Maid For Marriage

78

My grandmother left. She was going to take the bus but Senzo refused and got her a car and a driver. MaKhumalo made sure the car was filled to the brim with groceries. Gogo was extremely excited. She took a ton of photos standing by the car. I took a few with her so she could show everyone at home.

Senzo helped me back upstairs again and I was a bit winded. The physical therapist would be here in an hour. I needed to eat and get dressed. Those things sound doable but at the moment it took me forever. A month in a coma and another month in hospital made every difficult. I was still building up all the muscle tone I had lost. My recovery has been really great. It's only been a month out of hospital and I was surpassing expectations. To me it still felt like I was moving too slow.

I ate half of my food and took all of my medication before getting changed into workout clothes. MaKhumalo got the door and I made my way to my gym. It was a room I threw all my boxes in when I first moved in. Senzo turned it into a gym for me. My physical therapist was amazing. I hated him most of the time but he was good at his job. Most of what I did was stretches and light walking. All of my exercises were done while monitoring my heart rate. The scary thing about my condition is that they can't accurately pinpoint a cause for all of this. To me, that made it feel like it could just happen at anytime and at any point. It felt like I could just drop dead and that terrified me. It terrified me to the point were had to convince Senzo to get me doctors and a physical therapist that would come out and see me at home. I have not been back to the hospital since I left.

The session today was intense. I was literally just walking on a treadmill and it felt like I was running a marathon. The sweat was dripping down my face to the point where it was blinding me. "I can't." I said out of breath. "Yes you can. I'm monitoring your heart rate and your heart says you can. Come on Thandi. Just five more minutes. Breathe. Remember the breathing exercises." This is why I hate him sometimes. He was telling me about my heart when my legs were on fire.

I took a shower afterward and then went to eat something. "MaKhumalo is on her way, but I've been called into an emergency board meeting. I'll wait for her before I leave. She's bringing me a suit." I could see he was hiding something. His face was blank, but I could tell he was stressing. "Okay." Was all I said and offered him some tea.

MaKhumalo came quickly, and he got changed and left. "So you're babysitting today." I said, cutting myself some fruit. "Come on, it's not like that. Your recovery has quite literally been a miracle, but you're not fully recovered. You need help. Accept the help. I've got a few calls to make anyway, so I won't be in your way. Don't do anything crazy or lift anything heavy. If you need me please call me. Please. For literally anything. Can I use your office?" I nodded and she left. I ate my fruit and went through some of my notes and books for class.

Ma texted me she was coming up and I almost groaned. I wanted to be alone so bad. With MaKhumalo out of eyesight it gave me the illusion that I was but that didn't last long. I loved my family and loved that they cared so much about me but I was at my wit's end. I needed space.

"I brought a guest!" My aunt yelled from the door. More people. Great. I rolled my eyes and put my dirty dish in the sink. I was completely confused when I saw who her guest was. "Chef Frederico?" What was he doing here. "Well, hello to you too." I snapped out of it. "I'm sorry. I'm just confused. Hi, it's good to see you again." We shook hands.

"It's great to see you too. Your mother tells me that you've finally gotten back to practicing. I'm so glad to hear that. I'm sitting with the worst first year class I've ever had. You should see how disgusting they look at the end of their class. They look like toddlers who played in the mud. One even set his apron on fire the other day. We have to start from scratch with all of them. We have to go all the way back to basics."

I just sighed. "Oh come on. You don't want to hear my stories?" I shook my head. "No it's not that." This was embarrassing. I used to be the best. I never wanted to admit it but I was good at it. "What is it then?" I've tried. As soon as my doctor said I could start doing light chores and cooking I got back into the kitchen. I couldn't do the cooking required from culinary school but I could at least practice some basics but every single time I tried I failed. It was like all that muscle memory just disappeared.

"I'm afraid I have to go back to basics too." Ma excused herself to go and prepare us some drinks and chef Frederico helped me walk to the living room. I explained to him what was happening and he offered to help.

We started with an hour that same day. He made me sit which was annoying but at the back of my mind I knew I was not going to be able to stand for that long. "Look at that. You did great. You're just being impatient with yourself. Forget about speed. Speed will come. Focus on your technique and precision. Slowly you'll build a rhythm. You're being too hard on yourself. You're thinking and overthinking. Clear your mind, and focus. Forget about speed. I don't want speed. I want technique. Okay?" I nodded. "Okay." We said our goodbyes and he left.

"So..." My aunt said awkwardly while I packed up. "You weren't picking up your phone so the school called my number." I haven't picked up my phone in months. In fact my phone hasn't even been on. "They told me that they made a spelling mistake on your certificates but fixed and got you new ones. They wanted to know if they should mail it or if I was going to pick it up." She was speaking really weirdly. As if something was coming or I was in trouble and she was trying to get me to admit something that I did before she got to it.

She placed an envelope on the kitchen island. Then started pressing things on her phone. MaKhumalo joined us. "They also showed me this." She showed me a picture of some trophy. "They said you won this. It's usually won by one of the diploma students but they saw it fit to give it to you because of the skill and talent you displayed." She was still talking to me in that monotone voice that sounded like I was in trouble.

"It would have been presented at a graduation ceremony that you were supposed to attend. So I asked for the date and I was surprised that this happened weeks before you got sick. So? What could've possibly been the reason for you not going or even telling me that you were graduating?" I just sighed. "Its not a big deal Ma. It's just a certificate." At that point I was annoyed at the family and I just didn't want to celebrate with everything that was going on.

"Two certificates. Why are you like this? Why won't you let other people be happy for you and with you? I honestly don't care what you think. To me this is a big deal. To the school too. You had a world class chef in your kitchen taking time out of his busy schedule because he believes in you. You do amazing things and you just brush it off as if it was nothing. I want to show you something."

She went on her phone again. She started showing me pictures. "It's the homeless shelter." I said and she just glared at me. "You're not looking. After you were admitted to hospital your lawyer started giving the shelter the money you put away for their Sunday meals. They then asked the lawyer if they could use some of it to improve the living conditions. The place looks amazing. Are you blind?" I guess I was. The place looked great but I didn't do anything.

"Ma I understand but what do you want from me?" She just sighed. "Nothing." I was confused. "Nobody wants anything from you. We just want you to share your life with us. You're not an island." I didn't know how to do that. I wasn't sure I wanted to. Bad things happen to me all the time and allowing others into my life might just ruin theirs.

I took a nap that afternoon and woke up finding Senzo and MaKhumalo speaking in hushed voices in the kitchen. "This is an easy fix. I don't know why you won't just tell her." MaKhumalo said. "If I tell her she'll worry about this and she might have another heart attack. Do you want that?" I was done.

"Tell her what?"

By the look on their faces when I interrupted them I had to agree with Senzo. This just might give me another heart attack.