I was a mess inside the elevator. My heart was broken. This wasn't the first time my mother has broken my heart so you would think I would be used to the pain but it was the opposite. I quickly wiped my tears away and gathered myself. I couldn't let the giant see me like this or else I don't know what he would do to my mother. I exited the elevator and I stood by the side and took deep breaths. When I was sure that I was fine, I left the building for the giant's car. The giant wasn't happy with me when I entered the car. He was still mad about how I dismissed him earlier. I now kind of regretted it. I should've left with him when he had said so. If I had, I wouldn't be in this state I'm in right now. I cleared my throat and wore my seatbelt.
Me: "Let's go." I said looking out the window.
Zano: "What happened?" Please please don't ask. I'm hanging by a thin thread as it is.
Me: "Nothing. She's fine."
Zano: "Did she give you what you came for?" I had even forgotten my purpose of coming to see my mother. I just shook my head.
Me: "I'll come back tomorrow." I said softly. He grunted.
Zano: "Look at me woman." I closed my eyes and fisted my hands tightly. Please... "woman." I exhaled softly and looked at him. He scanned my face with his eyes... "what did your mother say to you?"
Me: "Nothing." He frowned unhappily.
Zano: "Then why did you cry woman." I swallowed and cleared my throat. I couldn't deny that I cried but I wasn't about to tell him the reason.
Me: "I felt sad for my mother. She's all broken up about the whole Sandile thing." He kept his eyes on me. I'm sure he was looking to see if I was telling him the truth. I held on tightly. My nails pierced my palms. At least I could focus on the physical pain than the emotional one. The giant grunted and started the car and drove off when he was satisfied I hadn't been lying to him. But I knew I hadn't fooled him completely. I kept my hands tightly fisted until we got home. He parked the car... "why didn't you tell me about Sandile?" I asked before we could exit the car.
Zano: "The opportunity to tell you never came up." Oh really now? I huffed and gave him a sharp look.
Me: "I don't care. You should've told me the minute you found out about him." He grunted.
Zano: "I couldn't baby. Even though you signed the non disclosure agreement, there're still things I can't share with you. It's important for me to follow protocol or hell would break loose." He explained. I sighed.
Me: "The government has him?"
Zano: "You could say that." Again with the vagueness.
Me: "What does that mean?"
Zano: "That sick bastard raped the daughter of a very important man Busi. So...." He trailed off.
Me: "So?" He breathed.
Zano: "It's complicated woman. Just leave it at that." Argh! I knew he was going to say that.
Me: "I hate it when you hide things from me." He grunted... "I'm going to be your wife soon so all this hiding will need to stop." He pulled me to him and kissed my brow softly.
Zano: "You know I only hide things from you because I have to. I'm protecting you. I work for dangerous people so I need to tread carefully when I do things because I have you now. Before I could go over the boundaries since I knew they needed me but now they know my weakness and they could use you against me to bend me to their will." He explained. I hadn't thought if it like that. Now I understood why he was still so hush hush about what he did. I had thought signing that agreement would allow us to have full transparency in our relationship but I guess it wasn't going to be like that. He kissed my other brow. This was his way of apologizing.
Me: "Okay, I understand." He pulled me into hug.
Zano: "Thank you baby." He whispered... "now are you going to tell me what happened with your mother after I left?" See? I hadn't fooled him completely. I shook my head.
Me: "Not now. Later." I whispered. He grunted.
Zano: "Okay." He conceded even though he wasn't happy... "later." I really appreciated him giving me time to sort out my own feelings. My giant has really come so far. He was becoming more considerate.
When we got inside the apartment, we found the giant's friends eating. I had forgotten completely about them. I'm sure half our grocery was gone. This was always the case when they came over. But at least they cleaned after themselves.
X-man: "Are you ready to leave grootman?" He asked with his mouth full of food. So every word came out muffled. I liked X-man but the guy couldn't eat properly to save his own life.
Zano: "After you guys clean up we can leave." They all ate their food fast and cleaned up after that... "let's go." Everyone went alert after that. It was hilarious how they all hanged on the giant's word when it came to work... "see you baby." He whispered giving me a peck on the lips.
Me: "You didn't tell me you were going to go somewhere."
Zano: "Sorry." He gave me a peck on the lips again. I sighed a little irritated... "I'll be better I promise."
Me: "Okay." He smiled a little and he left with his friends to wherever.
To be honest, I was glad to be left alone. Now I could cry and moan in peace about my heart break. I first tended to my palms. They had two small cuts. No biggie. I put one of those small plasters in each cut. I was now sitting on the floor in the living room with all the junk food you could imagine. I was stuffing my face and crying my heart out while watching a sad movie. This is what I did when I felt really sad. It helped me a lot even though I know it wasn't a good thing. After watching the 3rd movie and was feeling a little better, I decided to call Phozisa and invite her over so that I wouldn't be in my head.
