Running from the shadows

The first family

Chapter 16

1 YEAR LATER

" Mommmmmmmmmmmm!!!!"
My life is still the same in certain things, I am still Mhla's personal slave but now he has a little follower, yep Ntlanga follows Mhla everywhere he goes in this house and he likes it until he doesn't then kicks him out of his room. Mhla is growing up and he prefers doing his own thing sometimes he just wants to be on his Xbox and play online games until he falls asleep but not in this house. Here I don't allow that nonsense, he can play his games but only for three hours and he has to at least do chores.
Me" Mhla you don't have to shout!"
Mhla" Mom he's chewing my cord"
Me" Yes but you are not paying attention to him"
Mhla" I wanted to go play call of duty first"
Me" Ntlanga and I are having lunch with Aunt Lexie and Aunt Hlela, are you sure you wanna stay behind?"
" Ursula will be there too, you can hangout with her"
Mhla" Are the bodyguards tagging along?"
Well, maybe things were not all perfect, Sizwe hated that Mhla was not having a normal childhood and it seemed that too many people had access to him. So he and Mbali decided they will home school him, Sizwe hated everything at this point like nothing I did was ever right. I was suddenly a shitty parent because my son was limited to certain things yet I suggested we take Mhla to Hilton College. No one will give a fuck about Xhanti there because all the children are well off and they probably have famous parents too. We pinned that to look at other options.
Me" Just one"
Mhla" Can we take your car mom and you drive?"
Me" Yes"
Mhla" Then I am coming"
I smiled at him and I actually understand what Sizwe meant about Mhla hating all this new attention.
Me" Do you want to visit your uncle or you are still fine here?"
Mhla" I am okay"
I didn't miss the sadness in his eyes, I took Ntlanga with me then went to call Xhanti. He was leaving for Russia today, he's never around and that too sucked.

"Hey, do you have a minute?"
I asked him, closing the door to my room so we can speak without Mhla hearing us.
Me" Can we go to the beach without the entire bodyguard squad? I am sure we will be fine"
" Mhla hates it and his life has already drastically changed, can we just have one day of normalcy"
Xhanti" I will ask the serv...."
Me" No, I am asking you as my partner, not the President, not the leader of your political party. Ndithetha nawe, as my partner and I am asking you to do this for me. I want a day off from everything without the attention that the bodyguards bring, I want to drive my own car and just have one normal day"
Xhanti" I don't know if it's safe Sunny and you don't seem to understand that"
Me" Are you listening to me? Mhla is miserable because we are always being followed. I just want one day with my son and his friends without all the protection. Nothing will happen, if you want you can get them to follow me. But Xhanti I don't want to see them"
Xhanti" I will be in 2 weeks"
Me" Okay"
Xhanti" Are you okay?"
" How's Cape Town? How are the boys?"
Me" Fighting as usual. We are in my apartment, it's been good. Feels good to be here but I miss you so much"
Xhanti" I miss you too baby and I'll make it up to you"
"I promise"
Me" Thank you"
Xhanti" Let me quickly call the guys and get my team to brief them of what you just asked"
" Boarding in two hours but will call you as soon as I land"
Me" Okay"
Xhanti" Fuck"
" I know it's been a month since the last time I saw you, I know"
Me" I said it's okay"
Xhanti" I'll make it up to you"
Me" Okay"
Xhanti" I have to go Sunny"
Me" Okay"
Xhanti" I love you babe"
Me" I love you too"
Xhanti" send me pictures"
Me" Okay"

Quickly did my make up and left my braids in a high bun.I wore torn denim shorts with a black N.W.A straight out of Compton shirt tucked in the shorts and tripleS chunky Balenciaga sneakers. I took a biker jacket and then went to pack Ntlanga's diaper bag. They were both watching tv by the time I was done, I played Summer Walker's 4th Baby Mama in the car. The kids were too focus on their own gadgets, and true to his promise I didn't see any of the guards. We were meeting at Shimmy Beach, when we got there I was already pissed off because of my song choice. The verse that annoyed me the most came on; "I know you ain't care 'cause you always gone
How could you make me spend my whole fucking pregnancy alone?
And where was you at?
'Cause you claim you at work"

I called Hlela to ask ask where they are and they were already signing up the kids. I laughed, we got out of the car, I went to sign up my monkeys too. However I knew better than to not bring a babysitter to look after Ntlanga because anything can happen and I ain't trying to have it happen.
Lexie" Baaaby"
She has been good, Xhanti has been a lot of help when it comes to certain things. He managed to get Lexie a chance to fight for her child, and she has joint custody of Ursula.
Hlela" I already ordered a bottle of champagne"
Me" You are doing the Lords work"
Lexie" I haven't seen you dress like you for a while, this is strange"
Me" I am pushing my luck actually because I know Xhanti would die if he saw me and his publicist would kill me too"
Hlela" Then why?"
Me" Mhla, he wanted things to be normal just for once day"
"Hell, I also missed dressing my age! I am only 32!"
Lexie" I for one love that you are relatable"
Hlela" She's wearing 15k shoes, hahaha they don't relate to her"
Me" You are literally wearing Dior heels"
Hlela" Yes but I am not the First Lady of a third world country"
Me" Shuuuuush. You know Xhanti has businesses outside of the money he earns as president which by the way isn't as much as you would think"
Lexie" Where is he?"
Me" On his way to Russia"
Lexie" How are you guys?"
Me" Good. We are surviving"
Hlela" Did you ask about the article?"
Me" Which one? We don't discuss certain things. Our marriage is like church and state"
Hlela" So you didn't ask him about the woman who is claiming to be his side chick?"
Me" I don't think I wanna know"
Lexie" You believe it?"
Me" Yes and no"
" I honestly don't think he'd be that stupid but I also know we had a rocky relationship so that is more than possible"
Hlela" I hear you. I understand"
" Also Nana did such an amazing job with the article. Qha I will never tell her"
Lexie" I thought she was joining us"
Me" No, I didn't invite her"
" Need to check on the kids, order another bottle and shots"
Hlela" Nope, this is way too public and honestly think people are starting to recognize you beyond the shades. Let's grab the kids and go back to my place"
" We at least had an hour of normalization"
Me" Right"

When we arrived at Hlela's place, I grabbed my phone and texted Xhanti;
" There's an article about you and it says your side chick is pregnant. Only 3 months pregnant. I don't know Xhanti but I am freaking out, surely you saw it and I did too but you are not saying anything about it. I am tired not of the marriage, not of our love but I always feel like I should be disappointed and they find out why I am disappointed later. I hate that. You will probably miss my birthday and Ntlanga's birthday. You will not attend my graduation ceremony, you will miss our wedding anniversary and I know for a fact you won't be around for family camp. I am your wife and I feel like I am just a title because we haven't slept in the same bed for months. We talk but I often feel like you glaze over me like whatever I am saying is not as important as what you have to say. I need you. Your son needs you and our marriage needs you. I am tired and I am not sure how long I can hold on for"