Six Months Later

Khotso

Where does one begin to explain the past six months? If this is not madness, I don’t know what is. I hope you have your cigars, whiskey, wine… whatever you generally need to digest shock… and are sitting down. Before I can talk to you about the fact that I’m all dressed up in my seSotho wear for my twin’s wedding that is happening today, I need to take you through what has happened in the past six months. Like I said, you’ll need your shock-coping mechanism and a seat that you are preferably sitting on already. 

As expected, Nathi died. Phuthi and I went to the funeral to support Wandi. She was sad, but she wasn’t falling apart. It happened and she dealt with it. I was bored throughout the entire funeral. It was… ja… a funeral. I mean, I thought this guy was from a royal family. I was expecting a royal funeral. But hey, he’s resting in peace. Thandeka was there, screaming for him the loudest while his young wife just sat on a mattress and was draped in black. I understand that she was on the verge of being divorced to him. But hey, she’ll benefit from the death. She wasn’t officially divorced at his time of death. That Khosini boy was weirdly cold about the whole thing. At least Khanya cried a bit about it. But Khosini… that one is going to bomb us one day. Lol! It’s funny, but I’m serious. He just looks like those kids you read about from the US that just walked into school grounds and bombed the school. Lol! 

Sonia – and a few fall guys for the church who are obviously handsomely compensated – were found guilty of PLENTY crimes. PLENTY. But our fall guys were “cooperating with the state”, painting Sonia as the one behind all of this. They were merely acting under instruction. She’s the only one that was taken to a prison in the US… our men stayed here. On her way to the US, pope and I did what we had to do. We had her killed before she even made it onto the plane. After Ona decided to pay people to help her behind our backs, we just knew that when it comes to keeping his house in order, we can’t trust him. He struggles to manage his wife and his kids. Every time there’s a fuck up in the church and we are required to run for our lives, Mohato or one of Ona’s wives are involved. We don’t know what Sonia would have said to people when she got to the US… what she said to perhaps even be taken there so she could cooperate under the disguise of an inmate. We couldn’t take the chance. So yes, she’s dead and gone… and so is pope. That was quite the blow for us. He gave into his illness and died in his sleep. Fifi was sad, but she was also relieved. At his funeral, she wouldn’t stop talking about how much pain he was in. She knows that he’s at peace. She kept saying that he really fought, but she even told him that it’s okay… he can let go. His kids were very sad as well, but they are getting through it. Luhle believes that Fifi killed her father. She had Fifi arrested twice. She turned up for real when pope’s will was read and she found out that she’s the only child left out of the will. She killed herself with pope’s gun after that, and her suicide letter read, “Fuck you, baba.” To be honest, no one cried. Her death is legit good riddance to bad rubbish. And the next pope that is officially appointed is…
Wait for it…
Me. 
Yes! I’m Khotso Mohale, the pope of the church.
Yeah, it’s been a crazy time. A really crazy time. 

Now… to today’s event… Ona’s wedding…
Part of the lobola deal for marrying Sonia was that if anything happened to her, her sister would be next in line to marry Ona and fulfil Sonia’s duties. To be honest, that was a joke amongst us – Legoa, Maboko and I – because Legoa felt that the money that was requested for Sonia’s lobola was way too much… so Legoa proposed the whole lobola-one-and-get-one-free. Lol! So when Sonia was killed, Legoa reminded Ona that Sonia’s family still owed him another bride as negotiated. 
And because Ona has always had a weird crush on Phindile, he actually went to Sonia’s family and demanded his wife. Fortunately, she was in the process of divorcing the white man. The white man was trying very hard to be difficult, so we had a few men motivate him to not make this bigger than what it was. She was divorced with 24 hours. She kept all her assets and walked away with half of his. Ona also agreed to take on her children as well as Sonia’s kids that she had now taken over as well. In return, she had to abort Keith’s child. She didn’t even fight us. She went to hospital and aborted the child. 
The wedding preparations started then. Thabi is actually not mad about this wedding. I’m most surprised about that. So ja, the wedding is today. Last week, we were in eShowe doing the Zulu stuff that I personally don’t understand and don’t care to understand. Today, it’s our vibe… the seSotho way. 

