Amukelani's POV
"Khwawungincedise ngokuguga umthwalo womntwanakho." I say. (Come help me carry this.) We take the baskets filled with party packs and take them to his car. We brought them when we landed yesterday and spent the night packaging them so to say I'm tired would be an understatement. Ngapha I still have to go to court. He opens the boot and we put the stuff inside.
I go back inside and i take my bags and Sino's bag. "Sino let's go." I shout and i hear her footsteps coming from the living room to the kitchen. "Let's go otherwise we'll be late." She enterwines her hand with mines and we leave. I buckle her in her carseat and put the bags on the seat next to her. I get inside the car and Sthembiso brings the ignition to life and drives off.
Well Sino wanted us to travel together and luckily he is not going to work so he will be dropping us off. Isn't it nice doing whatever the child asks you to do, yeah right. "Mamá can you play Moana songs." she says and i connect my phone to the radio and go to her playlist and play her song request. I feel my eyes become droppy and i try to close them but I'm interuppeted by Sthembiso.
"If you sleep nami ngizolala." he says and i roll my eyes. (I will also sleep.) "Sthembiso ngikhathele. Just look at how big my eye bags are." I say. "But you did a good job at minimizing them with the make up." "Just two seconds please." "Nami ngizolala ngiserious." "Uyadika." "Uzoba strong but if you fall asleep I'll fall asleep too and we can't have that."
We eventually get to Sino's school and i get out of the car and i unbuckle her from her carseat and take her school bag. Her dad opens the boot and i take one basket and she holds her school bag. We head inside and go to her class. All her classmates follow us inside. "Mam it's Sino's birthday." says Lebone. "Yes it is we will sing for her later on. How are the parents?" she asks.
"We doing okay and you." I answer. "I'm good. Happy birthday Sino." she says and Sino giggles. "Thank you Ms. Sierra." She puts her bag in the locker and runs off to go play with her friends. "I'll take these from you." She takes the basket and the teacher assistant takes the other one and we bid our farewells and leave.
I get inside the car and sigh. He brings the ignition to life and drives off. "I don't know why you won't let me sleep. At least uzobuyela endlini uphinde ulale mina ngisayo sebenza emini yonke." I say. (you will go back home and sleep I'm still going to work.) "Sizolala sobabili ngichayise ke mina." he says. (We will sleep together and I'll crash the car.) "Umona wakho umuntu angafunga ukuthi angeke ulale." He chuckles. (Your jealousy one would swear you won't sleep.)
"Lala ke." he says. "There is no point because we almost at work." I say. "Angazi ukuthi ufunani ngoba I just gave you an opportunity to sleep but you don't take it." (I don't know what you want.) "Mxm uyabora yazi." He chuckles. I rest my head on the window and close my eyes. We arrive at work after thirty minutes and i take my bags from the back seat. "Call me then when you done."
"You still want to fetch me?" I ask. "Those were the instructions I received from your daughter." he answers and i chuckle. "We shouldn't have agreed you know." "And then have her cry the whole night. No thank you." I chuckle. "Hlaba nge alchophyllix alale." He laughs. (Give her alchophyllix and she will sleep.) "That's illegal and it's not like she's sick." "She is sick because she wants us to be riding together." He chuckles.
"Hamba uyosebenza uzongifonela." he says. (Go and work you will call me.) "Sharp ntwana." I say and get out off the car and get inside. I greet my receptionist and i wait for the elevator doors to open. They open and i get in and someone asks me to hold it. Kuhle gets inside and the door closes. "Personal lifts from baby daddy you sure are spoiled." he says and i laugh.
"Its not like that." I say. "How is it like?" he asks. "We were taking Sino's stuff to school so yeah I decided to ride with him just to save costs." "Yeah I believe you." "The only place i omit the truth at is at the court of law either then that I'm an honest person." "I did not say anything." "And I was just clearing my name before it got dragged through the mud for no reason." We chuckle.
