Distanced but Destined(A South African love story)

Chapter 14

"Ukhololwami ngonyuka nalo
Ukhololwami ngonyuka nalo ngilubambe ngesandla ngiyongena nalo ekhaya ezulwini
Ukhololwami ngonyuka nalo
Ukhololwami ngonyuka nalo ngilubambe ngesandla ngiyongena nalo ekhaya ezulwini"

I could hear church ladies singing, but where were where they from? My mom hated black churches, she'd rather get drunk than go to a black chruch. I slowly tried opening my eyes and the bright lights blinded me. I'm sure they saw me moving my eyes because all the voices around me began rejoicing. Was I in heaven? Were these angels joyous about my arrival? I didn't want to face the music so I turned my body and fell into a deep sleep again.

"She hasn't opened her eyes for quite a while so it will take her a few days to get used to her surroundings. But she'll be fine, Doctor Steyn promised me that"
I still couldn't open my eyes but I was sure that that was my mother's voice. Despite everything that happened, I missed her so much. And as days passed I could hear all my friends who came for regular visits. "How many months are you now?" "About four and a half. She's growing really fast" Nosipho said. "And school?" Lesa asked. "No, I'm not going there. I'll just study from home where my mom can take care of me and little Nosi here. But I'm worried about Nompi" "yea me too. I had big dreams for us, I really hoped we'd study together in Jo'burg" "She will be there girls don't worry, just not for the first semester" my mother said.

Days went by, I listened to conversations and would occasionally smile, but I doubt they saw my smile. Everyone was getting along because of me, praying for me. Sitting beside my bed and telling me stories every single day.

I opened my eyes and turned to face a makeup-less, weave-less Sindiswa Sono. My mother looked her worst and I have never seen her like this. She had scars I had never seen before on her face and huge bags under her eyes. Judging from the tiredness written on her face, she didn't go home, nor did she sleep. I turned my body to face her but my back hurt, a lot. "Shh. Don't move baby, it's alright" she said. "Why does it hurt so much? What happened to me" I asked. She sat down on my bed, "You fell baby" "my exams! The economics exam was postponed but I'm writing Afrikaans Paper 2 on Monday. I need to get out of here" I said. "Awukwazi Nompilo!" I struggled around my bed. "Ngobani ma?" "Because you missed it all. You've been in a coma for a month and a half. The principal agreed to let you write your exams in February but you'll begin tertiary in the second semester"

I paused for a moment. "But it was just yesterday when I was pushed down the stairs, I mean I've been alseep for a few hours" She shook her head. "Mike has been behind bars since
The doctor said you're fine, but your body's going to hurt a little. And you broke your ankle. I was given strict instructions to buy you pumps only" she laughed, with tears in her eyes. "Mama, can you tell me the truth, the whole truth?" I begged. She looked uncomfortable but still tried to smile. "I guess I owe you that much neh. Well I fell in love with Miles in varsity, we had been together for two years when he decided to play a life-swap game with his twin brother Mike, which I didn't know he had. I fell in love with Mike, even more than Miles. When they told me about what they had done I found it hard to forgive Miles, not only because he had made me fool but also because he was the reason why I fell in love with Mike. After that I married your father, but the business trips got longer and I got lonely so I'd often call Miles just to catch up, with wine. That slowly developed into a relationship. Then jail came, Mike didn't go to jail, you gave him that scar when he raped you for the very first time. You didn't know what he was doing but it hurt you and you tried to get rid of the person causing the pain, you stabbed him. That also didn't stop him, yes I knew about it but I thought he only did it once. He had begged me to forgive him, he said he was high on cocaine and that he didn't know what he was doing, so I forgave him. We tried to get rid of your father, by framing him, but that also didn't work because he wasn't found guilty of fraud. It didn't really take long for me to realise what an animal he is" "And how does Maria know about all of this?" I asked. "Maria was my best friend, but then she turned against me and I promised to fire her and sue her for defamation if she told anyone about what happened" I moved my body really slowly, with the help of my mother and tried to sit up.

"But why Ma. You knew what he had done and you didn't tell me. What kind of mother does that?" I asked. "Nompilo it wasn't easy. I wanted to blurt it out, but I couldn't. I'm sorry" tears made their way down my cheeks, "What kind of a mother are you? Are you even a mother, am I your daughter?" "Yes my baby you are. I love you Nompilo and I promise to do things right this year, to do them different" "I'm guessing you had to wait for 2016 to be the so called perfect mother" I turned my head and faced the table.

There were balloons, flowers, teddy bears and cards all around. My mom saw me looking at them in shock and chuckled. "Your friends were here. Nosi, Nolwazi, Lesa, Sinothando, Teejay, Sizwe, Baldy and even Prince Nkosinathi. And then there were two coloured girls named Faye and Karabo who told me to tell you that the party was fun, but your presence was missed" I smiled when I heard that. I can't believe so many people actually came to see me, now I knew who would be at my funeral if I died today. "Did anyone named Andre come? Or did you hear anything about him?" my mother put on her thinking face and turned back to me. "No one with that name was here kodwa I remember Karabo saying something about an Andre going back to Johannesburg. Ngobani, who is this Andre?" I closed my eyes as soon as I heard the devastating news, "It's just someone, one of my friends" I said that to stop my mother from asking questions.

Just then a man in a black suit rushed in and knelt by my bed. "My baby, I'm sorry. I came as soon as I heard" he said. His voice was breaking and he was shaking. I tried to look at him but I couldn't recognise him. Who is this man?

Translation
Awukwazi - you can't
Ngobani - why
Kodwa - but
Ukhololwami is a traditional South African song sung at churches and funerals. Translated it says, I will hold my faith with my hand and enter the gates of heaven, my home (not a direct translation)
Author's note
Celebrating my achievement of over 1k readers. People have been asking why I'm celebrating such, its not a big achievement but I feel like it is. This for me is the first step to greatness. First step to having over 100k readers. I just want to thank you guys for reading and voting and commenting. Wattpad doesn't really pay much attention to stories written in indigenous languages and I want us to change that. Can we please make #DistancedButDestined the first multilingual story to be recognised on Wattpad. Keep reading, sharing, voting and commenting.
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