CHAPTER 8

NEXT DAY-*MBALI*

Obvious I woke up to my man doing unspeakable things to me eii modimo anyway when we were done, we took a shower, and I wore a long flowy floral dress nama slides ankere ngwana. I went to the bathroom to fix my hair and wooo I need to refresh my pink peekaboo and blonde thle nkare ke mango efedileng anyway I slicked my hair back into a lower bun and I did some edges and wore a white hairband…and no hake fithle hairline eii lona anyway once I was done I came out the bathroom and Siya was dressed in overrolls and when he looked at me he smiled and pulled me towards him by the hem of my dress
Siya:"yazi bathi ingoma emnandi iyaphindwa"
Me:"hai hai iphindelwa ini? Ngeke khehla ngeke"
He laughed then I kissed him before going out and Siya followed me and we went to the main house where we found everyone in the kitchen and they were busy making breakfast
Esihle:"morning sisi Mbali"
Me:"morning babe"
She hugged me and I greeted everyone else. That's when Nosipho walked in looking so grumpy with her bonnet on crocked and honestly I can't blame her because it's bloody 7am and I was up at 5am doing para what what with Siya eii yah neh
Me:"haw manje wa kwata kanje, kwenze njani?"
Nosipho:"haii uLindi just woke me up so violently and she knows I don't like being woken up"
We all laughed at her and she just went to the coffee maker and poured herself some and went to sit down. The whole family came and we sat down and had breakfast while we were having conversations here and there. Ndlovukazi informed us that the elders will be arriving ngabo 11 and we have to start on cooking and chopping veggies and the boys have to go prepare the goat and cow that are outside. After eating, everyone started getting busy and as me, Lindi and Nomtha were busy laughing and chopping veggies there came in a very loud, bigger woman who was telling everyone outside what to do and she spotted us in the kitchen
Lady:"haw haw nayimihlola bo nisayenza amaveggie ngalesi kathi?"
Nomtha:"yhoo jehova, auntie we just started tuu and it's literally 7:30 am and uyarasa lana"
Lady:"yeeei wena Nomtha abantu base ngeleni uthi its just 7:30 ungazong phambanisa la wena"
I looked at Lindi with a look of confussion as who is this and she said I should just keep quiet she'll tell me later that's when this lady turned to look at me
Lady:"ntombazana manje wena ubani?"
Me:"ohh nguMbali, intombi kaSiya"
Lady:"mxm yazi uSiya ungabe abuyele noLucy hai wena uwuna nomzimba wokubamba umtnana wenkosi"
I widened my eyes as she just insulted me and who the hell is Lucy? That's when Siya barged in when he saw me looking at this lady who was busy going on about how this Lucy woman is so much better than me and honestly I wanted to answer her but I was raised with morals to be respectful but honestly it kinda stung because I'm still trying to love my body as a girl who grew up skinny
Siya:"baby…?"
I looked at him and I was about to cry from anger but I didn't, like I can't let this old hag see me cry because of her soze nange party ka Mandela
Nomtha:"auntie weee awuthule Nkosi yami"
Auntie:"haaai ngithulele ini, buka nje ngapha umnyama and has blonde hair like uphambene na Siya, buyela kuLucy hai lezinto zasegoli. Siya mfana wami yenza kancono tuu"
Siya:"Auntie ngiyakukuza njalo ngoba intombi yami lena you won't disrespect her like that"
Auntie:"uyakhona ukumulahla nje she's not a mountain she can be moved, futhi uyabonakala nje ukhuthi unondindwa lo and akana lutho nje buyela kuLucy mfana wam lalela mina ngiyakhuchela"
I stormed out brushing past Siya before he could hold me back and Lindi followed me before telling Siya to sort their Aunt out. I past Themba who was holding I think a knife or something and he saw that I was on the brink of tears and anger and he grabbed Lindi before she could keep following me
Themba:"yini manje?"
Lindi:"akusulo auntie wako"
Themba:"yhooo did she say bad things to her and mention Lucy?"
