Amile The Queen

Chapter Thirty

***Amile Gumede***


The session was greatly satisfying, and now while he takes his shower, I need to go make breakfast.
It looks like Sis’ Melo has been waiting for me to come back, now I feel bad.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”
“It’s okay my queen.”
“Has anyone else woken up?”
“Mgabadeli and Jon didn’t sleep here my queen. Bhut’ Nkululeko is up.” I’m assuming Nkululeko is Jama.
I never knew that was his name.
“Please chop these for me.”
“Yes my queen.”
I want to make porridge for Mandlenkosi. He must be feeling like shit wherever he may be. I dish up for him and I mix it with lemon. I know this is going to kill the hangover. I made it extra runny too so he can vomit all of these toxins out his body.
I took the tray to the therapy room and he was still sleeping in the same position we left him in. I shake him.
“Nkosi.” He groans.
“Wake up and have breakfast.” He groaned again.
“I don’t want breakfast.”
I removed the cover from his body and he wrapped himself up in a ball.
“Vuka bo! The only way you are going to get better is by eating.” I went to open the windows and the curtains, letting in some sunshine.
He cried out.
“It’s too bright!”
“Wake up.” He sat up and held his head.
He looked at me like he was going to murder me. I’m not scared of him.
“Take this.” I handed him the tray and he looked down at the runny porridge.
“Eat so you can go visit the toilet bowl.”
“Why are you doing this for me?” I don’t know, why am I doing this for him?
“Get yourself together Mandlenkosi, this isn’t you.” That’s all I said.
Sadness dressed his eyes.
“I miss you Amile.” I miss him too.
“I’ll be back to check on you. Please eat.”
I walked away. He kept on calling out to me but I ignored him and walked on. If I stay any longer, I’m going to start crying, and I don’t want to cry anymore.
My heart rate increased when I saw the husband sitting in the lounge. He was watching the news on TV. I’m so glad I cleared the lounge earlier.
“Is Mandlenkosi up yet?” he asks me. My heart is beating in my ears.
“Yes, he up.” I won’t say that he’s hungover.
“Please tell him that he needs to come with us to fetch your transfer card at your old school.”
“I will Bayede.” I went back to the kitchen.
What I’ve noticed about these two is that they hardly ever talk. The husband always sends word to MaMzobe to pass it on to him. Only when it is critical do they talk. What kind of sibling relationship is that.
I finished making breakfast, so with the help of Sis’ Melo, I set the table.
I didn’t want to go in and out of rooms calling these men to come and have breakfast, I’m someone’s wife, I can’t be barging into bachelor’s rooms. The husband is already at the table, I’ve served him his food and he is eating.
I go knock on Jama’s door and ask him to come join us, he said he would come. Now I have to go call Mandlenkosi, and I’m not looking forward to that. I knock on the door.
“Bhuti, breakfast is ready.”
There is silence. As I am about to turn and walk away, the door opens and he stares at me. He is holding the tray in his hands, the one that had porridge.
He looks drained, but he’s taken a shower and changed clothes. I take the tray from him and walk in front of him. I go leave it in the kitchen and I come back to join them at the table.
“What day is it today?” Nkosi asks. I don’t know what they are talking about.
“Its Friday. The school is open. You will be coming with us.”
“I have work.” He’s lying. He doesn’t work on Fridays. He only works from Tuesday to Thursday.
I looked at him.
“So you are going to go to work smelling like a brewery?” I cleared my throat.
“Mandlenkosi you never do anything for this family. You refused to go see Celemba, you never come home and now you are turning into a drunkard. What is going on with you?” he actually looks pissed.
Mandlenkosi has turned mute.
“Mom didn’t raise you like this. Do you think she would be happy to see you like this?” Nkosi looked up with rage in his eyes.
“Don’t talk about mom.”
“I’m going to talk about her Mandlenkosi because this is not how she raised you.”
“She didn’t raise me like this. It was you. You made me this person.” He banged the table.
This is getting out of hand.
“Bayede, please.” He was about to stand but I stopped him.
Mandlenkosi is breathing heavily behind me. I don’t even want to look at his face.
“Calm down, both of you.” I’m too young to be caught in between two grown men with unresolved issues.
They both calmed down.
“Thank you.” They are too old to be bickering. There is definitely something underneath this constant bickering.
“Tell him he’s going with us.” The husband says to me.
This man is petty. Nkosi doesn’t even look up from his plate. I feel so sorry for him.
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It’s break. Why did we have to arrive during break when everyone is going to see me. I’m going to be the talk of the school.
We used the office entrance, and the office is directly facing the matric area. The only way out is to walk past the matric area back to the parking lot. As the two cars park behind each other, I see them walking out of their seats to get a closer look.
“These people are your friends?” the husband asked.
“No, but I was in class with most of them.”
Nkosi is in the other car that is being driven by Jama. Mgabadeli comes to open the door for the husband and he helps me out of the car. Teachers have now left the staff room and are congregating in the front office.
I’m sure they can’t wait to see the learner who snagged a king. I’m walking behind the husband and Nkosi is behind me too. They greet the husband with bows and my reg teacher comes to greet me.
“My king. My prince.” She bows in front of them.
“Bayede this is my class teacher and physics teacher Mrs Cullen.” They shook hands.
“Lovely meeting you. The reason behind my wife’s wonderful results.” She blushes.
Did he not just refer to me as his wife, why is she blushing?
“The principal is waiting for you this way.” She led us to the principals office.
She indeed is waiting for us. There is a big table set up with fruits and all of those things. Haibo, this isn’t a social event.
She welcomed us and told us to have a seat. The husband is too polite, it shows that he is a peoples person, he lives to make other people happy. He won’t decline even though he knows he has to go back to Zululand at 12:00. It’s almost 11:00 now.
“It is an honour having you here my king, and thank your for bringing your wife, our star student of matric.” Lies.
She didn’t even know I existed before this happened.
“We don’t come here with good news though.”
“Are you taking her out?” she looked disappointed.
“Yes, we are here to fetch her transfer card.”
“That is unfortunate, she is one of our best leaders and she produces pleasing results.”
Shame man, she’s only saying this because now her school won’t be as famous as it was if I was still attending.
They gave us the transfer card and all the other necessary documents to get me into the new school. I’m praying I don’t encounter any problems, especially with teachers and learners.
Some of my classmates kept waving at me, I waved back. I was hoping to see Nambitha but she was no where is sight. I’m sad.
Instead of seeing Nambitha, I saw Yonela with her bitter face just sitting there all alone. No one wants to be her friend and she looks really lonely. Our eyes lock for a second and she looks remorseful.
If it was someone else, I would’ve believed it. But this is Yonela, Yonela Kay 1.


