Awkward moment

"So your new friend's husband is your baby daddy huh?" And he's been here all along? Wow this is so awkward and f*cked up hey..." Ntokozo says to Nobuhle as the 4 friends sit in the restaurent where the mood is rather sombre after Nobuhle told them about what happened last Saturday which was a few days ago. Following the talk Nobuhle had with her husband Bheki, things haven't been great between them because Nobuhle can't seem to move past knowing that her husband used to hit his partner. Part of her is fearing that maybe one day it may just happen to her. Bheki on the other hand has been trying to reach to his wife but things are really tense between them and he doesn't know how to fix the situation.

At the Mbatha home things are just as tense after the couple also had a talk. Ntombi is not happy that Muzi hasn't made effort to make contact with the mother of his child, she thinks the excuse given for this is not good enough. Muzi on the other hand is struggling to come to terms with the realization that his friend is married to his baby mama and happen to be the baby daddy of his wife.

"Eish tell me about it friend...and no, Ntombi is not my friend." Nobuhle says with a low voice as she looks a little annoyed. "Oh, she's not your friend now huh? Weren't you the one who was busy telling us how you two have chemistry and connection? Well, as it turns out, you really do have connection it's crazy." Ntokozo says as she shrugs her shoulders but Zandile and Lindiwe look at her as if to say, 'Did you really have to put it like that?' She ignores them as she takes a sip of her dry red.

"But friend have you spoken to Ntombi about this whole thing, I mean woman to woman? What about Muzi? Have sat down with him to try and understand what truly happened with him and why he didn't make contact with you guys?" Lindiwe asks with a concerned voice but this seems to annoy Nobuhle who says, "No and quiet frankly I couldn't careless about that one. He can stay dead for all I care."

"But you know that you guys will have to eventually talk right? I mean this isn't just about the two of you...there's also a 8 year-old involved." Zandile says as she also take a sip but this seems to surprise everyone because she usually comes across as anti- baby daddy. This makes Nobuhle to think for a second before saying, "Yeah, I know alright?" with a sigh. "It's just that I'm so mad at that guy you don't understand. To actually think that he was here all along and he hadn't seen his child in years, and the next thing he is at my door-step...gosh it makes me so mad. What do I tell Mbali now, huh? What do I say to her? That her father is back and wants to re-connect?"

"But you see friend? That's why you need to sit down with Muzi and talk things through." Lindiwe interjects. "You really do need to understand what happened before there can be any talk of re-introducing him to your daughter. I think you should even involve his family in all this because it would be a shame if they knew that he was in the country but kept that from you."

"Ofcourse they knew. There's no way that Muzi could be in the country and not see his family." a visibly annoyed Zandile says as she takes a sip but Ntokozo quickly jumps in, "And role did Ntombi play in all this? I mean keeping Muzi away from his daughter?" she asks with a raised eyebrow but Nobuhle quickly interjects, "Oh come on guys...look, if that was the case then she could say the same about me. I mean, Bhekani hasn't made much effort to see his son on a regular basis...am I to blame for that? Absolutely not, I really don't know why Bheki doesn't see his son often. I know that he and Ntombi had a bad break-up, that could be the reason but I did not discourage him from seeing his boy. So I doubt Ntombi has anything to do with Muzi's decision to not make contact." she says as she shrugs.

"Speaking of which, why doesn't Muzi's family like you? What happened there?" Zandile asks curiously which catches Nobuhle off-guard but Ntokozo adds, "Yeah I mean, clearly they like Ntombi because they let Muzi marry her." she says as she also shrugs her shoulders that doesn't seem to sit well with Nobuhle who looks at her like she can't believe what she just said.

"Uhmm...well, when Muzi and I broke up because of his family always interfering in our relationship I filed fo the sole custody of the child..." she says as she looks a little embarrassed for just saying that but her friends all shout, "What?" in disbelief. "But why would you do something like that friend?" Ntokozo asks as she is shocked by this. "Look, I was angry okay?" Nobuhle says as she shrugs her shoulders. "I think I was just trying to get back at him or something but that just made things wore between me and his family. His aunt and sisters hate my gut. They made sure I never speak to him so I eventually stopped trying since that is what they preferred."