The elevator doors open and we walk out. "Unjani?" he asks. "I'm tired wena." I answer. "I'm fine. Why you tired?" "Angisho we landed back yesterday and then we still had to make the party packs and you know how long those things take." "I know and hiring a person to make is more expensive so you just resort to DIY." "I would never I'm spoiled but not that spoiled." We chuckle.
"How was the birthday trip?" he asks. "It was really nice I had a great time there." I answer. "I saw from the posts that you living it up in Costa Rica." "I mean like if they say choose any international place and they will cover the costs surely you would live it up there." "I definitely will." We chuckle. "Sizobonana ke." "Sharp."
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"Ngwana wa Costa Rica." says Mihlali and I chuckle. (Child from.) I stand up and pull her in for a hug and she kisses my cheek. "Unjani?" I ask. "I'm good and you." "Ngiright." "I would expect you to say you are sublime phela you come back from Costa Rica." "Okay I'm sublime." We chuckle. We sit down on the couch and she takes out her food from her lunchbag and starts eating.
"So how was Costa Rica?" she asks. "It was nice. The nice thing about it is that we went when it's summer so we got to enjoy the beach and take a break from wearing sweatpants and jerseys. I enjoyed my time there I won't lie." I answer and she smiles. "uSino yena?" "She had a blast. I think she loved the fact that both her parents are there."
"That child will be the reason why you get back together I swear." she says. "Speaking of which, she once asked us if we are together and we were like we just friends and she was so sad." I say. "How did she ask you guys?" "She just asked if we mommy and daddy in terms of relationship wise."
"How did you console her then?" she asks. "We had to lie and say we are." I answer. "Amukelani Mngomezulu." "I wasn't about to tell her and she couldn't seem to understand or accept that we are friends so we just agreed to what she said." "When you move back to your own house after the war?" "We will cross that bridge when we get there."
"Uzifaka enkingeni." she says. (You love getting in trouble.) "I know but what was I supposed to do. You know how emotional she can get sometimes when things aren't the way she wants them to be." I say and she sighs. "So growing up in a broken home does affect a child somehow." "Please don't call our home broken just say separate." She chuckles.
"Okay separate homes if that makes you happy." she says and we chuckle. "It does affect a child. We are lucky that we never got to experience it but from what I've heard and seen it really does and I wish things were different but yeah they the way they are now." I say and she nods. "Maybe one day they will change but for now I can see that the both of you are doing the best you can to make things work."
"I'm glad our efforts don't go unnoticed." I say and she chuckles. "Whenever she visits us we can see that she's a happy child and if you guys were always bickering and all that we would see with her cause you know parents fighting can affect a child mentally and emotionally." she says and i nod. "I'm very mature." She laughs. "Kodwa wena." We laugh.
"What did you guys do in Costa Rica?" she asks. "We went out for breakfast, lunch and dinner," "Living the life." We chuckle. "Yeah so we ate out and then for Sino's birthday we went to the arcades and played games there and spent the rest of our day at the beach and we went to the movies and aquarium for Sthembiso and we ended things off with a picnic and I brought him a gift." I say.
"What did you buy him?" she asks and wiggles her eyebrows. "Don't wiggle your eyebrows cause I didn't give him anything naughty and we didn't do anything naughty." I answer and she laughs. "Who knows maybe you did and you scared to talk about it." I roll my eyes and she laughs. "I just gave him Sino's album and a pendant that has both their initials on it and a video of my pregnancy and Sino's birth."
"Ncoo that's so cute." she says. "I gave him because he wasn't apart of her life the first two years so I decided let me give him something that will make him feel included somehow you know." I say. "That's so sweet of you. I didn't think you this sweet." I roll my eyes and we laugh. "I am really sweet." We laugh. "Did he like it?" "He did like it. Whether he was pretending or not I don't care." We chuckle.
