Unhinged Love

CHAPTER 31

The following morning, both my brother and I get up and we get ready for the day ahead. He said we should go to the restaurant early so that he can see it without the chaos. So that’s what we are going to do. By 7 am we are driving out of the house. Since it is month end, I have to pay my municipal bills and buy electricity. One can forget something like that especially when you go on a holiday.

We get to the store by 7:40 am and I open it. I can see that my brother is in awe as he looks around. He goes to all the corners of the restaurant and even to the kitchen and office. He finally comes back to the front after a few minutes and looks at me with tears in his yes. He holds my hands and smiles.

“You did this. This was all you. You did it alone without his help. You managed to get out alive and you became successful at such a young age. I admire you. I admire your strength, your wisdom, your willingness to succeed. You did it, Magcina. And I am so proud of you.”

I can never get tired of hearing my brother say he is proud of me. It’s like hearing my mother say it and it warms my heart. I don’t say anything. I just hug him. And then I show him around. He might have seen it but now I am showing him what happens where. He asks us to pray when we get to my office, and even though it is a weird request, I allow it. I have a lot to be thankful for and I hardly pray. He finishes praying and I look at him.

“Since when do you pray?” I ask and he smiles.
“Life in the streets can teach you a lot of things. Sometimes you just prayed that you woke up in one piece. I may have not been iphara that stole shit but I was still considered iphara by a lot of people. And at times, police came and beat amaphara up, sometimes arrested them or worse killed them. Durban is very brutal. I am just grateful that God kept me safe during all those nights in the streets.”

Everyday I am puzzled by the type of life he lived in the streets. I am pretty sure he survived because mom was watching over him. I know if i was in his shoes, i would have died the minute our sperm donor left me on the side of the road to die. He is strong and I admire his courage and his survival skills. I hear the main door open and I know the staff will be coming in now.

“I will have to host a small team meeting to introduce you to everyone and get a brief of what went down last week.” He nods. “We have an appointment at Home Affairs for 10 am. It’s good your cut is in shape and you look decent.” He laughs. I sit at the edge of my desk while he takes a sit on the chair next to the door. “Talking about decent, I couldn’t help but notice you jumping to help Mitchy last night with the dishes and you guys washed them for a whole hour. What were you talking about?”

He scoffs. “Magcina, I am older than you. Don’t forget that.” I roll my eyes and he laughs. “I am serious. What I do with women has nothing to do with you. You won’t hear me prying about your love life. But what I will do is tell you if someone is not right for you. So, no snooping around on my love life.”
I grin. “Ow, so there is a love life and Mitchy is in it?”

He groans and I just laugh. “Drop it, Hlengiwe. Drop it.” He takes out his phone and start tapping on it. I am sure he is just playing a FIFA game. Nqobile downloaded it for him last night and he has been playing it any chance he gets.

I can tell that he likes Mitchy. But I am not sure if she feels the same. She is my friend but she is the one person I can’t figure out when it comes to relationships. She is very discrete when it comes to love matters. I sit down on my desk and open the computer. Notifications ping the moment I power it on. God, the number of emails I have to go through. The proposals I have to open. This is too much. I guess I will be locked up in here for a whole week working.

A knock startles me. Nqobile walks in. “Boss, how are you? Oww, you brought your handsome brother? Hey bhut Mndeni.” I chuckle at the ‘handsome’ compliment.
“I am good. I see here that I have a lot of emails in my inbox. What is that all about?” I ask.
“I guess the event from Friday went too well. Many people have been raving about this place and they want to book it for their events. We wanna stay as far away as we can from baby showers as we can. We know they can taint the image of the restaurant, so no. But I was thinking...”

I quickly cut her off. “We will continue that talk during the morning meeting, Nqo. For now, how about you prepare for the day ahead and when everyone comes in, you can tell them about the meeting. I want it to start at 8:20 so that it ends before 9 and you will be able to start work.”
She nods with a smile. “Sure thing, boss. And you look oddly cute today. New lipstick?” she asks laughing as she heads out. This girl.

I continue responding the emails and noting down some events and bookings. There are quite a few companies who are booking tables for lunches. I know these bring in a lot of money because it is guaranteed that we make at least R2000 plus from a few tables. My employees fill the office one by one until all of them are in. They don’t do shifts here. They all work 10 hour shifts with two 30 minutes breaks and one 1 hour lunch time. That guarantees that they get paid a lot of money. The only people who do shifts are the baristas and the bartenders because coffee is available from 9 to 12 and cocktails from 12 till closing time.

I put the computer to sleep and give everyone my undivided attention. “Morning everyone. Thank you for making it to work even though it’s a Monday after pay day.” They all laugh. “First things first. I am sure you are all wondering who the stranger amongst us is. That is my older brother, Mndeni Mabuyakhulu. He has been living in Durban for all these years but now he has moved in with me. So you will be seeing a lot of him around here.”  I introduce everyone by name to him and they shake hands with him.

“Moving on, can you call give yourselves a round of applause for the amazing work you did this weekend? You reached and exceeded your targets. You got a lot of positive reviews back and a lot of engagement on social media. You deserve shots for that.” They laugh but clap hands. “Thank you guys for always giving exceptional customer service. As much as the food is nice, good hospitality is what makes you visit a place again. If the staff was friendly and made you feel at home, you always want to go back to that place. Please continue to do me proud even in my absence.

“On today’s most important announcement, the boardwalk management is going to be having lunch here at 1:30pm and they want a set up for ten people. They want the All things fresh buffet. So you know what you need to do and which place to set up and reserve. That’s today’s priority. And it is week two of our dairy-free breakfast. We received good feedback about it last week, so waiters, keep promoting and recommending it to our customers. Nqobile, over to you.”

She smiles. “Okay. I talked to boss about baby showers and how they can taint our brand. I am not saying we should reject all their bookings, but maybe accept at least one in every two months and check if people align with our brands before accepting the booking.” I chuckle. She is dramatic but I know restaurants who have lost a lot of clientele because of hosting baby showers. Maybe I should buy a guest house which will specifically cater to these type of events.

“Also, boss, you said we should come with ways to bring hype around Healthy Eats but not sway from what our restaurants stand for. So I thought many we should invite chefs to dine here. Start with the ones who are home chefs and only create content on social media and if we see that their Presence brings positive vibes, then we can move on to inviting other chefs with restaurants.” Mitchy comments and I actually love her idea. The others also pitch their ideas and I note them down in my mind. When we are done with our meeting, we say a little prayer before starting the day.