Inhliziyo Yami Yopha: My Heart Bleeds

Chapter 3

NIKIWE

"I promise to give you back your money at the end of the week. Please just give me this week and I won't disappoint you.", I plead to an angry looking Bab' Khuzwayo.

uBaba Khuzwayo is a mashonisa. If you don't know what a mashonisa is, it simply means a loan shark. Now loan sharks are the kind of people who give you a small amount of money but charge a huge interest in return.

And because some of us are desperate, we have no choice but to resort to borrowing from them. This being the result of us not qualifying for any loans at the bank because of being jobless or being blacklisted and, many other reasons why. I for one, fall on the latter. I got blacklisted two years ago because of an account I couldn't settle.

I do have a job even though it doesn't pay much but at least I get to put food on the table. And how I got myself into this 'Mashonisa trouble' is a story for another day because I have a mess to fix now.

Now I don't have a lot of time on my hand because I am not even sure if this man will grant my request of more days. I have no idea where I will get six thousand rands in just seven days.

"Okay Nikiwe. I'll give you just a week to pay me back and I hope you do. Ngoba angeke uthande into engizoy' yenza kuwe, ubuze abangaziyo.(Because you won't like what I'll do to you, you should ask those who know me.)", he says after a few minutes thinking about it.

"Thank you sir, you won't regret it I promise.", I say back to him. He only nods in response and turns back going out the gate. After making sure that he's really gone, I rush to make sure the gate is locked and then head back inside the house.

Immediately as I enter my grandma asks who it was and I have no choice but to lie, "Oh it was just Cindy Gogo. She wanted to borrow a hair-drier but I told her I don't have one.".

She looks very skeptical about what I just told her but she nods anyway and says, "Kodwa akase ngeni ngani azo bulisa? (But why didn't she enter to at least greet me?)". From that question alone I feel bile rise up my throat because I never enjoy lying to her because well she is my Gogo (Grandma) and the only person I have left who is a parental figure to me.

"She was in a rush Gogo but I'll tell her so she doesn't repeat the same mistake again. Okay?", I say dropping a kiss on her cheek settling down next to her. "So what are we watching?", I add on switching the topic.

"Ah you know how I'm always tuned into Moja Love, so I'm watching Rea Tsotella right now.", she says with a smile on her face. Such a beautiful woman she is, even in her old age.

"Okay let me go change out of my uniform then I'll come back to watch it with you.", I say to her and agrees as I go to my room.

When Bab' Khuzwayo got here I had barely got back from work for five minutes and I didn't get any time to change out of my work clothes. I work at a butchery called 'Guy's Butchery' and we don't really get paid much there. The working conditions are not that bad though so that is a good thing.

I quickly change out of my clothes and sit on the bed to send a text to Sfiso, 'Hey I got home safe. Will you be able to come see me today?', and it's sent. Well Sfiso is my boyfriend and we've been in a relationship for three years now.

It was good once, in the beginning of it we were 'lovey-dovey' but that changed as time went by. He has become more distant and I know for a fact that he has another person in the picture. I found some nude pictures of a girl on his phone once.

When I confronted him, he made an excuse about them being from a porn website. I asked him why he even downloaded them and he said it's because I wasn't with him at time. And of course I believed him because I know I didn't spend much time with him.