“Uzobuya nini, baby?” I ask him for the tenth time. We are in our main bedroom. I’m packing for him, the kids are jumping around the room and playing (Sihle on our bed also having the time of her life) and he’s sitting on the couch in here eating the food I cooked for him. I made him ribs, rice, tomato gravy and spinach… the traditional one where it’s just spinach and onion, no extras. 
“Yini sthandwa sami? You’ll miss me kakhulu?” He says, smiling at me. 
“I just don’t understand ukuthi why uhamba and going overseas kodwa you have no return date. I’m your wife. Who’s going to service me while you are away?” 
He laughs aloud. 
“Baby, come on”, he says, walking up to me with his plate of food. 
I side-eye him.
“Don’t be like that, hawu Mrs Maphumulo. You know very well that mina nawe, we are closer than can be imagined. I’m just going away on business. When I come back, yimi nawe… servicing each other.” 
“You are going to Miami of all places! There are gorgeous women all over that place. No Maphumulo! No! I’m not okay with this.” 
He laughs.
What’s so funny?!
I give him a look.
“Baby, I’m going there for business… nothing else. And yaz baby, angisavukelwa around other women. Eyakho kuphela le nto.” 
“Kusho ukuthi bowuvukelwa before?!” I’m so serious.
“Hai bo, baby. Angisho baby before I met you I was active. I mean… look at all of these kids that I have. I was a machine. But from the day that I met you, ngisebenza wena kuphela.” 
“Awuhlekisi, Ntuthuko! I’m already not okay with this trip. Don’t give me reason to follow you then stalk your every move!”
“Ha!” 
What’s shocking him?! 
“Nkosana. Thulisa. Thathani uBonga noSihle niyodlala downstairs.” Ntuthuko says.
“Why? We are fine here”, Nkosana.
“Ngidinga ukukhuluma nomah wenu. Please.” Ntuthuko. 
“Fine”, Nkosana says, sulking. Thulisa takes Sihle then the four of them leave, Nkosana closing the door after the last kid has left. 
I look at Ntuthuko. 
“Baby… Woza la.” He says, pulling me to sit on his lap as he sits on the bed. 
I’m still sulking.
“Baby, do you trust me?” He asks me.
“I do. Kodwa baby, it’s Miami.”
“Manje?”
“The huns there are so fly!”
“Baby… have you seen your ass?” He says as he spanks my ass.
“Have you seen how gorgeous my wife is?” He keeps saying. 
“Baby… it’s just… I don’t want to lose you, Ntuthuko.” 
“Sthandwa Sami, what makes you think you’d lose me?” 
“It’s just… the past few months have been difficult. With my dad’s child recovering, my mom initiating the divorce with my dad… mina nawe we’ve been fighting like cat and dog lately. Ngapha I blamed you for what my parents are going through and I know that it wasn’t fair.” 
“Love, angisho sesidlulile lapho?”
“My point is, baby, we are just getting back to a good place after months of being at odds. Lo mntwana sekahambile. My mom is finding her feet – thanks to you buying her that house and car – I just don’t think that this is the right time for us to be apart. We haven’t even had sex in a while and that’s not like us, baby. Manje you are going to the country of gorgeous women. What’s going to stop you from cheating?” 
“Tamia, do you understand that I love you, Mrs Maphumulo?” 
I look at him.
“I don’t just love your sexy ass or your mind-blowing sex… I love you! There’s no woman on this planet who is for me. Nawe you know that I’ve done my tours around women in life, kodwa wena baby wami… you know that I’m at home with you. And I’m not the kind of man who fucks up my good home.” 
“I wish I could come with you.”
“I know, love. Nami I wish you could come with me. Kodwa sthandwa sami… Uncle Maboko spoke to Khabane, Banathi and I. The pope himself identified me, Khabane and Banathi as the next leaders of the church. They are taking us with them on their trip to Miami to meet with big guns. Baby, they are showing us ropes and preparing us to take over. We have to take this seriously. Baby, one of us could be the next pope. And the two that don’t become pope, could be the next senior bishops. This is huge.” 
“I know, baby. I know. Yazini… Ngiyaxolisa for being selfish, baby. I know this means a lot to you. There’s just a selfish part of me that wants you all to myself.” 
He kisses me.
He starts undressing me. 
I undress him.
And obviously, we say goodbye to each other in true marriage style. 