"Well then, so why do you say Muzi is the one who doesn't wanna see his kid if you are the one who filed for sole custody to keep him out of his child's life?" a confused Zandile asks as she throws hands in the air, leading to Ntokozo and Lindiwe nodding in agreement to the question being asked.

"Well, I actually changed my mind alright?" a visibly annoyed Nobuhle says as she takes a strong sip. "Just before she got married I tried to make contact with him by going over to his home so that I could speak to him but his family chased me away. They didn't want to help me get in touch with him and then I heard that after he got married he and his wife left for overseas. I actually thought they were still staying there...imagine my shock when I saw him the other day standing in my door-step. And yeah I'm pretty sure his family didn't want me to know that he is back. Yes you were actually right friend, clearly they do love Ntombi." she says as she looks at the embarrassed Ntokozo.

"Well friend you gotta have to speak to him okay? Mbali has every right to get to know his father. If Muzi refuses to re-connect with his child, well then...atleast you would have tried." Lindiwe says with a low voice as she shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah I know hey...but ofcourse I will have to talk to Ntombi first so that you know I don't just ask her husband to come over and talk..." Nobuhle says as she takes a deep sigh. "And I'm sure she will also want to speak to my husband about their son as well. So we need to talk about it so that we find a common ground and make sure we have an understanding on how all this will work out."

"So your husband is friends with Muzi huh? And he is Ntombi's baby daddy? Muzi who is Ntombi's wife is your baby daddy? Yoooh...this is really awkward and absolutely f*cked up my friend damn..." Ntokozo says as she takes a huge sip of her drink while everyone else shake their heads in disbelief of how all this is just complicated.

"Yeah...story of my life..." Nobuhle says as she finishes off whatever was left in her glass and then immediately calls on the waiter, "Uhmm...can I have another one of this please?" she says as she lifts the wine bottle up. The waiter nods with a smile and goes away. "Friend, are you sure? I mean, you won't be able to walk hey." Lindie says with a concerned face but Nobuhle quickly interjects, "Well, that's why none of us drove over here alright?" she says. "We all agreed to take Uber because we were all gonna get wasted, so don't you dare leave me hanging okay? You are all gonna order another bottles okay?"

Her friends look at each in wonder but they also find this hilarious as they burst out laughing at their friend. Clearly this will be a very long night.

***

 

Ntombi is over at her mom's house to talk about the recent developments in her life and her mother is just as shocked about what happened.

"So what are you going to do about this mntanami(my child)?" Ntombi's mother Dora asks as she takes a sip of her tea. "What can I do mama?" Ntombi says as she shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, what can I do about the fact that a person I thought would be my best friends turned to be the wife of my baby daddy and that my husband is her baby daddy? This is the most awkward situation I have eve found myself in...it is actually an awkward situation for the four of us. I am still trying to make sense of it all."

"So you and this girl, you won't become friends anymore? Well, in the end you guys need to talk..." Dora says as she takes another sip. "Friends? I don't know mama...that just might complicate things, don't you think?" Ntombi says as she shrugs again. "But you are right, she and I have to talk because there's no turning back from this now. I know that she will also want to talk Muzi now that she knows he is around and I have also encouraged Muzi to talk to her so that he can reconnect with his daughter. I also need to talk to Bhekani regarding Mfundo and see if we can't work something out...you know, for my son's sake."

"Now please mntanami(my child) be careful that you don't get too close to Bhekani again okay? Into yenu(your thing) Is about the child and nothing else..." Dora says with a rather concerned voice. "Muzi has been such a good husband to you and a very good father to my grandson, so don't ruin all that with Bheki who was always useless to you and your son."

"Yes I know mama, alright?" Ntombi says as she rolls her eyes because she thinks her mother is just being silly but Dora continues, "Anyways, why did Muzi and that girl break up in the first place?" she asks curiously as she raises an eyebrow. "Well, not that it mattered because I'm happy that Muzi married you in the end, even though you guys don't have a child yet."