"So when are we celebrating her birthday together?" she asks. "Next year. This year I just wanted her to spend time with her parents together and then next year we can throw a party and invite some of her friends at school and so forth." I answer. "The boys were sad that there was no party they felt robbed." I chuckle. "Next year and I'm sending their invitations first."
We chuckle. "So what are you going to do for your birthday?" she asks. "I don't know. I don't want anything serious in all honesty cause I did that for my thirtieth." I answer. "But that was the best party ever even mines couldn't top yours." "Mezibuya laphaya angazi mesiyenzani kodwa siyenzile yaze yaphumelela." We laugh. (It was lit i don't know what we were doing but we did it and it was successful.) "We can take you out for a nice lunch as your friends."
"Yeah I think that's fine and I'll pay." I say. "Rich girls talk like this." she says and we laugh. "Aren't you a rich girl too?" "I married into rich not that I am rich." "What's his is yours and what's yours is yours so technically you are apart of the rich gang. Do you even spend his money?" We laugh. "I do. I wasn't going to be like those girls no I don't want it." We laugh.
"As you should girl. You need to spend his money and leave him broke." I say and she chuckles. "And his the one that always offers and you know I can never say no to money." she says and i chuckle. "But you okay?" "Yeah I'm fine." "Have you started learning?" "Yeah we've been going for lessons." "And how are they going?" "I didn't think it would be nice."
"The inner gangster is kicking in." I say and she chuckles. "There is no gangsterness in me." she says. "Everbody has that inner gangster and sometimes it's unleashed and other times it stays locked in." "I don't have one." "Yeah right." We chuckle. "Not all of us are like you." "Yeah not all of you are like me but you have something deep inside." "No." "Keep fooling yourself." We chuckle.
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"How did you find her baba?" I ask. "Udlala ngami wena mntwana. I've been in the game for far too long." he answers and i chuckle. (You are playing with me.) "Was she still here or was she some where else." "No she was still here. She didn't think she would get caught." I smirk.
"I don't know why they like messing with me. Whoever told them I'm their friend brainwashed them." I say and he chuckles. "Had it not been for you telling Sthembiso about the child she would have entered that family." he says. "Sthembiso has trust issues he wouldn't have let her in." "Are you sure?" I nod.
"And its not only because of me also his ex who was Melokuhle's wife did this to him too." I answer. "She would have found a way." he says. "Yeah maybe through the others but she was never going to get through to Sthembiso." "You have so much faith in him." I roll my eyes. "Hai baba ungacali inkulumo." (Don't start.) "Zicalwa ubani?" I chuckle. (Who is starting?)
"How was the birthday trip?" he asks. "It was nice. Sino enjoyed her time there I guess having both her parents there with her made her really happy." I answer. "I'm glad she enjoyed her time there. Why didn't you guys throw a party?" "We in the middle of a war and i wanted her to spend time with us so she can know we will always be there for her. It's really hard parenting when both parents are not together."
"Has she noticed it?" he asks. "Yeah she even asked our status of our relationship and we lied to her and said we together. She had a hard time understanding that we are just friends." I answer and he sighs. "I'm sorry." "Don't apologize baba it's okay." "No I really am." "And I know you mean it." He ruffles my hair and I roll my eyes.
"Focus on the road baba uzochayisa." I say and he chuckles. (you will crash.) "I won't I can multitask." he says and i roll my eyes. "Please don't multitask on me I still want to live." He chuckles. We get to the remote location and he parks his car and we head inside. "Are you going to watch me torture her?"
"No I know you can handle her yourself and I don't want to see you in your torturing mode cause you traumatized me the last time." he answers and i laugh. "Uzoqina." I say and he chuckles. (You will be strong.) "Hamba ke uzothumelela umyalezo ukuthi ucedile ngiyabuya." I nod and he leaves and I walk to closer to where she's kept at. (Let me leave you you will send the message when you are done.)
She's passed out on the chair and i smirk. I'll have so much fun with her she will regret the day we crossed paths and decided to mess with me cause I'm not one to mess with and expect to get away with it...