…

I’ve just parked the car by the private plane strip. I’m dropping Ntuthuko off. I’m driving his X6. I actually like this car. 
“Ngiyakuthanda baby wami, yezwa?” He says as he brushes the bottom of my face.
“I love you too, muntu wami”, I say.
We kiss.
We get out of the car.
We seem to be the last people to arrive. 
I greet Khanyisa as Ntuthuko gets his bag from the boot.
“This is Nothando. She’s Banathi’s fiancé”, Khanyisa introduces me to the beauty next to her.
“Lovely meeting you, Nothando. I’m Tamia.”
“I’m so happy to meet you. I hope I won’t be too lonely now that I’ve met the ladies that I’m in this with.” She says. 
We laugh. 
“Eh, banyana!” Bab’Khotso says to the three of us. 
We look at him. 
Our men stand with us… Ntuthuko has his hand on my back. Khabane is wrapped around Khanyi from behind. Banathi is holding Nothando’s hand. 
“You are all here because you understand what your men leaving means. You don’t go anywhere unnecessarily and you have to be prepared for anything at all times. Men survive in this game only because of the women by their sides. The positions that your husbands are about to assume require you to be stronger and smarter than you’ve ever been. Look at the women next to us as an example. Aspire to be them… as opposed to those who we’ve buried because they thought they were smart. Loyalty is important. These men trust you. So I trust you. Don’t let your men down. You let them down, you let me down. You let me down, I bury you. I don’t do well with betrayal.” 
Khanyisa, Nothando and I look at each other.
“Bafana… nibabhebhile abafazi benu basutha? We need them satisfied and focused. They won’t be hearing from you unless there’s an emergency. I don’t want problems because of starved and insecure women”, Bab’Zithulele says. 
Banathi, Khabane and Ntuthuko actually agree that they’ve fucked and satisfied us. Imagine!
“Good. Now, final kisses, gentlemen. The air awaits us”, Bab’Khotso. 
Bab’Maboko just laughs. 
I wonder where Bab’Ona is. 
These men kiss us. 
“I’ll be back as soon as I can be, okay? I love you, mah wezingane zami.” He says to me as we kiss. 
“I love you. Kakhulu futhi. Look after yourself and come back to us, please. Siyakudinga. Siyakuthanda.” 
We kiss one more time.
Then… it’s time for them to go. 
We also leave in our respective cars. Nothando is even driving Banathi’s car. Well, I guess they are engaged so what’s his is hers.

I get home and find that I actually have visitors. I was planning on phoning my mother and just catching up with her. I need to check in on her. I hope she’s found herself a boyfriend. My dad doesn’t deserve her at all. 
So, before I attend to my visitors, let me tell you how my parents got to this place. 
So my mom wasn’t talking to me because Ntuthuko was helping my dad’s illegitimate kid. My mom felt like I didn’t do enough to stop him and as a result, Ntuthuko and I collectively betrayed her. Then, his mother died. Ah weh mah! Kwaba worse! My mom’s family expected my mom to pay for the funeral. My mom was not about it. Then, my dad went and paid for everything and to my mom, that was the last straw the broke the camel’s back. My mom set the main house on fire while my dad was taking a nap in there. She set his cars on fire and all his clothes on fire. When the kid came out of hospital, my mom took him back to her family and told them that as payment for what they’ve done and how they’ve betrayed her, he’s their responsibility now. Obviously, my mom has been labelled as all sorts of evil. Ntuthuko, as a way of apologising to her, he bought her a house and a car. My mom is still cold towards me. But with time, we will get better. Things are just strained right now. But hey…

