Ziphozethu

52

After my nap I went downstairs to make myself tea and a sandwich. "You're up." MaDlamini came in poured herself some fruit juice. "Yep, you working from home?" She nodded and took a sip of her juice. "MaZulu, you know it wouldn't hurt speaking to someone." What was she getting at. "About what?" She cleared her throat awkwardly. "You've been through a lot in the past year and a half. Maybe you should go see someone."

"I'm fine MaDlamini. Stop worrying about me." She got that guilty look on her face again. I didn't like it because I knew the events of the past few months were running through her brain. "MaZulu, you're up. I thought you would sleep all day. Oh, and your wearing pants." This woman wouldn't stop.

"Ma, I'm wearing pants too." Nozipho tried reasoning with her. "You work, MaDlamini. She's a housewife. A housewife wearing pants in the presence of her mother-in-law. She knew I was here and she knew before she came down those stairs that it goes against our culture. Your recovery is done. That means no more pants. When you come down here your head will be covered and you'll be wearing a skirt or a dress."

"Ma, please be reasonable. We're not in the village." Nozipho tried defending me. "We're not but that doesn't mean she should loose all of her respect for our culture. When she first got here she never would have said the things she did at dinner. I have never in my life been so embarrassed. She's been acting like this ever since the two of you got close."

I could see what she was saying was bothering Nozipho. "It's okay. I'll go change. I'm sorry, it just became a habit after I came out if hospital." Everything I said felt wrong but I wasn't in the mood to fight. I was tired. I went upstairs and changed. Buhle walked into my room crying with her blanky and I knew she wanted to sleep. I put her to sleep and went to lay on my bed.

I was bored so I created an Instagram account. I followed MaDlamini but that was it. I liked a couple of her posts and then people caught on. I started getting hundreds of followers. Hundreds that turned into thousands really quickly. I didn't even post anything yet. I just used one of my wedding photos as a profile picture.

"Did you create an Instagram account?" MaDlamini stormed into my room. I just nodded. "Finally! What are you going to post?" I just shrugged. "Nothing for now." She just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Be boring if you want to." I put on the tv and we watched a movie.

"So this is where you two are hiding. I've been calling out to you the whole time." I forced my eyes open. Moses was at the foot of the bed. I didn't even realize I fell asleep. "Come, dinner is ready." Nozipho groaned but got up anyway. "You coming?" I just nodded. He put his hand out for me and seemed surprised when I took it. He helped me up and I went to my bathroom to wash my face. He was still there when I came out so I followed him down to the dining room.

We were eating in peaceful silence when Ma decided to ruin it. "So, I can confidently say that MaZulu and I had a breakthrough today?" What was she talking about? "Oh, that's good. I would really like to see the two of you mend your relationship." Moses really could fall for any bullshit that came out of his mother's mouth.

"Moses don't be fooled." MaDlamini interrupted. "There is as no breakthrough. Ma attacked MaZulu because she was wearing pants in her own home. She was being unreasonable, and the only reason MaZulu did as she said is because she's exhausted. We're all exhausted of having to deal with the elders ruining our marriage." She hasn't spoken like this in a while and the fact that she was defending me really solidified our relationship.

"We can all see that you and MaZulu still haven't worked through losing a child. I know Fikile meant well by sending the ultrasound but it opened old wounds and ma is too dense to see that. She took it as an opportunity to gain control over MaZulu again. Moses if you don't open your eyes you're going to loose everything again. Stop letting history repeat itself." I could see it was weighing heavily on her heart. She was also not okay. None of us were okay.

"Every single time I think you've change. Everytime I think I've changed. Ma if you continue to hurt my wives I'm going to have to ask you not to come back here. This is their home where they are supposed to feel safe. I keep thinking I've gotten over this Mama's boy stage of mine then I fall back into it. You just keep on lying and lying to the point where you've started to believe your own lies. Why don't you want to see me happy?"

"Moses what do you mean? I'm your mother. Obviously I want to see you happy."   I can't imagine what Moses's life is as like before all of this. This woman was a master manipulator.

Dinner was finished at that point. Nobody wanted to carry on eating. I was making Buhle her bottle and making myself tea. I heard someone clearing their throat and looked up to find Moses.

"Can I take a seat?" I just shrugged. "It's your house." I said scooping the powder into the bottle. "Zethu come on." I could hear the hurt in his voice and I felt a little bit guilty. "Fine, do you want some tea?" He nodded excitedly. I made our tea and left Buhle's bottle to cool.

"I know we aren't on good terms but I'm worried about you." I took a sip of my tea and we sat in silence. "Don't you dare go in there!" We heard Nozipho yell. Ma came storming in and started shouting at Moses about us treating her badly.

"You're a witch! Both of you are! You've given my son love potion!" Moses jumped out of his seat and kept her back. "Ma, what's wrong with you?! What have any of us ever done to deserve the treatment we get from you?!" I was so done. I couldn't deal with this anymore.

"Shut up! Shut! Up! I don't give a damn about you or Nozipho! I pushed your marriage because I hated MaDlamini! You're nothing to me! The both of you are nothing to me! The only reason why I made sure you and Moses got married after you lost the baby was because you have royal blood but you're useless! You couldn't even carry a child long enough for it to kick! And just like Nozipho you probably would've failed in producing an heir! You're useless both of you!"

"What the hell!" Noah, Moses brother, and his wife, Nomzamo, walked in. "Moses, don't just stand there!"