CH27

BURNING BLUE.
BY BELLA ROYALTY.
27.

[NTANDOKAZI NGEMA]
I can't believe I had a whole mental breakdown earlier on just because I thought everyone had forgotten my birthday including my parents, meanwhile these people were catching flights to Durban to surprise me!

This was like a whole elegant birthday dinner, people had honored the theme which was golden beige with a touch of white, translated as gold and white, and the birthday girl? In ripped jeans, a white oversized shirt and sneakers, can you believe it?

I get this was meant to be a surprise birthday dinner but Shaka could have at least lied and said we were going out to have dinner, I would have dedicated the whole day in making sure I look proper, now I looked like a homeless person that people felt pity for and invited her to join them, I was suddenly not even in the mood for pictures or videos.

Mom(smiles): I can't believe I haven't seen you in 10 months baby, you look so grown and thin, is your aunt not feeding you?

Everyone laughed.
Boitumelo: She's actually not that bad, she's kind of ready for summer.
Me(laughs): Wow, I cannot believe I'm being body shamed on my birthday.
Kamo: Well if you had dressed the part, we wouldn't be noticing that you've lost weight because we would have been blinded by the beauty of your dress.
Me: Ouch!

They laughed.
Me: Angithi y'all decided to make this a surprise? I wasn't even warned about anything. Ndalo I'm disappointed Ausi you could have just fooled me and told me we were going out for dinner at a fancy restaurant. I would have at least put some effort on my appearance. I look homeless and you look like a billionaire family.

We laughed.
Ndalo: Girl we tried okay? Shaka and I sent a whole glam squad at the apartment, but you were not there and your phone was off, you could have done your hair, nails, lashes and gotten a cute dress with accessories.
Shaka: But you decided to go day drinking at a club with strangers.
Dad: Aike uyazizwela ke my homeless daughter.

They laughed and I didn't, I was hurt honestly, Shaka was meant to communicate with me.
Dad: Anyway birthday girl, let me introduce you to your siblings, that's Thandokuhle your eldest sister and that's Smiso and Siyamthanda and this is your stepmother, Ayanda.
Ayanda(smiles): It's nice to finally meet you Ntando. I've heard a lot about you.
Me: I bet you have, dad you just had to choose my day to introduce me to your family? That's rude.
Shaka: Uhm… everyone we can now sit down, dinner is about to be served.

That Thandokuhle shot me a glare, aibo! Hee!
Me: Do you perhaps have a problem big sis?
Thandokuhle: No, you're just rude that's all and for absolutely no reason.

I laughed.
Me: Baby girl, I'm not just rude nje kuphela, that 4 months difference between us will mean nothing when I use your blood to add some color in this room, I don't like you and your entire family, you tore my family apart, it's nice neh? Having both parents under the same roof while some of us had to endure pain in other people's houses because our parents split? Kumnandi neh? Mmh okay.

I went to sit down, faking a smile, everyone was having a great time and I was just… I don't know, at first I was excited seeing them all here and then they started judging me low key, and I was irritated all of a sudden, everyone around the table was having fun, cracking jokes, reminiscing about the past, talking about the kind of person I was back in Joburg, and I was mentally absent, I didn't even want to look at Shaka right now.

My phone rang and it was a number that wasn't registered, I answered it while getting off the table.
Me: Ntandokazi Ngema speaking.
Sandy: She's alive ladies and gentlemen!
Me(laughs): You're so dramatic, I'm sure your brother told you he delivered me safe and sound.
Sandy: I was waiting for confirmation from you, when I asked him, he said something about having you chained at his apartment or something, he's very savage.

We laughed.
Me: I'm okay, I just walked into a surprise birthday dinner here, with my parents and friends from Joburg.
Sandy: Aww Ntando that's so sweet!
Me: Yeah it really is, my boyfriend/cousin brought them all here.
Sandy: He's for keeps!
Me: A heads up would have been nice, I'm in ripped jeans and a white oversized shirt and sneakers while people have honored the theme and they look beautiful.
Sandy: Well they call it a surprise for a reason babes, at least you were looking good in your causal.

Me: I'm mad as hell, my boyfriend saw your brother and I and he's been in a mood, I tried to explain but he said we'd discuss it later and now he's just working tirelessly to make sure I feel guilty, apparently they sent a glam squad at the apartment with the dress and everything, but I was not there, I was at the club day drinking with my phone turned off.

