Khotso is feeling a bit emotional today. He just woke up in the morning and looked like he was carrying the entire world on his shoulders. 

“Baby? Are you alright?” I ask him. 

My plan was to jump into the shower and get my day started. My store is being built and I’m meeting with the branding and marketing people who will help me drive traffic to my store. Teboho is leading this meeting and the branding part of the shop because she’s just hot like that when it comes to branding. 

“I’m just thinking…” He says. 

“About?” I enquire. 

“What it would be like if my father were still alive. It’s his birthday today.” He says. 

Eish…

I climb back into bed and I cuddle into his arms. I don’t really know what to say. 

“I don’t really want to sound ungrateful for all that my mom and morena have done for Ona and me. I’m just curious. I’d listen to Kefe and Pule talk about him all the time and I’d honestly just feel as if I’d missed out on a great man. My mom loved him dearly and she’s been struggling to move on from him for a very long time. There must be a reason for that.”

“Have you ever asked your mom to tell you about him?” 

“When we were little, my mom had a book series created for Ona and I. The book series was titled “The Rightful King“. It spoke about a king who was robbed off his birth right – the throne of his family. It caused so much conflict and it became worse when the queen of the kingdom – who was married to the wrong king who was sitting on the throne – married him. The story told us that the rightful king became a regular guy and decided that he could have love with the queen. So, they ran away and started their lives together. It was like the ancestors were playing a joke on the family. Had the rightful king become king, the queen would have been his wife anyway. Now, he was robbed off that right and opportunity, but the queen loved him and chose him still. Sadly, the love that they shared made the rightful king unfit to live. With the throne, the queen and the two princes that the queen was carrying in her belly, there could only be one king who would be able to be the king, her husband and the father to the two princes. The bravest brother killed the other and remained king.” 

That’s quite a story. 

“Ona and I would read those books everyday. They were short anyway. They were kiddies books. We were the only kids that had them in the kingdom because they were made for us and only us. It was when we investigated why, as we grew older, we learned that the rightful king was our father and that story was a story about why he passed away.” 

Tense! 

“Baby”, I participate in this conversation. 

“My love?” 

“Why don’t we go to his graveyard today? We can clean his tombstone and take him some flowers. Spend some time there and talk to him about what’s been happening in your life and how much you miss him and wish he were here.” I suggest. 

He smiles at me and says, “You want me to tell him about you?” 

I laugh. That’s not what I meant. 

“I’d like that, baby. Maybe we could invite Ona and Regodise as well.” 

I smile at him and say, “Okay.”

“What about your meeting today?” He asks me. 

“I’ll go see Tebza later and ask her to brief me. She won’t mind.” 

He nods his head and says, “Thank you, baby.” 

…

I phoned Teboho and explained to her what was going on. She told me that she completely understood and that she will run with today’s meeting. So, we are now at the graveyard, standing in front of a tombstone that belongs to Reahile Mohale. Khotso seems very emotional and I just rub my hand behind his back. He wraps his hand around me and scoops me in towards him. Regodise and Ona are also having a moment. Khotso and Onaleruna are so emotional. Dise and I genuinely do not know what to do. 

Then the most unbelievable thing happens. A storm comes out of nowhere and takes over everything before our eyes. It starts raining heavily with hail. We all hold hands because it also feels as if we are being blown away – LITERALLY.

I feel Khotso pulling me towards the car. I cannot see where we are going or where the car is. What the hell is going on?! 

My hand is still hanging onto Khotso’s hand and it seems as if we are in front of the car. The car keys are not opening the car. AT ALL! In fact, the key falls out of Ona’s hands, but I manage to see the keys and trap them with my feet. I bend down and pick the keys up. Ona and Khotso use a pocket knife to break into the car. Tebza did say that they are well acquainted with crime. 

After a struggle and a half, we are inside of the car. I’m sitting at the backseat next to Dise. We are both soaking wet and as dirty as a child coming back from playing marbles in the dust of the homelands – the ones that they use in poverty advertisements about Africa and a fly is always in sight. We look like that. 

Khotso and Ona look beaten up. They have scratches on the side of their cheeks and they are equally wet and dirty. 

I honestly have no idea what just happened. 

I give Ona the car keys and he manages to start the car. We drive away. As soon as we leave the graveyard, the rain and hail stop. The storm stops all together. The sun comes out to shine again. Khotso and Ona look at each other. I think they know what just happened. I’m just too shook to ask questions and Dise is just silent… as if she knows what’s going on. 

