. I don’t even ask questions, I do just that because I understand my intersexuality in this case. I am a woman confused in the taxi space. Anyone and everyone can take advantage of me. Sandile is better at resolving this and I let him.

…

It is evening now and I am locking up my beauty bar. We have just smiled at our last client and I have let my employees go home. I set up the alarm, lock up and leave. We don’t accept any cash here, only card payments accepted. So I don’t have to go make any deposits. Opposite is my clothing boutique. It is also doing well. It is also run by KG, but we have a manager who is helping out. Our ladies wear uniform there as well so it is quite up market. It is called Utopia – what we wear.

The manager, Senamile, locks up, sets the alarm and gives me a bag of the cash. We always bank the cash the same night. We make a lot of it in a day. We do encourage electronic payments, but we have those customers who insist on cash payments so hey.

Before I leave the mall, I deposit the money via the ATM. When I am satisfied, I make my way to my car, planning to go home. My phone rings. It’s George. Dear God.

“Hi”.

“Hey baby. You good?”

“I’m good. I just locked up the boutique and beauty bar. Now I’m headed home.”

“How about you just come straight here to see me? I’ve made a plan. We have thirty minutes.” He says.

My entire body tenses up and a tear streams down my face.

“Sindi, baby?”

“I have to sort out the taxis, babe.”

“Sindi, I’m begging you. This will not happen often, you know this. I need you baby. Please love.”

“Okay baby. I’m on my way.”

“Thank you my, Sindi. Thank you.”

We hang up.

I’m so thankful when I get home and see Sandile’s car. They are back. I drop off what I can in our office outside. Sandile is beating up one of the drivers. I don’t have time to ask. Sandile sees me and sees me a bit stressed. He wants to ask what’s wrong, but I signal with my hand that I will be right back.

I dash out immediately.

I’m BACK!

It’s my first day back at work today. I feel a bit nervous and have a bit of anxiety. I have a medical report that says I have to be slowly reintegrated back into the workplace. Mr Msomi is not a bad person, so he will not give me a bad time. I’m just anxious, I don’t know why.

“Hello girlfriend. It is so good to see you. I didn’t even know that you were coming back. We missed you”. Sli says to me as I make my way to my desk.

“Kunjani sisi?” I ask her.

“We good babe. I’m sure Mr Msomi will be so happy to see you. How was the looney bin?”

I look at her because… what the hell?

“Babes, you know I’m joking, right? I don’t want you reporting me to HR.”

I’m just silent and settle at my desk.

“Oh wow, look who’s back from the looney bin – the warehouse’s greatest reject. Kunjani babe?” Thando asks me. What is she doing here? And why is everyone saying I’ve come back from the looney bin?

I just set up my laptop.

“Thando now manages Thami’s office. Thami is the new Pearl, but so much hotter.” Sli updates me.

That still doesn’t explain why she is here, running around Mr Msomi’s office.

Mr Ramaru, Mr Msomi and another man walk in chatting and laughing together. Mr Msomi notices me and pauses. Wasn’t HR supposed to brief them on my return? They did know that I was coming back, right?

“How are you, Portia?” Mr Msomi asks me.

“I’m well, thank you, sir.”

“Welcome back.” He says.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Please take your time getting back into things. Make sure that this is at your own pace. We don’t want to rush you into anything.” Mr Msomi says.

I nod my head.

“This is Mr Thami Doda. You will be assisting in his office as well. You will be helping both of us. So you will work closely with Thando too.” Mr Msomi explains.

“Nice to meet you, Mr Doda”. I stand up and give Mr Doda a handshake.

He receives me well and says, “I’ll get Thando to schedule some time with you and let you know how we work and how I like my things done.”

I nod and get back to my desk.

I have also noticed that all of us PAs now sit in the same place. It is an open area that is just in front of all the executives’ offices. Even Mr Ramaru’s PA sits here with us. It is the six of us who sit in this open plan. We are all PAs to the executives. It is myself, Sli, Thando, Harry’s PA, Mr Ramaru’s PA and the secretary that Mr Ramaru and Harry share. She is like me, a shared secretary. I’ll get to know everyone properly now that we all sit in one place.

The men walk towards Mr Ramaru’s office. After the door shuts…

“How far are we with Mr Ramaru’s party arrangements?” Thando asks Mr Ramaru’s PA. I think her name is Zinzi.

“Everything is as it should be. But the new Mrs Ramaru is getting on my last nerve.” Zinzi says.

“That’s not funny. If Lydia hears you, it’s your job on the line.” Thando says.

Sli and I look at each other and giggle. We look at each other because it is about to be tense around here.

“Thando, I was just saying –

“You were saying nothing. Lydia got Pearl divorced and kicked out of this company. Wena uyini compared to that? You clearly don’t need this job with a mouth that big. Where are the party arrangements? Or do we need to do your job for you?” Thando is lashing out at this girl and she looks as if she is close to tears.

Before she can answer, Lydia walks in with a bunch of beautifully arranged roses in a circular box. The box has a label on it that reads “Portia”.