Sandy: Damn, but they could have at least told you via a text or note that don't go anywhere, some people will be there and they need to find you there.

Me: Exactly! I decided to leave the apartment because he had even left me a car to use if I wanted to go somewhere, I'm not even allowed to be mad because I'll be labeled as ungrateful after he went all out organizing this whole thing, going as far as bringing my friends here which I'm sure he paid for.

Sandy: Yeah you're right babes, I see your point honestly.

Me: And then my father came with his entire new family, the one he left us for and had the nerve to introduce them to me, on my day? The same people responsible for my own family breaking apart and the elder sister has an attitude for days, like Sandy I'm fuming right now!

Sandy: And I get it but don't let these people ruin your day, it's your birthday today Ntando, the one day you're allowed to be happy, you can be mad and angry tomorrow but today, I need you to be in the moment and have a great time.

I huffed.
Me: And this talk about how much I've lost weight, I mean I've noticed and that's been worrying me as well. I didn't need anyone to remind me because it's something I literally had no control over, this year was hectic.

Sandy: Oh babe I can hear the sadness in your voice.
Me: Like we don't comment on people's weight, that's a known universal law.
Sandy: Please don't cry?
Me: I'm not, anyway before I'm being accused of entertaining my new friend while people from Joburg literally abandoned what they were doing to come and be with me let me go back.

We laughed.
Sandy: Will you be alright?
Me: I will be okay.
Sandy: I will call you tomorrow.
Me: Okay thank you, bye.
Sandy: Bye.

I dropped the call and Shaka was standing behind me, I don't want to lie that scared me, my heart dropped to my knees, but me being me, I walked past him and returned back to the table.

Me(smiles): Sorry about that, that was the girl I met at the club earlier today, she was just checking up on me.
Mom(smiles): No problem baby, I'm just happy that you've managed to make some friends here in Durban who are genuine and care for you, I mean look at the surprise dinner they threw for you.
Me(smiles): Yeah, I'm really grateful, I just want to thank you guys for doing this for me, I really appreciate it, I didn't know I needed to see my parents again under one roof in order to be okay even if they are seated 5 seats apart from each other, but you know… We are grateful.

We laughed.
Dad: What your cousin did for you is really beautiful Ntando, bringing us all in one place for this beautiful occasion.
Me(smiles): Hawu baba you haven't heard? Shaka and I are not related, he's not Aunt Mandisa's biological son.
Mom: Haibo what do you mean?
Kamo: I thought you guys were cousins?
Shaka: Uhm… I was swapped at the hospital when I was a few hours old. My biological mother thought I was dead so she swapped me with Mandisa's son.
Mom: What?
Thuso: Damn that's messed up!
Me: The worst part is that Aunt Mandisa's biological son died.
Ayanda: Oh that's bad, but you know, biological or not, she's still the woman that raised you and that doesn't change a thing between the two of you, you are still cousins.

I drank my wine.
Me: Bold of you to assume, it doesn't change anything, do you honestly think my cousin would go through so much trouble to make my day special? Kanti, he's just my cousin?
Thandokuhle(laughs): I knew it!
Dad: What do you mean Ntando?
Me: Siyathandana.

Everyone gasped, Joburg people and drama.
Me: Oh come on y'all must have suspected it.
Thuso: I mean apart from that comment on tiktok I just figured it was bogus.
Me: Nope, that's my man! Thank you to my man!

______

Dad: Your mother and I have agreed that before we leave we need to have lunch, all 4 of us.
Me: Oh okay, that's great vele there's more that I want to tell you.
Dad: Okay, sizokhuluma ke Ntandokazi kaBaba and I'm sorry for coming with Ayanda and the kids.
Me: It's okay baba, I was a brat earlier, I guess I was a little triggered seeing them here.
Dad: I understand.
Me: Please apologise on my behalf.

He nodded as we shared a hug and he got inside the car and left, mom and her nurse had already left, I returned back inside the house, the time was around 9pm, way too early, I was drunk again and I was not about to go to sleep right now.

Me: Guys! Now that the fossils have left, I think we should take this party to a club, I'm in the mood to party and shake my ass!
Tumelo: That was always the plan Birthday girl.

Everyone made some noise.
Thuso: Now that's my Ntandokazi Ngema good people I almost thought Durban had changed you and you don't get down like that anymore.
Me: Ubani? Mina?

