CH20

BURNING BLUE.
BY BELLA ROYALTY.
20

[TUMELO MORAKE]
I was scrolling through tiktok when I came across Ntando's latest video, I clicked on it.

Ntando(smiles): Beautiful people, I know it's been a while, ey guys kuningi but sizothini, Life must go on, so todays song of the day is Kali Uchis ft Mariah the Scientist and the song is, Is it crime, oh yes, I want to know as well if it is a crime to fall in love?

She played the song, she was driving, she's so beautiful even with everything she's going through, she still manages to look effortless.

Ntando(smiles): No, I need you to understand what Mariah the Scientist said here, listen, she said:

🎶Sometimes I look around for someone who might understand it
I seen it and their eyes said it, they'll, they'll never get it
I think I lost my patience, and now I can't contain it
They, they were wrong about us, I ain't the way they paint it
I love the way that you walk and the air you breathe
I just let 'em talk, but it bothers me
'Cause it ain't love, it ain't love, it ain't love they see
But it ain't nothin' to discuss 'cause it is to me, and so what? 🎶

She screamed while vibing to the song.
Ntando: And then she says:

🎶I fell, you fell in love a couple times
Tell me, what's it to ya? Tell me, is it a crime to fall
To fall in love, in love a couple times?
Tell me, what's it to ya? Tell me, is it a crime to fall?🎶

Ntando: And then Kali Uchis comes in smooth like
🎶Is it a crime? All of the cryin', no
'Cause if lovin' me is jail, then you're my prisoner
So let me throw away this key 'cause you won't give me up
Let 'em know we don't give a fuck, all they want to see is us break it off.🎶

That part really impressed her; she even screamed.
Ntando(screams): Ooh! Ngiyabuza phela!

🎶Tell me, is it a crime to fall
To fall in love, in love a couple times?
Tell me, what's it to ya? Tell me, is it a crime to fall?
I fell, you fell in love a couple times
Tell me, what's it to ya? Tell me, is it a crime to fall
To fall in love a couple times?
What's it to ya? Is it a crime to fall?🎶

Ntando(smiles): That's the song of the day my beautiful people, I love you and Yes I am okay, I'll see you tomorrow please don't forget to keep suggesting songs you'd like me to cover, bye!

I shook my head as Lungelo and Sean sat down, seems like the song was directed to me in a way.
Sean: Tumz, you have been scarce man, are you good?
Me: Yeah I'm good.
Lungelo: Word? When was the last time you spoke to Prime?
Me: A couple of days ago, why?
Sean: Uhm… we figured you might have been busy, he asked us to handle some shit with his father.
Me: Wait what? I don't know anything about that, what shit is that? Last time we spoke, we were looking for Ntando.
Lungelo: Looking for Ntando?
Me: Yeah, she was trying to run away, there's been drama in the Zwane household, from Prime and Ntando being busted kissing by his father and—
Sean: Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Ntando and Prime? Aren't they like cousins or something?
Lungelo: Damn, I thought you and Ntando were a thing?

I exhaled.
Me: We were until I set them up, in my defence I needed to know if what Ntando felt for her cousin was real or not, turns out it was real for the both of them but obviously they were trying to fight it, Prime even went as far as asking me to distract her to avoid them giving in and crossing the line but then I asked Prime to seduce her, and well they kissed and had sex.

Their jaws were on the floor.
Me: Yeah, I feel like eventually they would have given in whether I had asked Prime to do what he did, so I dodged a bullet in a way but it still hurts because I really liked her.
Sean: I'm so sorry man.
Me: It's okay.
Lungelo: Wait… so that means the reason why the old man was that angry is because he wanted Ntando for himself?
Me: What do you mean?
Sean: It seems as if Ntando tried to runaway because the old man snuck in her room in the middle of the night and tried to… you know.
Me(gasps): What?
Lungelo: Yeah man, Prime asked us to teach the man a lesson, legs and all, he's currently in hospital.
Me: He didn't tell me this.

Sean: I think he wanted to give you space, you know how Prime is man, he probably feels bad wherever he is about not being honest from the get go about having feelings for Ntando as well, one thing I know about him, he probably really tried to fight this.

Me: If I'm being honest he really did try, he confided me from day one about this, he really tried, and I think Ntando also tried but true love man.
Lungelo: Especially forbidden love.
Me: Yeah, now I wish I was there to teach the old hag a lesson, what the fuck?
Sean: But guys, I'll be honest, I knew the man was into young girls, I've always known for a while.

We looked at him shocked.
Me: Sean!
Sean: A few months ago, I got a call from Mrs Zwane, he asked me to help her out, some girls were threatening to leak the pictures of Mr Zwane and them, intimate pictures, and Mrs Zwane asked me to hack into their phones and have those pictures deleted and man what I saw in there!

I shook my head.
Sean: She begged me to not tell Prime about his father's dark fantasies, but Ntando is telling the truth, those were high school girls, 18, 19
Me: Ntando is 19.
Lungelo: His wife's niece? That's disgusting and this woman chose to protect her husband?
Sean: Yep, that's what she did.
Me: And then she asked Ntando to stay with them, Ntando wanted to stay at res but Prime's mom insisted that she stayed with them even going as far as giving her a car.

