Spurned

04

"Are you here to finish me off?" He coughs as I make my way into the room. "Maybe" I stand next to him. "Nhliziyo yami-" I cut him off. "Don't call me that... I came to give you these" I toss the divorce papers onto his lap.

"You're serious? Itumeleng. Baby, I'm sorry..." He panicks. "I'm giving you back your freedom. You can continue sleeping with whoever you want to sleep with, I'm just taking my reigns back. Sign the papers, Kwenzokuhle"

"What about the kids?" Nxn. "This won't affect them, I've already spoken to them and gitten the co-parenting clause drafted" I shrug. "Sign" I urge as he goes through it. "I love you- you can't just give up on us" He turns back to me. "My love for you died a long time ago, I'm done with you.. sign the papers"

"You've already hurt me too much Kwenzokuhle, the least you can do is sign those papers" I say and he grabs the pen, slowly signing. I quickly take them from him. "I hope you rot in this place" I click my tongue in annoyance, walking out without him saying a thing.

A small grin pulls onto my face as I internally giggle... He slept with my sister and I took it upon myself to transfer almost all his money into a secret bank account- not that I need it, but I've suffered way too much to walk away with nothing from this sham of a marriage.

It's compensation for the years he's spent cheating on me with different women. "What were you doing in the hospital?" Phiwe asks as I get into the car. "I was visiting a friend of mine" I lie. "Is it true? Are you and Baba getting divorced?" Sbani's eyes linger on my ring less finger. "Yes" There's no need to sugarcoat anything.

"But it won't affect any of you- you don't have to worry about anything... Your father and I are just seperating from each other" I sigh as I drive off. "Then why are you sending us away?" Phiwe asks. "I'm not sending you away... School's are closing tomorrow and you're going to go to your grandparent's house anyway"

"Does that mean that Baba won't be staying with us anymore?" Oh Modimo. "I'm not sure, the court is yet to decide who gets the house but we're co-parenting either way. Don't stress about us, everything's going to be okay"

"But you don't look okay" I sigh. "I am okay, I'm just tired and restless" I haven't had any good sleep in a long time. I park outside my parent's house. "I'll find you inside" They drag their bags in and I text Tshidi back, telling her that I'd be there in a few minutes.

"I'm not staying long, I'm just here to drop these two off" I say as I enter the house. "Are you sure?" My mother asks. "Mhm, I need to drop of something then I'll sleep at home" I lie- I'm not going anywhere near that house- I can't. I send her money, even after she protests.

I get into my car, firstly dropping off the files at Sandra's firm. "Congratulations, you're now a free woman" She laughs as I glare at her. "That sounds way better" I'm actually luckky to not have changed my surname, it would have been a whole process trying to get it changed back.

"Now I can gawk at anyone I want to" That's the bright side of things. "And you can get you a man that can treat you right... I heard there's a lot of them around here" She nudges me. "Weh Sandra. The ink is not even yet dry and you want me to jump onto someone else"

"Why not? It's not like you can't" She winks. "I'll see you around" I head out of her office, driving off to Tshidi's apartment. I find her seated on the couch, speaking on the phone. "I'll call you back" She says once she spots me. "And then?" She asks. "I got divorced..." I trail off. "As in, you left him?" I nod.

"Finally, what took you so long" She playfully rolls her eyes at me. "Oh please- you said he was a good man. I'm just happy to have finally gotten out of that toxic marriage, you should too" I propose. "Me? Never, I love him way too much. Hlulani makes me happy"

"But he makes you sad more... You called me crying, saying that he had a girlfriend a week ago" I remind her. "That's old news" She waves me off. I grab a bottle of wine from the cupboard,drinking straight from it. "Haibo Itumeleng, Slow down hle"

"I need this" I close my eyes, drinking like a fish. "This is so unlike you- you see, that biy was holding your inner freak back" She wiggles her eyebrows at me and I shake my head. "He was holding me back, I almost became a housewife- imagine... Mxm" He's going to regret ever ruining my life.

"Vele, now we need to find you a better man- a rich man... Who owns a yacht and islands" She stumbles, she's tipsy. "I think he also has those" I open another bottle. "A man, Itumeleng not a boy. Be serious" She smacks her lips together and I laugh. "You need to be doing that, Hlulani will give you a heart attack"

"Ituuuuu- you don't understand. I was trying okay- I really tried to stay away from him but- eish... He said 'Rhandzu ra mina' and I gave in" She shrugs. "Enough about Hlulani, I think we should go and finish that 'boy' of" She emphasises more on the word boy.

"I wanted to- I really did but I have kids- young kids that still need me, I can't afford to go to prison" I open the third bottle. "Your sister is a snake. I hope she catches an STD that eats her flesh from the inside until she perishes, people like that should be beheaded. Hhayi marn, Nxn." She angrily says.

"Yeah well, I don't love him anymore" I did but I stopped, all because of him- no one else. I hiccup, bringing the bottle back to my lips. "You're going to empty my wine shelf marn Itumeleng" She groans as I hand her the bottle, grabbing another one. "Give me a break, don't you have something stronger?"

"I also need a break, you're going to wake up hating yourself... I have whiskey next to that cupboard" I pull out the bottle of whiskey, pouring a full glass. "Now that's just alcoholic behaviour, nje" She shakes her head at me. "You weren't cheated on by your sister, keep quiet" I take a huge gulp.

I grimace as it burns my throat. "it's strong- very strong" I repeatedly blink. "It was a gift, shhh" She takes the bottle, pouring for herself and I giggle, feeling my brain floating in my head.

"I'm going to hate myself tommorow"

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A/N: This was before Tshidi was killed. (To avoid any confusion)