I’m at work today. It is slightly slow. Nomzamo is still on maternity leave. I think Leruo low-key wants her to stop working. I mean, her daughter is old enough to be at home with a nanny or be at an early development centre. But she’s still at home, nursing and watching that baby eat, shit, sleep and grow an inch bigger every day. 

Because it’s a bit slow, the secretary, the PA and I alternate with coming in. This week is my week to be in. 

There is a stand-in doctor for Nomzamo. But he has his own PA that he uses which is just weird. These are not his patients. They are Nomzamo’s patients. He should be utilizing Nomzamo’s staff to assist him with Nomzamo’s patients. But he showed up here with his PA that he seems to be sleeping with and she has chosen to sit inside his office. She has a desk right in there. I have tried to advise, more than once, that it is inappropriate especially for the comfort of the patients, but they were not interested. So whatever. I’m also not interested in helping them manage the existing patients. 

I’m actually putting a file together for Nomzamo. I started this file the minute I decided that I don’t like this doctor. Today, I have a 200-page file of evidence of how unethical this doctor is and how Nomzamo’s regular patients are not coming in as often as they should. When I knock off today, I’ll go to Nomzamo’s house for dinner with Msizi. I’ll be sure to drop this file off too. 

I’m updating all the files and dedicate today to making telephonic follow-ups with patients. 

I’m done with what I need to get through by 3pm. 

I give Msizi a call to check what time he will be done today. 

“Ey baby”, he answers his phone

“Babe, are you good?” 

“Yeah. What’s up?” 

“I just wanted to check what time you’ll be done today.” 

“Around 5pm. Then I’ll go get Siya from aftercare at school.” 

“Well, I’m done. I can fetch her then we will go home, shower and change. When you get back, we will go to Nomzamo’s house.” 

“I’d really appreciate that, baby. Thank you”, he says. 

“Shup. I’ll see you later.”

“Later.”

As I hang up, the PA of the stand-in doctor walks up to my desk.

“Sawubona“, she says. 

“Hi.” Me.

“Udokotela wants to know how many patients Dr Tloung averages in a day.” She says. 

What kind of a question is that? 

She also sees that my face is not happy with this question. 

“He needs to understand how busy this space is… he is standing in for Dr Tloung and he has to be present at various different hospitals”, she says. 

“He can phone Dr Tloung and ask her himself”, I say. 

“He’s asking you”, she forcefully says. 

“And I don’t work for him, so I’m not obliged to say or do anything for him”, I say. 

She stares at me for a long time. She walks away. 

I pack my things, careful not to leave my file of evidence behind. I lock all file cabinets. They just look like the type that would raid the cabinets. I lock the cabinets, lock the burglars around the cabinets and set an alarm around them. 

When I am done, I grab my bags and I head to my car. Siya should almost be done with school anyhow.

I put my bags in my boot. I can’t wait to get home and change. I’m wearing jeans and a t-shirt today. I have nude heels to complete the look. It’s hot and my thighs are suffering. 

“Miss Thabethe”, I hear a voice say. 

I close my boot then look behind me. 

It’s Dr Phongolo. 

“Yes?” Me. 

“I believe you refused to follow a reasonable instruction?” Him. 

“Excuse me?” 

“I asked my assistant to get some information from you. I believe you refused to assist with that information.” 

I just look at him. What exactly does he want me to say? 

He pulls out his cellphone and dials a number. He places the phone on his ear. 

“Ey, Gatsheni, kunjani ndoda?” Him. 

Msizi’s surname is Ndlovu, so his clan name is Gatsheni. I wouldn’t think it’s him that Dr Phongolo is speaking to if the doctor wasn’t making this phone call in front of me. 

“I’m with your girlfriend here. And I never thought I’d have to make this phone call to you, but she’s left me no choice.” He says. 

I honestly just move away from him. 

What is he going to do? Get Msizi to tell me how to do my job? 

I get into my car.

“Ey wena! What do you –

I just drive away. 

This guy must not know that I’m Nobukhosi Thabethe. I have men like him for breakfast. Ungijwayela kabi! 

As I’m driving to Siya’s school, I’m waiting for Msizi to call me and tell me what that guy wants. But he doesn’t call me. 

