Isigodi

Chapter 25

The whole week I have been trying to avoid Siza hoping that he will just forget about what happened between us. It's Friday. I think he has moved on. I mean you can't be sulking about someone leaving you in bed for a whole week. That just makes you look pathetic. After our last practical classes, we all meet at the lobby and then as we are about to head out, someone calls my name. I turn to see Siza walking towards me with Nzelwe. They stop when they reach me.

“I came with back up just in case you turn me away.” I roll my eyes. “I know what I did was wrong according to our tradition and I am willing to make things right by coming to pay inkomo kamama to your family. I hope whatever beef between us will be squashed.” Well he is right about the inkomo kamama part. When my family finds out that I am skipping the annual reed dance this year, they will want to know the reason behind my absence. If they find out I slept with someone, they will want him to pay inkomo kamama to appease to them and to make things right with my parents. I smirk.

“Do you know Nqengelele, the founder of Sondiya Logistics?” I ask and they frown.

“Yeah, why?” they both respond at the same time.

“That's my father. So good luck with everything. I am the apple of his eye, so he just might shoot you for entering his kraal without permission. I am surprised that you didn’t see the resemblance or you were just too ignorant. Anyways see you tomorrow or on Monday.” I smile and walk out.

“Are we going clubbing again tonight?” Sisanda asks as soon as I climb inside the car.

“We have to be here at 10 am remember? How about we go to the club tomorrow night?” I suggest.

“Good thinking. I honestly forgot about tomorrow.” Sisanda says. “Maybe we can go to a restaurant or a shisanyama after our practical before going to the club. We should like explore.”

“What were you discussing with Siza?” Veli whispers in my ear.

“You are such a nosy sister in law.” She laughs.

“I don’t care.” I also laugh.

Getting to the house, we change into our bikinis and go swim. The pool here is super big and you don’t have to worry about most kids from the rural areas drowning because we are used to swimming in rivers and dams that have not been rumoured to harbor snakes. We take pictures and post them on our social media accounts. The pieces we are wearing are crotchet bikinis made by Veli, Nomthi and Nyezi. So we are also advertising out craft. Within a few minutes we are trending. Ow wow, people love seeing girls with exposed body parts.

“Just hope we won't end up getting insulted about this.” Mbuyi says in a worried tone. I just hope they don’t get into trouble with their men. I know how possessive Zulu men can be. They will think the ladies are doing as they please in Jozi and are liking the attention they are getting from the social media. You know how jealous guys are.

“Smilesihle is loving this attention.” Sisanda says with a smile. We did tag Yakhanathi on our posts.

“Siza has posted us on his story and wall.” Nomthi says and I quickly go check out my Instagram. I chuckle. I hope this is him advertising our work and not him trying to get my attention because it's not going to work.

...

NARRATED

 

Zithulele drove inside the Buthelezi household and parked right in front of his flat. He frowned when he saw unfamiliar cars parked on the yard. Maybe it was his father's guests, he thought as he walked to his flat. A few moments later, one of the guards were sent to call him. He followed the guard and he nearly fainted when he saw his ex fiancé with her parents and sister seated in the lounge. His mother, MaMhlongo, MaWanda, MaVezi, his father and Zikhethele were seated on the other side of the lounge while the Khoza family occupied the other part.

“Son these people came here to tell us that you broke the engagement with their daughter, our daughter in law, then you humiliated her and she got kicked out of the apartment she was staying in under your orders. Is that true? What do you say about this?” Sokalisa asked looking at Zithulele. He sighed and sat down next to Zikhethele.

“Firstly I would like to greet everyone here and I am sorry for coming in late. It seems like this started a while ago. If I had been informed about the meeting, I would’ve came home early. Now without wasting anyone's time, I would like to get straight to the point. I did cut off Zimasa from my life and she knows exactly why I did that. Would you like to tell the whole family what led to me cutting you off?” he asked looking at Zimasa who was looking at him with a begging look.

“You didn't have to humiliate her like that. No matter what she did. Yoh should've sat down and discussed the way forward instead of treating her like a dog. Is that how you treat your women in this family?” Zimasa's sister asked with pure disgust looking at every member of the Buthelezi family. Zithulele laughed.

“Did you or did you not tell your family about the events that led to me calling off the engagement?” he asked once again and Zimasa nodded. “You did? Okay. Please share those events with everyone so that it can correspond with mine.”  Zimasa swallowed hard and looked down.

“You, umm, you.” She kept on clearing her throat.

“Let me just make things easy for you. So family, there I was, driving to Durban on a Friday night to surprise my fiancé with flowers and her favourite things. But I am the one who got the surprise of my life. My ex fiancé was riding another man's dick in the same apartment that I was paying for. They were vibing to jazz which I introduced to her. Long story short, I caught her cheating and decided to cut her off. I don’t want anything from her. She can keep the lobola money but it's really over for us. You can even keep the refundable deposits from the bookings you had made for the engagement party. It's really over between us. I don’t understand why you brought your family here when you know that you were the one at fault.”

Zimasa's mother just stood up and headed out, clicking her tongue on the way. She was super angry she didn’t even wanna talk. Her daughter had made them look like fools in front of a powerful and Influential family. She wished to just strangle her and toss her at the Hluhluwe Game Reserve in their way back to Durban.

“We are very sorry for such a disappointment and for wasting your time. Hope you can forgive us. Thank you for your hospitality.” Zimasa's father made her stand up and dragged her outside. Her sister also followed them but not without giving Zithulele a mean stare. Both Zithulele and Zikhethele just laughed.

“Why didn’t you tell us about this?” Sokalisa asked.

“I was still going to call a meeting and tell you guys properly. Anyways now that this is out of the way, I am paying lobola to a maiden from this village next month, and no she is not a rebound. I fell in love with her before Zimasa did what she did to me. I just wanted you guys to know.” He said and then headed out. Zikhethele followed him and they continued laughing as they walked to Zithulele's flat.