Broken

*20*

Mo stared at her reflection in the mirror. She looked beautiful in the pitch black mermaid dress with the bottom ruffles being a black and red ombre but at the same time she wished that Thabile was here to hype her up. It had been weeks since they had last spoke and Mo missed her dearly. She grabbed her phone and deciding not to think about it too much, she called her.
The phone rang and rang but no one was picking up until vodacom cut the call. She called again and this time, someone answered.

"Hello?" It was a man's voice.

Surprised, Mo stared at the phone then put it back to her ear. "Hi. Where is the owner of this phone?"

"I'm sorry... Are you her family?"

Mo began to panic. "I'm her sister," she said in a trembling voice. "Where's Thabile?"

"I'm so sorry-"

"STOP SAYING THAT YOU ARE FREAKING SORRY AND TELL ME WHERE MY SISTER IS!!" Mo yelled in the fitting room.

"This is nurse Mpiti from Tshepong Hospital-hello? Are you still there? Hello?"

Mo had long fainted when she heard the word Tshepong.

Someone was fanning her as her eyes fluttered open. It took a while before she remembered the strange surrounding as well as the many staff of the boutique surrounding her.

"Here!" someone was yelling. "Give her some water."

Mo felt a cold bottle on her mouth and she drank deeply from it as her throat felt dry and her lips parched. "What happened?" she croaked.

"You fainted," one of the staff members said to her. "A woman in the fitting room next to yours heard you fall and alerted us. What happened in there?"

"I..I don't know..." Mo rubbed her temples trying to remember what had happened. Then she suddenly cried, "My phone?! Where's my phone?"

"Here." Another staff member gave her the phone. "It was in the fitting room."

Mo redialled the last number on her call log and almost immediately, a familiar voice answered.

"What do you want?"

"Thabile?! You're OK?" Mo sighed with relief. "Thank goodness! You're OK! I'm coming over there right now! Give me half an hour! Do you have your clothes? Don't mind, I'll bring you your clothes-is the key still where you usually leave it and did you eat-"

"Mo, what the heck?!" Thabile yelled.

"I know that hospital food is terrible and I promise I'll bring you that Peri Peri chicken you love so much-the nurse wouldn't tell me what was wrong with you and-"

"Amohelang Leballo! Just shut up and listen! I just fainted, OK? I'm fine. My blood sugar levels were low. But I'm fine."

"I'm still coming either way-"

Thabile snort-laughed fondly. "You're so stubborn and it's one of the things that I love and hate about you."

"I miss you." Mo bit her lower lip in a pondering manner. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. I miss you as well, sweetheart. I can't wait to see you and don't you dare forget my Peri Peri chicken. Bring some for Aphiwe too. She refuses to leave my side."

Mo looked up at the ceiling. Thabile still didn't know that she knew about Aphiwe's paternity. It was information that she had decided to keep to herself and her argument with herself was that she had no business whatsoever with using this information as she and Rea were broken up. This meant it did not affect her in any way since she had no ties to him anymore.

"Are you still there? Mo?"

"I'll see you in a bit." Mo cut the call and looked up at the staff who had stayed with her to make sure that she was OK. "I'll take that red dress. Thank you. And add the black block heels to go with them."
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After making sure that Thabile was comfortably nestled in her house, Mo drove Aphiwe to her 'father's house. Thabile had asked that she take the little girl home since she would not be able to properly take care of her in her state. When Mo asked her what she meant by 'in her state' since she looked perfectly fine, Thabile turned a deaf ear and pretended she was exhausted.

Omphile was very happy when he saw them coming out of the car and welcomed them inside. While Aphiwe went to go and stuff her face in the kitchen, he turned to Mo and out of the blue, gave her a hug. Mo returned it with equal enthusiasm.

"Thank you so much! I couldn't have done this without you." Omphile sniffed and let go of her. "I thought I would never see my daughter ever again. How's her mother?"

Mo smiled. "Better than ever. She says hi."

Omphile laughed deeply. "Thabile would never say hi to me especially after all that I did to her but thanks for trying."

"So... You got Aphiwe covered for the weekend, right? I have to get going. I have a dinner to get ready for."

"Thanks again, Mo. I owe you one."

"I didn't really do anything but have a great night. PHIWE!" she yelled. "AUNTY'S LEAVING!"

Aphiwe came running out of the kitchen with a bag of Beacon marshmallows. She gave it to Mo who kissed her goodbye. "Kea u rata, oa nkutloa? (I love you, OK?)"

"Kea u rata le nna, (I love you too)." Aphiwe smiled then ran back to the kitchen as Mo waved goodbye and got into her car then drove off into the night.

Within the next hour, Mo used her phone to organise a venue as well as catering for her event. She made a few calls to her contacts and then sent out invitations to the employees and investors and many other people she wanted to celebrate with. The clock struck 6 and it was show time.
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Ntate Moshe was there to pick her up like they had planned and he drove them to the guest house at which they were celebrating.

As he pulled up into the courtyard, Mo could see that the parking lot was filled with various models of cars and it made it impossible for them to find parking.

"Ms Mo, just go right ahead and I will find parking. We can't waste your time because of parking. Go and dazzle those people inside and make sure that they realise how good a boss you are."

Mo smiled and stepped out of the car at the entrance of the guest house hall. The strapless mermaid dress accentuated her figure, displaying it to its best angles then dipped out at the bottom while her natural makeup brought out her best features, highlighting her almost flat nose and her cheekbones. Her lips popped with the red and black ombre lipstick. Her usually long black weave had been transformed into a short bob with auburn tips, curling to the inside.
She was indeed a sight to behold.

As soon as she stepped into the hall, an ear deafening round of applause broke out. She smiled and walked down the grey carpet that led to the platform at the front of the hall. Looking around, she saw many familiar faces but the one that stood out for her was that of her mother's.

"Ma?!" she exclaimed but her mother motioned for her to keep going on. Her smile widened as she saw that her mother was standing next to a white man who had his arm protectively wrapped around her now showing belly.

When she reached the podium, the guests began to chant "Speech! Speech! Speech!"

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," she said into the microphone that had been placed before her. "I'm so pleased to have you all here. I'm not gonna be long. As you know, every half year, we show appreciation to everyone who contributed in making this trucking company a possibility by having this wonderful event. I wanna make a toast."

A waiter brought her a glass of champagne and she raised it.

"We have been taken to greater heights by everyone who is present here and I would like to commend you for working hard and making this company what it is today. But we are not here to talk. We're here to drink, eat, dance, have fun! Here's to all of you-people who are present here! Have fun and drink until you don't even know your name anymore!"

She downed her glass of champagne in one go and everybody, clapping and cheering, followed with their drinks as they began to socialise and dance as music blasted throughout the hall.