Lindi:"yaa eish and she did too much nje"
Themba:"eish go check on her ntwana, uyaphapha lo auntie wako haii"
Lindi nodded and came to me as I was at the back of the house where there were so many cats I don't know why but they calmed me down even though I was shedding a few tears from anger and trying to stop my heart from beating so much. I sat on a rock and a white cat came and sat on my lap helping me to calm down before I had a panic attack
Lindi:"babes…?"
I looked up at her with tears in my eyes
Lindi:"don't let what she said to you get to you ntwana uyazi westanna girll"
I giggled when she nudged me
Me:"ngiyazi ntwana but sometimes things people say about me especially about my skin color and body gets to me because umuntu can't always stay extremely confident"
Lindi:"I know shem but as Queen Riri always says 'pretend even when you don't feel like it'"
I smiled when she said that as she calmed me down a bit even this cat on me was so soft and seemed to like me kore I'm such a cat person yhoo. That's when we heard some footsteps and when we looked it was Esihle and Nosipho and they sat next to me and Esihle hugged me
Nosipho:"we heard what happened and yazi next time I think we should slap her nx uyaphapha lo mama ongashadanga. I'm sure her coochie has cobwebs"
We all laughed at how blunt Nosipho is without even trying. After a while of us sitting there, we heard footsteps behind us and when we looked it was Siya
Nosipho:"you sure do take your time eii"
Siya:"awuthule tuu ngisachela ukhukhuluma nomuntu wami tuu"
Everyone:"thata wenaaa lover boy!!"
We laughed and the girls got up and they left. Siya helped me up and put his hands on my waist and pulled me to him and I put my hands on his chest and looked up at him, eii motho waka omontle damnit!
Siya:"sthandwa sam…"
Me:"Mntungwa…"
His smile widened at how I called him and I remembered how much he loved when I called him with his clan names
Siya:"yazi uyangi seduce'a mama?"
Me:"haaa mina?"
Siya:"eya wena mama"
I smiled and tiptoed and kissed him and when we pulled back, he kissed my forehead
Siya:"but on a serious note mama uright? I mean after what happened?"
Me:"yea I'm fine. The girls and the cat helped me"
He looked at me with his eyebrow raised
Me:"okay fine she got to me but I'll be fine baby"
Siya:"okay sthandwa sami let's go get some McDonalds and get away from the house a bit"
I smiled and nodded when he said that and he kissed my forehead and held my hand and we walked to his Quantum and got in and we headed out and went via drive through and ordered and he parked at the parking lot
Me:"baby can I please tell you something?"
Siya:"sure baby"
Me:"uhmmm… so there's this ex of mine who has been calling me talking about getting back with me but I've been telling him no but yesterday before the whole drama yaezolo and he said he knew about you and manje I fear for your safety because his not really a good Samaritan yaka bra God…"
Siya:"mhmmm okay baby but don't worry about him I can take care of myself but I'm mostly worried about you"
Me:"I was thinking of getting a restraining order when we get back because I really don't trust him"
Siya:"okay baby I'll go with you keh"
I nodded and felt releaved that I told him and we continued eating then when we were done we headed back home when we got there Siya tried sneaking to the bin so he can throw away the wrappers that was until Esihle saw him
Esihle:"haaa buthi you had McDonalds without me?"
Siya:(under his breath)"shit"(then he turned back to Esihle)"haaa small I just wanted to treat umama to something nice nje"
Esihle:"that means you owe me keh"
Siya:"okay keh sthuthu I'll buy it tomorrow"
I just giggled and walked to the kitchen and I found Nomtha
Nomtha:"girl uright manje?"
Me:"yebo"
Esihle:"angithi buthi got her McDonalds"
Nomtha:"haaa then you don't bring for us aowaa tonight I want mine we've been eating mogodu the julle dag angeke shem"
Me:"weeeeh okay keh I'll order it for us"
That's when we heard people in the dinning area talking loudly and laughing. Nosipho walked in the kitchen
Nosipho:"ndlovukazi is asking for everyone to come greet the elders"
Nomtha:"is ugogo here also?"