I think about phoning him because this is the same person that I’m taking with me to Nomzamo to explain what Dr Phongolo is doing. I don’t want to be compromised in any way. 

I decide to call Nomzamo. 

“Hey Khosi”, she answers her phone. 

“Hey Zamo. Kunjani?” Me. 

“I’m good thanks. Zamo, I’m sorry to bother you while you are on leave. Kodwa something is very off about Dr Phongolo.” 

She takes a deep breathe. 

Does she know? Or? 

“At first, I thought I was imagining things. But this feeling that I have just persisted and I found myself collecting evidence of things that made me suspect him to begin with.” 

“Evidence?”

“Yeah. I was preparing to bring it to you this evening when we came for dinner. But then the strangest thing happened.” Me. 

“What happened?” She asks me. 

“He first sends his PA, that I’m very sure he’s sleeping with, to ask me about our patients and the amount of patients you see in a day on average. Then when I refused to give her information, he follows me to my car. He just had this bullying and intimidation thing about him. Then he phones Msizi in front of me. I didn’t even stick around for the call. I just got in my car, drove off and called you.” 

“Thank you so much, Khosi. I just got an email that I’m going to be investigated. So that evidence will help. I think Busi and Basetsana have been helping him. Maybe he thought that if he could get to you… eish Khosi.” 

Okay, she’s really stressed. 

“Let me pick up Siya from school. I’ll come straight to your house afterwards. I locked all our files away – even put burglar proof locks around them. Ebusuku, we can go with ubhuti Leruo to get everything from the office.” 

“I’d really appreciate that, Khosi. Ngiyabonga.” She says. 

We hang up. 

–

I’ve picked Siya up and we are now at Nomzamo’s house. She said hi to Nomzamo and charged to go play with Zamo’s boys. She knows them from school.

Leruo is now helping us go through my evidence with a lawyer. 

“You did great”, the lawyer keeps saying. 

“We should get police then I’ll go with them to get what’s left in your office, Dr Tloung.” The lawyer. 

I give him the keys for the cupboards. 

“You’ve done very well, Miss Thabethe.” The lawyer.

“Rea leboha, Khosi.” Leruo. 

Zamo holds my hand and smiles at me. Then she says, “You may have just saved my medicine career”.

I nod my head. 

My phone rings. 

It’s Msizi. 

“Please excuse me. It’s Msizi.” I say.

They nod their heads at me. 

I get up and step outside.

“Baby”, me. 

“Hey. Where are you?” 

“At Zamo’s house.” 

“I thought we were going together.”

“Kwenzakalani Msizi?” Me. 

“Can we talk when we get home?” Him. 

“Msizi, what’s going on?” 

“Please come home. I’m begging you. We will talk when we get back home.” 

“Fine.” Me.

We hang up. 

…

The one thing that pope warned us would happen if Mme-Remo found out about Uncle Khotso’s cheating actually happened. Mme-Remo worked with her father and her crazy ex who has been obsessed with the Mohales his whole life to bring down the church. It turns out that from when she found out about the affair, she started collecting evidence of her own to prove that we are into illegal shit. And shit is bad. Really bad. 

She even found Rofhiwa. They somehow collaborated on bringing us down. They went to kazi and papa for backup. They know that we would never hurt Khanyi by hurting them, so they are their saving grace.

My dad, Uncle Ona, Uncle Khotso, pope, Uncle Zee… they are all over the news. Even the former king – the late Mohato Mohale – he is also all over the news. 

We are in Miami. We need to fix this. 

“How could Rofhiwa go to my parents and talk shit about me? Why would she do that?” Khanyi keeps asking me. 

“I don’t know, baby. I don’t know. But we will fix this”, I tell her. 

“HOW?! HOW WILL YOU FIX THIS?!” She yells at me. 

“I DON’T KNOW, MME-SEETE! I DON’T KNOW!” 

What exactly does she want me to say? 

She paces around. 

Then she says, “We need to fabricate this stuff that they’ve put out to the world.”

“What?!”

