Tulani parked his car on the side of the road, a short distance away from his home and called Natasha to ask for her father’s number.“Have you found Luyando?” She asked him, thinking it could be the only reason he was asking for her father’s contact information a few minutes to midnight.After hearing about his daughter’s disappearance, Bernard had gone out to search for her wherever his feet would take him. Seeing the desperate state of her husband, Martha had had no choice but to accompany him on his search, afraid he might lose his mind from hopelessness.“Yes,” Tulani answered. “She’s at my place right now.”AdvertisementsReport this ad“I thought she might come there,” Natasha said, her voice dropping a few levels lower.
“They were fraternal twins,” Bernard explained.Martha could not hide her shock. For twenty years her husband had not mentioned anything about that. She had been under the impression that there were no secrets between them. Why hadn’t he mentioned anything to her before?“Tasila had a very troubled pregnancy,” Bernard explained. “She had a very weak immune system so her body easily gave in to a lot of diseases. She was sick most of the time and it seemed to get worse during her pregnancy. Something happened during delivery and we lost Chipego.“It was a boy. Luyando was a fighter so she came out first…but her brother wasn’t much of a fighter.” He closed his eyes as if to keep the pain of the whole experience shut in the past where it belonged.“Chipego gave his mother a hard time and by the time he finally came out, i
Luyando was fully awake now.Still, he got up again and tried to go to her but she was waving her arms in front of her to keep him away.“Don’t you touch me!” She yelled at him.Ben took a step back, his hands raised in the air.“Who the hell do you think you are coming here?” Her words were as jiggly as the legs she was standing on. “It’s your fault that all this is happening,” she accused him, unsteadily pointing her finger at him. “It’s your fault that no one wants to love me. How can they love me?” she scoffed. “How can they love me when my own father hates me? You blame me for mum’s death don’t you?”“No, no, no,” Ben forgot about staying away from her and tried to reach for her hand.“Don’t!” She shouted.
“What do you think you are doing?” Natasha asked, tagging him on the shoulder and urging him to get back up.The desperation in her eyes wouldn’t have been so loud if not for the fact that they were at a company dinner and everyone was looking at them. It was just like Tulani to make a public spectacle of everything.“I will only get up if you give me an answer,” Tulani said, holding out the engagement ring to her.“Right here?” Natasha’s eyes roamed the room and found that they were indeed the centre of attention. “This is embarrassing Tula.” She whispered to him, trying to close the ring box but Tula wouldn’t let up.Tulani knew he was going to pay dearly for putting Natasha on spot like that but for him it was the only way to get her to finally make up her mind about him. He had no doubt that she felt the same way a
“What do you mean I lied to you?” Bernard asked his daughter. Luyando moved her phone from her right hand and ear and placed it on the other side as she steered the vehicle out of the parking spot. “Tulani and Natasha are engaged!” she yelled. Bernard, who had been expecting such a call since the day Tulani approached him and asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage calmly stood up from the couch and went to take the call outside. Seeing the look on her husband’s face, Martha knew right away who was on the other end of the line. “You promised that you would talk to Tula for me!” Like a mad woman, Luyando pressed hard on the accelerator and headed towards her father’s house. “I kept that promise to you Lulu,” Bernard said. “I spoke to Tulani about you just as I promised.”
“You mean what he said about talking to Tulani on your behalf?” Natasha asked smugly.Luyando’s heart almost skipped a beat. “How did you –“Natasha laughed. “About two months ago dad followed me to my room looking nervous and all and talking about things that didn’t make sense at all. However, I could tell the whole time that he was apologizing for something he did…something he couldn’t bring himself to say.“I knew right away that it had something to do with you and Tula. A bit of pressure on my mother and she spilled everything. Have I answered your question?”The frown on Luyando’s face darkened. She was looking at her father as if to burn him down with her fiery disdain-filled eyes.“I never told her anything,” Bernard defended himself against his daughter’s acc
Confused, Nataniel asked, “then why did you come here, especially now? Did someone ask you to do this? To force me to pull out of the race?”Martha laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself Mr President.”Very suddenly and unexpectedly, he got up from his chair and dropped to his knees before her.“What do you think you’re doing?” Martha tried to pull away from him but he was holding on to her legs and sobbing like a child.“I know I have no right to ask this of you –““Oh don’t be so predictable!” She said scornfully. “I am not one of those people that buy into your political manipulations. I don’t care how far deep you are in pretending to be an outstanding man, I know who you are. I know the real you you miserable bastard.”“It’s not
On the way to the TV station, Natasha kept calling her mother but the phone kept ringing and ringing.“She’s still not answering?” Tulani asked.“No,” Natasha said, looking extremely worried.“Try your dad.” Tulani suggested.Natasha called her father and he answered after the forth ring. “Baby, where are you?” He sounded almost out of breath.“Dad, is everything okay? Where’s mum? I’ve been trying to reach her for a while now.”“Oooh…your mother…she is…she is…she should be sleeping I think.” Bernard stammered through the lie as he looked down at his wife’s sleeping figure on the couch. Having suffered through many episodes of panic attacks in the past, Bernard had learnt to keep Martha&rsq