THE LIGHT

Hope

Jake

I need to close this deal while that old man Alex is still busy dealing with the death of his wife. That man has been a pain in the ass for as long as i started attending meetings with my father at the age of 8, he's been a thorn on my father's side that refused to get removed, the man is like a tick that is stuck on my skin, damn i loathe that man. At first he started small, doing small businesses while my father strives, years later the man landed a big contract, well he deserved it because my father got too comfortable but since that year we never landed any big contracts. The roles were reversed and now we were the ones doing small jobs here and there while his company Jackson Inc boomed, getting tenders from the government and all. Am still asking myself to this day " what changed?" I swear that man uses a very powerful witch doctor because this is not normal,the way he just lands big contracts left, right and center like we don't even pitch for them is suspicious. "Carlos!' i yelled from my office, i work with incompetent people i swear, he comes running and budges into my office like we share it. "Mr Jacobs you called" i look at this i***t in front of me and i feel rage from deep within " You still came in here empty handed, where are the bloody documents?" i asked him with a stern voice " my PA is busy printing them, she will bind them shortly then we good to go." he says like that makes any difference " we better be" he turns to leave but i call him back " oh Carlos" he turns to look at me " yes" i smile " lose this one and you are fired" he gasps like a woman and leaves, my phone rings and i don't look at the caller i just answer in the most irritated voice "WHAT?" I wait for the caller to say something but nothing but breathing is heard on the end of the line "never in your wildest dreams address me that way you hear!"  my mothers voices booms in my ear s**t!  " i deeply apologies dear mother, am under tremendous amount of stress and i didn't even check who was calling, please forgive me" she lets out a sigh before she spoke " Take some time off Jake and come home Camilla is lonely here as well, she needs you." trust my mother to bring Camilla into anything we talk about " mother i told you i don't want a wife yet, but you and father didn't listen and went ahead and got her anyway. So don't expect me to be her husband because am not." in our culture parents can choose a wife for their son and pay a dowry to the girls family then she comes and lives with her new family. My parents did the same for me even after i told them i didn't want a wife, that's how Camilla ended up being my wife but only traditionally not legally. " Jake!" my mother reprimands " am sorry mother but i didn't want Camilla, i will choose my own wife when am well and ready." i say to my mother " i will never allow you to bring me those witches from the city Jake! our home and your father's name is well respect here so don't you dare disappoint me!" if i don't cut my mother off she wont stop talking, with her its the same thing over and over again. I mean am working my ass off here trying to get our branch in Johannesburg up and running and maybe just maybe we can grow this side since Jackson hasn't  opened a branch here yet, this is an untapped market and if we get this contract we are set for life. " mother i have to go now, the client i was waiting for just arrived" she sighs on the other end " okay then call me later so that you can talk to Camilla" i will not do that! but i cant say that to her now can i? " i will call mother bye for now" i don't wait for her to reply i cut the call because if i let her reply she will come with something else that needs my attention and i can't have that now. Then there is the Camilla issue, the girl is so desperate that she agreed to marry me without even knowing me, i never saw her face to face and she doesn't know me, i think she only knows me from pictures. Now that she's my wife and according to her and my parents we have been married for 6 months now. They must forget me at home because am never going back there with her living there. I mean what am i going to do with a rural girl who still uses Vaseline as lotion and wears flip flops that leave the soles of her her feet full of red soil of KZN (KwaZulu Natal). Oh no! not me, i may not have a girlfriend which i don't have time for but i will not go for Camilla. My name is Jake Jacobs first born son of Andre and Lina Jacobs, am 21 years of age and hold a business degree, i have two younger brothers Shane 18 just started his first year in university and Luke 15 doing his senor year in high school. My father was into politics and politics in South Africa were still very much tense and brutal, at some point we had to go into exile and ended up in Canada where we studied, i skipped a few grades because my lectures thought i was some sort of a "special kid" as they called me i studied hard while i was there because my father pushed me just as hard and kept telling me that back home education is my only ticket to a better life. We stayed in Canada for a couple of years but my father never changed, he still remained the stubborn backward Zulu traditional man. I miss him but his so backward and traditional that he did what his father did for him and got me a wife i didn't want. I miss them but  am not going home anytime soon, i have a company to run.