Classic Love Story

CHAPTER 17

SEASON FINALE

For all the wedding preparations, I had to temporary move back to South Africa. I was being taught everything by the Fantastic Five. From how you treat your husband and your in-laws to how you become a queen everyone adores and worships. It had sunk in that I was actually marrying a king, not just a normal royal man, so I had to go for training on how to be a great queen.

It was tense and the FF didn’t make things easy for me just because I was their daughter. God I was even taught to cook traditional dishes the hard way, using fire and the three legged pots. They knew I knew nothing about cooking but they expected me to learn in a matter of few weeks how to cook for a whole family. It was terrible. I sometimes wanted to call Zenzo and cry to him but gadgets were not allowed on the camp.

It felt like I was stripped off naked without my gadgets. On the sixth day, I started having withdrawal symptoms. I even refused to get out of the sponge. Can you believe it? I was sharing a sponge with my mother. There were no beds here. It was like we had gone back in the Queen Nandi era.
“MaZulu wake up.” mom pleaded with me and I just turned to face the wall.
“I am going to tell my father about this ill-treatment. I swear.” She laughed.

“For your information, I knew your father before I even knew about your existence. We have been together for more than 30 years. So when you tell him about this, he won’t see it as an abuse, rather a good method to prepare you for what’s to come.” She responded and I huffed.

“He never wanted me to get married. So in this way, we will both get what we want. Me leaving this royal wife boot camp and him having his daughter by his side for eternity.” She chuckled and held my hand.

“If you wanna continue being daddy’s princess, nobody is stopping you. But that would mean you don’t love that Mkhwanazi boy as much as you claim to.” I sat up straight and looked at her frowning.

“He knows that I am lazy, I can’t cook and I prefer the company of my gadgets over other humans. He understands me. Stop trying to change me.” I murmured.

“We are trying to do that. You are going to be the queen there. Chances of you doing domestic chores are slim to none. Well you need to learn these things so that you will teach your daughter in law one day. But what you are being taught here is endurance, patience, perseverance, optimism, dedication and what it actually means to be a royal wife. You need this training. After this when we go back home, we will allow you to be with your gadgets for even 24 hours alone. But now wake up my darling. The more you drag this, the longer the whole process will take.” I pouted and then stood up.

“Don’t you miss your husband?” she laughed again.
“Darling I have been with that man for over 3 decades. Sometimes I need a breather from him, even if it’s just a few weeks.” I laughed and she also laughed. She helped me clean up the rondavel we were using. “Now go and prepare our bath water.” I sighed and changed my pajamas.

I wore a long dress, tommy takkies and a doek. It was the dress code around here. Long dresses and long skirts. No pants. I took some of the wood we collected on the day we arrived and started fire. We collected enough wood that month to last us for a whole month.

Of course there was a boy here who always checked if there was no snake rolling itself in the stack every morning and every evening. I poured water on the three legged pot and placed it on the fire. I went to the kitchen, which was inside the main rondavel, and found MaMolefe making porridge while KaMahlaba was preparing tea. MaShezi was kneading some dough. No doubt to make idombolo or ujeqe.

“Hello abusers and traitors.” They all just laughed at me. “I swear to you there is a special place in hell just waiting for you.”

“We babied you too much Sasa. We thought you were that child who would travel the world and stay away from home. We didn’t think you would even get married this early. But this abuse is only for a few weeks. After that you will go back to sleeping till the sun shines on your vagina.” KaMahlaba said with a smug face. From the moment I entered this world, she called me Sasa and was the only one who called me that. I rolled my eyes. I was grumpy.

“What are you making Makhosi?” I asked MaShezi.
“Child don’t test me.” I laughed and went to dip my finger in the dough she was busy with. I quickly removed it before she could hit my hand. “You sly fly.” I laughed again and tasted the flour. It had a little sugar, meaning she was making ujeqe.

“Add a bit of sugar ma.”
“What do you know about ujeqe?”
“Well I like mine with adequate sugar nje.” She just laughed and blue ticked me. “You guys are boring. Where is my favourite wife?”

“She is busy with MaGasela.” MaMolefe answered.
“Yoh see her later then.” They all laughed. MaGasela was the woman responsible for keeping this place in good condition. She was strict as fuck. I didn’t even wanna be in the same room with her because she would send me around. 

The water boiled and I poured everyone enough for them to get washed properly. I bathed and when I was lotioning, I realized I had developed a rash on my thigh. That scared me because it meant I was allergic to something. I wrapped a towel around my body and went to discard the water. I went to the main rondavel to find my mother.

“Mama I have a rash.” They all turned and looked at me.
“Where is it?” MaShezi asked as she stepped forward. I showed her my thigh. She sighed. “We have to leave today. You can go and pack your bags everyone. I will call the guards to get the cars ready.”

“But ma this is just a rash which you can cure with one of your herbs.”
“Someone is playing with black magic my child. This place is the safest place in the country because it is protected by most royal ancestors. You shouldn’t even bleed or get a scratch in here. That rash is not something medical. Look at it.” She said and I frowned. I uncovered my thigh again and this time the rash was starting to become red. It was itching in a bad way. “That is not natural. We need to leave. The next hours you will experience immense pain, so I suggest you drink allergex and sleeping pills.”

“Come baby. We need to move.” Mom said as she held my hand.
We went back to the rondavel we were sleeping in and I got dressed in to a fit and flare dress and sleepers. There was no need to wear a doek since we were going home. I started packing my things and as I was packing I started feeling dizzy. I sat down and did some breathing exercises.

“Khanya what is it?” mom asked as she kneeled in front of me.
“I don’t feel good ma.” My own voice was drifting away. I looked at her and I could see fear in her eyes. The last thing I remember was her shouting before I passed out.
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