Unhinged Love

CHAPTER 5

Staying at home is very draining. That’s why today I decided to go to our headquarters. There is a house in town that we are renting. We are not paying much because the landlord just wanted someone who will look after his house while he is away. He lives in Ireland and rarely comes to South Africa. His house is in Brakenham. We decided to turn it into our base of operations. That’s where we keep most of our working equipment and that’s where we prepare for events.

Nqobile drives in and drops me off near the door before going to back the car in the garage. I head inside the house and find the ladies already seated around the dining table. It’s brunch hour, so we usually use this time to catch up and thoroughly update each other about any upcoming events or new specials and promos that we wanna add just to get new customers. Mitchy opens a chair for me, and I thank her before sitting down.

“It’s good to have you back in these briefings.” Pamela starts off and I smile.
“It’s good to be back. I was so tired of staying at home. It can be so draining. I detest DSTV so much after that.” I reply and they all laugh. We all know how underwhelming DSTV is. We are thankful for Prime, Netflix, Disney plus and other online streaming services or else we would be dying of boredom. Nqobile walks in and sits next to me. “So, what’s new?”

“Our ratings and reviews have gone up.” Lineo responds. “TikTok promote is working wonders for us. I also think that advertising spaces around the suburbs are working out in our favour because we have been receiving orders all around the areas.” I nod. That’s good to hear.
“The finances agree with what Lineo is saying.” Pamela adds. “We have made more than R15400 this weekend, and that only includes deliveries not walk ins.” That’s a lot. “Townsquare Mall also granted us permit to put a pop up truck just outside Café Gym in the cafeteria just for easy access to the gym freaks. Only for 3 days though. So, we will choose between Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, Saturday and Sunday.” I nod and then turn to Mitchy.

“I think our online website and app needs an upgrade. The orders take long to come through. Maybe you will see an order pop up 10 minutes after the customer placed it and that causes a delay in the delivery time.” She says and I nod.
“That means we should contact Geba Developers to fix it before we encounter more problems.” I respond.
“We have already sent out an email to them. We are just waiting for their response.” She mutters and I am glad to hear that.

“What’s new, Nqobile?”
“We have an event to cater to in two weeks. A vegetarian wedding. They need the food and dessert bar from us. Only 10 people who will be attending the event will be carnivores. The rest of the guests, which are 40 and including our two guests of honours, are vegetarians.” It’s probably a white couple.

“That’s not bad. So, we have two weeks to prepare. Has the payment come through?” Pamela nods. “That means we have two weeks to prepare for this wedding. What’s the theme?”
“Lady Whistledown.” Nqobile answers. The drama.
“That means all that Bridgerton drama. The high tea vibes and all that. Who is up for creating a vegan cake that stands out while surrounded by all the macarons and rusks?” They all laugh.
“I already have a few ideas in mind.” Mitchy replies before passing around a paper with 6 types of designs. “Each and everyone of you will choose their favourite and we will go with what the majority rules.” The first one is white with hints of gold and colours with various shades of pink. The second one is all white with intricate designs that are so attractive. The third one is blue with a mini statue of Lady Whistledown at the top. The fourth one is pink with the same statue. The fifth one is violet with pretty flowers and the sixth one is underwhelming. We decide on the first one because it’s more attractive.

“What flavours are you thinking about?” I enquire.
“Lemon pistachio maddeine with pistachio paste, vanilla chai spice with guava filling and coconut rum with raspberry filling. All three tiers will have different flavours.” I can already imagine how delicious this cake will be.
“I love the combination of the flavours. Something so unexpected and I am sure they will love it.” Nqobile comments.
“Yeah. They just told us they like pistachios and berries, so I had to be creative.” Mitchy remarks. She is the queen of cakes. She did a culinary plus pastry course, so she is just an expert in everything.

Nqobile gasps and we all turn to her. She taps on her tablet and refreshes it a couple of times before swallowing hard and looking at me. “We got the funding. R15 000 000 to be exact.” I think I heard that wrong. My eyes pop out and she laughs. “OMG! We did it. You did it, boss.” She screams before hugging me. Pamela takes the tablet, maybe to confirm for herself and passes it to the others. I am just frozen in time. I can’t believe it. Maybe it’s a prank. Lineo cries before she starts praying in tongues. Yes, she is a very religious individual. I unfreeze and finally celebrate with my team. We share emotional hugs, and I still can’t believe this. All my hard work is finally paying off. My dream is about to come true. And I achieved all this with these ladies surrounding me. I couldn’t be more grateful for their hard work, dedication and support.

×××
My team and I decided to come out and celebrate this victory. It’s such a major success for Healthy Eats and this day has to be commemorated with a major celebration. We will start talking business tomorrow, but today they have to party until the sun comes up. Well, I can’t indulge in alcohol because of my injury. I don’t wanna get wasted and somehow forget about my injury and cause myself harm in the process. We enter Zula Beach and find our seats at once. I will never get over the beauty of this place, especially after it was renovated. Their interior design is giving me ideas of what I want my restaurant to look like. We order three platters and drinks. Yes, we are ladies, but we love our meat.

“No one is judging if I go home with a guy, right?” Nqobile asks and we laugh. She no longer shocks me.
“What about the doctor?” I ask and her eyes pop out before she takes out her phone.
“U Baby had called during the meeting, and I muted him. Yoh, let me call him back.” She stands up and walks away. We just laugh at her. Every man is u baby to her but that usually doesn’t last for longer than 4 weeks.

“This is going to be us soon, running a place like this with less alcohol.” Pamela utters as she looks around with pride. “Our opening has to be a bang.” Somehow, we always end up talking about work even if we don’t want to. It’s in our bones. The passion.

“I am really feeling the vibes here. Mix this with that décor from Panarottis and we are good to go.” Lineo adds and we all nod. Nqobile walks back to the table with a smile.
“U baby is at Neighbourhood with his friends, but they are coming here now. They will join us so that’s a big save for the bill.” She comments and we break into laughter.

“Sometimes I feel like you call them ‘baby’ because you have forgotten their names.” Mitchy expresses and Nqobile chortles.
“That’s part of the reason, dear. But this one is my soulmate. We are getting married in December, I am telling you.” She starts singing ‘uyangthatha ngo December’ and Pamela sings with her. The double trouble. At least Pamela keeps men for longer than 3 months but not more than 6. As soon as a man gets serious, she bolts. She has commitment phobia. Nqobile is just a baddie. “BABY!” she shouts, and we all turn to the entrance where four really handsome gentlemen are walking in. damn. Now that’s what I call God’s creation. The waiters extend our tables, and the gents sit down.

“Hi ladies.” The doctor greets.
“Darlings, this is my man, Phelelani, and these are his friends.” Nqobile states with a wide smile. Is she blushing?
“This is Smiso, Siyabonga and Ntokozo. The officer is concluding a call outside.” We quickly get acquainted and soon after, they bring our food. The guys order more food and drinks, but we share the food we ordered with them. As we start eating, someone walks in.

“That took forever. Hello ladies.” Oww, I know that voice.” I turn to see Mbulelo standing behind me. His eyes pop out when he sees me, and he actually sits next to me. GREAT.