“UMeh athi uTerrence ufuna umshado. He’s sent his family to KZN to deliver the lobola letter and everything”, I tell Banathi. 

We are honestly gossiping nje. We are in our kitchen eating scones that I baked last night with coffee. The kids are at school and apparently Katli has a girlfriend. So nje, I’m going to fish for information because Katli has this thing now where he tells Banathi stuff and not me. It used to really hurt me and I felt like Banathi was stealing my brother from me. But overtime, I understood. Katli has always been the oldest male figure in his life. Having Banathi is doing something for him that I could have never imagined or done myself. I’ve learned to just appreciate who Banathi is in his life. 

“I’m not sure about this Terrence guy yaz. Meh is so nice. That guy seems very chaotic”, he tells me.

“But she loves him, hey. She’s just told herself ukuthi that’s her person. And we all know the lengths we are prepared to go for our people”, I say.

“Yeah. I must bring him closer to me. I don’t want him being stupid when he has a good woman”, he says.

“I’d appreciate that, baby. Ngiyabonga.” I say.

He kisses me.

“So, I hear that Katli has a girlfriend”, I say.

He looks at me with a sly smile. Then he starts laughing. 

“Iza nazo phela. There are no secrets in this marriage”, I say.

“Please don’t turn me into a little bitch”, he says, still laughing. 

“Too late. You are already my bitch”, I say.

We both laugh now. 

“I should’ve known that this was a strategy to get information out of me”, he says. 

He’s in so much disbelief.

“Khuluma phela, Qwabe”, I say. 

“I mean… I just know that Katli didn’t like any of the girls he goes to school with because he thinks that they are very out of touch… and that can be expected. Katli does have a lot of depth – from experience- that most girls can’t match.” He says.

Deep!

“So he told me that he used them to release sperm, because that does become a need when you are a man”, he says.

I give him a hectic eye.

“What?!” He asks me.

“I hope you discouraged him from that kind of behaviour!” I snap.

“Awukahle. Your brother is a grown-ass man. What are you expecting him to do with all that sperm?” He says.

“Sies! He’s a child!” 

He gives me a weird look. 

Now I’m irritated.

“Anyway, so when he and his friends attended some party that was being hosted by some person at Tholoana Secondary, his friends were basically harassing some girl; thinking they could get her because they have money. That girl gave them hell. The friends wanted to even rape her to teach her a lesson, and Katli defended her”, he says.

“What kind of friends are these?! And how old are these people?!” This story is very disturbing. 

“Katli took the girl home that evening, and they’ve been talking ever since. He says that she has substance… and that she has a brain. She lives with her grandmother, her mother and her siblings. Her family works and they afford life. Everyone is a hard worker and no one is expecting anything from life that they didn’t put out. So Katli feels like he can build with someone like that. Her name is Boikhutso”, he says.

“She sounds nice”, I say.

“I met her once”, he says.

“You’ve even met her?” I’m shocked. 

“By accident. Katli and I were going to braai meat and she showed up to buy some stuff for her family. So we drove her back home. She’s a nice person”, he tells me.

“So you must convince Katli to invite her for dinner”, I say.

“Mam’Khuzwayo, phuma ezindabeni ze’ngane!” 

“I’ve never met any of his girlfriends before. I want to make sure that he’s making the right choices in women!” I say.

“Kahleni bo! Mam’Khuzwayo!” Banathi mara. 

“Ngiyakucela, Qwabe… please”, I say as I start unbuttoning my shirt-dress, revealing the purple lacy lingerie underneath. I came prepared for this conversation. I knew he’d be like this. 

He stares at me.

“Please…” I whisper as I now plant kisses on his neck and let his hand rub my exposed ass in this lingerie. 

He’s getting harder downstairs and weaker overall…

“Please…” I whisper again.

He says okay, but he obviously makes sure that I pay for it in full. And I really don’t mind. 

–

We’ve just had quite the session. We are lying in bed now, cuddled into each other. 

“You know that today is the last day that we can have sex, right?” I tell him.

“Why?” He asks, shocked and worried.

“Because I have to be celibate for seven days before making umqombothi for lo msebenzi ka mah wokukhumula”, I tell him. 

“What?!” He’s now annoyed. 

“Ja. Your gogo phoned me and told me that I can’t make umqombothi for this kind of event if you and I are still having sex or if I’m on my period. So I must basically stay away from you. She even said we must sleep in separate bedrooms”, I tell him.

I’m laughing at his reaction because he’s so upset. 

“But we will drive down with mah tomorrow. She will be in Soweto all week. Mnqobi will join us after he’s left Wehweh in Pretoria with her father. That magogo is nuts. She is pissing off everyone every chance she gets”, he tells me. 

“Wenzeni?” I ask him.

“When she arrived, she asked Phakathwayo why he didn’t build a house for himself outside the main house because the main house should be for elders. I told Phakathwayo to kick her out. She’s a guest that didn’t even contribute 50cents to the building of that house. Where does she get off saying that rubbish to Phakathwayo? In his house?! Then she told Mfundo that she can’t stay in the main house as a girlfriend and that Mfundo must leave. Mnqobi and I drove down to tell help Phakathwayo tell the nutcase to leave and come back for umsebenzi only. She even cried, saying we will be cursed. We told her that she’s cursed for not taking in her brother’s kids after her brother and his wife passed away; left those kids to fend for themselves in a foreign country, and now comes off to be annoying and to leech off her grandchildren”, he tells me.

