Ziphozethu

33

By the next two day we couldn't even get out of our yard. The paparazzi was so bad that we had to keep all curtains closed.

"Ma, I made tea." I put the tray down and sat with her. Moses was at work and he promised to spend lunch with his daughters. "I'm glad you stood up for yourself the other day." I just sighed. "Don't tell me you feel bad about it." I shook my head. "No I don't. I meant everything I said. It's just that I didn't expect her to hate me this much. It was her idea. I expected there to be a lot of tension but this, this was not what I imagined."

"Makoti, I'm not going to lie to you this is going to very difficult. You and Moses are so perfect together and I would hate for someone like Nozipho to come between you two. You have to fight for your husband Makoti. Fight with everything you have." I was scared all of a sudden. This is definitely not what I imagined when I got married.

We were having dinner when Moses cleared his throat. "Mamakhe, I know you don't want this but it is for the best. We have to move to the big house as soon as possible." I absolutely didn't want to leave but I knew for me to win this battle with Nozipho I needed to be everything she was not. I needed to be the perfect submissive wife. "Yebo, baba. I understand." I said with my head bowed.

"I know this is sudden but the paparazzi outside is getting restless and it's only a matter of time before they do something crazy and illegal. We need to be out of here by tomorrow." What? I knew he would want us to leave but not so soon. "You pack what you can but I'll be sending staff that can have all of your things packed up in no time. It's sudden but I'm still the man of this house and I've spoken. We're moving tomorrow."

I called Sethu to tell her the news. She was just excited she got to visit me in a mansion. Even though the staff would come get our things we still packed a lot of our things. Sethu would come get all the groceries tomorrow and use it for the churches soup kitchen.

The next day we were escorted out by security and driven to the house. I forgot how huge it was. It took us forever just to drive up the driveway. Sicelo's jaw fell was on the floor. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

We went inside and Nozipho and her girls were waiting for us. Nozipho looked bored and the girls looked nervous. "I'm so glad this moment has come. Girls remember I told you I have another wife but mommy is also still my wife?" They just nodded. "This is MaZulu, my second wife. MaZulu, this is Lindiswa my eldest daughter, but we all call her Lindi. These are the twins Zinhle and Zenande." Moses introduced us. "Hi, it's nice to meet you." I said and was met with silence. "Girls you know Sicelo." They nodded.

"Let me show you your rooms." We followed Moses upstairs. "This is your room Sicelo. I had them decorate it." We walked into the room that was big enough to be someone's house. It was awesome. His bed was huge and it was decorated in all things boy and all things rugby. He even had a desk with a computer and a laptop. There was a tv that came out of the wall and a fully stocked closet. He couldn't believe it. We left him alone to take it all in.

"Come with me. I had your room done too." I followed him to my room and I loved it. I could live here and never leave. Everything was accessable. I had a huge bathroom and a huge walk in closet. The closet was a big as a clothing store. "Thank you, Baba." I said and kissed him. "Do you like it?" He asked and I smiled. "I love it." I said and kissed him again.

"Before I forget, I want to have a meeting with you and MaDlamini. Let's go downstairs." I bowed my head and followed him. "MaDlamini, let's talk." She rolled her eyes but followed us. "Tell Gloria to bring us tea." Nozipho started typing and we took a seat outside by the pool.

"I called this meeting to talk about our living arrangements and how we'll move forward from this and build a more unified home." Baba said and Gloria, the maid brought us tea. "Thank you." I said and a big smile formed on her face. "MaDlamini, you are the one who suggested polygamy. Why are you now acting like we forced your hand at this?" She sat back in her seat and sighed while glaring at me.

"Moses, you're taking me for a fool. You're really taking me for a fool. Our agreement was that you'll marry MaZulu and we'll work on our marriage. Now, you're not even married yet and you put her needs before mine. I'm the first wife here. I'm the senior wife, the matriarch. My life and the time you spend with me should not be dictated by a second wife. We haven't even once went to a marriage councilor or even just spoke about our issues. I agreed to a second wife on the grounds that we will stay married and work on our relationship."

I could tell she was very upset and she was trying to keep it together. I felt a tinge of guilt but I was trying to ignore it. "Yes, MaDlamini I did agree to that and I do still want to carry out our agreement. You also have to understand that my wife and I went through a very difficult couple of months." She scoffed.

"Your wife? You have a wife? Really?" I was extremely confused and offended. "Yes he has a wife. What do you mean?" She looked surprised. "Oh? Really? You're his wife?" She asked condescendingly. "Yes I'm his wife. Lobola has been paid in full. I'm his wife whether you like it or not." She scoffed. "I have one question for you little girl. Have the two of you completed all the marriage rites?"

This bitch. She looked at me smiling. "Answer me. Have you two completed all the marriage rites? Have you signed any papers?" I just sighed.

"I'll take that as a no. So, you don't actually have a say here. You should be humbling yourself but here you are, a child, trying to take over my marriage.
You come into my marriage, open your legs for my husband, serve him like a slave, say 'Yebo Baba' to all his bullshit and all of a sudden you're Makoti of the year. After I've endured fourteen years of torture from him and his family.
But, you know what? It's fine. Because as soon as you stop playing to the tune of their song you'll become absolutely nothing to them as well. Just watch. I give it a year until their done with you too."