Maid For Marriage

72

I went home and slept. I felt exhausted. I spent the next few days ordering the rest of my furniture. I couldn't live in a big open space forever. I was eating lunch on the balcony when I got a call from Ma. "Thandi, your mother-in-law is here, and she refuses to leave until she sees you. I told her you don't live here anymore, but she doesn't want to believe me. Either you come here or I'm sending her to your house."

Oh, hell no!

"It's fine, Ma. I'll come to you. Please don't give her my address." I got something a scarf and tied it around my head and went to go see her. I was not in the mood to deal with crazy. So I was hoping she was calm. But if she threatened not to move until she saw me, she more than likely wasn't calm at all.

I walked into the house, and she was sitting in the living room sipping tea. "Thandi." She scanned me from my head to my toes, looking at me in awe. "You've gained the weight back. I'm sorry. I meant that in a good way." Ma rolled her eyes. "Yes, every time you and your family come to get my child, you get a full healthy young woman, and when she comes back home, she's a skeleton. A shell of what she once was. MaRadebe, I've been patient with you. What is it that you want from my child?"

Ma was done. She was over it. She had zero patience left for MaRadebe. "Senzo told me that he saw you. I was hoping we could spend some time together too. I just wanted to see if you're okay." I felt really betrayed by this woman standing in front of me. She was supposed to be the one person who had my back, and while she had it, she stabbed a knife into it. "I'm fine, MaRadebe. My mother has been looking after me so there is no possible way that I wouldn't be okay. You don't need to worry about me."

She blinked rapidly as if she were outwardly trying to process what just happened. "Of course. I'm glad that you've been doing well. I took your advice. I have a caregiver and someone who cleans for me. They're not as good as you, but they'll do." She laughed awkwardly to herself. That's all I was to her. A maid and a caregiver. I just happened to be married to her son.

"Your herb and vegetable garden is doing good. Maybe you can come get a few things." This whole interaction was just extremely awkward. She was trying very hard to get me to react to anything she was saying. "If you come get the vegetables, maybe you can get your car and some other things too. Your mother says you've moved out. Are you planning housewarming?"

This was torture. What did she expect from me? Did she expect me to fall back into my old role once I was whole again, only for them to tear me down while she sat back and watched. "Ma, I'm fine. I have a car and I have clothes. I don't need any of my old stuff. Sell it. Donate it. I don't care." Her head dropped, and she just nodded. "Okay, I'll call my ride to take me home." She took out her phone and called whoever. We waited in awkward silence until we heard a car hoot. She walked out, and I waited for her to reach the gate before I went out because I didn't want her to try and hug me.

The person who picked her up was none other than Senzo. He waved, but I acted like I didn't see him. "What do these people not understand? Are they going to keep bothering us like this?" Ma complained. I decided to just go home after that. I was completely annoyed. I got home and just watched some TV and fell asleep. The next day, I was cooking the whole day. It kept me busy and not thinking about any of those people. I took my frustrations out on the ingredients. I had never chopped that fast in my life before.

"Oh, it's you." I looked behind me to see Chef Frederico. I was busy plating up the food when he came. "Good afternoon." I said and continued plating. He joined me on the opposite side. "I'm trying to work on a cookbook, and I usually book this space, but they told me someone has it booked every Sunday night for the rest of the year."

I just smiled and nodded. "Yes, I booked it." I don't know if he was trying to intimidate me or what. At some other point in my life, it would've worked, and I would've offered him my booking, but no. I don't do that anymore. "What is all of this for?" Huh? Was he trying to be nice? Now I'm confused.

"I cook for a homeless shelter every Sunday. Nothing fancy. Just healthy homemade meals." He nodded. "Well, that's great. I'm impressed." Impressed? How is he not impressed by my skill in class, but he's impressed by just a normal stew and rice? "It looks and smells great." Huh? What was happening? Since when does he give compliments or even acknowledge my existence? Is he okay?

"I didn't see you at graduation." I needed to get two hundred and fifty plates out before dinner time, and he wanted to chat. "I opted not to go." He nodded and hummed in response. "Well, I would like to help here. I know you're done cooking, but you still look like you have a lot to do. Put me to work. How can I help?" I was dumbfounded. "Are you okay?" He just chuckled. "I am not as merciless as the first impression I gave you. I just judged you before even knowing you. I'm an asshole but I'm working on it. Now, what can I do, chef?" I was still confused by his sudden niceness, but I let it go.

"I made two salads. Would you please dish up two spoons of each into plate?" He did as I said. We didn't speak much, but at least it wasn't awkward. The process moved a lot faster. I cooked more than I thought, and we got over three hundred plates dished. He even took two homes after tasting it. I was shocked. I got the food to the shelter, and when I got home, I jumped on my bed and slept until sunrise.

That week was extremely hectic for me. A lot of my big furniture came, and the guys that brought it up to my apartment put the wrong boxes in the wrong rooms, so I was unboxing, carrying, and pushing huge couches around. The beds for my other two rooms came as well. I didn't know when I would ever have guests, but maybe someday I'll allow it.

Setting up all the big furniture made me realize that I had absolutely nothing. I wasn't even talking about decorations. Stuff like bedding, curtains, enough cleaning supplies, crockery, cutlery, and so much more. I needed to go shopping. I've run a household before, but I've never had to do it from scratch. For this, I needed my mom.

My aunt didn't hesitate when I asked for help. In fact, she was jumping for joy. She compiled lists and lists of things that I needed, and I wrote the style in which I wanted everything in before we made our way to the shops. It took us days to buy everything and set it up exactly how I wanted, and even after all of that, it still felt like the bare minimum.

I had a lot of money, but I didn't want to just blow it. I wanted to grow it, and the only expert in money I knew was MaKhumalo. I called MaKhumalo, and she was more than happy to help. She got me a team of professionals. An attorney, financial planner, and an accountant. I went through all the necessary steps to make sure my money was secured for the long run. I even had to write up a will, which was scary, but it had to be done. My attorney sent Senzo an agreement to sign, saying that the money was all mine even in the case of a divorce. He said he wanted to talk to me first. I complied, but only if we had the talk with our therapist.

The night before our meeting, MaKhumalo and I decided to have a girl's night at my place. We were drinking wine, eating, talking, laughing, even singing when her phone started going crazy. She ignored it and put it on silent. We continued with our fun until there was a knock on the door.

I was in the kitchen opening another bottle of wine when the doorbell rang. Nobody else, but my aunt knew the front entrance code, and it wasn't the intercom going off, so it had to be her. "Would you please get that! I'm just opening the wine." I got the wine open and went to go see what was up.

I was just in time for the shock of my life as she opened the door. "Oh shit! I swear I didn't give anyone your address." She looked just as scared as I was to see who stood behind that door huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf.

"Senzo."

His name escaped my mouth before I could even make a coherent thought. How did he even find me?