“Babe! How are you?” Wandi says. She’s looking really good. She’s losing the baby fat and Melo is looking prettier by day. 
“I’m good. I just miss my man already”, I say.
“Shame, he will be back soon”, Morafe says then laughs.
“Drinks?” I offer them.
“I’m still nursing, so nothing alcoholic for me please”, Wandi says.
“Cool.” 
I call Sis’Tinah, one of our helpers.
My kids are at school.
“Sisi, please make us a light lunch… preferably a chicken salad for all three of us… can we have it with dry red wine… and apple juice for Wandi.” 
“Yes, madam.” Tinah says then leaves. 
We get chatting.
“When last did you guys talk to Bassie? Yaz I feel so bad that I haven’t reached out since the funeral… worse, Wandi and I were away at the time and we couldn’t even make it to the funeral.” I say.
“I phoned her a few times but she never takes my calls. Like ever. Angazi noma khona lapho simoshile yini.” Wandi.
“Well, the last time I spoke to her, she had something to say about each and everyone one of us.” Morafe. 
“What do you mean?” I ask.
She takes a deep breath. Then she says, “she feels that we don’t support her and that we are never there for her.” 
Yaz, I don’t have energy for this. 
Wandi is genuinely hurt by this. 

I’ve always felt that Bassie has had a tendency of misplacing her expectations of and for attention. As people, different people play different roles in our lives and give us attention in accordance to their roles in our lives. So when someone is missing, you put unnecessary expectations from that person for attention. The absence of Bassie’s father in her life made her put the “support” function and attention on other people, including Keith. And maybe that’s why, no matter how much Keith loved Bassie, he felt her become a bit much because he had to be both a lover and father to her. Then when Keith was within his ex-wife, that attention yomjolo she put it on her friends, so when we didn’t show up the way Keith should in her life, we were not good friends. She just tired me out nje and that’s why we were cool because we had mutual friends, but I’ve never considered her a friend. So this statement doesn’t move me. Vele I don’t support her. I don’t care enough to. 

“She feels like we are not happy for her. We never supported the journey to her wedding and it was to a point where she couldn’t rely on us to even be bridesmaids. She said Wandi got rich and thought she was better than all of us. Tamia has never been there vele. And my whole life is Thabang this and Thabang that.” Morafe must stop narrating this. Bassie is selfish. 
“So, we are bad friends because our lives are too occupied with real issues and are not real housewives material like hers is?” I say.
Wandi is so hurt.
“Ay, I wasn’t interested hey. I had too much going on to even dig deeper or show more care to that topic than necessary. But I will admit that I felt bad… especially when Keith died.” Morafe.
“Maybe, we should go see her”, Wandi is starting.
“In Sebokeng?!” Even Morafe is with me on this.
“Yeah. Why not? Just a girls’ day, so she knows that we still love her.” Wandi.
“Wandi, you enable this attitude”, I say.
“What attitude?”
“We are all going through stuff. All of us. Why don’t we have unrealistic expectations of each other. We are all dealing with our stuff without blaming other people for what we are going through. Now we must all go to Sebokeng to apologise for focusing on our own crap and ignoring her need for attention? Hai guys, I’m not going to Sebokeng. I am not the one! I have four kids and a husband to split my attention. Please.” Me.
“But we all know that Bassie is not strong like us”, Wandi.
“She needs to get strong, Wandi. Sizokhona? Risuna needs her to be strong. Keith is not around anymore and she’s not going to find another Keith in us. We have enough happening in our lives.” Me.
“I’m with Tamia on this.” Morafe. 
“Guys please… she needs us. Please. Let’s not give up on her. Not now, please. I know we are all tired, but please guys… let’s not give up on her now. Please.” Wandi.
Morafe and I just look at each other then look away.
Tinah arrives with our meals and drinks. Saved. As soon as she leaves, I change the subject. 

–

“Guys, is everyone in their pyjamas? No pyjamas, no movie night”, I say. 
I’m trying to keep the kiddies occupied. Tonight is movie night. Bonga picked the movie today. Thulisa was responsible for popcorn. I am the one who is responsible to put whispers and wine gums in the popcorn then mix it. I also made a fruity slushy using our blender. They are so excited. The boys were responsible for putting the fleece blankets in our cinema. 
This is nice. 
We all miss their dad, but we try to continue with life until he gets back. He’s been gone for two weeks now. No phone call or text message. Apparently, no news is good news. Ngizathini?
Also, I noticed that Bassie exited our WhatsApp group. Wandi is the only one that’s touched. Morafe is touched, but not like Wandi. 

The movie is now playing. Sihle is next to me. We are sharing our popcorn. Thuli sits next to Nkosana. Bonga is also next to me. Bonga, Thuli and Nkosana have their own slushies and popcorn. I’m making Sihle drink juice. 

