HIS ROYAL BRIDE

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 28

[MABONTLE]

We are seated on his cold floor and he is holding me from behind. I am in the arms of a man I don’t know and although nauseating to admit, it is somewhat calming and comfortable. My hands have stopped shaking and I’m getting my breathing under control.
‘Tell me your favourite childhood memory’ he softly speaks, directly into my ear. His voice just rippled down my spine.
‘Childhood?’
He nods over my shoulder. I laugh lightly when the first thing hops into my mind.
‘I burnt my mother’s Christmas cookies’
‘And how did that happen?’
‘I don’t know. I turned up the heat with the logic that it will make them ready a lot quicker’
He laughs as well.
‘And how did she react to that?’
‘I was six at the time. She was defeated. She kept laughing non-stop, to a point where she had to pull out a chair and sit down because she legit did not know how to address my thought process. I have a lot of memories but that’s what was first in my head’
‘She never beat you for it?’
I shake my head. ‘My mother has never laid a hand on me. She’d always opt for other ways of punishment. What’s yours?’
‘My favourite childhood memory?’ he sounds surprised that I’m even asking. I nod. He goes silent. Probably still thinking about it.
‘I don’t think I have one’
‘Come on?’
‘Honestly but if I had to mention something to save two lives, I’d say the moment I got my first job and could afford to help my mother out, even though it wasn’t much’
‘Childhood???’
‘Yeah, I was ten’
‘What kind of a job was that?’
‘Moving bricks for my neighbour’ – he huffs – ‘Sometimes I wonder if he hired me because he really need me or if he was just looking for a way to be generous without looking like he’s running a charity’
‘At ten? Moving them how? As in a delivery guy?’
‘No. He sold bricks from his yard. After he made them and they’d dried up, I had to help pack them away nicely’
‘I’m sorry you had to go through that’
He chuckles. ‘It was necessary, I guess. Character development typa shii’
Does he ever take anything seriously?
‘He hired the both of you?’ I ask.
‘Huh?’
‘You and your twin’
‘No. We didn’t grow up together. I never actually knew he existed up until recently. Long story…’
This is my first-time hearing of twins that actually grew up apart in real life. I thought this started and ended in overly dramatic movies. He’s gonna have to give me more that. I am not signing up to be haunted by his half-stories and question marks.
‘Unpack that long story’
‘Ah Bontle…’
‘Please. It’s calming me down’
‘Listen to you being manipulative’
We laugh.
‘Okay fine. So, if things went according to the laws of nature, I would’ve been raised in some place called Mkhuhlu, in a royal house. However, I was the one who was given away. Apparently it was either that or one of us dies. That’s the long and short of it’
‘Dies how?’
‘They would’ve killed either me or him’
We both go dead silent after this. He’s really not interested in talking about this. His voice has died. I am curious why they could not be raised in the same place but I’m not one to trigger people. I think I’ve pushed him too far. I don’t know. I do not know him. I have always found it fascinating how you could easily meet someone in the street and conclude at first sight that they have a pretty straightforward life whereas we’re all just walking around with layers upon layers of trauma, scathed by randomness of the hells of life.
‘While we wait for this code reset, let me make you something to eat’
‘I’m really okay’
He stands up either way. ‘I am many things but a terrible host is not one of them’
He gets up and offers me both his hands for support. I follow him. I sit and keep him company while he gets started on supper.
‘What are you making?’
‘Pap and chicken’ he answers while taking out the pre-chopped cabbage from the fridge.
I nod and sip on the wine that he offered to me earlier.
‘So I just came from home’ he states while washing the chicken thighs. I sit in silence and wait for him to extend this. He puts the pot on the stove and comes to sit on the chair next to me.
‘I went for a consultation with a healer that my aunt recommended’
‘Okay?’
‘The aim was to look for answers based on my own life but I ended up asking about you as well’
‘About me?’
He nods. I don’t know how I feel about this. How do these things work? How do you consult on behalf of someone? I believe this is how witchcraft starts.
‘And you got answers?’
He nods again. I laugh.
‘What game are you playing Fikani?’
‘No game at all. Your father lives in a nearby village to mine’
I widen my eyes. What are the odds? I’m still stuck on him consulting on my behalf but I’m more interested in what he has just said. The maintenance people park outside. I have been waiting for these people to arrive and they decide to get their timing wrong. He goes to the door while speaking to them on the phone. They are resetting it from outside. The process is quick and the door opens in fleeting minutes. He greets them in person and thanks them for arriving at such a time. I check on the meat because the onions were starting to burn. She walks in before and I freeze. Somehow, for some odd reason, I expected something like this. Men cannot be trusted and the fact that I am behind his stove sends a completely wrong message.
‘Tumi, what are you doing here?’ he asks. She is noticeably appalled.
‘Your face looks too familiar man. Where do I know you from and what are you doing in my house? Are you not the doctor that… hayi man ke wena!’
‘Tumi’ he calmly calls again. ‘I asked you a question’
‘I haven’t been gone for long and you’re already inviting whxres into my house?’
He sighs. ‘We’re no longer together, remember? This is what you wanted’
‘Uhm… this is not what it looks like, I promise you. I was just here to—’
She charges towards me and I run round the counter. I have never been good at fighting and this area is full of deadly weapons. I am not taking chances over something that doesn’t even exist. Fikani gets in between us and I stand behind him.
‘Can you kindly stop this madness?’ he says. I’m still using him as a shield. She’s livid and if she gets her hands on me, it’s definitely tickets. She stops and holds both sides of her waist.
‘So… this is it?’ she asks.
‘What do you want from me, Boitumelo?’
Can he just tell her that we are not an item already?
She nods a couple of times, disbelief painted all over her face in bold.
‘Tumi, please just—’
‘I’m not interested in anything you have to say. You knew that this man is married aker? Aker? So I don’t negotiate with homewreckers!’ she cuts in while I’m trying to deaden the violent energy flying around here.
‘What’s with the name-calling?’ Fikani asks. He is not as bothered as he should be.
‘Okay. I’m just going to grab my bag and see my way out’
‘You asked why I’m here. I came to tell you that I’m pregnant’ she drops the bomb. He pulls his head back.
‘Pardon?’
She keeps her eyes to the floor. ‘You heard me’
‘How far?’
‘Uhm… I don’t yet. I took a basic home test not so long ago’
This information has him frazzled. Okay, this is my que to leave.
‘I need to get to work’ I excuse myself and walk towards my bag and shoes. I don’t even look back when I shoot past the open door. I need to get my behind out of here before I wrongfully find myself as a statistic of sidechick causalities.