SIKOLETHU MBATHA
"Baby vuka." He says softly shaking me. I bury my face in the pillow annoyed.
Me : "Yini manje Lwandle!?" (What is it now?)
Lwandle : "Im taking you somewhere so you better get your lil pretty ass up!" He says softly in my ear then licks it.
Me : " euww stop!" I hear him chuckle.
Lwandle : "Come baby , the food will get cold ke." I finally sit up , he smiles at me before grabbing me by neck and kisses me passionately.
Lwandle : "Sawubona bambo lami." He says in his deep voice.
Me : "Hi." He chuckles and takes the tray with food from the bedside and places it on the bed.
Lwandle : "Let's eat , we have a long way to go." He says feeding me toast after kissing my forehead. After breakfast we showered and im wearing his black sweatpants and a brown hoodie with the slides i came wearing the other day. We've been cooped up in his hotel room since the day of the lunch. I seriously look like a hobo in this outfit.
Lwandle : "Wamuhle Sthando wami."
Me : "Stop playing with me Lwa , i look like a hobo."
Lwandle : "Well yeah , a pretty sexy hobo baby." I roll my eyes , he grabs his keys , wallet and phone then we head out.
After hours on the roads leading to Durban , he parks the car in some small building.
Me : "What are we doing here?" He ignores me and gets out of the car.
Lwandle : "Come baby." He says opening the door for me. We walk towards the entrance and go to the receptionist.
Receptionist : "Good day sir & ma'am. Welcome to Durban and Coast Mental health. How may i help you?!" She says sounding like a robot.
Lwandle : "A booking for Mr Zulu."
Receptionist : "Let me check." I suddenly feel sad , like i want to cry ; bawl my eyes out.
Lwandle : "You okay baby?" He asks after pecking my lips. I nod.
Receptionist : "Right! Your booking has been confirmed , I'll get a nurse to take you to his ward. We nod and sit on the benches, i lay my head on his shoulder. A nurse walks to us and smiles
Nurse : "Greetings Mr and Mrs Zulu. Please follow me." We follow her down the hallway until we reach a door at the end of the hallway.
Nurse : "Please don't come in as yet." She enters and we can hear her telling the person in the room that there's visitors. The nurse lets us in eventually
Man : "Mela? Sikolethu?" He says looking at me. I turn to Lwandle
Me : "Is that...my..?" He nods smiling.
Man : "Woza mntanam." I go over to him and he hugs me tightly , we both weep.
Man : "I thought i had lost you. Im happy to finally meet you my baby." He says kissing my head.
Lwandle : "I'll give you guys some space."
Man : "No , don't mkhwenyana. Sit with us but be quiet." I giggle.
Me : "They said you sick but you look fine to me."
Man : "Leave that. Im Vusumuzi , your father."
Me : "Oh. How did you end up here?"
Dad : "We'll get to that mntanam. Where do you stay?"
Me : "I'm currently staying at the palace with your brother , his wife and kids."
Dad : "Son , is there a way you can take her to my house and stay with her? I know it's not a right thing to make y'all stay together when y'all not married but it's for a little while. I just don't want her in that place."
Lwandle : "It's okay baba but are you sure she will be safe in your house?"
Dad : "Nobody knows of that house , it was a house i had built for Manto before she left."
Me : "You had built it for mama? What happened between you two vele?"
Dad : "You are very curious just like your mother. Me and your mother were happy until the elders and my parents made a business deal with a kingdom in Swazi in exchange they married me to some woman i didn't even know. Your mother tried to make me see reason and forgive my parents so she was okay with us trying to make isthembu sethu work. Months later your mother started getting sick regularly and Sijadu told us someone close to us is trying to make your mother loose you so we suggested that she goes to her parents house until she gives birth then only she can be back. When the day came for me to fetch y'all , i was told she left long ago with you. I tried tracking her down , i hired Private investigators but it was like she disappeared from earth. Five years down the line , someone came up to me with information about my second wife planning to take you and your mother out because she wanted your mother's position ; i didn't believe it at first because the same person who came to me with the evidence and information is the same person who's wanted the throne. Months later things were just going south in the kingdom and your big brother got shot at the mall and died on the spot , i was told there was a shootout in the mall that he was in. I was angry so i got people to look up the whole thing and i found out that my brother had hired those people to shoot at the mall and make sure that my son hers killed. I did want to confront him but i wasn't strong enough for the truth of how my only brother hates me. A while later i also found out that my second wife is in some cult and was sleeping with my brother , i kept quiet and continued gathering evidences. The only person i trusted was my cousin brother who stood by me in everything , he helped me plan a way to take those two snakes out. Two weeks later , the evidence disappeared and my cousin was killed. I had a minor heart attack and during my stay in hospital , i was feeling weird. Everytime i woke up from a nap I'd wake up feeling woozy until this one day i woke up to my second wife injecting something in my drip , she saw that i saw her but she didn't care , her eyes were cold and devilish as she walked up to me and forced me to drink some pills. She did this everyday and i felt like i wasnt myself all the time , the hospital then detected that i was crazy after i had a breakdown wanting to strangle my brother when he came to see me. I was transferred to some asylum since I was 'crazy and a danger to everyone'. In that hospital i was fed more pills that made me feel like i wasn't myself."
Me : "I can't believe how they made themselves seem like good people." I say crying.
Dad : "Don't cry nkosazana. I'm fine now , your boyfriend has helped me. Those two devils don't know that i was transferred from their hospital. Don't worry now okay?" I nod. His embrace is so warm.
Me : "Do you think aunt knew?"
Dad : "No she doesn't know anything and your mother could also not help me. She visited me like five years ago , the beginning of the year when she just had found out what they did to me , she promised to get me help."
Me : "She died five years ago. I guess that explains her monthly trips , she would go somewhere once every month and come back with files that she didn't want me to see , she'd hide them from me."
Dad : "She died?"
Me : "Yes , she became sick suddenly."
Dad : "But...shit!" He says softly with tears in his eyes.
Me : "it's okay dad , we can..."
Dad : "No! When your mother visited me in January then again in September. She always gave me an update about you and the second last time she visited me , things escalated and we lost track of time , she left at night."
Me : "You mean like y'all had sex?!" I'm shocked and disgusted , the thought of my parents doing that nje euwww! It doesn't help that my father is blushing this much.
Dad : "Yes and a month later , she came again and she told me she was pregnant." He says with his voice breaking a bit.
Me : "Mom was pregnant?!"