About an hour into the movie, Ntuthuko walks into the cinema. 
“Baba!” The kids yell. 
They run to him. Even Sihle… slow as she is, she’s in the mix. Ntuthuko is extra careful with her then picks her up. He embraces the other three. I just sit here and suddenly feel emotional. He sees it. He smiles at me.
He comes with Sihle to sit next to me.
He holds my hand. 
My tears pour out.
He pulls my head towards his head. He kisses my forehead, then tucks my head between his neck and shoulder.
“Sawubona”, he greets me.
“Hello my love”, me.
“You good?”
“I am now.” 
I notice that he has the shakes. I look at him. He shakes his head at me.

The kids are asleep now. I’m unpacking his bag while he showers. Something tells me that I must go check up on him.
I walk into the bathroom. 
His body is covered with bruising. Hai bo!
“Ntuthuko?!”
He actually cries. 
The shower is running by itself. He’s not in it. He’s sitting on the floor and is weeping. 
I sit next to him. 
“Baby?” 
He looks at me.
“Do you want to quit the church? We can go. We have enough to start over. We can run away, baby.”
He just cries.
I pull him into a hug and I hold him, letting him cry in my arms. 

…

I don’t know how to describe what I’ve just been through in Miami… what we’ve all jut been through. I’m just so glad to be at home with my gorgeous wife and my incredible kids. 
I pretended to be asleep so that she would pass out. She’s been so stressed and worried about me. I don’t want her to worry so much about me. She put me in the bath and gently bathed me. She used cotton wool on me as opposed to face cloth. She used water with dettol and I don’t know what else. Then she massaged oils onto me, moisturising my skin. Oh, isthandwa sami. This one was sent to me by every ancestor that still wants to see me win. 
I was taken back to a very dark place in my life… a place where I was a child and the adults in my life would beat me up for various reasons, leaving me bruised and without food until I was “useful” again. I remember when I told Tamia about how I grew up, she cried. I thought I had moved past that trauma, but what happened in Miami just took me straight back to that scared little boy and I almost fucked up a deal. Khabane bailed me out and I’m forever indebted to him… else, I would’ve been killed.
Now I’m lying in bed just thinking about Miami. Tamia thinks I can just walk out of the church. I’m too far in. 

My cellphone rings. 
It’s 2:45am. 
It’s pope calling me. Lord, have mercy.
“Sho”, I greet him.
“Can you come to the warehouse?” 
“Now?”
“Yeah. It’s urgent.”
“Okay. Sure.”
“See you in a bit.”
The line goes dead. 
I look at Tamia.
She’s still asleep.
Should I wake her up? Should I just send her a text message that she will wake up to ekuseni? 

I get out of bed. My muscles feel a lot more relaxed, but I can still feel that I have these bruises on me. I wear a tracksuit and sneakers. I have no idea what I’ll be doing tonight.
“Maphumulo”, she says in a sleepy tone.
“Sthandwa sami”, I reply.
“Kwenzakalani? Uyaphi?”
“Pope called.” 
“What time is it?”
“Baby, go back to sleep.”
“Hai bo!”
“Tamia, ngiyakucela. Lala. Sizokhuluma ekuseni.”
With this, I leave, headed to the warehouse. I know I leave behind a very pissed off wife. 

I get to the warehouse. I park my car and step out the car. Khabane is still limping. Banathi is also still in a rather bad place. But we are here. 
The three of us greet each other then walk towards the entry of the warehouse. As we walk, we talk.
“How did the wives take it?” Banathi asks us.
“Khanyisa is demanding all sorts of answers. But at least she kept the boys away from me so they didn’t see me like this. But she’s pissed. She even told me that she’d make me quite the church if I don’t tell her what happened.” Khabane.
“Tamia is also tripping. We had a slight argument this morning when I got the call to come here”, I say.
Then I ask Banathi, “Utheni uNothando?”
“I went home, not my place. I think Khanyisa is the one who told Nothando that we are back. Now she’s accusing me of cheating on her. I’d actually rather deal with that than deal with her asking questions about Miami.” 
We actually laugh. This is really a good plan. 
“I should’ve done that. But I actually fear my wife”, Khabane. 
We just laugh hey. 
We head inside now. 

