Teliwe, who had had one too many drinks, sat on the hotel’s bar stool in the bar and lounge, gently banging her head on the bar counter. She cried and sang along off-key to the jazz music that played on the stereo.
Lemba walked in. He sat two stools from her and asked for the strongest drink.
“To life,” he murmured, lifting his glass of Negroni cocktail to the barman. He gulped it down and gestured for another.
Teliwe stretched out her hand with the empty glass to the barman.
“Give me more,” she slurred. “Give me everything that you have.”
The barman took the glass away from her. “Maybe I should call a taxi for you. You seem to have had enough.”
Teliwe let out a disgruntled chuckle. “Trust me, I haven’t drunk enough.”
She had been at the bar for over an hour. She had wanted to forget. She wanted to never remember again. But no matter how much she had drunk, the encounter she had had with Pumulo and his wife still remained stuck in her mind.
She had wanted to drink herself into oblivion, but the more she drank, the more she remembered.
“Give me more,” she told him, pointing to the bottles behind him.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t give you any more. Hotel policy. I will get a taxi for you.”
She didn’t need a taxi, she told herself as she rummaged through her purse. She fished out some notes and placed them on the table.
“Fine. Then I will just go somewhere else.”
She staggered away. She was going to find herself a new drinking place and probably get herself a new heart in the process. Could she drink her sorrows away? She wondered.
The barman chuckled, shaking his head as she headed in the wrong direction.
Lemba’s phone in the breast pocket of his jacket rang. He took it out and stared at the screen.
Easineya.
He sighed and switched it off. He was tired and in no mood to get into a yelling contest with his sister. She was Nacilele’s best friend. Theirs was more than a friendship. They shared a bond of sisterhood.
He may have been Easineya’s brother, but he knew when push came to shove, she would take Naci’s side.
“Not tonight, sis,” he said as he watched the phone blackout.
He knew if Easineya could have her way, she would march him down the aisle, gun pointed to his head, to marry Naci.
He paid his bill and headed out. It was a matter of time before she came looking for him. He wasn’t sure he could be calm enough in a confrontation with her.
🕸🕸🕸
Hands thrust in his pockets, Lemba stared up at the starless African skies as he stood at the top of the hotel stairs. The wet and atramentous night was exactly what he needed to camouflage his loneliness.
He had everything good going for him. An amazing career, a supportive family, good health, and a fabulous girlfriend. To anyone who knew him, he had a perfect life. But nobody knew that behind that veneer of perfection was a lonely soul.
Everything seemed predetermined, and like a robot, he was expected to act in a certain way. But that had become too suffocating at some point. It was what had led him to break off with Nacilele.
He knew what he had done was unfair. They had been the two of them in that relationship. She loved and cared for him. He might have as well loved and cared for her at some point in time. But as unfair as it was, he had come to realize he needed to find his own happiness before he could commit himself to another person.
Lemba sighed. He just hoped Nacilele would someday forgive him. She had had her life and dreams set in a certain way, only to have him pull the rug from under her.
It began to drizzle, snapping him back to reality. He still had not yet figured out his sleeping arrangements for the night. He couldn’t go home because he was sure that would be the first place his sister would go to look for him. He was sure she was already there waiting to rip him to pieces.
The office wasn’t much of a choice either. Easineya would turn the place upside down to find him. And the hotel was out of the question.
Nacilele’s family owned the place. They all knew he had a platinum card that gave him access to some executive rooms.
His only option was the car. Uncomfortable but the safe choice. He groaned at the thought of muscle cramps he would have to endure in the morning. One night alone with his thoughts was all he needed. A night free of his sister’s drama.
He took a step to head down when Teliwe came out staggering and bumped into him.
“Whoa! Easy now,” he said as he held her steady on her feet. He gently let go of her and stared down at her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah…of co..urse,” she replied in between hiccups. She tried but miserably failed to stand straight.
“Looks like you drank over your limit,” he told her.
She shook her head at him. “Me dr..unk? I’m not drunk.”