***Mandlenkosi Zulu***

There was absolutely no need for him to accompany the happy couple to the school. Banzi just wanted to exercise his power and show him who’s older around here. That’s why he had to go even though he had a death summoning headache.
He should’ve quit alcohol by now. He knows the consequences of drinking, he feels them every day after a night out, but he prefers the nice time of being in his own world while drunk, to forget about all the pain that he experiences on a daily basis.
The reason why he packed all his things and moved to another room was to make sure she was comfortable and felt at home. It only stung like hell when he realized that his brother had to sleep with her in the same bed, in his bed.
The same bed where they lay together on several nights and had conversations about life, about the future, their future together. They were supposed to be happy together
His mother visited him in his dreams that night Amile got introduced into the Zulu ancestors. She looked happy, she smiled and thanked him profusely for bringing her home.
The her she spoke about, it wasn’t Amile, but her. It was what was meant to happen, bringing her here, only had he done it sooner, she would be his, not his brothers.
He’s leaving today. He has to go back to his real wife and he’s leaving her behind. Things are going to be different, they are going to be difficult. For all of them in the house.
The fire between them can’t be ignored. It burns hotter than the pits of hell and them having to pretend kills him more and more inside.
They bid him farewell and they see him off. She is not even offered a kiss on the cheek, or even a hug. That is definitely not what married people do. But who is he to complain, seeing that would destroy his ego.
She storms right past him as soon as the car has disappeared down the street. He’s shocked so he follows behind her calling out her name.
“Amile wait!” she’s very good at ignoring him. She’s even better at walking fast. She gets into the elevator before he can reach her so he stands there feeling like an idiot. Its going to be the longest three months of his life.