“Bane, we need an IT and systems genius who could turn documents into belonging to them, implicating them in the crime they are saying you are responsible for. They had the assistance of Remo’s father and ex. The motive for Remo is that Uncle Khotso cheated. The motive for Rofhiwa is that she cheated and Rea found out.” 

“Khanyi – 

“I’m not going to jail. You are not going to jail. Remo and Rofhiwa came for us! They were given an easy way out and they came for us. They can be grateful that there aren’t bullets with their names on it. They can go to prison. And not the fancy type.” She says. 

“Come Khanyi… I have my machines open”, Banathi’s mom says. 

My mom pushes me out of the way. 

They actually sit with Khanyi and they start typing documents, manipulating photographs… I’m worried that Khanyi is turning into this person. 

“Bane, she’s doing this for us.” My dad says to me as we watch the women work overtime to make Remo and Rofhiwa pay for this.

“Rofhiwa is her sister. What we are doing here… it can never be undone”, I say.

“Rofhiwa threw her under the bus. Khanyi has solid survival skills and she’s defending herself from what Rofhiwa is trying to do.” Uncle Zee says. 

“Rofhiwa won’t survive prison.” I say. 

“That’s not our problem anymore.” Rea says. 

The women take about eight hours to finish manipulating what they are manipulating. Then Uncle Ona and Uncle Khotso – the two chief leaders of our country – are the ones who have to deliver these news. My mom is prepping them on what to say. Banathi’s mom is behind some computer – I guess she will be doing the slide show as they speak. 

Nandi is phoning the army. She has to have them in place to arrest Rofhiwa, Remo, Remo’s father who is a judge and the ex as soon as they are done reading all of this. 

We have deacons on the ground as well who will break into every house that these women have entered and steal everything they have – even their very panties. These will go up in flames very very soon.

“What are we going to do about Rofhiwa’s other child?” I ask Khanyi. 

“Don’t tell me about that selfish brat. I could have lost my parents forever because her feelings are hurt. I’m sure she will make a plan”, Khanyi says to me. 

This is bad.

This is really bad. 

“Okay, are we ready to roll?” My mom says. 

The rest of us find seats. 

The two Mohale twins are in suits and they are about to address the world. Their mother, koko-Kea, is sitting between them. She’s the queen-mother. She too is about to put all of these people into prison. 

Banathi’s mom does something on her laptop and all viewing is interrupted. Everyone is now watching this delivery. 

As the interview takes place, Khanyi finds her way to me and lays her head on my chest. She puts her arms around my waist. My hands are still in my pocket. But they slowly come out and pull her into a hug. 

“I’m worried about you”, I whisper to her. 

“Do you think I’m a bad sister for doing this to Fifi? For choosing you over her? For choosing our family over her? For not wanting to raise our child alone?” 

What the hell did she just say? 

She looks up at me. 

I pull her to the kitchen of this house. 

I lift her up and seat her on the kitchen island. 

“Khanyi, you just said –

“I’m pregnant, Khabane. I haven’t seen a doctor so I’m not entirely sure. But my period is late. I went to buy a home pregnancy test and I took it this morning. It came back positive.”

I’m still staring at her. I’m in a lot of shock. 

Me? Khabane Seete? A father? 

“I know we hadn’t spoken about this yet and we hadn’t really planned that we would have kids so soon after getting married. I didn’t plan this neither. It’s just –

I kiss her because she’s beginning to sound like she thinks I blame her for this. I’m happy. Don’t get me wrong. I am. I’m just… SHOCKED. It is a lot to process.

“We will figure it out, okay? We always do. And even if I’m a fucked up father, this child will have you. You’ll be great for the both of us”, I tell her as our foreheads touch. I brush her lips with mine. I have her in my arms. 

“Are you sure? Because I’m so scared. I mean… it’s easy to look after people’s kids because you just return to sender. But this one is ours and we cannot return to sender. We are the sender.”

“Hey… look at me”, I say. 

She looks at me. 

I kiss her. 

“Mrs Seete, you are going to make me a father. I’m honoured that you chose me to be the father of your child. I’m going to do my best for you and for our baby. I love you.” 

She throws her arms around my neck and we hug. 

“And to answer your question… you are not a bad sister. I’d choose you over anyone and everyone on this planet.” I say. 

