Noma and Kea

CHAPTER 10

It’s been a week, and he has driven me to work every day; Brought me lunch everyday too. The same gray Skyline; found out it’s a Skyline R31. He always has the same pose while waiting for me outside. Out of all those days, he has eaten dinner at my place about 4 times, and Ntokozo is still none the wiser. Yesterday we actually went to Cake Zone and this UNDOUBTLY proves that It was him the man with White Air forces and Tan Trousers from those days ago. The air today is FREEZING, I put on a scarf, beanie, gloves, Red trench coat and blue jeans. I finally did my hair, I got braids again because that is my signature look. I rush downstairs, and something amazing happened, Guess? You probably guessed wrong, but I finally got him to stop parking in the middle of the street. YESSS. I know right, how did I do it? Let me take you back to Monday.
The air was windy and clouds were rolling in, it is definitely going to rain. I walk outside and he is leaning on his car and walks towards me.
He kisses my cheek, “Sawubona”(Good Morning) he says.
“Sawubona”(Good Morning) I say and stand on the pavement as he walks away.
“What?” he asks.
“I’m not getting in that car, unless you park it here” I point to the parallel parking.
“What?” he asks brows together.
“I’m not getting in that car, Kea” I say.
“Babe stop playing, please come get in the car” he says. I shake my head and fold my arms. “Are you serious?” he asks. “Either you make your girlfriend late for work, and she won’t cook dinner for you today OR, you park right here and we are all happy” I say. He starts laughing, “It’s gonna start rain any minute now” he says pointing up.
“Another factor, Wet Girlfriend, who is also late for work; I promise you Kea, If I ever cook for you and these 2 things happen…” I say.
I might poison him, if I get to work Wet and Late. I fold my arms, and stand there with an attitude. He opens the car door, starts mumbling something and throws my bag inside and drives to the parallel parking. He opens the door for me, “Thank you” I say and kiss his cheek. “Yeah, yeah whatever” he says and speeds off. I should try and get him to slow down a bit, but one bad habit at a time.
Today I walk out. The cold slaps me across the face, I open the gate, this is new. He came in a G wagon. He has the same pose, wearing Black slacks, jersey and Suede jacket. He walks towards me, “Sawubona Standwa sam”(Hello my Love) he says.
AHHH, To my man, Thank you to my men, “Sawubona Standwa sam” I reply, he grabs my bag and we walk to the car, he opens the door.
“Noma” shouts Ntokozo at the gate, “Come back with bread”.
I Know this bitch did not just. I give her a thumbs up and get into the car and he has everything warm, OH THIS IS NICCCCEEEEE. He walks around the car and gets in and he switches it on and it booms. I have always seen the car, but never have I heard it like this. He speeds up and stops at the robot.
“Where’s the Skyline?” I ask.
“Lucas asked to borrow it” he says.
Lucas is the loud one. He’s the one who stood up and made us since Happy Birthday for Mandla at the club. “OH OK, I love this” I say.
“Thank you. Babe” he says.
“Wait you are Tswana right?” I ask.
“Nah I am Pedi” he says.
“Oh same thing” I say and look forward.
“No it’s not” he says looking at me weird, “What are you, Xhosa?”
“No, Zulu” I reply.
“Oh same thing. Technically the African Ethnic title for Zulu, Xhosa and Swati is Nguni so same thing” he says. I look at him; he looks back at me.
“I’m sorry, they aren’t the same” I say, see what I mean that he is smart.
“I should teach you some time” he says.
“I can speak Sepedi” I say.
“You can speak, siPitori not Sepedi” he says. he is right about that.
He is swerving in traffic and this thing handles well.
“I forget to tell you tomorrow; I’m going home, so I won’t be going to work” I say.
“Oh ok, I was about to talk to you about that. But, since you not going to work it’s fine” he says. “About what?” I ask.
“Nah, I couldn’t pick you up so, I was gonna ask you if you could find another way home” he says.
I nod my head, “So how are you getting there?” he asks.
“Gautrain” I say.
He nods, “Oh OK”
“So why couldn’t you drive me if I was going to work?” I ask.
“Eish Tips’ father passed away, so we going to support him. Reya Tembisa in the morning, but we should be back on Saturday” he says. Tips’ real name is Thapelo he went to school with Kea; he was the one who was in the back seat when we first met. I haven’t met them yet, but he makes them sound like cool guys.