Phuthi and Wandi come into the main dining room ululating. They are both dressed up in dresses designed with seshweshwe material. Their dresses are made of beads and material. They look nice. And they are in heels because they are so fucken short. Lol! Melo is also dressed in seSotho. She’s in my arms at the moment, but her nanny is here. I honestly could hold her the whole day, I don’t mind. The nanny is getting paid for nothing today.
“Ladies, you look good.” Ona says to them. 
They start singing together. Honestly, they are having their own party in here. 
Thabi walks in. She also looks very nice. But she’s not as excited as Phuthi and Wandi. 
I hold my wife. Senzi holds his. 
“You good, my love?” Ona asks Thabi.
“Ke shup. Let’s hope this wife doesn’t die. Nkare basadi ba bahao babulawa ke le nyalo. I always seem to be the one who’s forever burying these things you keep dragging in here.” Thabi.
“Hai bo, Thabi. Wavele wabiza ibhadi ligude nakuwe!” Phuthi.
“Mara ke nnete, Phuthi. Or ke maka? There’s always a routine here. She will get here. We will have teething problems trying to adjust to how we split Ona between the two of us. I’ll become the devil that Ona no longer wants, dedicating all his time with his latest fertile toy. Then Ona realises that I’m the only one who’s actually down for him; who knows who and what he is and accepts him as he is. He will try to appreciate me, the wife starts feeling neglected, makes stupid mistakes and we end up burying her.” 
We all look at her.
She has a point, I must say.
“Ona, has it ever occurred to you that this girl is the sister to the wife we’ve just buried? Have you done your research? What if ngwanyana oe– your new vrou – is coming here to avenge her sister’s death? O tlo re kenya ko masepeng hape wena, Ona?” Thabi.
Okay, I’ll admit… I didn’t think that far. But she is actually on top of this.
Ona is just quiet. He’s just standing there, pondering on this.
“But anyway, let me not get in the way of your stupidity. Ha re ketekeng, re jeng di kuku, ho be monati! Alililili!” Thabi says then leaves us standing here. 

–

It’s actually a festive mood. Phindile looks good with her family. Phuthi and Thabi are the ones who dress Phindi up and she came out looking good, like them. 
Now it’s just celebrations all around us. The gents and I are sitting together, featuring Melo on my lap. I’m not sure where the women are.
“Baba, are you still okay? I can take her from you and give you a break”, Wandi says. She even has a bottle with her. Melo’s feeding bottle. 
“No, we are good. She’s even eating pap with me. Relax. You can give me her bottle though. I’ll feed her and put her to sleep after this.” I say.
“Baba, you are spoiling her. How will we manage her once we get back home?”
I laugh. 
I take the bottle from her.
“Here’s her burping cloth ukuthi angakutshokozeli”, she says.
“Wandi, these are white people things, mahn. Just give me the bottle. She can tshokoza all she wants on me. I don’t mind.” 
The gents laugh. Even Wandi laughs.
“Ay, okay then mkhulu. Ngiyabonga yezwa khehla… ngiyakuthanda.” She says.
I don’t know why I feel soooo…
I just hug her.
The gents smile at me.
Melo slaps her mother.
“Hai!” Everyone says.
Then we laugh.
“I love you too, baby girl.” I say, hugging her tighter. 
Wandi finally leaves us. 