Now this conversation is beginning to make Ntombi feel a little uncomfortable because she doesn't like to discuss Nobuhle or Bheki with her mother. "Well mama, I don't know alright? Sometimes things just don't work in a relationship you know...like it didn't work out with me and Mfundo's father." she says reluctantly but her mother quickly interjects, "Well good riddance to that bastard..." she says but a shocked Ntombi quickly cuts in, "Mama, he is still Mfundo's father and someone's husband okay? No matter how you may feel about him, we can't talk about him that way okay?" she says with a begging voice.

"Okay fine..." Dora says as she throws hands in the air. "Anyways when are you and Muzi coming over for dinner? Your cousin hasn't seen you in a little while and since she is in Jo'burg she won't see you. And I also I would love to see umkhwenyana(son in-law) who is taking such good care of my one and only daughter."

"I don't know mama, I will have to ask Muzi..." Ntombi says with a sigh. "But it can't be now mama okay? First Muzi and I have to deal with this whole drama that's going on. He must also sort out that thing with his daughter while I have to sort out that thing with Bheki and Mfundo. At the moment there will be a lot of tension and awkwardness, so it might not be the right time to come over." This doesn't seem to please her mother who asks, "So you won’t involve me in trying to sort it all out?" with a seemingly disappointed voice. "Well mama, I think it will be Muzi and Nobuhle's families who may need to talk first." Ntombi says as she shrugs. "But If they insist on having me involved I guess you will be too."

"Alright then..." a dissapointed Dora says as she shrugs. "Alright, come so that you will make food that you will take home to Muzi and Mfundo okay?" she says as she gets up and goes to the kitchen and Ntombi follows her.

***

 

Elsewhere, Muzi and Bheki are also struggle to come to terms with has happened as they sit at a bar somewhere in Gateway Mall but this is no something they can avoid forever. There is clear awkwardness between them but they need to find a way of addressing the elephant in the room.

"Thanks man for agreeing to meet...so how are things at home and how has the wife taken this thing?" Bhekizwe asks as he takes a sip of his beer. "Eish man, Nobuhle has not taken this very well as you can imagine..." Muzi says as he takes a deep sigh with a face of worry. "But look man, I can't really blame her...she is worried that your wife Nobuhle will blame her for me not involved in my daughter's life. And bro, I can assure you, she has nothing to do with that man. It's me who has been an ass*le in all this and if anyone your wife must be mad at, it's me not Ntombi."

"But I don't get it man, why didn't you try and make contact with your daughter? You know, Nobuhle thought you were living overseas with your wife until you guys showed at our door." a seemingly confused Bheki says as he takes another sip. This question makes Muzi to think for a second as he seems a little uncomfortable because he had this conversation with his wife not so long ago.

"Look man, this was never my intention from the beginning okay?" he says as he also takes a sip of his beer. "I'm sure Nobuhle must have told you about our break up and all that, huh?" Bheki thinks for a second before saying, "Not in so many words, no..." with a sigh. "Well, when Nobuhle and I broke up she filed for the full custody of our child, which further drove the wedge between us and which also made my family very angry. They never liked her very much." Muzi says as he shrugs his shoulders. "But why man? Why didn't they like her?" Bheki asks curiously because the last time he asked this question to his wife she became evasive.

"Look I don't know man, they just felt that she wasn't the right woman for me." Muzi says as he shrugs. "They felt that maybe she was way too independent to be a right girl for me. So they kept interfering in our relationship, which began to drive me and Nobuhle apart with everytime passing. Eventually our relationship became toxic. So when we broke up Nobuhle filed for the sole custody of our child and we fought a lot about that, but during that time I was doing a lot of travelling so we lost contact. When I started a new relationship with Ntombi, we were travelling overseas a lot and during that time Nobuhle had the custody of Mbali.