“Fifi will never forgive me”, she says. 

“True. But I’m sure she will understand. I mean, even she herself chose to do what’s best for her in all of this.” I say. 

She takes a deep breath. 

“Le shup?” When did my mom get in here now? 

Khanyi tries to jump, but I hold her tightly. I have an erection and my mom doesn’t need to see that. Plus, Khanyi and I are married. She doesn’t need to be scared of being affectionate. 

“We are good, mom. We are just chatting.” I say. 

“Are you sure?” My mom. 

“We good, mom.” Me. 

“Khanyi?”

Khanyi nods her head. 

“Well, we are done with the filming and we’ve received news that Rofhiwa and Remoletile have been arrested. We also received communication that Remoletile’s father and ex are arrested as well. They are being charged with fraud, murder and treason.” My mom says. 

Khanyi’s body tenses up. 

“I know this wasn’t easy for you, Khanyi, but you did great. We all owe you one.” My mom says. 

“Mah –

Khanyi says… my mom looks at her. 

She climbs down from the kitchen island. She walks up to my mom. 

“Rofhiwa… is she…?” She takes a deep breath. 

“Treason, in Tholoana Kingdom, is the death penalty, my baby.” My mom says. 

Khanyi catches her breath. 

“But… papa… he can’t lose her and he will know that we had something to do with it.” Khanyi. 

“It’s the law, baby girl.” 

Khanyi breathes.

“Papa will ask you to save her. He will ask Rea to do something. Mah, maybe she can be in an isolated cell for the rest of her life or something. But please, if you can help it… please don’t have her killed.” Khanyi.

“It’s not up to me, Nana. I’m sorry.” My mom. 

Khanyi holds onto her stomach. 

“Are you okay?” My mom. 

“Cramps –

Then Khanyi screams. 

I hold her before she faints and hits the floor.

“Baby!” Me. 

She’s screaming and everyone is now in the kitchen. 

“Keng?! And there’s so much blood!” My mom.

“Khabane, the baby!” She screams. 

“Baby?!” My mom. 

“She’s pregnant”, I tell my mom. 

My dad scoops her in his arms and runs out of the house. 

I run after him and my mom runs with us. 

–

She’s sleeping on the hospital bed. The doctor told us that she was six weeks pregnant. She miscarried the baby. I think it’s because of all this stress of everything that’s been going on. 

I only found out about this baby today. I don’t know why I’m so emotional about losing it… about the hospital calling it medical waste.

“Askies, papa.” My mom says as she hugs me. 

My dad is leaning against a wall, looking at us. 

I just find myself crying. 

“Why didn’t you guys tell us? We would have found a way to keep her away from all of this.” My dad asks me. 

“I only found out today. We hadn’t been to a doctor to confirm yet. She was just late for her period then she took a test. The test came back positive. We were going to the doctor the minute we got to the kingdom”, I explain. 

My dad nods his head. 

“I’m sorry, Seete”, my dad. 

“Khanyi can’t see me cry like this. I need to clean up”, I say. 

My mom just pulls me into a hug and honestly, she’s the reason that I fall apart. 

…

“Mom, your life is a movie!” Nosipho says to me. 

I’m kind of not proud of it. We are all in this place because of me and I’m not proud of it. 

“It’s not that great”, I say. 

“Moholo Khotso, mama? A whole royal leader?! Ngiyakuvuma shame! Ngiyakuvuma!” Nosipho says. 

“Nosipho! Angiyena umngane wakho! Ngathi sowungijwayela kabi phela manje“, I put my foot down. 

“Is he going to be our dad, mama?” Phendu asks me. 

I breathe. 

Hlangi is asleep. 

“We are in a relationship, my boy”, I say. 

“Like how Thuli was in a relationship with Yaya when you got into a relationship with him?” I’m actually going to punch this child. 

“But mom, you said you regretted hurting Auntie Thuli. Why are you hurting someone else? Is Moholo Khotso married?” Phendu. 

I’m quiet now. 

Eish.

“So, what’s the plan, exactly?” Nosipho is just…

I stare at them. 

“Well?” Phendulile asks me. 

