How To Love

chapter thirty-nine

"Qhawe?" The shock was prominent in my tone.

"Hey Warona, is this a good time to talk?" I nodded then remembered this was a phone call.

"Uh yeah, what's up? Everything good with Lerato?" I asked, a sudden wave of worry washing over me.

"Yes, yes, everything is well, she's well. I'm calling because I need your help with something," he said, his earlier words putting my worries to bed.

"Oh? What's that?" An inkling feeling of what that might be came to mind. A smile tugged at my lips.

"I want to ask for Lerato's hand in marriage-" I squealed, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence.

"That sly fox called it! This is huge! Congratulations Qhawe!" I exclaimed. He laughed in the background.

"I knew she would catch on, but I want this to catch her completely off guard. And that's why I want to hijack the baby shower this Saturday, think you'd mind?" He asked.

"Of course not, hijack away. What'd you have in mind?" I asked. Lerato was throwing me a baby shower this Saturday. It wasn't a surprise so I already knew about it.

"I been knowing she was suspicious, especially when she caught me visiting her parents without her. So I wanted the actual proposal to be a surprise. She's not gonna expect it at the baby shower, so here's what I thought," and then he launched into his idea. We brainstormed a few things we could add and after talking for an hour, we came up with the perfect game plan, something completely unexpected, even for my noisy ass bestie. Plus, with her distracted with the planning of my baby shower, she would have no time to sniff around.

•••

We were in my room getting ready for the baby shower.

Lerato had hired a whole team of make up artists to do all our make up and I hired a whole team of hairstylists to do our hairs as a spoil for the girls.

"Y'all we're really going to be aunties yo," Sade said.

"Dude, I can't believe this girl I basically raised is going to be a mom," Lerato said, being extra as usual, causing everyone to laugh.

"I'm happy I'm going to be a grandma, finally," my mother added.

"A fine grandma at that," Thabi said and everyone agreed. It took us like two hours to all have our hair and make up done but it was worth it. Everyone looked so good.

"Y'all, we're too fine. It feels like a wedding event instead of a baby shower," I said. They agreed and it turned into an entire minute, or two, of us basically hyping each other up.

Although I knew all about the baby shower, Lerato hadn't allowed me to see everything until the actual event, so the set up was going to be a complete surprise for me.

But because the dress picked out for me was a neutral champagne colour, I knew the vibes were going to give earth tones. As I was led downstairs, the excitement of seeing everything and the day unfolding was making me shaky with energy.

•••

"You know I saw the baby before you guys told me? It's just that it wasn't clear who the baby belonged to. When I learned she was yours, I felt a sense of relief," my dad said. We were in another guest room, a set of barber's in here fixing us up.