Everyone is here. Everyone. Even the people who were not in Miami. 
“Champs”, pope greets us. 
We greet him back.
Him, Uncle Maboko and Uncle Zithulele are also in bad shape hey. 
“My boys. Le shup?” Uncle Maboko.
“We good”, I say. 
We all finally sit down. 
Pope looks at us all. He’s the only one standing. 
“It has come to my attention that Sonia wasn’t working alone.” Pope says.
What the f***?!
Khabane, Banathi and I are super angry hey. The shit that we’ve just been through! 
“That’s right! You thought I’d never find out?! I just came back from Miami AND WE ALL LOOKED LIKE FUCKEN BITCHES! WE HAD TO FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO GET OUT OF THAT MEETING ALIVE! TO KEEP THE POPE TITLE IN THIS KINGDOM! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE CHURCH IS FOR US AND WHAT WE WILL BECOME IF THE POPE TITLE LEFT THIS KINGDOM?!” I know pope is super angry neh, but I’m just as furious. And the day that I find whoever put us in that mess, I’ll kill them myself. 
There’s absolute silence in here.
He pulls out his gun. 
Uncle Zithulele pulls out a gun.
Uncle Maboko pulls out a gun.
“Khabane. Ntuthuko. Banathi. Come here.” Pope.
The three of us look at each other, then we make our way to the front where they are sitting, limping our ways there.
These three men hand their guns to us.
We are quite confused.
“These three men went to war for this church on behalf of all of you. They are bruised, battered and will never be able to explain to their wives and kids what happened in fuckenMiami. They can’t. They have to deal with angry wives asking questions they’ll never be able to answer… and to think that it’s all for a bunch of bitches that will turn on us at any minute. I don’t care why you did it. I don’t care what was said to you to convince you to do it. But after the shit you’ve just put us through, I’m going to kill you. My wife personally wants you dead”, pope. 
Now people start feeling uneasy. 
“DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF MAKING ME CALL YOU UP HERE BY NAME. MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE FRONT RIGHT NOW, OR YOU’LL BE INTRODUCED TO YOUR MAKER BY ME – AND I WILL NOT BE AS NICE AS THESE THREE GENTLEMEN”. Pope.
People start walking up, already crying. I cannot believe my eyes. I’m actually so disappointed. 
Five of them are here now.
“I’m waiting for the last man to take their walk up here. Don’t you dare make me ask again.” Pope.
Still nothing. 
“Fine!” Pope.
He signals something to a deacon. 
Zari is thrown into the warehouse.
The fuck?!
“Okay! Okay! Let my wife go! Please!” Mohato says, walking up to the front.
“Khotso, a word!” Uncle Ona.
The brothers face each other – NOT IN A NICE WAY AT ALL!
They both walk out. 
The minute they step out, I’m the one who goes for Mohato. I actually beat the shit out of him and absolutely no one stops me. I hear a gun shot go off then I stop, coming to my senses I suppose. 
Mohato is just lying there.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Uncle Ona asks me. 
I actually just leave this place. 
I’m fucken pissed!

…

Everyone is at the hospital. Mohato was rushed to the hospital. I’m at my house, sitting in my study and drinking a stiff drink. I’m actually mad. I’m fucken pissed! 
“Tamia did say that I’d find you in here”, pope says to me. 
I just look at him.
“I understand why you lost your shit.” He says.
“So he’s going to live because he’s father is the king? If it were me that did this, I’d be dead right now. My own father would have put the bullet in my head.” 
He’s quiet.
“Pope, if people start getting preferential treatment around here, the church will change. Our principles will church. We work for our benefits and people are respected in accordance with their ranks. There are no lucky people in the church. We have hard working people. I will kill Mohato. I almost died out there. I can’t even let my wife touch me after what happened and I can’t even talk to her about it! You saw what we have just been through! Mohato and all those other fuckers do not get to walk!” 
He’s silent.
“If he walks… if this is what the church is becoming… then I don’t want to be part of it. I’m sorry. I won’t serve under those principles. Respectfully.”
Pope sits next to me.
He pours himself a drink.
He drinks.
He makes a call. 
“Do it.” He says then he hangs up.
Now, we just sit here.