Secrets are like decay worms. The more one tries to conceal them away, the impossible it gets by each minute, especially where blackmail has its oily nose deep in the can. Evelyn kept pacing her bedroom, not knowing where to start scratching the itching rash that is Mbhekiseni. She knew hard and well that he wasn’t going to stop seeing her as an ATM machine at the corner of his dog house, for his consistent convenience. She dropped all her weight on the bed and stood up a second later, marching out to Manqoba’s study.
"Ma?", Manqoba stood up from the chair behind his desk. She wasn't in the best shape of herself. He sat down on the couch next to her.
"What's wrong?"-Manqoba
"Son I'm in trouble"
"Surely it's nothing we can't solve. Tell me what's wrong?
"Mbhekiseni knows about Mthokozisi"
"Let's start here, who is Mthokozisi?"
Evelyn swallowed before answering the question.
"Umntwana ka Muzi"(Muzi's son), she reported.
"You have lost me"
"Muzi has a son he doesn't know what. I am responsible for the conception of that son. All this happened 17 years ago, after Bab'Ngema told us that uMaDlamini was to fall pregnant"
Manqoba popped his eyes.
"Wait. What? Where is this son? Is he well taken care of? How come... ma?!"
"He is well taken care of. That goes without saying"
…
Enhle eventually arrived at Muhluri’s place. She raised her good hand to knock but retracted it in doubt. She shortly demolished the doubt and went ahead to knock. He opened the door and welcomed her in with a smile, breaking all the walls protecting her forced calm and put-togetherness, leaving her feeling emotionally naked and exposed. She bent her lip, trying hard to convince her face that she was not internally falling apart.
“Heyyy, kas’ what’s wrong?, his question was laced with concern when he pulled her gently inside for a hug as an attempt to comfort her. The door closed itself when he let it go, then she wept like a little girl who got stood up by the tooth fairy.
“What happened?”-Muhluri, he questioned as he carefully broke the hug to inspect her hand.
“May I?”, he felt he needed permission to undo the bandage. She nodded, with a mess for a face.
He proceeded to slowly and considerately remove it, easing up when she flinched of pain. He tensed his brows at the sign of the swollen hand. All this was being done in silence.
“Try to move your fingers ni vona”(…so I can see). She did exactly that. With pained difficulty, she was able to, except here index finger.
“Bend it into a fist”, he grimly instructed and she obeyed.
“You might have torn some tendons but I don’t think there’s anything broken. However, we will still need to do an X-ray. Can you see how bad the swelling is?”
She nodded.
“Let me get you some aspirin for the acute inflammation but first, we need to get you cleaned up”
He declared before gesturing with his hands for her to walk in the direction of the bedrooms.
Curiosity got the better of her.
“Where’s your wife?” , she asked abruptly, trying to avoid any surprises. He chortled to himself and continued walking behind her, amused by the weird look on her face.
“Uri ku endleke yin ka voko ra weh?” (What happened to your hand), he blatantly avoided the question.
“You forgot to translate”, she said before walking into the bathroom he directed her into.
“I smashed it into a mirror”, she divulged. He raised his eyes briefly to her as he squatted and proceeded to look for the first-aid kit in the cupboard.
“Why would you do that?” , he asked out of cooled curiosity and put on the latex gloves.
“I had argument with my husband, he walked out on me and I lost it”
He took her hand and washed it in the tub.
“Mind me asking what about?”
“Another wife. Well, that’s a portion of it. Remember the dress I was wearing the last time I came to your office?” , she asked and he nodded.
"I don't think any normal man would forget it", Muhluri said and Enhle laughed. They continued trying to get the wound cleaned up.
"Yeah I happened to wear something similar, not knowing that Bab'Bayede was around"
"His father?"
"Sort of"
"Yikes", Muhluri explained.
A brief, voiceless laugh left Enhle's mouth.
"I was actually hoping you'd have a different view"
"Why?"-Muhluri.
"I don't know. You're... not so patriarchal"
"Situations are different. The approach won't be black and white all the time", he stated and handed her a towel to dry her hand.
"What do you mean?"
"There's an old adage that says, 'when you get Rome, you must do what the Romans do' ", he said and stood against the wall.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, if you want to get along with Romans in their land, you need to become one of them. If you rebel against their way of living, you don't get to complain about their wrath"
"If you're not speaking in a language I don't understand you're speaking in riddles?"
Muhluri laughed. He went to sit on the edge of the tub with her. She still had the towel pressed to her wound for therapeutical pressure.
"Listen, your man is of royal blood right?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Each and every tribe has it's own set of rules and ways of doing things. All this to protect the core of the culture and preserve their traditions. You can get away with doing as you please in the bedroom but the moment those habits are seen by your in laws, I can almost guarantee you that your marriage will not last"
"A whole you, advising me to become the typical wife?"
"I did no such thing. I'm saying, if you want your in-laws off your back, you already know that what to do. If you feel it's not for you, excuse yourself from the mess but these two things cannot coexist if your husband does not stand up for you"
"Would you have stood up for me?", the question came out softly and ignited a mutual stare.
"You know I love my women open-minded, liberated. However, I am not a chief so I cannot speak for a chief's behalf. I told you, not everything is black and white when you want to be realistic", Muhluri explained and Enhle's phone rang. She declined the call from her husband and a message follows.