“He wants me to be his second wife”, I say. 

“Heh!” Nosipho says. 

Phendu just looks extremely disappointed in me. 

There is a slight knock at the door. 

Khotso is there. This is really not the time. 

“Hi guys”, he says. 

“Hey”, me. 

Nosi just thinks this whole thing is funny. 

“So, are we calling you dad now?” Nosipho. 

“Nosipho!” Me. 

“I guess your mom told you guys that I asked her to marry me.” Khotso says. 

Phendu is still staring at me. 

“Yep, she did tell us. We are still wrapping our heads around the idea”, Nosipho and her big mouth. 

“Would it be so wrong if I looked after you guys?” Khotso. 

Phendu is still staring at me. 

“Phendulile, talk to me, baby. What’s going on?” I say. 

“You promised us that you’d never hurt people like that ever again.” Phendulile says. 

“But Phendu –

“You lied, mama. You lied. It means that you are not sorry for what you did to Auntie Thuli. That’s why Auntie Thuli won’t talk to me anymore.” Phendulile is now shouting at me. 

“Phendulile-

“YOU ARE A LIAR!” He shouts. 

I actually let a tear slip out of my eye. 

“You can do whatever you want to do. Marry him if you want. When I grow up, I’m going to find Auntie Thuli and I’m going to live with her forever!” He says to me then leaves the bedroom. 

“I’ll go talk to him”, Nosipho says to me then leaves the bedroom too, following Phendulile. 

Khotso looks at me.

I’m actually crying. 

He comes to sit next to me. 

He holds my hand. 

“They’ll come around, baby”, he says to me. 

“Phendulile hates me. My son hates me. He thinks I’m a horrible woman. And maybe I am.” I say. 

“He will come around, baby. Trust me. They are kids. They come around eventually.” He says. 

“What did Rena and Moloko say?” I ask him. 

“Nothing. But Rea and Nandi said they are taking them until you and I are settled. They are just worried about the slight instability with me changing partners and Remo getting arrested, you know.” 

I just shake my head. This really feels wrong. 

…

I’m in the kitchen trying to be useful and prepare something to eat. Everyone has gone to the hospital to see Khanyi. Khotso said Khanyi is being discharged today so I’m not sure why they’ve all gone to the hospital just to fetch her. Khabane has been sleeping at the hospital since she got admitted. Shame, he really loves her. All the women here don’t really talk to me… like, at all. 

“I thought everyone had gone to the hospital”, I hear a voice say. 

I look behind me. It’s Khotso’s mother. 

She’s aging so beautifully. She’s old, but really strong and feisty. 

“I stayed behind. I thought I’d maybe prepare food for when everyone comes back from the hospital”, I say. 

“It’s quite difficult, huh? Being around people who look at you like you are the sidepiece that put us all in danger. And now the wife of the man you are sleeping with is in jail because she didn’t like the idea of you and her husband.” She says. 

“It’s a bit difficult. But I can deal with that. I’m not losing sleep over being hated by other women. It’s my kids that are making me lose sleep.” I say. 

“They don’t like my son?” She says.

“It’s not your son that they have an issue with. It’s me. My son hasn’t forgiven me for hurting his Auntie Thuli by being with Uyanda behind her back. Now he thinks because I’m hurting Remo by being with Khotso that I don’t regret being with Uyanda – despite Thuli’s presence in his life.” 

“Well, do you feel bad for being the Principal Specialist Side Chick?” 

I look at her. 

Does she have to put it that way? 

“No offense my darling, but I’m an old woman. My days are too numbered for me to be mincing my words.” She says. 

I’m still offended. 

“You are just lucky that your vagina is so good, it makes men want to legitimize masepa! I mean, how do you always end up married to someone else’s husband?” 

Okay, that’s enough! 

“Mah, these men come onto me. Not the other way around.” 

“You know, the difference between a human being and a dog is that a human being can say no. She doesn’t just stick her bum out for a penis to enter it anytime any place.” 

Yoh!

I should’ve just stayed in my room.

“I take it you don’t approve of my relationship with Khotso”, I say. 