Phozisa was on her way over. I had debated with myself if I should also invite Fiona and Andy too but I had decided not to. To speak the truth, they were mood killers especially when it came to the giant and I was already not in the best of moods so I didn't want to worsen it. At least I knew Phozisa was going to be ecstatic for me about my engagement. Fiona and Andy would probably react the same way as my mother did to the news. Okay, this was not the time to think about my mother. Anyway, today I wanted to celebrate and enjoy the fact that I'm engaged without any drama. The wedding was in 5 months people, so I had a lot to plan and prepare for. I never thought I would ever get married so I have never thought about how my dream wedding would look like. What I wanted was a small wedding. A big wedding needed more time to plan and time was what I didn't have. And also a big wedding meant more stress, and I didn't want that. It's not like I knew a lot of people anyway. So a small and intimate ceremony with our close friends and family would do. Knowing the giant, he will not plan this wedding with me. Much less give me his opinion. I learnt that the hard way when I was decorating our apartment. So I was alone. I needed all the help I could get so I hoped Phozisa would.
Phozisa had arrived. We were now sitting in the living room watching a movie. This would be he 4th movie for me but a least this one was a rom-com. We were not really focused on the movie because we were busy chatting up a storm. She was telling me all about how disastrous her day was yesterday. Apparently she met X-man's mother yesterday for the first time and it had been a disaster. X-man's mother didn't like her at all. So I was sympathizing with her the best I could and also laughing along with her on the funny parts of the story. She wasn't that hurt about X-man's mom not liking her because X-man had warned her about how his mother never liked his past girlfriends. No one was good enough for her son. When I had told her about my engagement, she screamed so loud, I'm sure the whole building heard her. She was really happy for me. I wished my mother could've been happy as her as well. We even did that jumping up down squealing happily that teenagers usually did whilst hugging. When I told her that the wedding was in 5 months, she was shocked. But as expected, she told me that she would help me. She was really the best.
It was the next day. We were on our way to the mansion - the giant's family home - and I was nervous as hell. My stomach was in knots. If his parents didn't give us their blessing, would the engagement be off? That's what kept ringing in my head. I know it was very unlikely but you could never be too sure. We arrived at the mansion and we were greeted by Diana at the door.
Diana: "Busi!" She said happily hugging me briefly.
Me: "Hey Diana."
Diana: "My boy!" She said happily hugging him tightly. It was comical how small and short she was compared to the giant. Her head barely reached his chest. I was also short compared to the giant but at least my head reached his chest. The giant grunted and awkwardly patted her back. He was looking at me with those "help me" eyes. I swallowed my giggle and he glared at me. I stuck out my tongue at him. He shook his head at me like I had betrayed him. The giant was the most awkward person when it came to giving or receiving affection from other people. Finally Diana put him out of his misery, and let go of him. I giggled softly when I saw relief reflected on his face. So dramatic! Diana led us to the family room. In the family room, we were welcomed by Robert, Sophia and James. I almost burst out laughing was I saw that James was in a wheelchair. The people that attached him really did a number on him. I mean since when did that accident happen? Months ago! But he was still in a wheelchair. My evil side was doing cartwheels. The bastard deserved it. Sophia ran up to the giant and I shared pleasantries with Robert. I didn't even bother with James. I could feel his eyes on me the whole time though which gave me the creeps. The giant and me sat down on the sofa that was faraway from James. Thank God! I also noticed that the giant didn't acknowledge his presence.
Robert: "So I believe you've got some news to tell us." He stated. The way he was smiling it was like he knew already. I fiddled with my fingers nervously.
Zano: "Busi and I are engaged. We're getting married in 5 months and you're all invited." Oh my gosh! What a way to rip off the bandage! Diana and Sophia gasped in shock.
Diana: "What? Engaged? And getting married in 5 months?"
Zano: "Yes. And you're invited." He was so weird. This man of mine. Diana opened and closed her mouth. She was speechless.
Sophia: "Can I be one of the bridesmaids?" She asked me with those hopeful and innocent eyes. I nodded. It's not like I could refuse and I didn't mind. She squealed happily.
Diana: "Robert I take it, you knew of this." She accused. Robert shrugged.
Robert: "Zano called yesterday and told me the good news."
Diana: "And you didn't think to warn me?" She asked unhappily.
Robert: "Warn you for what honey? It's a wedding not world war 3." She blew out a frustrated breath.
Diana: "Stop trying to be cute Robert. It's not the time. Our son is engaged and is getting married in 5 months, and I'm the last person to know!" She stressed. She was hurt.
Robert: "You're not the last person to know. There's also James and Sophia."
Diana: "But not you! You knew yesterday already!" Robert patted her lap.
Robert: "Stop making a big deal out of this Diana. Our son is getting married. You should be overjoyed right now. Isn't this what you've always wanted?" She sighed.
Diana: "Yes...but..." She trailed off... "are you sure about this Zano? Are you ready for marriage? Marriage is a big thing. A lifetime thing. So you can't make hash decisions." The giant grunted annoyed. My man doesn't like explaining himself.
Zano: "Busi has my heart mother. I want forever with her so..." He shrugged. Diana didn't look convinced... "and I'm marrying her with or without your blessing." Diana gasped in horror.
Diana: "Zano!" She exclaimed... "don't say that. You need our blessing!"
Zano: "No I don't. This is my life and I want Busi to be in it permanently. So either you support me with this decision and give me your blessing or you're all uninvited to the wedding."..............................