We laughed.
Sean: Girl you've never set foot in a club ever since you got here!
Me(laughs): Because I didn't trust any of you, I got my Joburg girlies and we are about to turn up!
Kamo: And that's an order!
Me: But first we have to start at the apartment, I cannot be seen in public on my birthday looking crusty.

We laughed.
Shaka: I got you an outfit upstairs.
Me(screams): Really?
Ndalo: Yep, we got you a birthday dinner dress and an after party outfit.
Me: Awww you almost made my day perfect niyilahle kancane nje.
Ndalo(laughs): How was that our fault? Your phone was off.
Me: It fell inside the ice bucket and it blacked out, believe me I would never keep my phone off intentionally okusho ukuthi Nani you called me late, you were supposed to leave a note and say, 'Happy birthday baby, there's some people that will be coming to pamper you around 12, we have a date at 5' instead of saying 'I left the car just incase you have somewhere to be, Sean will be my cab driver for the day'

Tumelo: Okay, now I see it.
Me: Thank you, communication! Now I had to have dinner looking homeless.
Shaka: The shade! I had so much to do Ntando and on top of that I had an exam.
Kamo: Forgive him Ntando.

We laughed.
Me: Cha ningiphoxile shame! I couldn't even take content on my birthday dinner because of you.
Ndalo(laughs); Haaa siyaxolisa phela bakithi.

They laughed while I went upstairs, I didn't even know where I was going, why does this house have to be so huge?

Shaka: This is our bedroom
Me: Oh thank you.

I got inside and there were two huge pink gift boxes on the bed with white ribbons. I opened the first one and there was a beautiful beige dress, heels and accessories. Do you see how beautiful I would have been? I hate Shaka honestly.

The other box had my afterparty outfit and it was gorgeous, I loved it, I rushed to the shower and took a quick one and got dressed, there was even some Italian cosmetic gift set, lotion, fragrance, roll on, I was feeling and smelling so good, I applied a simple makeup since my makeup kit was at the apartment.

Me: Asambeni!
Kamo(smiles): Now that's the Ntando we know!! You look so beautiful!
Me(smiles): Thank you babes.
Sean: Okay people let's roll out, we have a Hyundai H-1 that's waiting for us outside, Prime and the birthday girl will be driving in their own car.
Me: Absolutely not! I'm driving with my friends, Cybertron or whatever you call yourselves, please drive with Prime, we need privacy.
Lungelo: Prime?
Shaka: What the birthday girl wants. The birthday girl gets.
Me(smiles): Thank you baby, you're a star!!

I kissed his cheek even though I could tell he was mad as hell, bakithi I'm drunk mina, there's no way I'm fit to take the stand at court and defend myself and you can tell nje ukuthi Shaka doesn't take nonsense when he is angry, I could tell from the moment he called me ukuthi ay ziyakhala so I'm trying by all means to stay out of his way, I will go on my knees and beg, apologise and worship him tomorrow.

Me: Before we leave, can we ask the driver to take pictures of us? Sengimuhle phela manje.

We laughed and Tumelo asked the driver to take pictures of us and indeed we took pictures and then my friends and I got in the H-1 and we asked fhe driver to not mind our ears and play the music.

[KAMOGELO GELA]
Well this was a bit awkward, awkward because I came here thinking Shaka and Ntando were cousins but during the birthday dinner Ntando told us that they weren't related and therefore in a relationship.

Honestly when she said that, I died a million times mainly because I've had a crush on Shaka ever since he called me a couple of months ago asking me questions about Ntando and Leano, his voice alone did something to me and after I dropped the call, I started searching him on social media, well I started following him and saving his pictures and videos.

I was a bit delusional to a point where I'd ask Gemini AI and Chatgpt to merge our pictures into a couple, I was just waiting for the holidays so that I could ask Ntando if I could visit her in Durban so that I could make advances at Shaka, to my disappointment, her and Shaka are dating.

That's the sole reason why I even came here, do you know how excited I was when I got his call? And he offered to pay for my ticket? I thought this was it, my time to shine.

I mean who wouldn't want a guy like Shaka? He's just HIM you know, he's the main character in those novels we be reading, tall, handsome, tattoos, bad boy personality but with a touch of an angel.

Oh God those eyes, those lips, those arms!

Nrando: We have arrived guys, and it seems like we are at the same club I was at earlier.

She snapped me out of my thoughts.
Thuso: Triple T?
Ntando: Yep, are you guys ready? I'm taking a video.
Me: We are ready babes!

