NKOSIYABO
"Nobuhle?"
"Sawubona, Dikane"
She stands there and doesn't move. Her hands are tightly clutching onto her handbag yet she has the calmest face on, once my tongue gets over the shock, it decides to be useful again
"Mazibuko?"
"Maiden surname..."
"So the one you told me before..."
"It belongs to my then husband" she says and I can't believe it, She went and introduced herself to me as Nobuhle Zwane, she shamelessly used her husband's surname and chose not to mention that she was actually a married woman.
As though reading my mind, she apologizes "Ngiyaxolisa Nkosiyabo, that's one period of my life that I am not proud of. It's very shameful for me,I'm still waiting for the day where I can be able to think about it and not feel shame wash over me"
I choose not to entertain her
"Why are you here?"
"I'm here on behalf of my father-"
"Which one?" I can't stop the snarky question.
"My real father" she says lowly as though it pains her to say the words
This is the same woman who went and paid a bunch of people to act as her parents, uncles and aunts when I was about to send my delegates to go negotiate for her hand in marriage. And now she's standing here telling me about her real father
" Mbuso Mazibuko"
"Yes..."
"Does he know?"
"No, or he wouldn't have allowed me to oversee this working relationship..."
"You got married" She says looking at my wedding band "Whose the lucky woman?"
"I see you're still hiding your ring" I ignore her question
"No, we divorced"
"Oh"
"Yes, after what happened with us... Knowing I had fallen in love with you, I could not stay in the marriage for any longer than I already had. I just wish I had done it way before... I messed up"
I have a choice, I could either start grilling her right now and open up old wounds or I could just stick to what she's here for. I don't know when she got back in the country and I don't care to know, I just wish I had know before signing on the dotted line. Would I have let a good business opportunity pass me by? It's quite clear where the scales are tipping at, I want nothing to do with this woman.
"Let's get started, Shall we?" I decide to focus on what she's here for. At this point, I have to put aside everything and think like the responsibile CEO that I am, I can always let Bangizwe be the one who directly communicates with her after this because believe me, the less I see of Nobuble, the better for my sanity.
"I'll be standing in for my father for the duration of our contract"
"I got that part"
She cowers a little but then straightens up "Uhm, yeah... I'm just here to go through the rest of the paperwork and to make sure everything is set. I believe we've already sent through our first order" She says and that's how the meeting officially starts
Throughout the meeting, I remain as professional as I can be while counting down to the minutes until she's out of here and when she's done I get up and ready to lead her out of my office
"I'll transfer all your paperwork to Bangizwe, if you have any queries or anything to discuss you will give him a call, I'll have him call you first."
"So I won't be working with you?"
YOU ARE READING
KEPT
Romance"What is it that you want in a relationship? And please, be as descriptive as you can be" He asks with a smooth barritone that rings bells of pleasure in my ears and other places I dare not to mention I ponder on the thought for a moment then I look...