They gave me questioning looks.
Me: Something is off.
Lungelo: Bro, no!

Me: Think about it, she was in on this, it just happened that this time Ntando was smart enough to run away and tell Shaka, now she has no choice but to throw the husband under the bus because he's a vegetable and won't say shit, if we hear that the old man died while he's in there, I bet a million that she would have smothered him with a pillow so that he dies with all their secrets, she was very aware of her husband grooming young children, because why not expose him? Why hire a hacker to erase the information? As a mother? As a woman?

Sean: Fuck!! That makes sense.
Me: And I'm not insinuating this because I'm a little hurt that Prime is with Ntando, but something is off, Mrs Zwane is a fine shit, she could have exposed the pervert and divorced him and moved on, why ask the evidence to be erased?
Lungelo: Bro!
Sean: That's messed up.

We sat in silence for a while and I shook my head, Prime approached us.
Prime: Gents.
Sean: Yes sir.
Prime: You guys good?
Lungelo: We are good, you?
Prime: Not good, I know Tumelo has brought yall up to speed, uhm… so yes Ntando and I are together.
Me: She kind of confirmed it a few moments ago on tiktok.
Prime: Confirmed it?
Me: Through a song, she didn't mention you obviously but she asked is it a crime to fall in love with someone she's not meant to fall for?

They laughed.
Prime: Mmh, didn't expect that, especially after the shitty night and day we've had.
Me: What's up? In fact why wasn't I brought in on the mission to cripple the pervert?
Prime: Tumz mfethu, I felt guilty, I didn't even know where we stood, I know you liked her.
Me: We are brothers Prime, yes it hurts but we agreed to not let a girl come between us, besides, she never led me on, we may have kissed a few times but she always mentioned that she didn't want to go deep until she knew exactly what it is that she felt for you and she never wanted me to feel like she's using me.

Sean: She's got a good heart.
Prime: That heart will get her killed one day, this world doesn't reward you because you have a kind heart.
Me: I know, so we are cool?
Prime: Even with her?
Me: I don't owe her any loyalty, my loyalty is with you.

He exhaled.
Me: One has to take the flack, make a choice, I hate you or her?
Prime: Just don't insult her, bro you said she was disgusting.
Me: She is.
Prime: Dude really?
Me: Take it or leave it, it's my opinion, so are you going to get defensive every time someone says something you don't like about her? What you are doing is disgusting. At the end of the day, Prime, you are cousins, I'm your friend and my job is to be honest with you. I said what I said, wanna fight me?

He looked at me for a while and sighed.
Prime: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion when it comes to this but it won't change the fact that we are doing this irregardless, I love her and she loves me, we've spent the past couple of months fighting it, there's nothing I didn't do to avoid this but here we are, so talk your shit bra, I don't care, let me let y'all continue gossiping about us.

Me: I thought you said you had a problem?
Prime: I do, it's related to her, but I don't think it's appropriate to discuss it with the same people who find her disgusting.

He walked away.
Sean: Dude!

I took a deep breath.

[DR. NDALWENHLE MIYA]
I couldn't even concentrate at work because of what I had just stumbled upon. Even when Ntando and I went our separate ways, I went ahead and searched for this Shaka Zwane guy and man, that's my brother.

The thing that puzzled me more is that, Shaka and my late brother shared the same birth date and they were born at the same hospital, the same one I am working at right now.

And here's the shocker of it all, my late brother looked nothing like us yet this Shaka looked like us all, were they switched at the hospital? What the hell happened?

There was a knock at my office and Sakhile walked in.
Sakhile: Hey baby, I came as soon as I could, is everything okay?
Me: Hey babe.

We shared a hug, Sakhile is a private investigator, he is my fiancé and he also works as a government agent, long story.

We sat down.
Me: Remember the girl I told you about that I met at the parking lot having a panic attack and she told me I looked like her cousin?
Sakhile: Yes, you were meant to have lunch with her today?
Me: Yes we had lunch and she showed me pictures
of this guy and babe? Babe!

I showed him the picture
Sakhile: I know this lad, he works under the cybersecurity division at work, he's like this geek with his friends, his code name is Prime.
Me: You do?
Sakhile: Yeah, very smart kid but has a bit of a temper but I know him and babe, I told you this two years ago when we busted these kids over that 1.1 billion rand case? I told you there was a kid there who looked like you and I said maybe your father was a player before he met your mother.

I remembered.
Me: Oh my God Sakhile! I didn't take you seriously then! And look at what fate has done? It has brought us back together again.
Sakhile: This is a sign.
Me: I think they were switched at birth or something, imagine my father even went as far as leaving mom because he believed mom had cheated on him and lied about the paternity of my brother since the Miya ancestors were rejecting him but mom still maintained that she never cheated on my father.
Sakhile: Damn!
Me: Phela that's the main reason why they ended up getting divorced, because mom committed adultery but she may have been telling the truth this entire time, their kids were switched at birth.
Sakhile: Let me search for something here.