“I booked a meeting in Miami, gents.” I say. 
“Just us or the ladies too?” 
“Just us is fine. It’s business. We need to fix shit. After Sonia, trust has kind of decreased in our leadership. We need to go and revive our reputation. Apparently, we tell our wives too much. That makes us liabilities. Apparently, shit wasn’t this messed up under Morena. So, they are nervous. They actually believe that the pope title needs to move to another country.” I tell them. 
They are all in shock. We will lose a lot if the pope title moves to another country.
“We need to go and make things right.” I say.
“Do you have a plan of what we will do when we get there?” Maboko asks me.
“Phuthi has given me a few ideas. I suppose I can bounce them off you gents on our trip there and come up with an ultimate plan.” I say.
They nod their heads.
“The boys… it’s time we started outlining the ones with strong skills and potential to take over from us. We are getting old, and we need to show them the ropes so the senior titles don’t die with us. The ones we’ve recognised… we will take them with us to Miami.” I say.
“I agree. I think we’ve seen enough at this point to be able to put forward names.” Maboko.
“Pope, who have you identified?” Legoa.
“Honestly?” Me.
“No other way.” Maboko.
“Ntuthuko – definitely. Khabane – definitely. And Banathi. Those are my boys.” I say.
The gents agree with me. 
“And Reahile? Mohato, I understand. But Reahile has also stepped up.” Ona.
“I haven’t seen the heart. He does what he has to do. He’s a soldier. A good one. But he’s not a leader. He doesn’t have it in him to make ruthless decisions when the need arises. He takes orders, but he struggles with making calls.” I say.
“But we can teach him.” Ona.
“Ntuthuko, Banathi and Khabane are ahead of him with the same time and opportunities given to them as given to Reahile.” I say.
“You think I don’t see it? You all blame me for this shit! For this position that we are in. I see it in how you all look at me! You all blame me… you just won’t say it. Now you want to punish my kids for that.” Ona says.
“You need to calm down, Ona. You know how serious the church is. And we don’t make emotional decisions here. We look at the facts and we make decisions. That’s how the church has been standing all this time. We are not going to kill that just to prove ourselves to you. Keng ka wena, monna?” I say. 
“This is bullshit! A Mohale man started this… grew it… for the throne and for the kingdom. There has never been the church without a Mohale. Now you want the future of the church to not have a Mohale?” What’s wrong with Ona? 
“Did I say it would be without a Mohale? I said Reahile is a soldier. He will always be in the church… him and Mohale. But not even you can attest to anything that your boys have done to be trained for leadership positions in the church!”
He’s just breathing heavily now. 
“Ey wena, Onaleuna! O so hlanya?” Thabi.
Ona looks at Thabi.
“You’ve just married the sister of your dead wife, who could have come into this family to finish what her sister started in the spirit of avenging her sister’s death. You are one person who lets your erection cloud your judgement and compromise all of us, especially this church! If there’s anyone who is to blame for how unprepared your boys are, it’s you. They look at you as their role model and let’s be honest, you haven’t exactly been a shining star. Reahile, Mohale and Mohato are not ready. No one knows anything about Tholoana. I agree with abuti… Ntuthuko, Khabane and Banathi… those are who should go. Rather you stay behind then and train your boys”, Thabi. 
Why is Ona being like this? Maybe he’s feeling guilty about something. 

…

Three weeks later…

Phindile

Here I am… ngingele udadewethu emshadweni. I stay here at the royal house with umyeni wami nenkosikazi yakhe yokuqala. My kids are here with me and I’m so grateful shame, it’s not even funny. I honestly just stay in my lane. I don’t speak unless I’m spoken to… especially with Thabi. Ona has been in a foul mood since our wedding, so we have not consummated our wedding yet. And it’s actually fine. I’m in no hurry to sleep with him.

I decide to go back to the palace after dropping my kids off at school. I just want to take my time and go through my work today. I’m so behind. 
I walk into the main house. My bedroom is in the main house. Thabi sleeps with Ona in his outside space. 

