LEAH MAVIMBELA
I cannot believe my ears right now. This is a joke, right? Nkanyiso is joking. There is no way he signed those papers and let me be with Justin knowing that I am still his wife. I look at Nigel and he looks away. If this is true, I will never forgive him for this. I will never forgive all the Madida brothers.
“Nkanyiso what are you saying?” Mrs Madida senior asks, “What kind of a game do you think you are playing? How can you do that to the mother of your children?”
Nkanyiso says, “I am sorry Leah but I love you. I wasn’t going to let you go just like that.”
I stand, “Do you see that Nandi? Is this the kind of man you want to be with?”
“Leave Nandi out of this, Leah. Unlike you, she understands me and is willing to make it work.”
“I am not leaving her out of this,” I yell, “She is the reason we are in this mess in the first. You know what, I will not be part of your circus. Uncle Richard and Mama, as far as I know, I signed the divorce papers and I am not getting back with Nkanyiso.”
“Since when are you this disrespectful Leah? Since when do you talk to us standing?” - Uncle Richard.
“Since your son hurt me. He is the reason I am like this to you.”
Uncle Richard shakes his head. I don’t mean to disrespect him but Nkanyiso is making me like this, “At least give us our child.”
“Amahle is my child too and you are not taking her from me. I would sue you, people.”
“You wouldn’t win,” Nigel speaks under his breath.
“I am very disappointed, Nigel. I thought you were helping me. You are just like your brother, you are all the same. I am going to leave and this better be the last time you people bother me. And keep in mind Nigel that I am a lawyer too. Goodbye,” I get my bag and leave.
Nkanyiso follows me out. He catches me just before I get into the car, “Stop acting crazy and come home.”
“This is not home for me. Open this gate before I run it over.”
“I am going to give you a week to come back home. If you are not back by then, I will take matters into my own hands. You know what I am capable of,” he says.
“You do not scare me, Nkanyiso. Your threats don’t work on me.”
He answers, “You do not want to try me. Come home.”
“You are sick in the head and I am getting my father’s lawyer to help me divorce you. This time I am not playing nice.”
“Okay then, if you want to do this the hard way then two can play the game,” he remotely opens the gate. I get in the car and drive out. This better be the last time I hear from them. I am sick of the Madidas and the nerve Nkanyiso has. I can’t believe this is the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
When I get to my apartment, I find Justin there. He is with Amahle. I can’t believe I forgot about my little girl going to see those crazy people.
“Hey, sweetie,” I kiss Amahle on the forehead. She is doing her homework and Justin is helping her. Justin is very good with her. Unlike me, he tells her nicely and she listens. I have to turn off the wifi for this child to listen to me. I also kiss Justin, “Hey, thank you for watching her. My mind was so occupied when I left work.”
“It’s okay. I just thought I should check on her. I ordered food.”
“Thank you,” I lead him to the kitchen. I get myself some wine.
“I suppose the meeting went bad.”
“I wanted to punch Nkanyiso in the face. I can’t believe he would do that to me after cheating,” I drink from the bottle. I am not in the mood to get a glass.
“What happened?”
“The divorce papers I signed were fake. I am still married to his cheating ass. Who in their right mind does that? That man cheated on me and then now he wants me to be stuck with him forever,” I mutter sullenly.
“The divorce papers were fake?”
“Can you imagine? Here I am happy that finally, I have nothing that links me to Nkanyiso Madida only to find out that I am still his wife. You know what maybe I should burn him in his car,” I say.
“Don’t do something that will make you lose your child. Get another lawyer and try getting him to sign the papers, real ones.”
I shake my head, “You don’t know Nkanyiso Madida. He is someone that is used to having his way with everything.”
“So what is going to happen next?”
“I will have to bring my father into this. I didn’t want things to escalate to this but the only person Nkanyiso fears is my father,” I answer.
“Should I also be sacred of Mr Mavimbela?”
I chuckle, “He is a nice man unless provoked. Let me go and give him a call. I think our food is here.”
Justin leaves the kitchen to go get our food and I go to the bedroom to call my father. If there is anyone that can handle Nkanyiso Madida, it is my father. Him and Samantha but then Samantha is the type that might land someone in jail so I will wait to tell her all this.
Me: Hey, Dad!
Dad: Hey, Lee…I haven’t heard from you in a while. How are you?
Me: Not good…
Dad: I heard you separated from your husband. Is that the problem?
Me: Yes, I separated from Nkanyiso and filed for a divorce but it turns out the divorce papers were fake. I am still his wife. I need help to file for divorce again and sue him if he refuses to sign.
Dad: I warned you about that man, Lee. I warned you that he was not a good man.
Me: To me, he was a good man at the time but now I see him for who he is. I do not regret being with him but now I don’t want to be his wife. I have moved on with my life. Can you help me?
Dad: Of course, I can help you. Let me talk to my team and then get back to you.
Me: Thanks, Dad.
NANDI MYENI
I am in the kitchen, getting myself water. I cannot believe what I heard. Nkanyiso Madida lied to me again. He lied to me about divorcing Leah. What hurts me the most is that this is not the first time he is lying to me. First I found out that he is married. When Leah left he told me that he was happy to be with me and that we are going to make it work only to find out that it is a lie too. He is still married to Leah.
“Hello, madam,” Mazwi walks into the kitchen. I know that he is here to mock me. I know that he is here to rub it in my face that his brother is still married to Leah.
“Hello.”
“Can we have more beer,” he says opening the fridge. I don’t know why he is even asking me when he knows where to get it.
“Go ahead and say it.”
“Say what?” he places the beer on the table and gives me his full attention.
“You must be happy that your brother is still married to Leah. You have made it clear that you don’t like me.”
He shakes his head, “It is not me who doesn’t like you, my dear Nandi. It is you who doesn’t like yourself. I warned you about Nkanyiso being married and you still went on with your affair. Did you seriously think that he was going to let Leah go? Leah was with him at his lowest and you just showed up in his life when he had made it. As for the divorce papers, I didn’t know they were fake. I also found out today, they probably didn’t tell me because I was going to tell Leah.”
“Lucky Leah.”
He says, “You don’t deserve this, Nandi. You have no child and nothing is tying you to Nkanyiso. I suggest you leave while you still have your sanity. I have a feeling things are about to get messy.”
“It’s not that easy. I love your brother.”
“But do you love yourself? Sometimes love only isn’t enough to be with a person. I am not saying this because I favor Leah but did you see how much everyone was fighting for Leah with you in the room? That only should say a lot to you.”
“Are you saying I should leave?”
“I am saying you should love yourself,” he leaves the kitchen.
I do love myself. God knows I love myself but the problem is that I also happen to love Nkanyiso. It is always easy to judge when one is not in the situation. It’s always easy to advise someone to walk away but it is never easy to walk away. It’s not easy to just shut down feelings.
‘Hey, girl, can I crash at your place today?’
‘Hey, sure, you can come anytime. Is everything okay?’ – Tiana.
‘I will explain when I see you.’
I go to the bedroom and pack an overnight bag. I just need some time to think. Sometimes to think about everything that has been happening. I am also getting tired of this. I am getting tired of being second. I am tired of being treated as a second option. I love Nkanyiso. I love him so much but I cannot do this anymore.
“Hey, everyone is leaving,” Nkanyiso walks into the bedroom.
“I am also leaving…I am going to Tiana’s.”
“Why?” he asks. So he doesn’t see what is wrong? So everything is fine with him?
“I need some time to think. I need to think about me, about us and everything.”