“I don’t care who my sons sleep with. I no longer care about a man’s penis. Both my husbands passed away years ago, so I do have the luxury of not being bothered about the location of a man’s penis. What I will tell you though is that you need to own what you are. Stop trying to be sweet and humble when you know you’d rather be boasting with your chest. Your kids can judge you and speak to you anyhow because you pretend you didn’t mean to do this. But if you do something repetitively, you mean to do it. Maybe you enjoy the thrill and you get a kick out of someone’s husband asking you to marry him. I don’t know what it is that tickles your vagina about a married man, but own it. The women around here – I practically raised them myself. They are not perfect. They have their flaws. But I’ll tell you why you rub them up the wrong way… you think you are better than them and that Khotso just happened to you. You conveniently forget the role that you play in the mess you’ve created. And that’s what they hate about you. So, you either respect us enough to at least say you play a significant part in it, or you don’t even bother cooking because as long as important people like us don’t like you, we are not touching your food!” 

I take a deep breath. 

“I love your son, mama”, I tell her. 

“Of course you do. He’s a leader. He’s good looking. He has a lot of money. He’s just your type… and an upgrade from Uyanda.” She says. 

This woman hates me. 

“It’s not just that –

“Like I said, I’m an old woman. Don’t even waste your time lying to me. Quite frankly, I don’t care how you feel about my son. But what I will tell you is that nobody hurts my babies and gets away with it. Love him, don’t live him, I don’t care. But when he wants sex, you’ll fuckhim… even when it’s that time of the month. So, I suggest you take the injection. It stops the period all together. When he wants chicken and you’ve cooked lamb, you put that lamb in the fridge and you cook chicken. If my baby or my grand babies come back complaining about you, you are done. I might be kind and just push you out. Or I’ll kill you, depending on how upset my babies are. Understood?” 

What gangster shit is this?! 

“Now, go prepare your vagina for my son. Your kids can miss their mom tonight. My child comes first. I’ll get dinner going. No one is touching the food if they even sniff that you have anything to do with it.”

She pushes me out the way, hums to herself and gets busy in the kitchen. 

My brother was right. I need to tell someone about this shit. This family will bury me and no one will know. 

…

Zari and I did not go to the hospital. It’s honestly unnecessary. Khanyi is coming back and because she’s everyone’s favourite person, we will all be fussing over her until we get back to the kingdom. 

Zari and I just went out to explore Miami. This is a sexy place and we’ve had some indecent sex in memorable places. 

We walk into this massive house that we are all living in (I’m not sure why we didn’t all live in separate houses like we always do) and we stumble upon my grandmother cooking in the kitchen. 

“Hey koko”, me. 

“Hello my babies. Le tswa kai?” She asks us. 

“Around Miami. We were just exploring its beauty.” Zari says. 

“That’s nice.” My granny sarcastically says. 

Yeah, we are probably getting judged for not being with precious Khanyi right now. Man, I miss Rofhiwa. She made it easy for the rest of us to hide how annoyed we generally are with the whole ‘fussing over Khanyi’ shit. She hated her sister the most and it was honestly the funniest thing to watch.

“Are you alone?” I ask her. 

“Nope. Your father’s concubine is here”, she says. 

Zari’s eyes almost pop. 

Lol! You get used to my granny’s tongue after some time. She’s said worse things. 

We hear noise. 

The door opens. 

Great, Khanyi is home. 

Khabane is the one holding her and walking her in. His arm is around her waist. Ruri has her medication. Uncle Maboko and Aunt Tebza have Khanyi’s and Khabane’s bags. 

“My Khanyisa. Hello, my baby”, my granny says as she takes Khanyi from Khabane and leads her to a seat. 

This is the only time you see my granny go soft… only around Khanyisa. 

“How are you feeling, my baby?” Koko asks her. 

“I’m fine, koko. I’m getting through it. My body is adjusting.” Khanyi says. 

“And how’s the heart and spirit taking it?” Koko. 

“Well… I’m not sure. We didn’t know for long, so we shouldn’t really be so emotional. I don’t know why this is so hard. The foetus hadn’t developed yet and it was only six weeks… we had known for less than a week –

“Khanyi, it was your creation with your husband. It was half of you and half of him growing inside of you.” Koko says. 

