Eyes filled with anger, resentment, and hatred followed Lemba as he went around greeting and chatting with his guests at the country club’s late afternoon party.
The two pairs of hostile eyes belonged to Easineya and Nacilele.
“I am still trying to wrap my head around this,” Easineya said, her eyes locked on her brother who laughed away at something with a female guest. “But you, you didn’t seem shocked at all.”
“Teli is a pretty girl. Any guy would lose his mind over her.”
“Beauty is only skin deep—wait, what is that supposed to mean? Have you met this Teli woman before?” she asked her friend. Nacilele looked away. “Nasi?” Easineya pressed.
“I had to retrieve the CCTV footage.”
“And?”
“They spent the night together.”
“What?”
“I can’t lose him, Easi. I can’t,” she whispered, gripping her hand in plea.
🕸🕸🕸
Teliwe walked through the doors just as Nacilele and Easineya left to go out. Edna spotted her as soon as she walked in. She hurried over to her.
“Teli, you came,” she said, unable to hide her surprise, and hugged the girl.
“I promised I would.”
“Thank you for coming. You look lovely, and I think a dozen of my male guests agree with me.”
Teliwe looked over her shoulder and found herself the centre of appreciative male stares.
“Oh, did I overdo it?” she asked worriedly, eyeing her black bandeau bodycon dress with tassel sequin details. Her long, curly Brazilian weave cascaded down her shoulders. Her light makeup only accentuated her natural beauty.
“Of course not. Come, I want you to meet my son Lemba—if only I can find him,” she murmured the last part as her eyes scanned the room for Lemba. When she couldn’t find him, she took Teliwe by the hand and introduced her to some of the guests, in hopes that she could meet some potential clients.
🕸🕸🕸
Outside at the bar, Nacilele walked up to Lemba who leaned against the counter as he browsed on his phone.
“Hey, Lemba.”
When Lemba looked up from his phone, Nasi had a huge smile on her face while a frown marred Lemba’s. He mentally braced himself for trouble. “Nasi? What are you doing here?”
“You don’t seem too pleased to see me.”
“I just didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Why, Lemba? Haven’t I always attended your birthday parties? I didn’t think there would be anything wrong with me coming to bestow blessings on my friend on his birthday. Didn’t we agree to remain friends?”
Lemba kept quiet. Once upon a time, he had naïvely thought that was possible. Before they became lovers, they were friends. He had cherished that friendship. He had hoped even if they were no longer lovers, they could at least fall back on that friendship. But after last night, he was beginning to question his sanity when he had proposed that.
Nasi cast him an awkward smile, then cast her gaze at her feet. “Is this about last night? I have already forgotten about it. You should too.”
Lemba cast her a look of doubt. He found that hard to believe. She had come out strongly about her feelings for him, and Easi wasn’t helping.
“I guess I owe you an apology,” she said and offered him a smile, in hopes of dispelling his doubts. “I don’t know what came over me. Just consider it a moment of madness.”
“I see.”
An awkward silence fell upon them soon after he replied.
“Anyway, happy birthday.”
“Thank you.”
No hug. No kiss. Only a polite smile usually meant for an acquaintance.
Nacilele’s heart ached with inexplicable pain. Forcing a smile on her face, she handed him a small, neatly wrapped box. “I got you something,” she said, her voice sweet and the look on her face expectant. Maybe this would dispel the awkwardness between them.
He cast a hesitant look at the box for a long while before he turned to place the drink on the counter behind him. He reached out for the box. “You didn’t have to—but thank you.”
“You are welcome. You should open it.”
“Sure.”
It didn’t escape Nasi’s keen eye that his enthusiasm as he ripped the wrapping paper to reveal the personalized box with his face and birthday message was less than before. But that still didn’t deter the still hopeful twenty-three-year-old ex-fiancée. She kept her eyes on him as he lifted the lid to reveal the presents in the box: a black luxury rollerball pen with his name inscribed in gold, and next to it, a gold desk clock.
“It’s nice. Thank you.”
That one sentence had her heart plummeting to the pits of her stomach.
It’s nice. Thank you. That was it? Nacilele was internally hopping mad even though she wore a smile on her face. Wasn’t it just the previous year when he had opened her present with the vigour of a five-year-old? It wasn’t too long ago when only her present mattered the most. Her hands by her side clenched into fists.
“Well, I will go ahead. Enjoy your birthday.” Nacilele quickly walked away from him before he could answer.
“Well?” Easineya queried as soon as she joined her at the pool area.
“Nothing. I was the last person on his mind,” she said bitterly and gulped down her wine.
🕸🕸🕸
Meanwhile, Teliwe excused herself from Edna’s friends and headed to the bathroom, where she had the misfortune of running into Nsemiwe.
