A week. A whole week. An entire flipping’ week. That’s how long I haven’t seen Lethi or even made contact with him. To say I am frustrated would be an understatement. The nerve. That stupid handsome mysterious man has the nerve to ghost me. worst of all, I don’t have his numbers and I don’t wanna give him the satisfaction of being the first one to contact him, well after paying someone to get me his number. I am glad it’s a holiday today and we are in it for the long weekend. I love my work but waking up every morning? There are very few people in the world who enjoy that.
Since I don’t feel like seeing my family, I decide that I am going to visit Futhy in the bundus but I can’t just come empty handed and I have to buy things, toys for her brood. She should just open a crèche once and for all. 6 toddlers running around? I love kids but even I would go crazy with that amount of kids running around and crying. At least the four cousins can’t walk or crawl yet but they are still troublesome and irritable. Always crying for no reason. Imagine crying because a fly flied past your eyes. Kids. They are the most dramatic beings in the world.
Dressed in simple skinny jeans, sneakers and a ‘Google me’ t-shirt, I drive to the mall and start my shopping. I am glad I am still in possession of the amazing card. I first start by ordering loads of food at Spur and then proceed to Toys’R’Us. As I walk out of the toy store, something compels me to look up. I do so and my mouth goes dry as my eyes land on a beautiful approaching family. The man is carrying a toddler in a yellow tutu skirt in his left arm while the other arm is on the woman’s waist. The woman is holding an older kid in her hand. These people seem so happy. They are laughing at something unknown to me. I swallow hard and I honestly wish the tiled floor can open a huge hole and swallow me.
“Daddy, I want that. Can you please by me that?” I am startled by the toddler’s sweet voice. She points at something on my trolley. It is then, the man lifts his eyes and they land on mine. He looks spooked for a second but quickly recovers. Son of a bitch.
“You can have it, darling.” I take the talking doll and hand it to the toddler.
“Thank you so much.” She blows a kiss at me and hugs the doll. My heart swells a bit but I don’t wanna be here any longer.
Avoiding any eye contact with the man, I push my trolley away and as soon as I’m safely inside the doors of the elevator, away from prying eyes, I breathe out loud. What the fuck just happened? I wanna scream out loud, cry or even curse at someone, but I can’t do that. I have to keep it together. I am in public. I can’t just rain drama at a mall, unless I want to trend and give him the satisfaction that he has managed to break my broken heart. Yoh, fuck men.
I start by collecting my order from Spur and then going to load everything on the car. I then proceed to the petrol station and fill up my tank. I don’t wanna listen to my inner voice telling me that it was too good to be true. There was no fuckin mystery here. The fucker was married. Fuck my life. So I play music so loud with my windows open. I don’t wanna feel suffocated.
…
I finally breathe out loud when I drive towards Futhy’s modern age palace. I can’t help myself. Every time I come here, I just wanna appreciate the beauty of Futhy’s creation. She really did the things here. If she were to invite Top Billing or whatever high class show, people would go crazy at the first sight of this Zulu hotel. I park my car on the driveway and climb out. I breathe in the fresh air of the bundus. It is so quiet like Clifton and I know I would never survive because I like a busy place but this is ideal for a vacation.
“WHEN YOU’RE DONE DOING YOGA, COME IN YOU UNINVITED GUEST!” I hear Futhy’s voice before even seeing her. I can feel that she is somewhere on top. I raise my head and locate here on the 2nd floor balcony looking like a real housewife of Cape Town.
“I WASN’T DOING YOGA!” I shout back.
“THOSE BREATHING EXERCISES SAY OTHERWISE!” she responds and then disappears into the house. I great the guards at the door and ask them to assist me with the stuff I bought. We carry the things inside and find Futhy on the huge lounge with Manelisi on her arms.
“I was expecting to find one of the four cousins in your arms.” She laughs.
“They are at the royal house. The king was feeling down, so he asked that we visit him. Well I couldn’t go because I felt you coming and I knew you needed me more than him. You can put the things here guys.” She addresses the guards. They do as instructed and then walk away.
“Aww shame. Poor king. How is he doing by the way?” I ask as we sit down.
“He is hanging in there. I saw him cry for the first time and my heart broke. I really loved KaMahlaba and her departure was so sudden. The fantastic five is not complete without her.”
“I feel you. Now how does he babysit 4 toddlers and a drama queen?”
She laughs. “Zobuhle loves MaDlomo more. I am sure she is with her as we speak. She doesn’t care even if MaDlomo is going to a high class tea party or whatever. She be like ‘hamba nawe mina dodo’. (I am going with you, granny).” I crack up. I can legit imagine Futhy’s daughter saying that. She is very troublesome and a bit spoiled.
“I feel like she is exactly like you.” she laughs, shaking her head. “I can actually picture you following Ndosi omkhulu or his mother around.”
“Ow shut up. I am daddy’s little girl and everyone knows.”
“And what about the little fella in your hands?”
“He is a mama’s boy. He couldn’t bear to leave me alone. He would rather let his twin go on her own than leave his mother around.”
“Ncoaw. The young king is his mother’s protector. Now I am jealous.” She laughs. “I have something for him.” I retrieve a toy car with a remote from one of the plastics and hand it to him.
He smiles widely at me. “Thank you.” he then walks away.
“So many toys? You’re exaggerating, friend.” I roll my eyes and she chuckles.
“You have so many kids nawe. So I have to accommodate all of them, even the older ones.”
“Okay, let’s go unpack them and then you can tell me about the thing that made you drive all the way from Durban and just barge into my house unannounced.” I huff knowing very well that I will have to talk sooner or later even though I don’t want to.
We take the plastics to the kids play room and unpack them, placing them in each kid’s shelf. We return to the lounge and she asks the helpers to go set up the food I came with in the rooftop terrace which has a great view of the surrounding places. We settle down on the comfortable chairs and start eating.
“He is married, Futhy. Why didn’t you tell me that he is married?” I start off and she shifts uncomfortably.
“Is ‘I thought you knew’ a great shield?” I shake my head.
“You know I don’t do married men. I am no home wrecker.”
“But don’t blame me. You shouldn’t have resisted the urge to Google him. Now what did you see?”
I sigh. “He had potential though, Futhy. He has that intimidating authoritative aura. He keeps you on your feet. You never know what to expect with him. He is an enigma. I was actually starting to fall for him and imagine my surprise when I bumped into him outside Toys’R’Us with his little family. And he can’t even use the ancient ‘I am not happy with my wife’ excuse because I saw them together. They were happy and that broke my heart. I was beginning to feel things for him but he just stomped on my already broken heart. Fuck him and his handsomeness, his huge dick, his fat wallet. Fuck him with all his glory.”
Futhy chuckles. “But you aren’t over him. Okay. We are going to curse him all we want but I am not going to judge you if you want to pursue a relationship with this guy. You seem taken by him.”
“But as a what, Futhy? As his mistress? His sex slave?”
“No sex slave gets awarded with a black card.”
“He was just buying my silence and stupid me, I fell for his tricks. I am so stupid.” She sighs.
“How about you drain his card? I think that’s the only undramatic revenge you can have. Or you can just take the high road and tell his wife how he likes it.”
I shake my head. “Draining his card seems like a safe option. Women are crazy these days. She can call me obsessive and even sell me out in Ladies House and those women know how to gang up on a person, even a celebrity.”
She sighs. “You are going to spend the night here and that’s not up for discussion. Maybe you will know what to do tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you.” I smile at her.
“Hey, I am the only real friend you have.” I chuckle because she is telling the truth and then it dawns me. I have no actually friends except for my boss. I only have people I vibe with. My life is pathetic.
