Suits & Aces (#3)

34 // Ticktock

'Tick tock.'

She stared at the message for the longest time until her eyes burnt from the bright screen.

She thought he would have forgotten about it or changed his mind by now, but now it was clear that Kyle meant business.

She did not understand where this sudden change in behaviour was coming from, the sweet Kyle Davids she knew was gone.

Sne could not focus at work, she left early and went to her parents' house. She did not even know how she was going to break the news to them; how was she supposed to tell them that she planned to kill someone but almost ended up killing her husband instead?

Her mother would have a fit, and her father would probably disown her. She was more scared of her mother, she had always been; she never listened to anything anyone had to say, she reacted quickly and would never admit her mistakes later even after learning the full truth.

Her father on the other hand was a lot stricter on the business side, but he was the friendliest and most patient and caring parent ever, and he was always willing to listen. She considered herself lucky to have him by her side.

She parked outside her parents' house, her father was not a flashy person and he wanted something manageable, so the house was not that huge. It was just the perfect size for her parents, small, cozy, fancy, and homely. They were rich, that was a fact, they even had a huge mansion before this, but they decided to sell it as soon as she got married.

She laid her head on the steering wheel and closed her eyes for a second, but her body caved in, and she fell asleep. However, she was startled back to life a few seconds later when someone knocked on her window. She looked up to find her father giving her a worried look.

Sne quickly rolled down her window. "Dad!" She said is a scratchy voice.

"Sweetie, why are you sitting out here? Get inside, I'll park your car for you," he said, opening her door.

"Thanks, dad." She grabbed her handbag and got out of the car, and then she went inside the house.

The first thing that greeted her upon entrance was the mouthwatering aroma coming from the kitchen.

She went over there and found her mother cooking a storm. Cynthia Khumalo's most favourite place was her kitchen, that was the one place you would find her the happiest.

"It smells nice in here," Sne finally said, peeking through the door.

Her mom turned around with a wide smile. "Of course you would say that because you don't cook, you eat leaves at that restaurant of yours from morning till late. Look how thin you are."

"MaKhumalo, give the child a break!" Her father said, appearing behind Sne and placing his hand around her shoulders. "How are you doing, my child?" Sne gave him a wary smile and shrugged. "I'm glad you are here, there's something I need to discuss with you and your mother. MaKhumalo, finish up and join us in the sitting room," he instructed and led Sne to the sitting room. "Your mother is right, you have lost weight, what's wrong, my baby?"

"There's a lot going on right now. It feels as if everything is falling apart, and there's nothing I can do about it." She fiddled with her fingers.

"Kyle?"

She gulped, tears rolling down her face. "Dad, there's something I need to tell you and mom. I–"

"The food is ready, guys!" Cynthia shouted from the dining room.

Mr Khumalo sighed and rubbed her hand. "Come on, let's have something to eat first, then we can talk, okay?"

She nodded and wiped away her tears, and then followed her father to the dining room. Her mother had really cooked a storm.

Supper was a quiet occasion, both her parents could see that something was wrong, she barely ate much.

After supper, her mother got up to clear the table, but she refused.

"Mama, leave it. I'll do the dishes too. You guys just relax," she said, pushing her chair back.

She cleared the table and took everything to the kitchen, and then she took her time washing the dishes in the kitchen.

"Snegugu, finish up and come join us!" Mrs Khumalo shouted.

She quickly finished up and went ahead and joined them in the sitting room where they were watching the news. She sat down and kept her head down.

"Sweetie, your mother and I have been talking, and we have decided that it's best to cut ties with the Davids," Mr Khumalo said.

Sne's head snapped up in panic. "What...are you still planning on kicking them out of the company?" She asked.

Her father sighed heavily. "We realise that we took this whole friendship this way too far for too long, at the cost of your happiness. We saw how unhappy you were, but because of our greed, we continued forcing you into the position you are in today. I guess we hoped that you two would strengthen our families' relationship and maybe even fall in love and have kids at some stage."

Mrs Khumalo nodded in agreement. "Cleopatra and I were good friends, so was your dad and Kyle's dad. We met back in high school and we attended each other's weddings, and even witnessed the birth of you two," she said. "But we took things too far with you by not letting you find your own path, that was our biggest mistake."

Tears poured out of Sne's eyes as she tried to process their words while silently praying that they did not go to war with Kyle's family.

"We have found a buyer for our shares," Mr Khumalo announced. "We don't want to drag this any longer, tell your husband that you can go through with the divorce as soon as possible."

She opened her mouth to speak, but only a choked sob came out as she broke down in front of her parents. Her mother moved closer and pulled her into a hug.

This was not how she expected things to work out, she never thought her parents would ever take a seconds to analyse the situation they put her in with this arranged marriage and think of making sacrifices to get her out of it.

Still, it was a better outcome than what she had in store for them with Kyle's threats, at least they would be leaving at their own free will. She couldn't wait to be over and done with this.