Zekhethelo: Love redefined.

chapter 11

"Ngicela uphume sikhulume" I wipe my tears then walk out, "please take me home" he looks at me for sometime before letting out a sigh then walks out, I follow after him.

He asks the waitress to pack takeaways for us. Then walks out as soon as she hands him the bags, I walk to the car following him, only because I have no other choice I want to get home.

We are driving in complete silence,  but I notice that instead of heading towards soweto, we're headed towards the sandton/midrand direction. After a few minutes, we drive into what looks like a park, okay that's odd.

He finds a parking spot then parks. "Asambe" just like that he's out of the car carrying the food from earlier on. He opens the boot and takes out a throw blanket. We walk and the park is very intimate because it's hardly even packed, there's a dam not far from where we'll be sitting.

He finds us a perfect spot under a big tree, he places the throw and signals for me to have a seat, he then hands me my food. I'm a bit worried now because this man has been quiet the whole time. "Mthokozisi..." he looks at me, "you've been quiet this whole time, why are we even here", he is still looking at me blankly, "we are here because I planned to spend a peaceful afternoon with you before someone decided to ruin it so I'm a man with a plan, I'm quiet because I don't want to ask you questions that you're not ready to answer" I sigh, I know exactly what he wants to ask me.

"I was an alcoholic, hence I went to rehab for 8 months, I got released and had to move back with my family since I lost my job and everything else followed because of my addiction" he is listening so attentively that he hasn't even moved his eyes from me.

"The abusive ex she is talking about is Clifford, the guy that you found me with in the kitchen during the event... he is my baby daddy, we are no longer together for obvious reasons but he somehow believes that he owns me" his jaw clenched as I said that.

"Now can you take me home?" He's quiet, the silence is very uncomfortable, I feel like for some reason he's judging me for decisions I've made in my past, "Let's eat first, I'm starving" and just like that he digs in.

I don't open the food, instead I just stand and walk towards the dam, today has been very eventful, I need sometime to process everything.

I take off my shoes then dip my feet into the water, the water is cool, a bit warmish but has a coldness to it too, I really regret agreeing to go out with this complete stranger, now he knows my whole life but has barely said a thing about who he is.

I regret leaving my bag in his car because at least now I'd be busy on my phone. After a good 15 minutes, I stand and walk towards him, he should be done eating by now.

"Can we leave now?" Now he's not even look at me, "take a seat maNgcolosi",  he's such a dictator, I don't like that. "Ngiyazi awuphathekile kahle from what happened earlier on, but i want you to know that none of your past experiences define you, I don't think any less of you because of what I found out today, in fact I think it's really amazing of you to work on yourself and pick yourself up the way that you're doing"

I'm trying so hard not to cry. He takes my hands into his, "thank you for allowing me to take you out today, more importantly, thank you for letting me into your life the way that you did today, you're a strong woman MaBhengu, not many can come back from all those experiences" Okay I couldn't hold the tears back.

I wipe them off quickly before he could even notice then I look away. "Please let me take you out on a proper date? You can pick a day and place, just to make up for how today went" now I'm confused. "What do you really want from me Mthokozisi?", I really need to know because there's no way he still wants another day after the weird turn of events from today.

"Well I want to make you my wife, but baby steps so for now I just want to get to know you" i cannot even hide my shock from his response, he's not even flinching, he's just giving me a very serious look.

"Fine, tomorrow at 9h30 we're going out, dress well, we have a date with the lord." He chuckles thinking I'm joking, "oh wait, are you seriously taking me to church?" I laugh, "you said I should pick a date and place, I did exactly that" he laughs, "I cannot remember the last time I went to church, this is a big deal, what will I even wear" ,"right now you sound like a dramatic slay queen, you can wear anything to church" he laughs throwing back his head.

"Why do you have a throw blanket in your car?" Well I had to ask, "it's not what you're thinking, trust me (chuckles) It's for my dogs" now I'm from soweto and we don't treat dogs like a part of us, in fact I am scared of dogs with my whole heart, he laughs, "you look terrified, is everything okay?" He asks, "I actually hate dogs" he continues laughing, "hate is a big word Zee, well you better start loving them because you'll spend your entire life living with dogs" I choose to again ignore his statement.

We finally decided to leave, the drive back to soweto was lighter, filled with laughter and good music, I've learned a lot about him, he struggles to express himself, I'm not sure how accurate that is, but also he's a joker, very goofy and always up for a good laugh, he has dimples and says that they make him look gay so that's why he hardly ever smiles around strangers, he's your typical zulu guy who has slightly adapted to being a joburger...