Zinhle: Happily ever after?

chapter 20

"Zinhle, I came here to apologize, it kills me that we went from talking everyday to not talking at all,i cannot take this silence anymore" he's not looking at me, this to me looks like a guilty person.

I dont respond, i just keep looking at him which is my way of signalling him to go on. "I am Nhlakanipho Mabaso, a graduate from UKZN, i studied economics then went on to doing my MBA, i dont have any working experience thats why I'm working at a retail store" he pauses, its as if he has more to say. He takes a sip of his coffee, I'm still starring at him without saying a thing.

He looks at me then looks down, "i came to Cape town in search for greener pastures, i came here to start a new life" we came here for the same reason i guess.

"I thought I'm only here for work, until i met you, my reasons for staying here changed, you gave me more reason not to go back to KZN, I fell in love with you the very moment when i laid my eyes on you, ngiyakthanda Ntokazi yakwa Mnisi( i love you)" he was looking down as he spoke but when he said the last part, he stared right into my eyes.

"I just came here to tell you the truth about who i am, what i do and why i so happened to know so much about dealing with fraud and mismanagement of funds, I'm sorry if I made you feel some type of way, thats all i came here to say, I'll be out of your way now"

I havent said anything, i dont know what to say, I dont want him to leave,but then again, but i promised myself to never allow this to happen again, I'm not meant to be in love, this wont end well. He walks out and i am brought back to the present when i hear the door shut.

2 weeks later
Its a new month, work has been amazing, well the investigation was dismissed when Mngomezulu decided that they'd rather cancel their contract with us instead of allowing the investigation to proceed. I guess that proves that my findings where actually correct.

Phenyo and i have been spending almost all our lunch breaks together, we've become more like friends now, although people at the office assume that we are an item.

I havent spoken to Nhlaka since the evening when he came to my place. After he left, i gathered the little courage in me and sent him a text telling him my reasons why i cannot be with him, i told him about what happened with Mulalo and the promise and vow i made to myself and God. He read the message but never responded, i was hurt, but then again what did i expect?

Its a friday today, and again I've got no plans for the weekend, Tasha is meeting Justins family over the weekend. I tried talking to her about the pace at which their relationship is going, i mean thier less than a year together but already he is playing daddy and she is meeting the family. She bluntly told me to stay out of her business, so I'll step back.

"Zee lets go, uzoqedela masibuya(you'll finish up when we get back)" one thing about Phenyo, he's very impatient, he said he has something that he would like to show me so since its lunch time we are heading out.

"finally! So we'll be driving in my car" another thing about him is that he never asks, typical zulu man. Anyway we get into his car and drive off, he switches on the radio and playing on his radio is isgcinci by mduduzi ft big zulu. Its one of my favourite songs currently, i start singing along then i notice that he's also singing along.

I'm shocked, he looks at me and smiles slightly then we continue singing along with our bad voices, we laugh at each other as we miss some notes to the song. It's a nice drive, its always refreshing to spend time with Phenyo. We drive into an estate,at the gate the security just waves at him meaning he's a regular here.

We are parked into a drive way, the house we are parked at his beautiful, tuscan style and has a huge garden, the grass is green and looks well taken care of, there's a small water fountain at the far end of the garden, next to it is a nice big tree with a swinging chair, that right there looks like an amazing outdoor reading space.

He opens the door for me "welcome to my humble abode" we both chuckle "well modesty doesnt suit you" ,he helps me out of the car, he has about 4 cars i think, today he came with the ford ranger, I'm short so it's a bit difficult getting out of such a big car.

We walk in, this house is beautiful, it has cream white walls, nice wooden ceiling and tiles but it could do with a feminine touch. As I am busy admiring the house, "can i lead you to the patio, I'll be back in a minute" he holds my hand and leads me outside, there's beautiful braai area, a large swimming pool and a basket ball court,estates are big, but i had no idea it would be this insanely huge.

Phenyo comes out as i am enjoying the cool breeze, he has his shirt sleeves up and he is wearing an apron, looking very sexy if you ask me.

He's holding a tray with juice, crackers, fruits, cheese and biltong, "please indulge in this while i put the final touches to our meal" he smiles nervously then walks back to the kitchen.

After about 10 minutes of sitting alone i decide to go to the kitchen and join him because well its getting a bit boring out here. I search for the kitchen in this big house and i find him starring at what looks like burnt pasta, he doesnt notice that I'm standing by the door, he looks so frustrated i burst out in laughter and only then does he notice me, he joins me and we laugh about his epic fail.

"I was trying to impress you with my mad cooking skills but you couldnt stay away for long enough to allow me to finish" he says this while trying to scrape the burnt pasta off the pot,i mean who on earth burns pasta?!

"I guess ngibonile ukuthi(i felt that) you needed me in here" i continue laughing at him. "How about we cook together, i mean we need to head back to the office soon" i suggest, he looks at me as if he is a bit disappointed by what i said.

"Sure, what would you like us to make madame?" He's looking through the fridge waiting for me to respond, i push him away and we laugh, i take out lamb chops, fresh rosemary, butter,garlic and ingredients to prepare green salad, i prepare pasta with cheese sauce, green salad, chops sauted in butter, rosemary and garlic. I ended up cooking on my own while he sat and watched.

Finally dished up, we sat down and ate, say grace then we dig in, "hmmmmm" he involuntarily says that with his eyes closed, he notices then quickly snaps out of it, Phenyo is funny, we laugh about it.

"maMnisi, is there more food left?" This guy just dissed my cooking though. "Did you not just say that i cannot cook?" I chuckle and he joins in, i ended up dishing up more food for him.

As we were washing dishes, he accidently spilled his wine on my shirt because he didnt notice that i was right behind him, I'm wearing a white blouse with a peach skirt, both colours are bright so the wine stain is visible.

"I'm so sorry maMvuleni" he is trying to whipe it off but that seems to be making the stain worse, "Phenyo we are supposed to be heading back to work, I dont think I'll have enough time to go to my place and change into something else" I'm pancicking.

"Okay okay, relax, let me sort this out" he grabs his phone
"Hello Pabi, its Mr P, I'm here with Ms Mnisi,she's not feeling well so i had to rush her to the home" he keeps quiet listen to the person on the other end
"Dont worry, tell him that I will discuss this issue with him on monday, if he gives you any trouble tell him to contact me" silence
"Alright thanks Pabi" he ends the call.

"Sorted, now we dont need to go back to work" he says "but what about my clothes?" I'm close to tears, this is my favourite shirt, he sees that i am sad "lets go upstairs and find you something to wear while we put your clothes in the washer,how about that?"