HIS ROYAL BRIDE

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 22

I was right. Hellen is no longer of this realm. The police were called, the body was packed away and statements were taken. The work day was cut short and people left the crime scene, shocked as they were. I am sitting with Kurhula in his car in the parking lot. I have his tie in my hand and no idea how to comfort him. He keeps rubbing my hand in silence as I cry. I literally have no idea who this Hellen woman is but I am carrying all her pain on my shoulders. I hope her family comes to fetch her spirit from the corridor. Apparently she’s from the North West.
‘This is crazy’
He is saying this for the third time now. I can’t say I blame him. A woman just died right in front of us. I wipe my tears and drink some of the water I found in his car. I don’t even know how long this bottle has been sitting in here but it doesn’t taste nor smell bad.
‘Are you gonna go to the funeral?’ I randomly ask. He turns his face in my direction and his big eyes face me.
‘Traditionally, I can’t…’ he simply says and waits for me to respond. That look tells me that he is waiting for me to say something.
‘So, that guy was right? You were sleeping with her?’
He pulls in some air. He’s still holding my hand.
‘It was a long time ago. I doubt this was about me’
‘Exactly how long is a long time ago?’ I need to know.
‘Way before we met. We blurred the lines a couple of times. I didn’t even know there was someone in her life’
‘Mlambya, you haven’t answered my question’
‘Three/four months ago’
‘That’s yesterday. What makes you believe that this wasn’t about you?’
‘I don’t see how he could’ve found out. Nobody knew and I wouldn’t call what we had a relationship like that. We had… a dalliance of some sort’
‘An office affair?’
‘I wouldn’t call it that either. The first time it happened, we were working late and she needed my opinion on a case. I had to drop her off and she offered me coffee’
‘Then one thing typically led to another?’
He nods.
‘The second time?’
‘She called in the middle of the night. She said she wasn’t feeling safe but not even once did she mention this psychopath’
Logic tells me that I have no right to be feeling jealous right now but that’s not being successful at stopping me from feeling this way anyway.
‘How are you feeling?’ I ask. He puts his head against his seat again.
‘I don’t know, mixed emotions. That whole incident just brought back memories I thought I’d never have to deal with again. Some I had managed to push back but everything just came flooding back’
His parents.
‘Have you tried therapy?’
He starts the car. When it gets on the road I know that I’ll never have the answer to this question.
‘I have something to tell you’ I confess. He glances at me and continues driving. He’s already in a bad mood but I am just gonna say this because this is nothing compared to your sneaky link dying right in front of you.
‘I’m waiting’ he reminds.
‘I was speaking to my dad about this whole apology issue’
‘And?’
‘I don’t appreciate how he’s going about this and I’ve stated this from day one’
He goes quiet, waiting for me to get to the point.
‘I managed to convince him to drop this whole thing’
He raises his brow – looking very distrustful. He sniffs his upper lip and keeps his hand on the steering wheel.
‘You don’t sound believable. Why is that?’
‘Because…’ I’m stuck. I distort my lip as I think of a palatable way to package this. The look in his eyes tells me I’m taxing his patience. He releases a sharp sigh.
‘What have you done Kulani? You suddenly sound guilty’
‘You will not like this one bit…’
‘U endle yini manjhe mbilu ya Kurhula?’ (What did you do?) his tone is exhausted.
‘He decided that he no longer wants an apology from you…’
‘There’s a but somewhere in there’
‘He wants an apology from Fikani’
He laughs and brings the window down. He’s mad.
‘Do you realize that you’re putting me under the mercy of that bloody fool?’
‘We’ve spoken about this. Fikani wasn’t himself when—’
‘I do not care, quite frankly. He’s ruined a lot of things. Even your father was assuming that I’m the one who inflicted all these bruises on you. I am pretty certain he’s not the only one’
‘That’s not true’ I try to console.
‘I don’t mind giving into your father’s demands. And this was an opportunity for me to actually prove that I want you in my life; that I’m not only in this because it was arranged. It’s important that he knows that’
‘He does. I have told him how I feel about you’
‘It’s not the same thing. Now I have to beg that son of a bxtch to help me bring my wife home when all of this is his fault’
‘Can you stop calling him that?’
‘What? A son of a bxtch?’
‘Yes!’
‘Why should I stop calling a son of bxtch, a son of a bxtch?’
I don’t even know why I have the urge to laugh right now because I have had it with him.
‘You better not teach AK this filthy language of yours’
‘That’s my son through and through. Genetics will do all the work for me’ he jabs back. He is actually lying. Akani is more like Fikani than he is like his biological father. At first glance and impressions, they’re both shy and reserved. They even laugh the same way. They have this thing they do of ending their laughter with this ‘ahha’ sound I don’t get. I keep quiet to avoid rubbing up this grumpy bear behind the steering wheel the wrong way.