Banathi and his brothers have got mouths on them! That adult probably didn’t eat for a week after hearing that. 

“Manje, did she leave?” I ask.

“She did. But obviously Mfundo feels uncomfortable in the house now. She thinks that woman was right and that she will probably have bad luck. So Phakathwayo is going to marry her in March. He wanted to do it in January, but Mnqobi asked him to do it in March because he and Wehweh are getting married in February. Apparently Wehweh will not appreciate it if Mfundo gets married before her. She’s already slightly sour that you married before her”, he says. 

“Yeah, I have sensed it. But when it comes to such things, I don’t take it to heart. Wehweh is not a bad person, and she doesn’t mean any bad stuff. She’s just very misunderstood. It’s nice to see Mnqobi understand her in ways that no one really has. He even understands her unspoken language”, I say. 

Banathi doesn’t say anything. He’s not Wehweh’s biggest fan at the moment. 

“How’s mah doing? Now that we are approaching lo msebenzi?” I ask him.

He sighs.

“Umah hasn’t been okay since dad passed, hey. Sometimes, I’m angry at him for her. I mean he messed up. Was mah not allowed to be angry? Or hurt? How does he off himself like that knowing very well what it would do to her? Was cheating on her not enough?” He says.

Before I can respond, he says, “but I’ve done some research on mental health and suicide. I’ve attended some therapy sessions with mom. Mnqobi came to a few with us. You know, I wouldn’t even be mad at mom if she re-married. But she is hurting. Often, she doesn’t even believe that he’s really gone. She usually says that she was always going to leave Tholoana Kingdom after their divorce to get through the pain of the divorce. She tells herself that he’s just living in a different country. So lo msebenzi is confirmation that what she tells herself is not true. That he’s really gone. The other day, she asked me if I think he’s happy…now that he’s with his pregnant fiance that passed on the day that they had to leave South Africa. She even asked me i think he was happier with the fiance… that maybe being with my mom made his mental illness worse”, he says. 

Now he’s getting emotional. 

“He didn’t have to die on her like that. He didn’t have to leave her to carry all of this on her own”, he says as he now sobs.

I just hold him. I’m honestly out of words. I don’t know what to say or how to be. This is just heart breaking. 

I invited Banathi’s mom to dinner today… the dinner where we are meeting Katli’s girlfriend. Mah is already here, helping me set the table and we are already gossiping about this. Banathi is here judging us. 

“Letlali Khuzwayo, why are you here?” Banathi keeps asking his mother.

“Palesa invited me. What’s your problem?” Mah replies.

“You two want to team up on a teenage girl and have her breaking up with Katli after this”, he says to us.

“Haaaaa!” Mah and I say at the same time. 

“How are we going to do that?” I ask.

“I shouldn’t have agreed to this. I feel like I’ve betrayed my boy”, Banathi says.

“Nathi, we are not going to do anything hle. We just want to meet her”, I say.

“Exactly!” Mah.

“Mah, since when wena ungena izindaba zomjolo zabantwana?” Banathi needs to relax hey. 

“We want to see what Katli could potentially be bringing as umakoti”, mah says.

“He’s only eighteen. Are any of us in this room married to people we were dating when we were eighteen? Kahleni bo!” Banathi. 

“But at least we will have an idea of his taste in women, because I – for one – have never met a single girl he’s ever dated”, I say.

“He’s still playing the field here. He’s also still figuring out what he likes. He will trial and error until he finds what he can settle with. What you two are about to do is wrong. You must eat this dinner and make sure they walk out of here holding hands”, Banathi says to us.

Mah and I look at him and giggle.

He really needs to relax. 

What does he think we will do? 

And yaz the dinner is not bad. Boikhutso is actually a pretty girl with very good manners. 

We are eating and laughing away. Even mah likes her. She keeps winking at me and telling Katli that he has a good eye. 

Katli tells us that he will be taking Boikhutso, Boikhutso’s mother and Boikhutso’s grandmother to Botswana. They’ll be spending the festive season there. The car that they all have at home is a Polo. It belongs to her mother. But that car is too small for all of them to drive that far. 

Banathi offers Katli to use his V300. It’s more comfortable to travel in, and Katli’s X3 can rest. Banathi bought Katli that X3. 

Khutso says thank you. 

She even got us flowers – myself and mah. 

At about 9pm, I tell Katli to take Khutso home. I’ll ask the helpers to wash the dishes. It was a good evening. 

Banathi offers to drive with him because he’s driving to the township and Katli is not Tholoana Kingdom street smart as yet. 

They leave. 

“She’s sweet”, mah says to me as we make our way to the room she’s sleeping in while our helpers clear the table.

“She is.” I say.

“But I see your doubts. Keng?” She says to me. 

“She’s also very smart. And she seems like she knows how to play her cards right with Katli. She thinks she won us over today”, I say.

“I’m glad you saw it too. It’s a good thing you invited her over. She was in awe all night of the opulence of this house, the cars, us, the staff. She’s already seeing herself in this life”, mah says.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do”, I say.

“Get in Banathi’s ear. Katli is close to him and listens to him. If you can convince Banathi that its only a matter of time before this girl reveals that she’s here for the V300 drives to Botswana instead of travelling in the polo and the taxis that she’s used to, he will pay attention”, she says.

I think about it.

“You and I come from the rough side of life. We know how to smell a chancer from a mile away. Men are usually blinded by the head they think with – you know, the one between their legs – so they don’t see what we see. Manipulate the head between your husband’s legs, and save your brother from that vulture”, she says.

I actually agree with her.