Zimpande Zamathonga (unedited)

The Family Dinner

Yolanda is cooking a storm in the kitchen, MaSishi and aunt Grace wanted to assist and she turned them down I guess she's really trying to impress them. She closes her curry pot and she turns to the sink to wash her hands, her phone rings and she answers it heading to the door " ma'am I'm looking for Miss Nkosi" the man in the door says reading on the clip board on his arm, "you're speaking to her" she says wiping her hands with a cloth, "okay please sign for me here and here" she signs and takes the flowers. She bought flowers for MaSishi and aunt Grace, she makes her to the living and she finds them watching TV. She clears her throat and they turn around

"this is for you" she gives aunt Grace flowers with chocolate

"and this is for you Ma" she sits on the sofa across them

"aww thank you mntanami" aunt Grace

"you didn't have to, thank you so much" MaSishi

You can tell they're really happy this was their first light in the Khoza family and they were really pleased, she gets up leaving them speaking about how beautiful the flowers are, she finishes cooking and cleans the kitchen

There's a knock on the door, she rushes to the door and she's met by a tall lady, light skinned with a small waist, she looks like a model of some sort, she's wearing a white mini dress with a short leather jacket and sneakers, her silk her is tied up, they exchange greetings and she directs her to the living room, she was just cold at the beginning but Yolanda didn't mind that she was just smiling the whole time.

The lady insist that she'll chill with her in the kitchen

"go and greet them in the living room" says Yolanda looking at her

"I will, can I have a glass of water" Yolanda opens the fridge and takes a bottle of water and hands it to her "what's your name again?" Yolanda asks with a smile sitting across her on the kitchen table

"Thingo, Thingolwenkosazana" she says twisting the lid of the water bottle

Yolanda's eyes widens, this is the Thingo Qaphelani always speaks about,I mean she doesn't know alot but she knows something

"I'm Yolanda, Qaphelani's fiancé" she emphasizes on the fiancé part, they both laugh and Yolanda goes to the door while Thingo makes her way to the living room to greet MaSishi and aunt Grace, she senses some weird energy from aunt Grace before she even sits down

"sanibona" Thingo (greetings)

"haibo haibo" MaSishi stands up to give her a hug, these two have a strong relationship, Thingo was also genuinely excited to see her they break the hug and Thingo hugs aunt Grace

whistles
whistles
whistles

she screams!, tears escape her eyes and her breathing pattern changes, aunt Grace is standing far scared as F! She's confused as everyone else, everyone runs to the living room

whistles
whistles
whistles

"I'll do it! I'll do it!" she screams and the whistles go on, they're are so sharp, she finds herself in the middle of the river at night, she looks around the only thing she's seeing amanzi, she's trying to find her way back but the whistles are calling her, she tries to turn back one more time but they keep on calling her until she's met by isiziba, she shouts one more time before she falls inside

"I'll do it! I'll marry him! I'll do it!" she falls on the floor, Keisha was standing behind Mvelo with shock, Qaphelani was holding Thingo trying to calm her down through out the whole situation, Khethamahle was standing far from everyone,he doesn't understand why this girl has to go through all of this, Tumi was shit scared behind Qaphelani trying to help, Lunga was just standing crossing his arms with no remorse but with a face screaming 'I told you so', MaSishi was on the floor with a bottle of water.

Qaphelani picks her up to the guest room and places her on the bed, they were able to wake her up and they took a decision that they will let her rest, she'll join them when she's fine

"I'm hungry, kudliwa nini?", everyone looks at Lunga. Yolanda breaks the tension and tells everyone to go to the dining room, she asks Keisha to help her with taking food to the table, Keisha wasn't expecting this, she thoughts she was just a guest, she looks at Mvelo and Mvelo tells her to go while laughing at her.

They gather around the table, Khetha excuses himself on the table and makes his way upstairs, he opens the door, their eyes meet and she looks irritated she takes her phone and turns her whole body away from Khetha, he wants to say she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to but she doesn't have a choice really

"what do you want?" she says with a soft voice

"I'm sure you're not speaking to me" Khetha

Silence

"I'm here to check if you're alright" Khetha

"I'm not okay" she turns to look at him "who wants to get married at this age, I'll marry you next thing I know this old man,wants me to stay kwaBhukula my whole life!, I don't want that I'm meant to see the world, explore! See people" Thingo

"you can't speak about not being able to do things at your age if you can murder an old man"

Silence, it hits her she performed a small ritual at the river after what happened and asked for forgiveness, she's not trying to go back there

"Listen, I'm scared also but if the ancestors say do something, do it because if you don't you might not even get a chance to travel and explore, ngiyakuthanda mina MaZungu, I know it's been quite some time but I don't mind saying this over and over again, I never stopped loving you, if you don't love me anymore, I guess you have to learn to for things to go accordingly I'm not saying right now, today, tomorrow we should be what we were, I know you killed Hlase but I'm still standing here begging you to accept my love again, that's how much I love you" Khetha

She heaves a heavy sigh, she looks at Khetha who was staring at her. Khetha stands up and leaves, she follows him to the dining room. The moment they entered the room, everyone went silent making things awkward for no reason. Yolanda is here to save the day again!

"uhm let me dish up for you" she stands up and dishes up for the both of them and they continue reminding each other about the good days they had when Khoza was still alive

"remember the time you took Thingo home and you came back and told us how he embarrassed you" Tumi says laughing, the whole house burst in laughter they all know the story except for Yolanda and Keisha, they just went with the flow and laughed also.

"so who's this young lady Mvelo, you didn't introduce her to us" aunt Grace says with a smile

"oh this, this is Keisha my girlfriend" he says brushing her thigh with his right hand, Thingo slowly lifts her eyes to them they looked happy, Khetha squeezes Thingo's thigh and she feels some sort of comfort like, she needed that actually.

"oh where are you from Keisha" MaSishi asks while taking a sip of her juice

"oh I live in Cape Town but I'm from Zim" she says wiping her hands with a cloth

"which language do you speak?" Yolanda asks curiously

"shona" (I speak shona)

"what's your surname?" Lunga asks looking at her

She didn't expect this, she didn't think she was going to be asked so many questions but I mean she's with her boyfriend's family what did she expect

"Sibanda" says Mvelo, they continue asking more questions, Thingo and Yolanda clears the table

"I need to go, it was good to see everyone" Thingo says taking her phone on the table

"it was good seeing you too, are you going to be safe with Uber? " MaSishi

"I'll be fine Ma thank you, I'll see you guys soon" that statement makes everyone feel at ease, she has agreed, MaSishi is pleased. Khetha follows Thingo to the door, they get outside and it's bit cold.

"get it in the car" says Khetha

Thingo looks at him and continues to request an Uber

" You have to accept that things are not going to be the same between us, the least we can do is try. So please get inside the car" he says and opens his door

Thingo drags herself to the passenger's sit, Khetha text Qaphelani that he'll see him tomorrow. He drives off