Taken By a Mafia King

Spending time with Bonga

“Zekhethelo, can we talk?” my dad comes into my room. It’s 5 in the morning and judging by the way he looks, he didn’t sleep. I sit up and nod.

“Don’t look so worried,” he tells me, faking a smile. How could I not? But I pretend as if I didn’t see him faking a smile.

“It’s about your mom. I think you should build a relationship with her” he tells me and goes mute. I think he’s waiting for me to say something but I have nothing to say right now. I kind of feel betrayed. What has the woman done to my dad, why the sudden change of heart? Wasn’t he happy I chose him? I’m confused, but I don’t say anything to him. I talk a lot. I always have something to say but right I choose to say nothing.

“Can you do that?” he asks me, placing his hand on top of mine. I shake my head.

“I know I’ve been selfish, for the past 20 years I dreamt of her coming back and you not wanting anything to do with her. But now I think it’s not fair, you needed your mother and I can’t be the reason you didn’t build a relationship with her. If you want to leave with her then that’s okay with me”

Is my dad being serious? He really thinks I want a relationship with my mom? I’m so mad right now did he really wake me up at 5am to talk about my mom. I’m too mad to say anything so I just go back to sleep. I slept an hour back because I’ve been busy at the workshop since yesterday at 7pm.

I wake up 3 hours later, take a quick shower and eat breakfast. My dad is sitting at the lounge, I just ignore him. I'm too mad. I know I’m not being fair. I wash the bowl after eating cornflakes and I leave. I know he was waiting for me but I left. I’ll walk. I need to clear my head. As soon as I close the gate. A familiar voice shouts

“Surprise” it’s Bonga, my boyfriend. I’m so happy to see him, I last saw him 2 months back. I didn’t realise how much I missed him until now.

“Not here my dad will kill you when he sees you here” I tell him, smiling. At least we’ll walk together to the workshop and he'll probably assist me if he has time.

“Are you not happy to see me?” he asks smiling.

“Of course I am” I tell him and we walk to the workshop. It usually takes me 30 minutes to walk there but with Bonga it’s going to take more than an hour. We walk and talk about everything. I didn’t tell him about my mom during our daily calls and chats. Bonga and I have known each other since I was 5 and we’ve been dating for 4 years. He’s 7 years older, a UCT computer science graduate. He works and stays in Cape Town. We see each other every 2 months and we talk daily. I will tell him about my mom later, he knows she left 20 years ago. Everyone in this community knows.

After an hour we are at the workshop and some of my regular clients are here waiting. I greet them and I open the roller door. We get inside and I do all the administrative work before I can start working on the cars. I worked the whole day with Bonga helping me, so I decided to tell him about my mom. Like I expected he’s hurt I didn’t tell him sooner but he thinks my father is right I should try and build a relationship with my mom.

“I’ve seen how this affected you, remember I’ve known you since you were little” I shake my head. It’s true we’ve known each other since we were little and his mom used to joke about us getting married someday.

“I love you and I value your opinions but right now you’re talking s**t” I tell him feeling betrayed. How dare he? I know I’m being childish, but he’s my bf he should take my side not my mom’s side. So I take out all my frustration on the car I’m working on.