So when Ntombi and I got married I had completely lost contact with Nobuhle and had no idea where she was...I had not met her family at the time. So after I got married, Ntombi and travelled overseas for a little while and when I came back I still had no way of making contact with Nobuhle and my child. As far as I was concerned her position on the custody of the child hadn't changed."

"Man this is really heavy, you know that?" a shocked Bheki says with a sigh. "I mean, to actually think that I'm forever present in Nobuhle's daughter only to learn that the father is my high school best friend...it is insane. And just so you know man, Nobuhle has got nothing to do with me not being so much present in my son's life either. I know that you have been there for Mfundo most of the time. All of this is a little too much to make sense of at the moment but I think we need to find a way of navigating through it all because in the end, there are children that are involved."

"I know man." Muzi says as he takes a sip. "And also man, I need a permission from you to talk to your wife so that we can try and straighten this whole thing up...if that's okay with you. I know that there's a lot of misunderstanding between me and her over what truly happened but I really want to do right by my daughter man."

"Yeah definitely man, ofcourse..." Bheki says as he nods. "I think I also need to speak to Ntombi regarding, you know...Mfundo. So if you'd grant me permission to..." he doesn't finish as Muzi cuts in, "Yeah ofcourse man, I think it's very important that you do that." he says as he forces a smile. Atleast at this point they have broken the ice. "So uhmm...tell me about you and Ntombi. What happened there? She doesn't like to talk about it much and to actually think that I had never 'seen' Mfundo's father before is crazy because you know, everytime she says she's 'going with Mfundo to see his father' I'm never part of that."

This suddenly brings that moment of awkwardness between the two because the last time Bheki had to explain himself to his wife it really didn't end well. In fact, there's still tension between them as a result, but what can he do? He can't run away from this now because Muzi has already opened up about what happened between him and Nobuhle.

"Eish man...it's not something I'm really proud of hey..." Bheki says as he looks a little embarrassed. "Uhmm...our relationship started to become a little toxic when I was going through some personal stuff. We'd argue and fight a lot more than just being a happy couple you know. Uhmm...one time it got out of hand when I had too much to drink one night and uhmm...I hit her."

"You what?" Wait, I don't know you to be that kind of a guy man...what the hell?" a shocked Muzi asks in disbelief. "Yeah man I'm not okay?" an embarrassed Bheki quickly says. "It happened just that once I swear. Uhmm...I think the fact that days or even weeks before that point we were arguing or fighting a lot made that incident worse, so uhmm...she called the cops on me and I was arrested. She also filed a restraining order against me and then went back to live with her mother and cousin. But you know uhmm...she dropped the charges later but we just couldn't fix things afterwards. Her family never wanted to see me again but only later did she allow me to see my son but things just remained cold between us."

"Wow man, uhmm...this is really shocking." a disbelieving Muzi says as he takes a very strong sip. "Yeah I know man but you know, I sought help and went to therapy to deal with my issues you know. During that time I got my life together as things started to work out...I got a new and a better job. So I can never imagine myself going back to being that kind of a guy again."

"And does Nobuhle know about this man?" Muzi asks curiously. "Yeah man, uhmm...the day after your dinner visit we spoke about it and she really didn't take it well." a sad-looking Bheki says with a low voice. "But I can't really blame her can I? I mean, she is scared that maybe one day I might go back to being that guy again...but I swear man, I am never returning to being that person. I have become a better person since then and want to be a better person. Since I married Nobuhle, who actually pushes me to be better, I have become a better person I believe."

"You know man, it's funny that Nobuhle was never liked by my family and you were never liked by Ntombi's family, and you guys ended up together. How weird is that? Hahaha..." Muzi says as he bursts out laughing, clearly trying to make the moment light. Bheki can't help but also laugh at this as he shakes his head.

"Look man, how about we order ourselves something really strong because I have a feeling that there's still a lot that you and I need to discuss regarding this little dilemma we find ourselves in." Bheki says as he lifts his hand to call the waiter. "Hey my man we would need another basket of beers please." he says to the waiter who nods and walks away.