Ona drives to my house and Khotso uses his biometrics access to open the gate for us. We park the car in front of my house then Dise and I climb off the car. I didn’t see the car parking behind us. Their parents – mofomahadi and morena – park behind us and they have Mohale with them. I look at Khotso. 

“Baby, we are going to leave you, Dise and Mohale here. Okay?” Khotso tells me. 

“Baby, I’m worried about you.” I tell him. 

I spot his mother staring at us from the corner of my eye. 

“I’m going to be okay, baby. We are going to fix this.”, he says to me then he kisses me. 

He opens my garage and I see morena driving his car in. I’m not being consulted on a damnthing and I feel like this is my house. 

“We have to take Ona’s car because we used his car when this happened.” Khotso explains. I just nod my head because really, ke tla reng?

I let Regodise shower first as I set up a playpen for Mohale. I also let her pick a comfortable outfit out of my wardrobe. 

“Mama, why are you so wet? It wasn’t raining today”. Mohale asks me. 

“We went to a place where we were rained on, my love.” 

“Where?” 

“Somewhere far.” 

“You are going to get sick. Next time, you must take a umbwela“, he says. It’s the twang in his English for me. 

“Do you want to come to the kitchen with me so we can make food for us and mommy?” 

He nods his head. 

“I can’t carry you because I’m dirty. But I’ll help you up a chair.” I say. 

“Okay. But you must wash your hands for ten minutes before you cook. You not dirty, mama. You are filthy.” 

Wow! I honestly just laugh. 

Mohale and I chat about very useless things as I try to prepare food for us. But I have learned that he has a teacher that speaks weird English and he doesn’t like her because he has to pay more attention in her class. Then he has a fitness teacher who put him in a naughty corner because he got bored during fitness and started throwing stones at the people who were actually doing what they were supposed to be doing. 

I’ve just been laughing because this child is actually funny. He really is hilarious. 

Regodise comes into the kitchen as we are about to finish cooking. She walks in mid-laughter between Mini-Ona and I. 

“It smells so great in here.” Dise says. 

“Thanks babe. I thought I’d prepare us something to eat. I do have juice for Mini-Ona then there’s grown-up juice for the mommies”, I say. She high-fives me. But first, I must shower. 

I take some time in the shower because I was really feeling cold. As I lotion myself and get dressed, I start texting Teboho. 

“My darling.” Me. 

“Babes… how did today go?“

“Absolute disaster. People disciplined us from the grave! Lol” 

“Lmao! I’m not laughing. What the hell? ***tea cup***” 

“We just went there and before we could even say ‘dumela resting ones’ we had a storm blow us away. Literally. Ke re wena pula. Ke re wena sefako! Ke re wena mobu! We were hit by it all. Then we even struggled to get into the car. The trauma!” 

She sends me shocked faces! Then she types “sefako kao fela?” 

“Darling, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life before. I’m tempted to phone my mom and ask her if this is some sort of juju or something.” 

“LOL! Oluremi, please be serious for five minutes. These are your ancestors-in-law“. 

“I’m just so freaked out. I can only laugh about it, else I’ll cry. Dise, Mohale and I are here at my house. The twins left with mofomahadi and morena. They were worse. They even had scratches on their faces. Yho, these ancestors-in-law are brutal.” 

“Eish babe, I’m worried now. But I’m sure they are doing something about it. Just be there for Khotso. There’s something very deep happening here and something big is about to reveal itself.”

“Thanks hun. How did the meeting go?“

“It went really well. The team is on board. We even have an action plan. I just wasn’t too happy with the space so far. I asked Maboko to drive down and help me view it with a second pair of eyes. We said we’d come down together when you are ready. He is happy to take over for you at no charge at all. It’s no investment, just a pre-wedding gift from us.” 

WTF? 

I phone her immediately. 

“My baby”, she answers her phone. 

“You just gift people buildings?” 

“No. I gift my best friend with buildings. I believe in your shop and I don’t want people sabotaging your vision. But deal with the Mohale stuff well. When you are ready, phone us and we will take a trip there and do best.”

“I love you, T. You are my bestest friend ever.” 

“I love you too, O. Always.”

…

I make my way downstairs and I find Dise in absolute panic with Mohale in her arms. She is crying and Mohale looks – 

“He’s not breathing”, Dise tells me.

I sprint to the door and open the door for her. She is in tears. She looks so…

I lock up the house and grab my bag which was close by anyway. We jump into my Tiguan and I drive to the closest hospital. 

I’m literally shaking. 