Nosipho:"yes"
Nomtha screamed like a little girl and ran to the living room and we laughed and just followed her that's when I saw that this family is extremely big because they were practically filling up the area. Siya took my hand and led me to an old lady who was on a wheelchair and Nomtha was smothering her with kisses
Siya:"haaa whoa nawe nomtha name ngifuna iattention ka gogo"
Nomtha grumbled and stepped aside and their grandmother smiled when she looked at Siya and held out her hands to him that's when Siya let go of my hand and hugged her and when he stood straight she looked at me and smiled widly and held out one of her hand and I put my hand in it and she squeezed it
Gogo:"waze wamuhle ngane yami"
Me:"ngiyabonga gogo"
Gogo:"umoya wako futhi nawo umhlophe yazi nalo gogo okuphethe hai ukhethe kahle"
I smiled like a little girl because her energy and how light she felt to me showed me that she was so genuine yhooo abanye abogogo are so lovely.
Siya:"ohh gogo intombi yami le uMbali, eMbali yami"
When he said that last part he looked at me smiling. His grandmother then took both our hands and put them in the middle of hers and kissed them
Gogo:"nizoba neliksasa elihle zengane zami, kodwa Siya ubomamela umzimba wako malikhukuza ngomuntu"
Me and Siya looked at each other confused but we brushed it off that's when Siya's aunt came and she looked at me up and down and I just ignored her
Gogo:"wena nandi lobuthakathi bako uzobuyeka nini?"
Aunt Nandi:"weeeh mama angithakathi yhoo"
Gogo:"mhmmm kodwa keh uyeke lengane yabantu sezwana?"
She just clicked her toungue and walked away we just ignored her and Siya continued introducing me to his family with a huge smile on his face and honestly apart from Aunt Nandi everyone in this family liked me and honestly khufudumele la kulekhaya.

Later that night the elders were in the house and the rest of us were seated around the fire while there was some meat on it and we were waiting for Siya, Themba and Simphiwe, Nomtha's husband, to come back with some booze and juice for Nosipho and Esihle since they were literally the only teens here but more teens were coming tomorrow apparently but as we were seated there laughing at Sanza's-one of the cousions- jokes I noticed that Nosipho was no where to be found that's when I turned to Esihle, who was sitting in between to my legs on the floor
Me:"Esihle uphi uNosipho?"
Esihle:"haii I don't know but I think she went to her room"
Me:"ill be back nou nou sit on my chair"
That's when I went to her room and there was no one there and I kept looking around the yard until I found her at the back and she was on the phone and into bakaye kwate yona is crazy because she was walking up and down, that's when I figured she's talking to a boy then I picked up a tiny pebble and threw it to her and when she turned and looked at me she looked like she had seen a ghost and she quickly hung up and I tried so hard to hide my laugh
Me:"boyfriend?"
Nosipho:"eish"
But as she said that her voice cracked and I saw that her eyes were kinda glossy
Me:"nosipho kwenze njani?"
That's when she broke down and I pulled her into a hug and she sobbed. When she finally calmed down, she finally started talking
Nosipho:"I just got a picture from a person I considered to be my bestfriend and she's making out with my boyfriend and when I'm asking him now and his denying it"
Me:"yazi friends like those are the ones to through you under the bus when things get tough, but I suggest you cut her off and with that little boyfriend of yours dump him because he doesn't deserve you, I mean bona umuhle kanjani to deal with his nonsense"
Nosipho:"kodwa ngiyamuthanda"
Me:"I honestly can't force you to leave him because only you can choose to leave"
She nodded even though she didn't look at me, but I knew teenagers do what they want and mjolo obayetsang eii anyway I had a great idea to cheer her up
Me: "tomorrow get up real early so I can go get you a new sneaker I noticed that you're a sneaker girly futhi"
Nosipho: "would you really do that Mbali?"
Me: "definitely phela wena no Esihle are literally the little sisters I never had so yes I would do that"
Her whole mood lightened, and she hugged me and moments later went back to the others where we simultaneously got there as Siya, Themba and Simphiwe came holding ama case of alcohol and we all took out bottles and I gave mine to Siya to open it for me, I mean perks of having umuntu, ahhh!! Eventually we all sat down and had lovely conversations under the stars