Taken By a Mafia King

Not again

It’s been 2 weeks since my mom and her family came by and I got all the results. I passed all my modules with distinctions so automatically I qualify for Honours. Making my dad proud has been my number one goal.

“You’ve made me very proud. I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter” he tells me smiling and hugging me very tight like I’m going to run away. Maybe it’s time I told him how I feel about my mom and her family. I open my mouth to say something but quickly close it when there’s a knock on the door. My dad and I hardly have visitors and when they visit they call us. Maybe it’s one of the people who needs their cars fixed real quick, but I left my contact details at the workshop after that powerful guy came here. I didn’t want to but I don’t feel comfortable with people coming here that’s why I left them.

I open the door and I’m tempted to roll my eyes, it’s mommy dearest and her family again. These people are going to annoy me. I don’t know whether to let them in or tell them to f**k off. But because I don’t want them saying my dad didn’t raise me well I tell them to come in. I’m so annoyed I can’t even fake a smile.

“You look beautiful” my mom tells me. I just ignore her and I sit with my dad on our single couch while they occupy the 3 and 2 seater couches. They greet us and they don’t talk so my dad and I also stare at them.

“We decided to come back because we couldn’t talk the last time”. This woman is like the spokesperson or something. My mom is the one who left us, so she can do the talking.

“Zekhethelo is here, you can talk to her. Nonhle has nothing to say to me. She can talk to her daughter” my dad tells them. I wait for Nonhle to say something, instead of talking she starts crying. My God. She starts screaming saying some things I cannot hear. I just sit and wait for her to stop all the drama so they talk and leave.

My dad excuses himself and he goes to the kitchen and I hear a lot of clattering. He’s cooking. I wait for Nonhle to stop crying and tell me what she wants from me. After some time she stops. Her mom asks me to bring some water for her but I just ignore her, I’m just not in the mood for their stupid drama.

“Zekhethelo I made a mistake…” hehehe a mistake? Leaving a child behind is a mistake? Cheating on your husband with his best friend is a mistake? If she calls all of that a mistake. Then what do we call spilling milk? I still don’t say anything. She continues talking and crying.

“Can I say something?” I finally talk and judging from what I can hear from the kitchen my dad has stopped chopping whatever. I wonder what he’s thinking.

“I don’t know why you left with Joe. What made you leave me behind. But I forgave you a long time ago. You were gone for 20 years and I learnt to live without you. I needed you then but I don’t need you now. You can go back to wherever you went 20 years ago. I’m cool” Nonhle continued crying. This woman is going to annoy me. We sit in silence.

After some time my dad walks in with food and he serves me first with a huge smile on his face. My dad really thought I’d choose Nonhle over him? What’s with this nonsense that a girl needs her mother most and a boy needs his father most? How many women raise their kids alone and vice versa? There were times when I needed my mom and she wasn’t here. My aunts, grandma and Momo, our neighbour, were here for me and my dad. We eat in silence. My dad is a great cook and he cooked my favourite chicken stew and pap.

“We came here because we wanted to apologise on behalf of your mother. She was wrong to leave you like that. We were also wrong to also disappear but we were ashamed of what she did” the old woman tells me.

“I honestly understand. I forgave my mom a long time ago. And I also forgive you but I don’t want a relationship with any of you” I tell them honestly.

“Muzi, please talk to her” my mom begs my dad.

“I have nothing to say” my dad tells her and she starts crying again.

Doesn’t she stop? I decided to take the plates to the kitchen to wash them. They are still sitting in the lounge when I finish washing the dishes. My dad is sitting on the couch looking all relaxed. I honestly can’t believe my dad thought I’ll be out the door when my mommy dearest decides to grace us with her presence.

I look at the time it’s 2pm we need to go to the workshop. I tell them my dad and I need to be somewhere and they tell us that they’ll wait. Even when I tell them we’ll be back late they insist. I tell my dad that he can stay behind but he doesn’t want to. If these cars weren’t in the garage the whole weekend then I’d go there tomorrow but I can’t. So we leave them.

Today I had wealthy customers. I'm under my favourite car Audi Q5 changing the tyre when I see people walking in.

“You’re a mechanic?” comes the most annoying voice in the world. She’s asking the obvious and clearly she’s not waiting for an answer.

“Baba, what time is it?” I ask my dad.

“It’s 8pm” he replies.

“I thought you guys left.”

“I couldn’t believe it when Momo told me that you’re a car mechanic” she tells me, still shocked. Momo is our neighbour. She's been a good one helping my dad where she could with me. She’s the one who knew that my mom was having an affair with my dad’s best friend. She’s a teacher, she helped me with assignments and homework and studying. At some point I asked my dad to marry her. I can’t remember what he said.

“Aren’t you leaving?” I ask her. She doesn’t say anything. I continue working. The owner of this car will be here first thing tomorrow morning.

“We’re done for the day” I tell my dad as soon as I’m done changing the tyre.

We head home, they follow us back. I turn to look for answers from my dad and I can see that he is as confused as I am.

When we get home they tell us that they’ll sleep at Momo’s place. We decided to watch Uzalo, my dad's favourite soapie. He looks happy, I’m glad, I hate it when he looks grumpy and tired I get worried. At 9pm we both head to our bedrooms. I take a quick shower and I head to bed. I'm very tired but I can’t sleep. I have so much on my mind. I keep wondering why my mom cheated, why she left and why she’s only coming back now. I forgave her a long time ago as soon as I realised she’s not coming back.