We got out of the car the same time Shaka, Tumelo, Sean and Lungelo got out of their car, I stole a glance at Shaka, he didn't seem happy for some reason, from what I heard, Ntando spent the whole day at this club drinking with a girl she had just met and her phone was off the entire time and Shaka was pissed!

Like you can tell even now that there's some tension between them, even the way Ntando was at the beginning of the dinner, she wasn't okay until she had that call and came back going at the wine like it was juice, so it's safe to say that the ship is not sailing at the moment.

We made it inside and Sean went to the bartender Who led us to our table, I won't lie this was a beautiful spot.

Shaka: Ladies what are you having?
Me: It's tradition that the birthday girl takes shots that match her age, so Ntando girl, we need those 19 shots.
Ntando: Kamo can you not see ukuthi I'm already seeing double do you want me to die? Besides I've already had 19 shots earlier.
Tumelo: Not with us so that doesn't count, we need shots!
Boitumelo: And lemon!
Lungelo: Yes sir!!!

He banged the table excitedly and it wasn't long till the bottle ladies arrived with 3 icebuckets filled with expensive bottles of alcohol and ciders, we were about to turn up for real!

Another one arrived with the shots.
Me: I'm taking a video.
Shaka: Ready?
Ntando(warns): If I die!
Shaka(laughs): You won't die babe not on my watch, let me give you a kiss for goodluck.

They kissed and we all made noise, I'd give anything to have been the one who kissed those lips! Life is not fair honestly!
Ntando(smiles): Okay let's go.
Me: 3,2,1 and let's go!
Us: Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!!

We hyped her as she took the 19 shots like a big girl when she was done we all cheered for her.
Ntando(sour face): Ooh my God!!!
Thuso: That's a big girl!! Happy birthday my love!!
Us: Happy birthday to you!

The bottle girls walked in with a cake, a very cute cake with her face on it.

Ntando: Aww you guys! When did you organize this?
Lungelo: Your man is Iron Man! He planned this day to the T!
Ntando: Aww baby! Thank you! Ngiyakuthanda yezwa!

She kissed his lips.
Thato: Make a wish!!

She blew her candles.
Me(smiles): What did you wish for?
Ntando: For a great year next year, lord knows this year has been nothing but hell and I barely made it, but here I am, infront of you guys, my people from Joburg and my people from Durban, I just want to thank you guys for making my day so perfect, I was here earlier…

She laughed.
Nrando: Crying because I thought nobody loved me and here I am again, my heart filled with gratitude, each one of you have played a very important role in my life and for that I am very grateful and I love you.
Us: We love you too!
Ntando: But now? Its time to party!!
Us: Hell yes!!!

Now one thing you don't want to do is to try to out dance Ntando on the dance floor, this girl should be a professional dancer, dancing for the likes of Uncle Waffles.

I couldn't keep up so I went to sit down, Sean and Shaka were sitting down as well, I sat next to Shaka and Sean excused himself.
Me(smiles): She seems happy.
Shaka: Yeah, she does, I've never seen this side of her.
Me: That's a shame, we all know Ntando likes the groove back in Joburg we used to go to groove every weekend.
Shaka: Like she mentioned this year hasn't been that kind to her so groove wasn't an option but after seeing her this happy, I'm going to make it a regular thing.
Me: You should, this is where she's at her happiest.

He smiled.
Me: You really like her don't you?
Shaka(smiles): I love her.

Me: I can see that and I have faith that it'll work out this time akere novel writers like to say that the relationship works out when the man is the one who's more inlove than the girl, her previous relationship with Leano, even though they had problems here and there, there was a time where they were inlove but from our point of view, she was the one who was more inlove than him.

Shaka: Is that so?

Me: Yeah, she was loud about the relationship, you wouldn't see Ntando on the dance floor when Leano was around, they would be sitting down, in their own world, making out while taking cute videos, sometimes they would be dancing together, requesting love songs and being all cute you know, I don't think she will ever love anyone else the way that she loved Leano but he was always a douchebag.

He kept quiet.
Me: Plus their relationship started with a crush, she had a crush on him and then one day she confessed to him and it turned out that Leano felt the same way as well.

I stole a glance at him and smiled.
Me: Anyway you guys will work out as well don't worry even though she's not as loud about you, the fact that you've done so much for her will count on your favour, she won't leave you because you've been like her protector, us girls will literally stay even if we've fallen out of love with a guy simply because they've done a lot for us.

Boitumelo: Kamo, come!
Me(smiles): I'm coming!!

I got up and went to join them.