He got busy on his phone and then made a call.
Sakhile: Sure, I need a favour, are you near Dark Phoenix? I need AX02p's assistance. I've just sent you the details, please man.

He dropped the call..
Me: What's AX—
sakhile: Our secret weapon, first Artificial intelligence glasses that have access to any information as long as it's digital.
Me: Wow.
Sakhile: Yep.

His phone beeped.
Sakhile: That was fast.

He got busy on his phone.
Sakhile: So Mandisa Zwane and Nonhlanhla Miya all shared the same ward, at the time wards were not separated, each ward had 4 women with their children in their little cots.
Me: So maybe that's how they were switched by a nurse? She forgot where she took the other one and stuff like that?
Sakhile: Mmh, there's a deleted security footage, let me ask them retrieve it, whoever buried this was good.

He made another call.
Sakhile: Sure, last favour, please retrieve that deleted video.

He dropped the call.
Sakhile: They say here Little Shaka Zwane experienced what is called Transient Circulatory or Breathing Problems.
Me: Where babies sometimes take a while to transition from placental oxygen to independent breathing.
Sakhile: Yes bathi this can cause a period of apnea and unconsciousness until the body adjusts.
Me: So Little Shaka had breathing problems immediately after he was born?
Sakhile: Yep.

His phone beeped.
Sakhile; Here's the video, it's a little blurry since it's an old video and the camera was probably situated at the opposite side of the ward.
Me: Zoom in.

He zoomed in.
Me: Wait, that's one of the mothers getting up from her bed, she's checking her child.
Sakhile: Seems like she notices that the child is not breathing.
Me: Why isn't she calling the doctors?

She then looked around and—
Me: Are you kidding me? Her child wasn't breathing so she switched the kids, placed the one who wasn't breathing on the bed and took the one who was breathing? What the hell?

Sakhile zoomed the video to get a clear picture of the woman, the camera was too far and the face a little blurry.

Sakhile: Run a face prognosis.

He said to his phone, there were dots all over the woman's face until it became clear and I held my chest in shock.
Me: That's my mother!
Sakhile: Damn, so she thought her child was dead and switched the kids?
Me(emotional): Only for the woman to wake up and realise her child wasn't breathing and called the doctors who resuscitated the baby back to health!!
Sakhile: Your mother slipped through the ward and left with the other child.

Me: How could mom do this? She switched the kids because she thought her baby was dead? She might have not cheated on my dad and brought him another man's child but this is worse! No wonder Zibuko was rejected by the ancestors no matter how many traditional ceremonies were done for him he didn't get better till he died and mom never said anything? And she knew that Zibuko was neither her child nor my father's child! How could she do this to another woman?

Sakhile: This is messed up babe.

I wiped my tears.
Me: Mandisa Zwane's real child died Sakhile you know what this means? Mom might be arrested!
Sakhile: I can make sure this footage never sees the light of day.
Me: No! We are not protecting her, a woman's heart is about to be broken right now she deserves justice, Zibuko deserves justice! Oh my God I need to call Ntando! DNA tests won't be necessary now.

And this means that she's not related to Shaka and they can be together and that would mean she's my sister inlaw, okay this is good and bad, good for my dad and siblings, bad for mom because she's going to jail, bad for poor Mandisa Zwane, not only is her husband a pedo but the son she's been raising is not biologically hers and her biological son died years ago? Oh this is bad.

I dialed Ntando's number and called her for a meet up, tomorrow.

[MANDISA ZWANE]
Sfiso has woken up, and all afternoon he has been surrounded by family and we couldn't get a chance to talk. Finally we were alone. I closed the door and got closer to him.

Me: Really Sfiso? My own damn niece? You were going to let your snake have its way with my damn niece! Are you serious! I thought we agreed that you'd target those pompous school girls who love money!

He was having difficulties trying to speak.
Sfiso: It… it wanted her.
Me: And you were just going to hand my niece to that monster? Haven't you taken enough from me already Sfiso? All those miscarriages I've had were not enough for you and your monster?
Sfiso: It wasn't…it wasn't going to hurt Ntando.
Me: And that makes it okay? It would have had it's way with her! Do you know what that poor girl has been through? And you just had to do this to her? Sfiso why are you so greedy!!!

He didn't respond.
Me: I have done everything to protect you and this life of yours but I am done uyangizwa!
Sfiso: You can't be done, you are my wife, you accepted me and this lifestyle, you can never be done with this life, until IT is done with you! IT won't stop till IT gets Ntando!
Me: Then I will move her out of that house Sfiso! Your filthy snake is not getting my niece! And nakhona how are you here? Shouldn't your snake be your protector as well? Why couldn't it protect you from this?
Sfiso: Because your son is the one who did this to me.

I stared at him, he can't be speaking about my Shaka.
Sfiso: Ntando told him what I tried to do to her and he sent goons to teach me a lesson!
Me; You are lying! They told me everything yesterday and they would have mentioned this, stop lying! You better call your master and tell him you're done with this life ufuna ukuyilahla lenyoka!
Sfiso: We will lose everything Mandisa! I could die!
Me: Then die Sfiso! Die!! My niece was the last straw!