***Nambitha Makhathini***

I heard through the grapevine that my best friend was here, and I was the only one who didn’t get to see her. I’m so heartbroken. I miss her like crazy and Nkululeko didn’t keep his promises that he would call me whenever he is with her.
I understand its not easy though. She’s officially a queen and he’s just a servant. He’s not treated like one but that’s who he is. It’s in his job description.
I’m glad he’s studying, he’s doing his last year now, and just like me, he is also preparing for exams. Nkululeko seems rich already, what will happen once he is an accountant like he wants to and is actually making hundreds of thousands of Rands a year. I’ll be the testimony and say I was here when he hustled and grinded.
School is out early today, and I didn’t tell mom. It actually slipped my mind. It’s because she was biting my head of this morning about Nkululeko. She thinks I’m stupid like my sisters, I’m too smart to repeat a mistake that has been made continuously, I’m not like them. 2/3 of them had already had a child at my age, so they shouldn’t judge me. I’m not going to break up with him. What parents don’t know won’t hurt them.
The first thing I saw when I came out the school gate was his car parked, how did he know we were going to close early. This man definitely has super powers. I walked to the car and he came out to open the front seat for me. He gave me a smile, I was happy to see him too.
“Nana.” I sat down. He closed the door and went on to his side.
I don’t know why I’m getting into this car, I should be sitting at school waiting for my parents to fetch me like a normal school child. He places his hand on my thigh before he starts the car.
“How is my girl doing today?” butterflies!
“I’m good, how are you?” me and this flirting thing, uh, no.
“I’m better now that you are here.” He actually does look a bit exhausted.
He’s joining the freeway, where us he taking me.
“So how was school?” his hand is still on my bare thigh.
“School was okay, just a normal day. I heard that the royal family came through and Amile was there. Why didn’t you tell me she was in town.”
“She arrived last night and the king was still there so I couldn’t talk to her. But…” he dragged the but and he looked excited.
“She’s going to be staying here until she finishes exams so you’ll  e seeing her quite often.” What?
“Are you serious?”
“Like a heartbeat baby.” I’m so happy!
“Let’s go see her now, how about that?” you don’t even need to ask twice.
“Is the King still there?” on second thought.
“No, he left this morning.” I have so many questions.
Nkululeko’s taste in music is terrible, he listens to maskandi and rap. What a weird combination. He also mentioned in passing one of the days that he hates pop, that happens to be my favourite genre, so when we ride together like this, we just listen to the radio.
His phone is ringing and it’s connected to the car audio. Maka Azande pops up on the screen. It’s a hands-free feature for a reason, why is he looking for his phone.
“Why aren’t you just pressing the screen.” I suggested.
This person always calls him and he ignores it. He’s doing the same today and I’m starting to get suspicious. He technically is my boyfriend now so he owes me honesty.
“We will get into a car accident Nkululeko watch the road.” I instruct.
He’s searching for his phone and he’s starting to get on my last nerve. The phone starts ringing again.
“Answer it.” I command.
“It’s not important.” He’s sweating.
“Then why are they calling so much. Answer it Nkululeko.”
“I can’t find my phone.” Excuses!
“You have your hands-free on, why are you panicking about a phone, just press this.” I press it for him.
A woman’s voice speaks. He looks at me like I’ve just committed the biggest sin on planet earth.
“Nontando. I’m on the road, I’ll call you when I get home.” He looks nervous…
“Azande wants to talk to you.”
“Daddy, my tooth fell out today.” Daddy?
Daddy as in father? Oh hell no.
“That’s wonderful my princess.” I remove the hand that was on my thigh.
“Mommy said I should put it under my pillow and the tooth fairy will come and leave money for me.” My heart is beating fast and I’m suddenly feeling hot.
“Yes, the tooth fairy will come ntombazane ka baba. But now Daddy is driving so I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Okay daddy. Love you.”
“I love you too princess.” He dropped the call before any other secret of his were revealed.
He tried to touch me and explain.
“Don’t touch me.”
“I was going to tell you.”
I don’t know why I’m crying, but thus hurts. It hurts a lot.
“Nana please, I was going to tell you, just not now. I didn’t want you to find out like this.” I wiped my tears.
“How many are there?” I can’t believe I’m here crying over a child he had before he met me.
“Nana…”
“How many kids do you have Nkululeko?” I raised my voice unintentionally.
“Two.” Oh hell no.
I can’t! I can’t and I won’t date a baby daddy. Never!
“Take me back to school.”
“MaXulu, please.”
“School Nkululeko. Take me back to school. I don’t want to ever see you again.” My voice broke.
He’s not listening to me, he’s still driving ahead. I don’t want to see Amile like this but I don’t want to fight with him otherwise we’ll get in an accident and I can’t explain that to my parents.
Even his scent at this point repulses me. I don’t know why I’m angry though, it hasn’t even been 24hrs into this relationship and there’s already problems.
Is it worth it?