“I’m sorry to hear that” I say.
“Nah, I’m glad he’s dead” he says. WHOA that’s a first, “What do you mean?” I ask. He looks straight, his face hardens a bit, he keeps quiet and pulls up his belt. I guess, I am not getting a response. He does that sometimes.
He stops at my office and opens the door for me and I walk out. He leans down kisses my cheek, “I will see you later” he says. I look at him, he looks at my lips, “OK” I say and he drives off. I wonder what he meant by he’s glad Tips’ father is dead? “WENA, did you come out of that G Wagon?” asks Mandisa. I stand there looking at her, “Nope” I reply.
“Was that Don?” she asks.
“Let’s go to work” I say as I head into the building.
“AWOAH wena, why you holding out on me, was that him or not?” she asks.
“If I answer you will you drop it?” I ask. She nods. “Nope” I say and we head into the elevator. I already have Tshego who is still asking me out. I don’t want people finding that Kea has not one but 2 cars.
After much talks with him, I finally got him to stop sneaking into my building to bring me food. It took a lot of convincing, “I promise, I won’t let you drive me to work, if you keep doing this”. “Fine” he said before sneaking back out of the building. LOL. YEP that is my life, 27 years old, being driven to work by a 23-year-old who is also get this happens to be my boyfriend.
It’s Lunch and Tshego walks up to my desk, my energy just drains. Yoh this guy, “What do you want?” I ask.
“Lunch, Im not taking No for an answer” he says. I chuckle and look at him and he is serious, “Watch this. NO” I stand up and walk to the elevator with everyone else.
“Come on why not?” he whispers into my ear. WTF is he doing, I look up at him, “Cause I already have lunch” I say. He clenches his jaw. The elevator dings and opens, I walk to the door and he is still following me.
Kea walks forward and Tshego grabs my hand. “What’s going on here?” Kea asks.
“Nothing, we just talking” says Tshego.
“No, we not GO” I say sternly.
“Ay, you better let go of my Woman” Kea says. Tshego lets go, and stares Kea, “Or What?” he says patting Kea’s chest and pushing him. Everyone is watching, Kea takes a step back from being pushed, he walks forward and he has a smile on his face, “Shit, believe me boy. Your head ain’t as hard as mine” Kea says. He head-butts him. Tshego falls to ground grabbing his nose. SHIT. “Oh shit” I hear from someone. They come and help Tshego, “You ever, ever touch my Girlfriend again, I will fucking kill you!” Kea says as he points at him on the floor. I am trying by all means to hold Kea back, but it’s hard he is really strong. Tshego stands up and walks away, “A retlo delela ke bafana”(We not gonna be disrespected by little boys) says Kea. I put my hands on his chest and he is breathing hard. I look at him and he looks at me, I have never seen him like this, Angry, Protective. “Are you alright?” he asks rubbing my shoulders. I nod and he pulls me in and squeezes me. His heart is beating fast. He holds me for a while and I squeeze him too. To be honest, I just wanna cry, but big girls don’t cry, Right? “I brought you lunch” he says and let’s go. I don’t know why I am not scared.
“OK” I say.
We walk to the car and he takes a deep breath and hands me some Steers and a Coffee. “You alright?” he asks again, that same tone from Saturday.
“Yeah” I say and nod my head. I don’t know why, but I just kiss his cheek. He clenches his jaw. It’s as if he is saying ‘I don’t deserve a kiss’. “I will see you later” he says.
“OK” I say and watch him drive off.
WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED? I walk into the building and even Karabo looks at me confused. I get into the elevator and head to my desk. The others come back and it’s a gossip session, OH JEHOVA, I have become the topic of this entire building.
“Wena a re boom awa, Tshego bang metha ka hlogo awa”(Boom and He fell, Tshego, was head butted and he fell) Mandisa says. Oh Nkosiyam, if it’s Mandisa who is talking about it that means the whole building is gonna know about what happened. I still don’t know why I wasn’t scared? The old me would’ve ran away from such, but I stood there. I held back the man, who I know could do the same thing to me, like it was clockwork but No I didn’t fear for my safety, I felt scared that he would do something he would regret, like kill him. “Chomie so monna wagago ke Bruce Lee, O thula batho kadihlogo”(Friend so your man is Bruce Lee he head butts people) she says. I look at her like really and; unimpressed. In the corner of my eye, I see him walking in the back. I stand up and follow him, “You have some fucking nerve, showing your face after the shit you pulled” I shout to Tshego.
