Zenande Okhethiweyo 2

Chapter 12

When I get to the kitchen there is a new addition,Buhle. She looks at me and smiles. I go to her and give her a hug.
"How are you Mrs Zulu?" I ask.
She laughs.
"I'm alright. Nice to have you back" she says and leaves me there.
Just like that? At the hospital I just thought it's because I'm Zano's doctor. I look at her and she is no longer the skinny girl I was friends with. She is a thick babe now,marriage must love her. Nokuzotha is by my side before I even blink.
"Come on let's bake,Dudu and Buhle are cooking" she says.
I laugh at her. The kitchen is big enough for all of us so why not. She gives me an apron and we take out our ingredients. As we mix she tells me more about her girls. By the time we put in the first four pans in the oven we are laughing and giggling like nobody's business. When I look around everybody has left the kitchen.
"Are they done cooking?" I ask.
Nokuzotha nods.
"I'm sure Enhle is in her room,gogo and Anele must be watching TV well Buhle and Dudu must be somewhere gossiping" she says.
I pop my eyes out in surprise.
"What? They are besties now?" I ask surprised.
"Oh yes marriage changed her,that's why I missed you I was all alone here" she says.
And I feel her pain,I would die if she left me alone with those two.
By the time we are done dinner is being served.
Lwandle walks in using a stick,he is impersonating Zano.
"Lwandle Enzokuhle Zulu!" I reprimand.
Everybody looks at him and laughs. I look at Zano and he is laughing also.
"And where is your brother?" I ask.
"I'm here mommy" he says also running through the door.
I check my wrist watch and it reads seven o'clock.
"What were you doing out there so late?" I ask.
"Mommy we were at the veranda with umkhulu" Lwandile says.
I look at Baba and he nods. Lwandle starts speaking but I shut him up.
"Ah ah I don't want to hear it,go throw that stick away and I want both your hands clean before I come back" I say and walk to the lounge area.
Gogo is still sitting there.

"Gogo dinner is ready" I say.
She looks at me and pats the space next to her. I sit down next to her.
"Being a wife in this family is never easy,I know why you left but I hope that will never happen again. How are we supposed to build a family when one can just run away for five years? We face whatever challenge head on,life is short you have to keep that in mind" she says softly.
I nod my head.
"It won't happen again" I say.
"Good. Now I heard Zano say that you no longer love him, have you found a new man?" She asks.
"No gogo" I say.
"What made you realise that you don't love him?" She asks.
"The day at the hospital when Dudu slapped Lwa" I say.
"That was just anger talking. You have been gone for five years and you shut any type of feeling for a man out especially him because that would have brought you back in a week. All im saying is open up that part of you again,he is still the same man you love and he is still the same man that got you pregnant" she says.
I look away embarassed.
"All im saying is that open yourself to what you have been running from and if it still doesn't work then I will go to Cele myself " she says with a smile.
I nod. She looks even more old but she is still strong.
"Let's go and eat then" she says trying to stand up.
I stand up and help her. I take a cushion from the sofa and walk with her. Everybody is already sitting down. I pull out a chair for gogo and place the cushion then she sits. I hope she is comfortable,the poor thing has grown old.
"Thank you makoti" she says.
The only free chair is in between Baba and Dudu.
I sigh.
Nokuzotha gives me the sorry look so I smile and take a seat. Baba says grace and we all dish up after that. The children are eating in the kitchen so I'm not sure if the boys washed their dirty hands.
"Sisi did the children wash their hands?" I ask Nokuzotha.
She smiles and nods.
"What did you threaten Lwa with he was the first one to wash his hands,he even washed them twice" she says laughing.
Baba, Siphephelo and Zano laugh.
Baba is sitting at the head of the table,me on his right,Dudu next to me and Zano next to her. Siphephelo on his left,Nokuzotha next to him,Siyanda next to her and Anele next to him.
"Their Zulu is so fluent,i haven't heard them utter a single English word since they got here" Anele says.
"Well of course they are Zulu men what would they be doing speaking a foreign language?" Zano says and we laugh.
"But their Zulu is more fluent than the kids that actually grew up here,how did you do it?" Nokuzotha asks.
I laugh because they seem like they all want to know by the way they are looking at me.
"They had a tutor,he is right here from this village but now he lives in Italy. They probably know a lot more about this place more than me" I say.
"How did you find him?" Zano asks.
"Actually he found me. I was on campus and he recognised me from a medical paper I wrote,at school I was Karina Zulu so he came up to me and asked why is it that an Italian girl has a Zulu surname. I told him that I'm married and showed him the form I had with me it was written Mrs Zulu. He said something in IsiZulu and I replied. Then I asked him to tutor the boys so he could get extra money" I say.
"So he didn't ask you out?" Siphephelo asks.
I laugh. Trust him to think of that.
"Would you ask out Zanothando's wife?" I ask him and they all laugh. Except Dudu.
"He did good" Siyanda says.
I don't know if it's about the boys or the fact that he didn't hit on me but since all the boys are nodding I guess it's the second reason.
"Why were you using Karina? You didn't want Zano to find you?" Dudu asks.
"Uhm no... I just wanted to be my  father's daughter anyway if Zano remembered me he would have found me even if I changed my name and face" I say shrugging.
They laugh knowing Zano very well.
"When did you find out that you didn't lose all the boys?" Anele asks.
"A day before she gave birth" Zano says before I even answer.
They all look at him like he is lying.
"He is right but to my defence I wasn't in a right state of mind and when I found out the doctor said I was due in a week but the boys didn't wait that long" I say.
They look at me and nod.
"Her tummy wasn't big though I also wouldn't have noticed" Zano says and they look at him again.
"The pregnancy pictures I saw on Instagram didn't have a small tummy" Anele says and we laugh.
"That was long after the boys were born" Zano says.
"It was a fake tummy" Enhle adds she also knows about it.
"I had to do the shoot because I didn't have any of my pictures to post. It was so the world knew that I'm a mother" i say.
They all agree,we continue dinner over small talk here and there.