“Oh good, o teng.” Thabi says as she sees me.
“Hi. Yeah, I just walked in.” Me.
“Oh okay. O tswa kai?” She asks me.
“I was dropping my kids off at school.” 
“You do know that we have drivers, right?” 
“I know. It’s just… this is my one way of catching up with them. Life happens sometimes and it’s hard to catch up.” 
“I see.”
There’s an awkward silence.
“I need you to look at some documents for me.” She says.
She’s actually trusting me with something? 
“Okay… what do these documents concern?” 
“A deal that we are trying to enter into to open another public hospital. We’ve found some international funders, but I want to make sure that we are not going to owe them our kidneys for this. I’d normally give it to Tamia to look at because of her legal background, but with your experience in business and government affairs, I’d imagine that you can smell the bullshit a lot stronger.” 
We giggle. 
“How do you do it?” I ask her.
“Do what?”
“Direct a whole health government department, own schools and run them quite hands-on, and still be queen with all its duties. You are super woman, sisi.” 
She actually gives me a genuine smile.
“Kea leboha for saying that. I don’t get recognised enough. I guess I expect a lot from myself. And being married to Ona can be a bit tiring sometimes. The throne is his, but I work harder to make him look competent and deserving. I do more at serving at the pleasure of this throne than what he does. It hurts me when he doesn’t see it. So I decided to just acknowledge myself and not expect him to acknowledge me… else, my heart will stop beating.”
I nod my head. Then I say, “Well, you are doing amazing. And if there’s anything that I can do to help, please let me know. I’d love to be more of your helper than your enemy.” 
“I like you. I actually like you more than I liked your sister. I hope that never changes.” She says.
I just look at her. What else am I supposed to say? Sonia was my sister.
“Anyway, please look at those documents for me. And Uhm… one more favour tu.” her.
“Okay?” 
“I need a break from Ona tonight. I have some work to do and I have a feeling I’m going to be burning the midnight oil. Please take care of his erection tonight? He’s in a mood, so when he’s like this, he’s a machine so you could be up all night.” 
She sees how uncomfortable I am and with this. Then she says, “Phindi, he’s your husband now. This thing of being married on paper only is not going to work. You are not betraying your sister by performing your wifely duties to him. He paid for that pussy, girl. He must enjoy it. I can’t do all the work. And he’s a man with quite the appetite. So please. Let’s get over this ‘my sister’s husband’ rubbish and get to being Ona’s wife… the king’s wife. So can I count on you to sebetsa msadi tonight?” 
I just nod my head.
“Thanks. And please… don’t forget to give those documents a second look for me.” She says. 
“Sure”, me. 
Then she’s gone. 
There goes my plan to focus on my company’s work today. 

–

I’ve spent the entire day working on this thing that Thabi asked me to look at. I’m actually brought back to reality when I see my kids walk into the living room that I’ve been working in.
“Hey birthgiver”, Charlotte and this birthgiver title.
“Hai bo! Kanti what time is it? I wanted to fetch you guys.” Me.
“Hey mommy”, my little Mikey says. 
Kayla has already thrown herself on a chair after giving me a brief hug. Ati and Mmuso have already said hi to me as well. They know their way around this royal house better than all of us – even know the staff better. I think the two of them have made the other three feel much more comfortable. 
“The driver fetched us from school”, Charlotte says.
“Oh? And how was that?” I ask them.
“Honestly, I could get used to this life!” Charlotte. This one neh…
“I got to hangout with Rena today. We are on the same side of the school as we are both in high school. She’s just in matric and I’m only in grade nine.” Kayla.
“Okay. And? How is she?” Me.
“She’s really cool. She says she’s my big sister. I like her. A lot. Plus the driver fetches all of us. Then the driver drops her and Moloko off before dropping us off here.” Kayla.
“Can we take the driver to go to school and come back, mommy?” Mikey.
“You don’t want me to do your school runs anymore?” I ask them.
They all look at each other. 
“Hawu guys!”
They all laugh.
“Mmuso… Ati… how was your day?” I ask them. They’ve just been smiling and laughing. I don’t want them to feel like spectators in our family. They are my babies too. They are part of our family.
“It was fine. I just never like drama period because I don’t like performing. And today was a double-period. We had to perform monologues and my teacher said that I’m not even trying. I crammed my monologue, didn’t I?” Mmuso.
“Why don’t you like drama, nana?” I ask him.
“I don’t like wearing those things that they make us wear. I just don’t like having to be anything but myself.” Mmuso.
These other four are laughing hey. But I’m glad that Mmuso is not hurt by the laughing. He’s just annoyed by drama itself.
“Is it something I can help with? Maybe make you feel more comfortable with the class? You are only in grade seven. You have high school years to still do this.” I say.
He takes a deep sigh then says, “okay.”
I chat a bit with the kids before I tell them to go change out of their uniform and do their homework. I finish up this work I’m busy with for Thabi, then I scan all my notes and send it to her via email. 

We have dinner without Ona today. He must be having a busy day. After this, I see to it that the kids bath and get into bed. Thabi tells me that she will be locking the outside apartment, so I better get to work tonight. Ja neh….

