How To Love

chapter twelve

I was meeting Thuso's friends officially, ever since I saw them on our wedding day. We were hosting them at our house, and I've gone full host mode, with Mmapula's aid of course.

If it wasn't clear before, I love hosting. Although I hated feeling domesticated, when it came to hosting, Thuso could domesticate me however he wanted. Okay, I heard that too.

"Relax Wawa, they are a good bunch, it doesn't need to be perfect," Thuso said. He came behind me, and turned me around, making me look him in the eyes. His hands clasped mine and he wore a small smile. After our heart to heart, we have come a long way as individuals and as two people in an arranged marriage. My feelings for him weren't certain, so I was giving myself time to figure them out. But right now, we were at a happy medium.

"I'm relaxed, I promise," I lied straight through my teeth. Meeting new people was nerve-wracking. I wasn't a social butterfly either, so this was two times more stressful for me. And even my cluelessness didn't go as far as to miss the fact that I cared what his friends thought of me, therefore, I cared about the person in question.

"You're not. If you aren't ready, I can reschedule. There's no pressure," he said. I shook my head vigorously, cancelling on people on the same day was crazy.

"No please, don't do that," I begged him with pleading eyes. He pulled me closer, leaving the tiniest of spaces between us. I could feel his minty breath against my face when he spoke his next words, and it made me shudder.

"Then, relax please Warona." With his chest pressed up against mine like that, my mind immediately focused on other things. He was rock hard, clearly that gym membership was coming in handy. Which then reminded me that I didn't look anything like a person who went to the gym, which only heightened my insecurities. I stepped back slowly, nodding my head to confirm that I'll relax.

"Let me go get ready. Mmapula, you'll finish up right?" Mmapula nodded and Thuso let go of my arm. Up the stairs in my room, I ran the shower water before stripping. I took my time in there, even washing my Afro, which has been out for a week now. Sometimes, I loved to give it a break from the wig lines and weaves, and that time was this week. I went waxing the other day, for every part of my body, just so when I wore my swimsuit today, no hair will be on sight.

Speaking of swimsuits, today I picked out a black ruffle cut out one piece that had a full panty. We will be hanging out around the pool for the most part of the day, hence why I didn't wear something more modest. Though, since I was hosting, I wore a black cover up, which was a robe like design with a lace material which basically hid nothing but at the same time, kept me a little more modest.

Stepping out of the room was a little scary. Now that I cared what Thuso thought, it was hard just being nonchalant about everything, especially my body. After a few words of affirmation, I descended the stairs and found Thuso marinating the meat in the kitchen.

His head snapped up at my presence and the way his eyes zeroed in on me made me feel self-conscious, even when all I could see was his plain adoration for me.

"Does this look fine?" I asked him. I don't even know why I did, since when did I seek out his approval?

"It looks perfect, you are perfect," he replied. His words gave me butterflies, lifting up the weight that had settled on my shoulders. I smiled at him, and he smiled back at me.

We continued prepping and were thankfully done in time to accept our first guest, Brian, the best friend. I knew from when we were children. He didn't go to the same school as us, in fact, we only saw him during the December holidays when he came to visit his grandparents. I wasn't close to him, but I saw him around the township we lived in.