I try to dial Khotso, but his phone goes to voice mail.

I don’t have Ona’s number. I don’t know why. And Dise looks like she’s not prepared to answer any questions. 

I phone Teboho. 

“Hey”.

“Babe, I need Maboko to please find Ona and Khotso. Please. Mohale is not breathing.” 

“O, where are you?”

“On our way to the Royal Tau Hospital. Please. We need to find them. Please.”

“Okay. We will try our best.” 

My car tells me that I’m driving at 140km/h, but I feel like it’s not moving fast enough. 

We finally arrive at the hospital. Dise looks like she has given up and has accepted that her child has passed away. She is just still. She’s not jumping out of the car. 

I get out of the car, open the door of the back of the car and grab Mohale from her. I leave her in the car and I hold Mohale close to my heart. He feels so cold.

“Come on, my boy. Please don’t leave me. Don’t leave us. Please, baby.” 

I keep saying this as I sprint with him to reception. When I get to reception, Uncle Shaka, Maboko, Fifi and Teboho are here. Uncle Shaka takes Mohale from me and sprints to inside the hospital. 

“We’ve already filled in his admission forms”, Teboho says 

“Where’s Dise?” Fifi asks me. 

“In the car. She’s just- 

I can’t even breathe. 

Teboho grabs me into a hug and she squeezes me. I cry and I ask her, “T, what the hell is going on?” 

I cry and when I eventually stop, I say, “We need to get Dise out of the car.” 

“I’ll get her”, Maboko says. 

Teboho and I both nod at him. 

We’ve been waiting for hours and there’s still nothing from the twins and their parents. 

“Shak, where are they?” Dise asks. 

“I really don’t know. I can’t reach Mohato.” He says. 

I’m just shaking! 

…

I’m so thankful for Aus‘Lebo. She just drove to the house to stay with the kids the minute we called her. She’s with the kids while we are here praying that Mohale lives. He didn’t look too good when they brought him in. No one has even mentioned what’s been happening. Shak is standing next to me when his phone rings and the caller ID reads Mohato Mohale. It’s 2am. We’ve been here for hours. He looks at me and I look at him. 

“Is it one of them?” Dise asks, ready to eat us up and spit us out. 

“No”, Shak and I say together as if rehearsed. 

He takes the call outside. 

He literally takes five minutes on the call then he walks back in, walks to some nurses and speaks to them briefly. As he comes back in, Ona, Khotso, morena and mofomahadi walk into the hospital. They look at absolutely no one. Not even their significant others. Dise is PISSED! Oluremi is a bit difficult to read. But I do believe that Khotso is in shit too.

A traditional healer walks in and follows the Mohales. A TEAM of traditional healers walk in. 

Olu and Teboho look at each other. The two of them are sitting on either side of Dise and they are trying to calm her down. 

Refiloe walks in with food. I don’t know where she found this food, but she found it and I, for one, am grateful. Shak disappeared with the Mohales. I’m hungry neh. Truly, I’m starving. It just feels so wrong to eat at a time like this. If Shak were here, being himself by not giving a fuck about anything but his stomach, I’d also eat while standing next to him. But ke… 

It’s another three hours of my stomach growling. No sign of the Mohales. The sun is even beginning to rise now. Then, Shak walks out first. We all stand up and place our focus on him. He doesn’t even look at us. He is exhausted. Morena is walking behind him with Mohale wide awake and just chatting away as if he didn’t just scare all of us to death. Khotso is following morena and Ona walks in walking next to his mother. The traditional healers leave the hospital. 

There is a moment of silence and stillness. Then, Dise rises like a wild animal from her chair and slaps the shit out of Ona. 

We are all super shocked, but way too exhausted to stop what’s about to happen. 

“My child, Onaleruna? My child?!” Dise screams. 

“Regodise – 

“Don’t you fucken Regodise me. Where the fuck have you been?!” 

Ona literally carries Dise over his shoulder and as she screams and kicks about, Ona walks with her out of the hospital.

Mofomahadi is just shaking her head. 

“Come here, papa”, mofomahadi says to Mohale. 

Watsiba Mohale is just a happy soul all of a sudden. 

“Baby, we are all going to move into your place for some time. We are headed there when we leave here.” Khotso informs Oluremi. 

Oluremi just nods her head. But she’s so spooked. I must say, Oluremi is a very strong woman. I don’t understand how she’s just sitting there and not losing her shit the way that Dise just did. 

“Come here”, Khotso says to Oluremi.

“I don’t want to cry, Khotso. Please don’t hug me because I will cry”, she says. 

