She brought us together

CHAPTER 114

"Ntlos'entle" I say gently shaking him awake. "Mmm?" He groans in his sleepy voice sounding annoyed. "Haibo vuka bhuti" I let out a short chuckle,every morning its always a challenge to wake him up for school. He turns around, wakes up and sits on his bums. "Good morning!" I make a noise and he just looks at me in defeat. "Raise and shine!" Again I scream much to his annoyance.

I wait for him to get in the mood and greet as I kneel down on his bedside. "Good morning mama" nchoo he sounds really cute. I greet back and like always he puts his little hands on the sides of my face and plants a kiss on my forehead and I return the gesture. "Yiskole namhlanje" I tell him wanting to see where his head is at,for the past week since Joy's death he hasn't been going to school. "Manje ngiya eskoleni?" He asks and I nod my head Yes at him.

"Yini awufuni?" I question. "Cha ngiyafuna" he says with a bit of excitement. Okay I believe him. "Go take a bath then" I tell him moving away from his bed so that he can climb off. "Ngisayo vusa uNonja..." He stops in his tracks and looks at me with a sad face as realisation smacks him in the face. It has always been a thing,when I wake one of them up,they have to go wake up the other and now its just him. I open my arms for him to come running in and I pick him up and hug him. "Its okay my boy,its okay" I say as I brush his back.

"But I miss her" he says with a heavy heart. "I know boy,nam ngiyamkhumbula" I'm holding back my own tears. After a minute of comforting him, I make him sit on his bed. "You will tell mommy whenever you are sad or you feel angry or alone right?" I ask him and he nods his head Yes. "I can't hear you Ntlos'entle" I tell him wanting him to use his words. "Yes I will" he simply says. "You will what?" I press on. "I will tell mommy when I'm angry or I feel alone or sad" he says and I give him a small smile before brushing his head.

"Ngiyak'ncanwa ntwana yam" I tell him and he gives me a strange look making me laugh at his reaction. Well the story behind the Ngiyak'ncanwa thing is simple. Ntloso spends alot of time with his bab'mncane and dad so they sometimes speak tsotsi taal around him for reasons only known by them. No they speak tsotsi taal with him! And my son here caught on that he sometimes uses some of the terms with me. Like Ngiyak'ncanwa o'lady lam instead of I love you mama or Ngiyak'thanda.

He does that to get on my nerves because I always call him into order and tell him that I'm not his friend,father, girlfriend or uncle. "Yini uwuloova manje wena or uclever?" He asks using my exact words. I laugh at him, "awusakwazi ukukhuluma kahle?" Ohh my word,he is imitating me and he sounds terrible. "Okay stop it" I say shushing him while laughing along with him. "Angikuzwa mina ukuthi uthini?" This child doesn't listen,he is continuing. Do I really sound like this,mm typical African parent. "Okay Ntloso I get it,shut up now. I love you sthandwa sam" I say smiling proudly at him.

"I love you too MaDlamini,kodwa ngizomtshela ubaba ukuthi uthe sthandwa sam kim" yhoo this child neh! "Uyabora shame hambo geza" I tell him containing my laugh. My boys are so territorial,Nqobi gets jealous when the kids are all sitting next to me and he isn't. So he will move them but my kids aren't the ones to be bullied by him so they will all sit on top of the two of us. And he says that they shouldn't kiss me my forehead but on my cheeks instead, but uNtloso has selective hearing so here we are,he can't do it in Nqobi's presence tho.

Another thing is the sthandwa sam thing or my love. According to Nqobi he's my only love therefore those pet names are reserved for him. And to that Ntloso retaliated by saying that Nqobi shouldn't call me mama because I'm their mother and not his. And thats where I drew the line,like I was agreeing with my son until he said that,like boy you are not going to call me mama like your dad does so please...

As I close his bedroom door behind me,I let out a shaky deep breathe that I was holding in. What Ntloso doesn't know is that this morning he isn't the only one who missed her and forgot that she's no more. I first went to her room before coming here,when I got there the door was locked. I wiggled the door handle trying to figure out why did she lock her door and how she did it. Then realisation hit me,it was Nqobi who locked to keep her things safe and because going into her room just evoked certain emotions that we would rather not focus on.