SIMPHIWE SHANDU THE HUSBAND
CHAPTER 9
SIMPHIWE
I have to call my colleague for succour. Dr Manzini is my childhood best friend who knows me better than anyone. A man that can put a fist across my face without care whenever I flop. Right now, I pray I do not get a lecture for life, which I am defiantly not ready for.
“So, this Dudu girl… how sure that the baby is yours?”
he asks, leaning backwards on my couch. I sigh, taking a deep breath trying to collect what he has just asked me.
“I know, I have seen that baby.”
He shakes his head in dispirit.
“I am highly disappointed in you. I never believed that one day you would wrack your home like this. Why are you letting your mother tyrannize your marriage in this manner? Are you happy?”
“Honestly, I am not happy at all. My mother is always at our faces leaving trouble every corner.”
“Then why not stand up to her?”
I tried and failed. That woman is not a woman that you want to have a one-on-one fight with. She has a decayed mouth. Her mouth lead me behind this injury.
“One day Nozi will find a man that will love her beyond and cherish her while you are still being your mother's toy. She will seek comfort somewhere and trust me the day she gets pregnant…her first child will not be yours but someone else. Keep on pushing her buttons and you will feel her wrath.”
I close my heart with my body being drawn back. I do not want to think of this but Manzini is making my life even rear-end foremost. How did I agree to the devil to turn my life upside down?
I can never say its temptations! I also do not even know what it is.
“How many more kids are you investing to have outside your marriage and let Nozi cater for them?”
“I don’t want any kids.”
“You are selfish then if you only get to consider yourself only and not putting yourself in Nozi’s shoes. The day she strikes don’t come back to me crying cause trust me she will. I will never let my wife go through the worst because of my selfishness reasons. I love that woman to death, no matter how the situation is at home - I will never seek happiness on the outside world. Bringing in a third party in your marriage is putting your life in the drain. Goodluck in telling your wife such news.”
“I am not going to tell her but not at the moment. I am waiting for myself to heal first then tell her when the time is right.”
I say failing to look at him. I know he is disappointed and only wants what is best for me. I rub my head taking a deep beath. If there was a cancel button in my life, trust me I would have canceled all the people that are not meant to be included in my life. Bagqibile, Dudu and Masindi. I pray that no more side chick will be a pain in my throat.
I am left to think about my life and what I want. I cannot continue doing this all the time. Nozi was out all day today and I do not know where she has been. I do not want to sound like a pest and vex her. From now onwards I will try by all means to put a smile on her face. Maybe do something that will make her forget about wanting to have babies.
“How has your day been?” I ask to try to make conversation out of the awkward moment between us.
“Fine, I guess.” she says shrugging her shoulders. She seems disinterested by my sight.
“Can you come closer.”
She does it with her eyes still glued down. She smells manly. “Did you perhaps change your perfume?”
She clears her throat.
“No, was just testing a few. Was bored.”
“And you tried men's cologne?”
“Yes. What is the matter?”
I know when she begins to get upset, her nose flares making her face red.
I smile trying to ease her…
“Not at all. I was actually going to ask where you bought it from. It smells really nice.”
Truly speaking it does. I see the smile gleaming on her face.
“Really?” “Yes really.”
“Well to be honest, I stole it.”
I cannot believe her! I look at her in disbelief and laugh.
“Wow. What the hell happened to Nozi – my wife?” I ask, still laughing my lungs out. I cannot believe this girl right now. She looks so innocent to be testing all perfumes in store.
“Wow I actually do not know what to say.”
I am inarticulate. She has that brief smile on her face that just makes her stand out. The glow is making me feel uneasy. I do not know what is behind that glow, or maybe it is the products that she bought recently.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
she asks with her eyebrows up. I want to tell her but my mouth will not open.
“I have something to tell you.”
I murmur in strain. She shifts her whole focus on me. The more I try to say it the more I get muted. My ancestors are preventing me from talking.
“What?’ she asks impatiently. Her face now looks somehow snapped. If that is the appropriate way of me saying it. I take a deep breath and I am saved by the doorbell.
She jumps off the couch excitedly. The inversion, turning to 360 degrees. I am left confused in all.
She pushes her legs towards the door. The person has just been saved. I was about to kill myself. I don’t even know what her reaction was going to be. She comes back with two shopping bags written online shopping.
“The way you spend these days, it makes me wonder if we will have money in the future.”
“It's all the savings you have been giving me. I think it's time I need to spoiled myself and forget about reality. What did you want to say?” she asks. I want to jump into another question but my mind has ran out of questions to ask. Something comes to the rescue…
“What do you have in those shopping bags?”
“Just clothes, nothing much. So, I'm waiting you sounded serious.” She is never going to let this go.
“I was thinking that we maybe take a vacation. You only me and you without Zuri.”
I suggest.
Her face looks blank making it hard for me to even read her thinking, as if I can.
“A vacation?” Why is she shocked. It's not like I have not sent her on a vacation before.
“Yes, maybe go to that place where you love the most.”
“Anacondas?”
I laugh. I don’t know why she prefers to call her favorite place ‘Anacondas’.
“It's called Kalimantan, Mangrove Forest. It's in Indonesia.”
“Wait, I need to write this down and goggle it more. How much is it?”
Her mood has risen. It's true when they say – those little things we don’t pay attention to make women happy.
“I don’t know. We will have to calculate the costs first and see were to from here.”
This means I have to work my butt off. Work extra hours if I have too and cut out the sleeping in hotels just because I want to bond with my child that Bagqibile refuses to give birth to. I swallow shivers whenever I think of this.
“I want us to go camping, sightseeing….
I'm looking at her counting all the activities I never knew existed. I need to be here for her as much as I can. Her smile, pure face and heart of gold are what attracted me to her. She is just attractive in so many ways. Woman of substance. She just has a strong character, is very consistent, has more to her than meets the eye and has a variety of interests outside and within her home and family. She is interesting to get to know; she possesses a depth of personality and character.
I can name it all.
“Do you hear me?”
She snaps her finger across my face.
“Whatever you want babe.” I smile. I didn’t hear a word she said. I zoned out thinking about her. She smiles and stands up humming. Shes off to cooking – that I know, I believe we will have a storm today. Whenever her mood is up, she always puts her all in cooking. I switched my phone off. I don’t want any disturbance when she is this happy and lively. Let me put my husband mode on – today I want to cook dinner with her. I will complain about the pain later on…
