Unhinged Love

CHAPTER 35

I have never been in a helpless situation before where I don’t know how to tackle an issue. In the past, it would have been easy to go to my young friends, but this is a complex issue. I trust that they won’t sell me out to anybody, but I am not sure if they will judge me or not. I need someone who will be honest with me without fear of losing a job. Also, the situation with Melisizwe is a tricky one. It should be approached in a different way or perspective. I don’t need someone who will throw in jokes like Nqobile while I really need a sound advice.

Today is Monday and I am busy going through the figures of the weekend. I think I should hire someone who will do our finances because as much as I am smart, I never studied accounting. I only know how to manage a business. Sorting out budgets and all that, that is not my strength. I just have to contact one of my chef friends and ask how they do their books. I want them to be as clean as they can when the auditor comes in November to audit our finances and the business as a whole. While I am busy doing my job, someone knocks and I look up to see Ayanda, the waiter, standing at the door with flowers and a gift bag. I frown.

“Boss, I know you asked not to be disturbed, but someone brought these for you. I signed for them.” She walks in and places the flowers and the gift bag on the desk.
“Thank you, Ayanda. You may leave.” She nods before heading out and closing the door behind her.

Before even checking for a note, I know who these things are from. In front of me is a celebrate kindness flower bunch. They are so beautiful and they smell lovely. I open the gift bag first and I see Estelle coloured glass champagne flutes. They are really gorgeous and classy. Something an African mother would put in their room divider. I check for a note and I find one in the flowers. It simply states ‘thank you for the chance, Ntokazi. I promise I won’t let you down.’ The old man is smooth. I will give that to him. This has just made my morning. No, scratch that. My entire week. I send him a ‘thank you’ text with a white heart and he responds with a phone call. God.

“Sawubona Mnguni.” I answer the call and he chuckles a bit.
“Ntokazi, how are you doing today?” he asks in a voice that makes you want to tell him everything and not just ‘it’s going great’ even though it’s not.
“It was bad until I received my gifts. Thank you.” I respond.

“I am not the best, but I have been told I am a good listener. So do you want to tell me how your day was before you received your flowers? And is there anything I can do to assist?” he asks in a polite voice and I just find myself telling him everything. He listens and does verbal nods throughout the call. When I am done venting, I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders even though I haven’t found a solution.

“I hear you, ntokazi. I am no expert in the food industry but every business is the same. Setting up budgets is the same. You do need someone who will assist in the financial area of your business. Someone who will sort out invoices and all that. I suggest that you get an administrator who has HR and accounting experience so that the business will run smoothly. You once spoke about wanting to expand the business. Getting that administrator will set everything into great perspective. Firstly, look into your staff members, if there is anyone with that experience and qualification before going external.”

“Thank you so much for that, Mnguni. You don’t know how helpful you have been. I will get into that shortly after having a chat with my crew.”
“I am glad I could be of help, ntokazi. Anyways, it was very lovely talking to you. Your voice has this thing of being a ray of sunshine even on a gloomy day. Take care of yourself, siphalaphala. We will talk later.”

Why is he so charming? “Thank you for the call and the gifts, Melisizwe. You have a lovely day.” I end the call and lean back on my chair, smiling like an idiot. This old man is very kind and attentive. Things that most women look for in men. Would it really be that bad if something were to happen between him and I? And besides Mbulelo, who would suffer the most from this betrayal? I agreed to give him a chance and thinking about Mbulelo is not fair.

During lunch hour, I head to the kitchen to help out. That’s the one place where I am content and free in. The kitchen. Doing what I love with the people I love. They ask who the flowers were from. Yes, news travel very fast in here. But the store is very small, so it’s no surprise. I just tell them that they are from the man who took me out on a date. They are very happy and they want to see his pictures. I brush them off. Yes, the resemblance between Melisizwe and Mbulelo is uncanny, but if you don’t look too closely, you won’t notice. But that’s not something I am willing to risk right now.

After the lunch hour, I head back to my office and continue with my work. A few minutes later, Mndeni walks in with a plastic from Jwayelani and places it on the table. I give him a sceptical look. Last week we opened a bank account for him and I deposited a couple of thousand rands so that he doesn’t have to ask for money from me when he needs to buy something. He didn’t want to take the money but I am a very persistent person. He usually buys us lunch but not your normal lunch. Yesterday he legit went to the taxi rank and came back with inhloko and uphuthu. Yes, we enjoyed it but it was so random of him.

I don’t know what is happening between Mitchy and him. On Friday night after my date, I found him sleeping on the couch. The car that was parked outside and the blanket that he was covered in proved that he did not just doze off. I was not surprised to see Mitchy sprawled over his bed. One thing about Mitch, she can sleep anywhere and be far gone, she won’t even wake up until you shake her really hard. On Saturday, they went out for some air. When I probed, Mndeni just told me to mind my own business. I knew Mitchy wasn’t going to say anything because it seems like she is oblivious in what’s happening between them. If not, she just ignoring it.

Mndeni takes out takeaways from the plastic and puts them on the table. They contain braaied meat, wors and steamed bread. The smell is so salivating. There is also a 2l Coke. “Forgive me, Magcina. But I am a Zulu man and I won’t eat like a rabbit unless I want to impress a woman on a first date.”

I laugh. He always says my customers eat like rabbits even though he has eaten the food we serve and enjoyed it. But he considers them starters, and not a full meal. “I wonder where you will take Mitchy for your first date. I hope you don’t take her to the rank.” I tease him and he chuckles.
“You just can’t help yourself, dade?” he sits down and we start eating. “Not that there is something there, but if I find a woman and I wanna take them on a first date, I will ask you for recommendations or go to u Nqo. For now, stop fishing for something that is not there.”
I roll my eyes. “But she is cute, and I would welcome her with open arms as a sister-in-law.” I blurt out and he gives me a bombastic side eye. I just laugh. He is right, I can’t help myself.

By the time closing hour arrives, I am drained to the core, but I need to have a meeting with the chefs before leaving. I wait for them in my office and one by one they enter, occupying the seats in the office. We do a briefing about how the day went. It was a bit slow in the morning but it picked up during lunch hour and dinner hour.

“Before you leave guys, I need to inform you about something. We need to hire someone who will manage the admin and financial side of the business. I suggest that we start looking internally if there is someone with HR admin and accounting experience. If there is no candidate, then we will have to get someone externally. But we will put them on a trial period and see how well our finances are managed with them on board. What do you think?” I ask.

“I think that’s a great idea, boss. Sure, we don’t mind doing the books every evening just to make sure everything runs smoothly, but it would be nice to have someone do that for a change so that we can leave early and not worry about any mistakes that might have happened while we tried balancing the books in our tired states.” Lineo answers and I nod. She is correct.

“If it means leaving an hour early, then I am game.” Pamela comments and we laugh. She doesn’t detest her job but nobody wants to stay all day at work.
“Since we are all in agreement, I will create a job advert before tomorrow morning and will have it posted on our page by midday. When will the interviews be held?” Mitchy asks.
“Friday. The sooner the better.” I respond and it seems like everyone is in agreement. We cover other topics before we part for the night.