“Hello gorgeous. Welcome back!” She says to me. She puts the flowers and a wrapped gift on my desk then smothers me in a hug.

Her ring, my darling. She is Mrs Ramaru for sure.

“Thank you. I hear you are Mrs Ramaru now. You wear the ring and title very well, baby girl.” I say.

“I wish you were around for it. But I’m glad you are healed and are ready to kick off your shoes and get comfortable around here again. I certainly missed you. Futhi I’m looking forward to moving you to managing Tom’s office. Are you up for it? We need some professional presence in that space.”

Yoh! You should see the eyes I am getting from all PAs here. The only person who is impressed is Thando. The sad person is Zinzi. I can just see that these two don’t get along.

“We can even have some coffee when you get a minute. I’ve briefed Tom. I’m sure you’ll do a better job than Zinzi. Zinzi can come and be Thami’s and Mthunzi’s runner. She doesn’t deserve the PA salary. You on the other hand, I know you can do it and I know you’ll love the pay increase. But let’s do coffee today after work. I’ll drop you off at home. We can chat some more, yeah?”

Lydia is BRUTAL!

I nod my head.

“Awesome. See you later, babes.”

She turns around and walks to Thando’s desk.

“Lady T”.

“Mrs R”.

“I have those files you asked me for.”

Lydia says as she puts files on Thando’s desk.

“You know you are the best right? You make me look so good to the big guns.” Thando says. When did they start getting along? But Thando is smart. She knows who to suck up to and how to climb up the ladder. She knows how to play the politics and she plays them well.

“We are still on for drinks later today?” Thando asks.

“But I’m meeting with Porsh? Yaz I forgot about our drinks.” Lydia.

“How about, after your meeting with Porsh, the three of us can do drinks. Yeah?” Thando.

“I’m down for that. Porsh?” Lydia.

I nod my head.

Didn’t someone say something about a party? I’m very confused right now.

After Lydia leaves, Thando says to me:

“Looney bin, after your coffee thing, you and I will take Mrs R to her surprise party.”

This girl…

“And wena Zinzi Soon-to-be-demoted, make sure konke kuhamba ngohlelo!” Thando says and giggles.

The rest of us PAs just awkwardly look around and giggle. Obviously Thando is our boss.

…

“SURPRISE!”

The entire office says as Thando and I walk in with Mr and Mrs Ramaru. Thando planned this well. I assume Zinzi executed this well. Now we walk in here and Mr Ramaru happened to arrive same time as us. He arrived with Mr Msomi and Mr Msomi’s wife.

Mr and Mrs Ramaru are already seated at a table and speeches have started rolling. This feels a lot like a wedding reception. People are dressed up, champagne is served all around, all the Ramaru brothers are here and it’s just nice.

After the speeches, Mr and Mrs Ramaru are now sharing their first dance. They actually look incredible together. They look so in love. There is a lot of kissing, whispers and smiles between the two of them during this song. It’s a beautiful song. I think it’s Kaylow’s Sthandwa Sami. Beautiful song. I wonder who chose it, but it’s perfect.

When it ends, Micasa’s Mamela plays and now couples are on the dance floor dancing away. It’s beautiful. I’m just not in the mood.

While I was away, my kids sold my house. They now live in the Eastern Cape with their father’s family and I am houseless. I am five minutes away from going back to that looney bin everyone says I come from. There was so much peace there. Truly there was. From day one when I got back home, I was already stressed. How dare these kids. How dare they. I’m so thankful I had all my bank cards on me and I was still earning a salary. I also received a PHI pay-out claim. I had enough to rent a two bedroom flat here in Crystal Park, not too far from work. Our offices are in Rynfield.

I managed to buy myself a bed, a small round dining table and chairs, a TV and a few essentials to get me by. I got a crèche for my last born at Crystal Park. I also enrolled my third born into Crystal Park Primary School. I am headed to the Eastern Cape this weekend to fetch my two babies. The elder two that sabotaged me can go die in hell.

“Are you alright, babe?” Sli asks me. Where did she even come from?

I nod my head and give a feint smile.

“Will you be having some champagne?” She asks me.

“No babe. I really just want to go home.” I say.

“Hawu Porsh, when will we ever spend the bosses’ money like this again?”

“Maybe next time. I really need to leave now. I’ll get an Uber. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

I say and leave. Yes, I’ve had enough for one day.

I enjoyed my shower and am now tucked into bed, watching TV. This is nice. I cannot wait to have my two babies here. I plan to go there with cops because that damn family will drive me crazy. I just know it. They drove me crazy when their son was still alive. They’ve turned my kids against me, so they must have a lot of confidence right now to challenge me when I want to take my kids. I’m not going there to play. They can have the two psychopaths. But my babies, I want them back and I want them this weekend.

“You got home safely?” A text from Sli comes in.

“Yes love. Thanks. Enjoy and good night.”

“Sleep tight babe. PAs are having lunch together tomorrow when the bosses have their big meeting. I counted you in.”

I want to say for what, but hey.

“Sure. I’m in.”

I text then put my phone on silent and slip into bliss.