Mofomahadi is the one who goes to her and genuinely hugs her. She falls apart. There it is. That part I was worried about her not exposing. Now it’s coming out and it’s her mother-in-law who catches her. I’m so glad that my life is not this hectic. 

…

It is 12 midday when I open my eyes because the boys have come into our bedroom to make a noise. We went to sleep at 10am. When we left the hospital, we all went to Oluremi’s house to help them get settled. Olu was so nice. She let Ona and Dise move into the master bedroom because they have Mohale with them. Mofomahadi and morena moved into the bigger guest bedroom. It also has an in suite bathroom in it. Her place is actually really nice. Then she and Khotso pumped an inflatable mattress and slept in her reading room. They’ll probably get a mattress today and redo that room, turning it into an actual bedroom. Their bedroom’s rest room is opposite the bedroom. Like I said, Oluremi is a selfless individual. She made sure that everyone is comfortable then she and Khotso would sort themselves out last. Beautiful. 

Now these kids come in here to annoy us. Shak locked the room that he and Fifi are in. But they have Ruri with them. We got back and Ruri just clinged on Fifi. I was lowkey happy about that because I slept peacefully knowing that they will not be having sex in my house. 

Tebza has pulled a blanket over her head. But I’m not suffering alone. 

“Guys, we are really tired. Please.” I negotiate.

“But, we want to swim. Come sleep outside while you watch us”, Bane says. 

Where does he get these ideas from? 

“If you guys let your mom and I sleep for another three hours, I will take you to an arcade when we wake up.” I promise them. 

Their “yaaaaay!!!!” is as painful as someone screeching their nails past a chalkboard. 

“Khabane! Mason! We are sleeping. What’s the rule around respecting people who are asleep?” 

Teboho says. And she’s pissed! So they just know that this is not the time to be smart. 

“Sorry, mommy.” Bane says. 

“Outside! Now!” Teboho.

They run out of here. 

“Le wena Maboko, you want to negotiate with these people and let them scream like that in here? Hai man!” 

I’m not even responding to that. I’m too sleep-deprived to respond. We will fight if I have to respond. 

I’m deep in my sleep when I feel something happening to my body… from my penis. This thing is paralyzing me in a way. I’m not sure if I’m having a wet dream or… 

As I open my eyes, I see my wife giving me one hell of a blow job and I’m already cuming in her mouth.  I start feeling weak and my knees suddenly feel so vulnerable. 

“Mrs Seete”, I moan. 

“Hello, my love.” 

“I – 

I cum so hard, I can barely finish my sentence. 

“Yes, love?” She says as she climbs on top of me. 

“What did I do to deserve such nice treatment?” I ask her. 

She starts riding me. 

My goodness! 

She rides me and rides me and rides me, holding onto her breasts and she literally fucks me. We are both moaning now. I’m so happy. I’m so weak. 

We lie next to each other now in the bed. 

“You are going to make my heart stop. I’m getting old for such surprises”, I tell her. 

She laughs and says, “You’ll be fine. I do this so that you stay forever young.” 

I laugh. She’s so silly sometimes. 

“Thank you for finally choosing me, Maboko. Thank you for our home. Thank you for our family. Thank you for the love that is all over this home.” She says. 

“Thank you for giving me a second chance and an opportunity to be able to do this with you, T. It’s always been you. From 2010 when you entered the gates of our school, my heart has never stopped beating for you.”

She smiles at me. 

“I’m sorry I ever hurt you and compromised what we share”, I tell her. 

“I’ve forgiven you, baby. Let’s move on. Please.” She says. 

I kiss her. She grabs my body and starts kissing me too. I rub her thighs and she puts her leg on my thighs. My dick slides into her. We stare each other in the eye as we have sex in this position.

“I love you”, I say.

“I love you”, she says.

“Forever”, me.

“And ever.” Her. 

“Please don’t ever break my heart, again.” She says. 

“I promise.” Me.

“Your heart is in good hands”, she tells me. 

I climax. She holds onto me and shuts her eyes as if climaxing herself.

“Guys, I can hear you talking! So you are awake. Daddy, we are finished bathing. Can we go to the arcade now?” Bane says through the door. 

Teboho and I look at each other and laugh. 

“We are coming, Bane.” I say. 

We hear celebration in the passage. 

“Maybe we should invite Ona, Dise, Khotso, Oluremi and Mohale. They need the fresh air.” 

“I agree. I’ll phone Ona, baby.” 

We kiss and start our day.