Lemba nodded and smiled, amused, as he recognized her as the singing and crying girl from the bar.
Teliwe turned to head down the stairs.
“I wouldn’t…” Lemba began in concern. She wasn’t steady on her feet.
“Wow…so many stairs,” she marvelled, hiccupping.
Lemba peered over her shoulder and pulled her back. They were only six, but probably seemed like a gazillion to someone drunk.
“Too many, huh?”
Lemba looked over his shoulder to the doorman and mouthed taxi to him as Teliwe leaned against his arm.
“Stop spinning,” she told him.
“I’m not spinning.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Okay, fine. I have stopped.”
She looked up at him, a sheepish smile on her face. “Why are there three…no, wait, four of you?”
She giggled and poked at his many faces that she was seeing while swaying against his arm.
“You have a cute nose.”
“And you are a cute drunk.”
“Oh. I don’t feel so good,” she groaned, hiccupped, and heaved at the same time, drenching him in her vomit.
🕸🕸🕸
Lemba walked to the door and handed the room attendant the laundry basket with the soiled clothes.
As he closed the door, he picked up a packet of crackers from the table and walked across the leopard-printed carpet to the bathroom.
Tying the belts of his robe tighter around his waist, he lifted his hand and tapped on the door.
“Hey. Are you okay in there?”
Teliwe hunched over the toilet bowl, heaved, and retched into it.
“Guess not. Do you have anyone in mind that I should call?”
Teliwe stood up and went to the sink to rinse her mouth. She had no one, she thought as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was all alone. She had had Pumulo. Or maybe she never had him at all.
She splashed some water on her face and stepped out.
The two wore matching bathrobes.
“I’m good on my own,” she replied to his question.
“You look worse for wear, but I’m sure that can be fixed by a good night’s sleep,” he said as he handed her a glass of water and the crackers.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked as she accepted the water and crackers.
She crossed the room to the bamboo sofa with black and white African Mud Cloth Arrow print covered cushions. Her purse lay on top of one of the assorted tribal printed throw pillows.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s all taken care of.”
“Ain’t we a ball of charity tonight,” she said under her breath. She took a cracker and nibbled on it.
“Will you be okay alone? I will be two doors down if you need anything,” he told her instead of ignoring her comment. “Your clothes will be ready by the time you wake up.”
“I’m good. I’m always good alone,” she replied and went to the window. They were a good twelve floors up. She tried the latch on the locked window, and it gave way with ease.
“Goodnight then. I will check up on you tomorrow,” he told her, turning to leave.
Teliwe stared up at the skies. The drizzle had turned into a steady downpour.
“I’m hoping I don’t make it through the night,” she murmured, making Lemba freeze mid-step.
He turned sharply to face her. She had her face turned up to the sky, registering resignation and vulnerability.
“It looks like a good day to die.”
Teliwe didn’t really want to die, but she wished she could. She felt like her heart had stopped beating hours ago.
“Maybe I will just sit here and watch some TV with you,” he said, casting her a wary look. “I’m sure there must be something on for two depressed souls.”
He went to pick up the remote and turned on the TV.
“Would you marry someone like me?”
He looked up, pausing from scrolling through the stations.
“Sure, why not? You are a pretty girl. Any man would be lucky to have you for a wife.”
Teliwe scoffed and continued to look at the falling rain. “Any man but Pumulo.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she wiped them away. Lemba walked over to her.
“You know, no man is worth suicidal thoughts.”
“I am not an idiot. I’m not going to kill myself over a broken heart,” she told him dejectedly. “It’s just that I feel empty inside. I feel like I just died. I keep asking myself, why didn’t he love me enough to marry me?”
“I wish I had the answers to your questions.”
“I don’t want answers,” she told him truthfully, tears in her eyes. “I just want him to love me again. To love me enough to want to marry me.”
Lemba stared at her hopelessly as she cried. He stepped forward and held her in a hug as she cried on his shoulder, hurting all over again.
INKED IMAGINATION