Teliwe couldn’t help but internally talk down with God. What ill luck did she have to meet her ex’s wife everywhere she went?
“Well, I didn’t know trash was allowed into the country club. The standards of this place have gone down,” Nsemiwe said, her voice loud and sharp. The ladies in the bathroom looked Teliwe’s way.
Teliwe turned away from the mirror she had been staring into when Nsemiwe had walked in through the door as she retouched her lip gloss.
“Mrs. Akokwa,” she addressed the other woman as politely as she could. Her run-ins with the other woman over the last few weeks had proved to her she was psycho and was best avoided. She put back the lip gloss in her purse and turned to go. Nsemiwe gripped her arm and forced her to look at her.
“What are you doing here? Whose poor unsuspecting husband did you snatch now?”
Teliwe wrung her hand free from her. An audience of curious onlookers was beginning to gather. The fuel that Nsemiwe the psycho needed.
“Keep this up, and I might just make your worst fears come true,” Teliwe warned her. The other woman squinted her eyes at her and cast her a fiery stare.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Teliwe, who had reached her max with her limit, stood her ground. “We can always bet. I am tired of your baseless accusations. I am dying to give you a reason to be scared of me.”
Nsemiwe raised her hand and slapped her across the face. The slap stung. Teliwe thought her head was going to burst from the force. “Bitch! Don’t play smart with me.”
Nsemiwe raised her other hand, but Teliwe blocked it and slapped her back. Before she could recover, she blessed her other cheek with her palm. Nsemiwe stumbled back from the force of the slap, lost her balance in her eight-inch stilettos, and fell on her behind. The delicate and pampered Nsemiwe who had never worked a day in her life was no match for the tough Teliwe who depended on manual labour to survive. A raging fire burned in Nsemiwe’s brown eyes.
“What, you think you are the only one capable of going psycho? Haven’t had enough? Bring it on, bitch!” Teliwe said, raising her hands to tie her hair into a messy bun and squaring up as she crowded the pregnant woman’s breathing space. Nsemiwe crawled back, the fire in her eyes diminishing to be replaced by fear as she met Teliwe’s wild, crazy look.
“Hey, Teliwe, don’t do anything you might regret,” warned Nsemiwe as she cowered in a corner.
Teliwe scoffed at her and walked out of the room as someone helped Nsemiwe to her feet. She could feel her burning glare at the back of her head as she walked away. The curious onlookers whispered among themselves, wondering what had just happened.
As she walked away, she hoped they weren’t attending the same party, because it was going to be one long and tiring afternoon.
🕸🕸🕸
Walking past the Indian restaurant, her feet faltered when her eyes fell on a very familiar figure through the glass wall.
Teliwe forgot how to blink as her feet, out of their own accord, led her through the doors of the high-end restaurant towards the woman dining with a group of gentlemen.
“Mother?” she called out as she stood next to the woman at the table. The five men turned to look up at her curiously. Out of joy, she hugged the elegantly dressed woman before her. She looked different and smelled different, but it was her mother all right.
The woman shrugged herself from the girl’s hug. “I am sorry, you must have me mistaken with someone else.”
“Mum, it’s me. Your daughter, Teliwe,” Teliwe said in disbelief.
Teliwe’s supposed mother looked about her, embarrassed. She apologized to the men she was with and turned in her seat to face the girl.
“You are causing a scene, young lady,” she said with a smile, yet her eyes flashed with a warning.
“Darling, isn’t this the same girl from the road the other day?” asked the elderly gentleman next to her mother. The mixed-race man looked up at her with amusement.
The woman gave the girl a critical stare. “It seems she is. Are you stalking me?”
“If this is some sort of a prank, it is not funny. Leave now before I call security.”
The head waiter came over and looked at Teliwe, then the group of diners. “Mrs. Musonda, everything okay?”
“Yes, thank you. The meal was delicious. Give my compliments to the chef,” she said, ignoring Teliwe who was still trying to recover from the shock of being rejected by her mother, twice in a week.
“Of course, ma’am.”
The woman’s husband, the mixed-race man who was in his late sixties, led their guests out of the restaurant.
The woman who had stayed behind cast a venomous glare at Teliwe. “I don’t know who you are, or what game you are playing, but next time you show your face to me, I won’t hesitate to call the police and have you arrested for stalking.”
She reached for her silver clutch and walked out on a shocked and teary Teliwe.
🕸🕸🕸
Later, Edna found Teliwe standing by the fountain.
“Teliwe, there you are. What is wrong with you kids? The moment I find one, I lose the other.”
Teliwe tried to wipe the telltale signs of tears on her face, but it was already too late. “Teliwe? What happened?”
