Oyama: Her Story

CHAPTER 4

“Yo wake up” he says tapping me.
“What?” I ask sitting up.
“You can’t sleep look at the time, you gonna make me sleep as well” he says, I roll my eyes, “Plus, we nearly at Oaklands”
I look at him, how did he know where I was going? He points to the GPS.
I have a sense of relief, “You know, I never got your name” I say.
Wow Oyama, it’s only now you want to know his name, “Qhawe” he says.
“Qhawe?” I ask.
“Yes” he says smiling, “Like I said my life is complicated”.
“Your twins name is Mogale right?” I ask, he nods, “What does that mean?”
“It means the same thing as Qhawe, but in Sepedi” he says. Given that they are twins that would be a given. I nod.
His phone starts ringing, he answers and leans to the side, “Ja… neh bona, I’ll send you location in 5 minutes to come pick me up” he says and hangs up.
I just look at him, “Hope you not planning on stealing my car”.
He chuckles, “She’s beautiful and funny, I like that” he says softly.
It starts raining and the windshield wipers are on, “So am I invited to the babyshower?” he asks. How did he know about the babyshower, I shake my head, “Ah NO” he smiles.

The rhythmic tapping against the windshield mirrored, by the storm brewing in my chest. I take a deep breath, trying to focus on the road ahead, but all I could think about was his earlier question: Must I suffer for another man’s sins?

We get to Oakland and behind us is a Black car, he looks at the rearview and continues driving till we reach my brothers address.
“Call your brother” he says, stepping out.
I call him and he’s asleep, I mean it’s midnight, “Hey I’m outside” I say. He grabs his coat and the car which looks like a Range Rover is parallel parked.
I look at him as he stands in front of me, I wanna say something but the words won’t come out, “I’m not leaving until you drive through” he says.
The rain is starting to pour and he is just standing there looking at me, he leans in and this time, I don’t resist. His lips are soft, and warm too. He has his hands around my waist pulling me closer. The gate starts opening and he’s still on me, then finally lets go.
“Am I still gonna be punished for another’s sins?” he asks.
I look up at him, “I need to go” I say and get in the car then drive through he stands in the rain watching me drive off.
I drive to the entrance and Mxolisi is stretching by his door, “What took you so long?” he asks.
“Sorry” I say, he walks out and hugs me.
“Why are you wet?” he asks in Xhosa.
Uhm, some Pedi boy had his lips against mine, “Eish long story, but how are you, Mr. big shot Engineer?” I say as he pulls my bags.
“I’m good” he says as we quickly walk into the house.
“Where is Phiwe?” I ask.
“Bed, we were expecting you earlier than this” he says.
“Sorry you know how PE is, one sight of clouds, they cancel all flights” I say.
“Oh OK,” he says ushering me deeper into the house, he walks me to my spare room.
“Alright Goodnight” I say.
“See you tomorrow” he says, as he’s about to close the door, he turns around, “You alright?” I nod, and give a fake smile. He doesn’t know about Ayanda, if he did. No man from the Mzamane family would be able to stop him, from getting his hands on Ayanda. He kisses my cheek and walks out. He’s gonna be a great father, that is for damn sure. I get out of my wet clothes and put on pajamas. I look at my phone, no new messages.
I stare at his messages, “Get home safe” I text.
I put my phone to the side and it starts vibrating, “Hello” I answer.
“Why do you Xhosa women, like playing with people’s hearts?” he asks.
“I was just wishing you a safe trip” I say.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“Yes” I say, blushing.
“OK, I’ll see you tomorrow” he says.
Wait what.
He hangs up, I said he’s not invited, maybe he’s just playing. As I look up at the ceiling, the same question replays in my head with his voice, ‘Must I pay for, someone else’s sins?’. Sleep is never gonna come easy, because of him. You see what men do, they make you lose sleep, over something as simple as a question. Is it fair, to punish him for what Ayanda did to me, and that look he had when he heard, who my ex was? When people hear my ex is, they immediately cower, but not him, he got angry. His anger was so gentle though, if Ayanda was gritting his teeth like that, I would get a slap or my face would end up on the floor. With him, it’s like he wanted to hug me and tell me, everything is gonna be fine, even that risky car stunt he pulled. Where he wanted to kiss me, I wasn’t scared, if anything, I wanted to take him right then and there. Would that make me hoe, kissing someone I have only met a few times. Enough of that, I can’t be losing precious sleep over a boy, I need to look proper and like some Zombie.