Now Khanyi is getting emotional. 

Shouldn’t she be sleeping or something? 

“You know, we don’t meet all our babies. We don’t have the opportunity to hold all of our babies. Some babies are born not even breathing. It’s some of the things that only us women can handle with God’s greatest strength. Some of our babies are born sleeping. Some babies we carry but never meet. Some babies we hold, but never get to take home. And some babies we take home, but they don’t stay long. It’s difficult, I know. But these babies… they are our angels paving a way for the next baby to be an even greater miracle. We call babies that are born after miscarriages or still born or a baby that never made it home or a baby that went home but not for long… babies born after that, we call them rainbow babies. They are God’s promise to us that a disaster will not happen again. Remember God sent Noah the rainbow to promise him that He would never send a flood like that again? So babies… Khanyi le wena Khabane, your rainbow is coming. And I will personally name that rainbow because it may not be your first child, but it will be your first born… and its entire life will be a life of a rainbow. Modimo must keep me on this earth to celebrate your rainbow with you”, my granny really loves Khanyi shame. Yoh! 

Everyone here is in tears. 

Khanyi just hugs her. 

“Now, you and Khabane must go get some rest. I’m bringing you both something to eat. Then you must take your medication and sleep. We love you guys.” My granny. 

“We love you too, koko.” Khabane. 

Zari and I are lying on our bed together right now. My dads, pope, Uncle Zee and Uncle Maboko are in a meeting. I hope it’s a meeting that will allow us to just go back to the kingdom. Remo and Rofhiwa are arrested. Why are we still here? 

“Baby”, I begin. 

“Yes my love”, Zari. 

“What do you think about us having a baby”, I ask her. 

She starts coughing. 

She thinks I don’t know that she terminated her pregnancy the day after our wedding. I understand why she did it, that’s why I never really made it a big deal. I never thought I’d want children neither. But now that we are trying this simple life thing, kids might not be such a bad thing. 

“Why? I thought you and I were perfect just being you and I.” She says. 

“Yeah. But now that we are doing the whole normal life and no church thing, would a mini you or a mini me really be a bad thing?” I say. 

“Mohato, where is this coming from?” She asks me. 

“Kids are a handful, I know. And I know that I really struggled with my brother’s twins. So maybe that has freaked you out a bit. I know I won’t be your average father. I’m struggling with a mental health that I can do nothing about. But I’d like to try. I’ll get help if I need to. We will be together in this.” I try to convince her. 

She looks at me now, sitting up.

I look at her – I’m still lying on my back. 

“You really want a baby?” She asks me. 

“I do.” I say. 

“What if it’s a disaster of a person? An absolute failure who just disappoints with everything that they do?” She asks me.

“I would say that you and I have both been around my family long enough to know that with every disappointment they’ve chosen to reject, there’s something about it that’s just diamond and perfect. We will be great. We of all people will know how to find the special thing about our child and make it perfect.” I say. 

“What about adoption?” She asks me. 

“Why adopt if we can make our own?” Me. 

“Well… your condition is hereditary, baby. Do you think you’ll be able to help our child through it if he or she has your condition and it’s probably worse than yours?” 

I didn’t think about that. 

And it’s not that I wouldn’t be able to help my child. I just don’t wish this kind of pain and humiliation upon any person. 

“Think about it, love. We can have a baby. And we can be happy with any baby. But it can be a baby that won’t suffer… that we won’t have to worry about half the time. You know?” She says.

“I get you, baby. But do you think we will be able to love that child? And what if we don’t get a child? We are the perfect social worker’s case study of who not to give a baby to.” I say. 

She laughs and says, “We have money. There is more than one way to get a baby for people like us.” 

I smile at her.

“Okay, let’s sleep on it. And if we still feel the same way when we get to the kingdom, we will look into getting our baby.” She says. 

I smile at her.

She climbs on top of me. 

She starts kissing me. 

I could never marry another woman in life. Zari compliments me in ways no other woman can possibly compliment me. I don’t even dream of cheating on her. If there’s one thing that was done right in my life, it’s Zari. And I’m thankful to whatever God that brought this woman into my life.