“I work here, the fuck am I supposed to do, and your man won so whatever” he says.
“What Is it with men and their damn egos. You see that man that laid you on your ass, he’s my man. I hope that answers your fucking question about Lunch” I say and walk back to my desk and continue eating my burger. “So your man has a G wagon?” Mandisa asks. “Yes my man has a G Wagon” I say exhausted with all the attention.
“Sabawel to be you” she says and walks away.
It’s 4 o’clock and its time to go home and Tshego left early. We all walk to the elevator and enter and reach ground floor.
When I think, I have to cook when I get home, I just wanna scream and pass out. We exit the building and there was, he has that same smile with a hint of a smirk on him. He kisses my cheek and grabs my bag, opens the door for me and closes it. He steps in and we drive off. I look at his head to make sure of no bruising, Nothing that’s good. “What?” he asks.
“Making sure you have no bruises; I hate men who have bruises” I say. He nods and looks down, “I’m sorry” he says.
“For?”
“I should’ve handled myself better. I didn’t mean to escalate things to that point. It’s just when I saw the way he was holding your hand and you trying to get him to leave, I snapped.” “I am sorry” he says.
He did nothing wrong, I don’t even know why he’s apologizing? I put my hand on his cheek, “It’s OK, it wasn’t your fault” I say. “Wanna know something?” I say.
“Yeah” he says.
“It was kinda hot the way you just head butted him to the floor” he starts laughing, “And the way, you threatened him, OHH, boy, that made my temperature rise”.
“Trust me, you will never see me like that” he says.
“Why not?” I ask.
“It’s ungentle-men like, babe I hold myself to a certain degree and one of those is me trying my utmost to not cause problems or be involved in any problems” he says.
“I understand, but come on, wasn’t that fun though” I ask. He chuckles, we driving and it dawns upon, “Shit I forgot we need to buy bread” I say.
“OK” he says and Woolworths is still open. He parks the car and we walk inside, while we here might as well buy some takeaway. I look back at him and smile, he has his hand in his jacket. I wrap my arm around his arm. He looks down at me, “I don’t feel like cooking” I say.
“OK” he nods. He grabs the loaf of bread, we head outside and drive to Hatfield, “What do you want?” he asks. I shrug my shoulders. Steers it is, I guess that’s what his head said, because we got Steers. I really wanted Pizza.
Note to self when Kea asks what you want speak what’s on your mind. We drove back the apartment, “Mind if I leave something here?” he asks.
“Sure” I say. We get out and he opens the back of the car and pulls out a Nike Duffle bag and we walk into the apartment. “Where should I put it?” he asks.
“Give me, so I can keep it out of the way” I say and he hands it to me. God it’s got a bit of weight to it, I move it to my room and place underneath my work stations and ate dinner. Ntokozo is still at work. 
I walk him to his car and we look at each other, “So tomorrow you going to Tembisa?” I ask. “Yeah, I guess I will see you on Monday” he says.
“OK, travel safe” I say.
“You too” he says and switches on the car and closes the door.
He opens his door and steps out, “Noma” he calls out. I turn back, he presses his lips onto mine. FINALLY, our first kiss. MAGIC Is all I can say. It's like the world around us disappeared, and there's only the two of us. His hands moved to my waist, pulling me closer, and I lost myself in the moment, savoring the taste of his lips, the feel of his touch.
When we finally pulled away, we were both breathless. He rested his forehead against mine, his eyes searching mine. “I've wanted to do that for so long,” he confessed, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"Me too," I admitted, my voice shaky with emotion. “I have to go now,” he said softly, my heart aching at the thought of him leaving.
He kissed me one last time, a lingering, tender kiss that left me yearning for more. “I'll miss you,” he whispered.
“I'll miss you too,” I replied, feeling the tears well up in my eyes. I wave and he speeds off. Yep That’s my life. my name is Nomakhosi age 27. Status Taken: Boyfriend: Keabetswe ‘Don’, I don’t know his surname yet, his age 23. Yeah no. My life is definitely a Novel at this point.