“I am sorry, Mrs. Zimba. Can I just meet him some other time?”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
She tried to talk, but tears just rolled down her face. She felt a tightening around her heart. For twelve years, she had stared at the photo of her mother and prayed only one prayer: that they meet again. But when it had finally happened, she had been rejected.
“You saw her again, didn’t you?” Edna asked after a while of racking her brain, trying to figure out what could have gotten her this upset. Teliwe pulled away from her and nodded.
“I have to go. I just want to be alone.”
“Sure? I will call Chonta. Better still, let me come with you. You don’t look so good.”
“I will be okay.”
“Promise?”
She nodded, hugged her, and left. Edna watched her go, worried. She hurried back inside to get her phone so she could call Chonta.
🕸🕸🕸
Lemba had stepped out to answer his phone. He was concluding the conversation when he saw Teliwe walk towards the door. He stared transfixed for a while as he said her name over and over in his mind.
“Teli!” he called out in the noisy lobby when he was finally able to grasp that she was in the same building as him and not a fragment of his imagination. He was just about to run after her when a hand gripped his wrist firmly. He turned to find his sister.
“Lemba, we need to talk.”
“No. Not now. Teli is here,” he said excitedly.
“Lemba, no.”
“Easi, let go,” he said and wrung his hand free.
“If you go after that woman, you will be hurting Nasi, and you don’t want to do that.”
He frowned at her. “I do not owe Nasi anything. We are not together anymore.”
He ran past the fountain, towards the door, and saw her as she pushed the revolving doors. He called out her name as she stepped out. At that moment, a group of a dozen-plus kids ran through the lobby and blocked his way. By the time he was able to manoeuvre his way past the kids and go through the revolving doors, she was closing the door to the taxi, and it drove off. He cursed and kicked into the air.
Easineya caught up with him as he headed to his car. “Lemba, where are you going?”
“What do you want, Easi?”
“You can’t leave now.”
“Leave me alone,” he murmured.
“Lemba, think about your actions. You have a great girl waiting for you in there.”
He swung around to face her. “We are over, Easineya.”
“But she still loves you.”
“I am grateful for that, but I just don’t love her anymore. And this, what you are doing, is unhealthy for her.”
“You loved her once. There still must be a part of you that still has feelings for her. You just couldn’t have stopped loving her.”
“You are impossible. Stop this, okay. I have moved on. She needs to move on too.”
“You are so self-centred. How can you be so selfish?”
“I am not doing this with you,” he said, got into the car, and drove off.
🕸🕸🕸
Teliwe cried herself to sleep that night with Chonta by her side. The next day, she stayed home and didn’t want to do anything. Chonta later took the brokenhearted girl out, and they had a meal at a fancy restaurant in town. All was well, and Chonta was happy she was able to put her depression behind her.
Two days after the party, as Teliwe and her men were packing up for the day, Edna asked her if she could honour her by attending the Christmas lunch that she would be hosting. Teliwe wasn’t sure but promised to let her know by Friday.
When she got home, Arnold, her right hand at the garden, handed her a bouquet of sunflowers that had been delivered shortly before she got home.
“Throw them away,” she told him.
“But you haven’t even read the card to know who they are from.”
But she knew she didn’t have to. She grabbed the bouquet and shoved it in the bin.
It was early evening, but as soon as the men left, she took a shower and was about to go to bed when Chonta called.
“Edna tells me she invited you for lunch this weekend.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure I might attend. I am not in the mood for company these days.”
Teliwe didn’t need to explain why. Chonta knew that she had only one wish every Christmas: to see her mother.
“I will help you find her,” Chonta said after a long while.
That brought hope to Teliwe. “Promise?”
“That’s my promise to you,” she said to her. Chonta asked her to not expect too much and keep an open mind. Teliwe agreed, and after a while, they said their goodnights. For the first time since she had met her mother after twelve long years, she slept peacefully.
🕸🕸🕸
That very night, after the family had gone to bed, Edna found Lemba in the lounge as he sipped his wine while he browsed through the guest book.
“Lemba, what are you doing?”
“Teli was at the country club on the day of the party.”
“Really? Did you talk to her?” she asked as she sat down next to him.
He shook his head and recalled his heated argument with his sister. If not for her, he would have already met her.
“Give me that. I’ll help you, though the only Teli I remember inviting to the party is our gardener.”
“The gardener?”
“The girl doing the landscape.”
“Nah, I doubt it,” he said with a chuckle. His mother raised her eyebrows at him.
“Now we have preferences?”
“What? No. It can’t be her. I would have already met her if it was her.”
“That’s true. Besides, about ten other parties were going on that day, plus the regular members at the club. How sure are you that she was at your party?”
Lemba sighed at the question and leaned back because she was right. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack, but he vowed not to be deterred. Their paths had crossed twice already. He was now positive they would meet again.
INKED IMAGINATION