I prepare myself by taking a shower with my Jo Malone products – I need to smell good! When I’m done, I use my Jo Malone body crème. 
I wear white lingerie, topping it with a white lacy lingerie gown. Thankfully, I have braids on. So I let them down then wear slippers that have a bit of a heel.
I hear a car pull up in the drive way. 
I make my way downstairs and pretend to be getting myself some water from the fridge.
He walks in and finds me enjoying a bottle of water. He stops and stares at me, as if unsure of what to say or what to do. My ass and legs tend to do that to a man. 
“Sawubona”, I help him find his tongue. 
“Hey. You look…”
I smile at him.
It kind of makes him weak.
“Udlile?” 
“Yeah, I had dinner at Phuthi’s house.” He says.
“Oh? Something wrong with dining with your own wives?” 
He gives me a WTF look.
“Hai kabi. It’s just… we’d also like to enjoy meals with you – especially the kids.”
“I had a meeting with Khotso. I needed to see him before he leaves for Miami.” He says.
“Okay.” I say.
He walks closer to me.
He starts rubbing my ass.
“Where’s Thabi?”
“She said she’s working through the night tonight. So I guess I can have you all to myself and you can at least give me one night of a honeymoon.” 
“Why must you put it like that? It’s been quite hectic.” He says… but seductively. 
“I know. Ukuthi nje, it’s been three weeks and you’ve been leaving me to look after myself sexually. That’s not fair. Imagine me dressing up like this every night for myself.” 
“You should’ve invited me to your room earlier. Im sorry, msadi waka.” 
Now he has a very strong erection. I feel it poking me. 
I start unbuttoning his shirt, after I’ve dropped his suit jacket to the floor. 
His eyes are getting smaller.
He drops his briefcase and his finger finds its way inside my vagina. A man who believes in foreplay? I’m impressed! 
I’m now unbuckling his belt and pulling his pants down.
We look at each other. 
He picks me up and puts me on the kitchen counter. Right there, he inserts his penis inside of me and we consummate our marriage… yes, in the kitchen. Imagine. But it doesn’t end there…
We find our way, clothes dropping everywhere of course, to the dining area. I lie him down on the dining table and I ride him. He’s so excited and enjoying it. I even feel his body tense up as if he wants to ejaculate, so I ride him deeper. He actually moans and screams at the same time. 
You’d think we are done.
We now head to the bedroom, and he hits it from the back…. Standing, me on all fours and me lying on my stomach. This time, when he ejaculates again – screaming like a boy doing this for the first time – he collapses next to me. 

We are both trying to catch our breaths now.
“I need to go and get our clothes before the helpers come in and –
“Sssshhhhh… just relax. It’s their job to do the pick up of whatever is located where it shouldn’t be located.” 
I look at him.
“Just lie down here with me”, he says, kissing my forehead. 
I just lie down here with him as instructed.
After a moment of heavy breathing…
“Is everything okay, morena?” I ask him.
“No, baby… everything is not okay.” 
“Do you want to talk about it?” 
“Everyone thinks I made a mistake by marrying you and they are now treating me like I’m compromised.”
Wow! 
“Is that why you haven’t spent time with me since we got married?” 
Silence.
“They think you’ll betray us the way that Sonia did. And they think you’ve agreed to this so you could get closer to us then finish what Sonia started to avenge her death.” 
“And what do you believe, morena?” I ask him.
“I don’t know, baby. I really don’t know.” 
I’m silent.
He’s silent.
“I didn’t come here to avenge Sonia’s death. I didn’t come here to betray you. Sonia told me enough about each and everyone of you for me to know that I’d be stupid to do any of the sort… her death confirms that. I don’t know what it’s going to take for people to trust me, but I’m prepared to do the work that will have me gain everyone’s trust.” I say.
“Really?” Him.
“Yes, really.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about the information and evidence that Sonia left with you.” He says.
I roll out of bed. 
I need these people to trust me, okay! I don’t want to wake up one day only to find that it’s my final day on this earth.
I pull out the travelling bag with everything that Sonia left with me. There’s a laptop in here, some sticks, documents and money. The money is in different envelopes and each envelope with money has documents that provide a thorough explanation of where it came from and where it was going. 
Ona looks through all of this.
We are still butt naked.
He’s in shock.
“Why did Sonia do this? Why?” 
I shrug my shoulders.
“You’ll need to take this to everyone yourself. This is the first step to letting them know that they can trust you.” 
I nod my head. 
“Get dressed, I’m calling a meeting.” He says.
“It’s 2am.” I point out. 
“Get dressed. I’ll get Thabi. We need to go.” He says.