Twisted fate

SIX

Luyando was welcomed by the smell of freshly cooked dry beans and vegetables when she entered her parent's home.

"Mum I'm home!" she shouted as she took off her heels by the door.
Clad in a blue and red apron, Ayanda appeared from the kitchen. "I hope you're hungry because I've cooked up a storm in there." She said as she walked towards her daughter. "It's not every day that I have my children over for dinner. Come here," she stretched her arms and Luyando went in for a hug.

"Oooh, you smell of spices and shampoo." Luyando commented.
"I washed my hair just before I started cooking," her mother said. "Come, am not yet done with the gravy."
Luyando followed her mother into the kitchen. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Everything's all done, just the gravy but it'll be done in a minute. Go and set the table. Your father and brother should be here soon."
"Gosh, I missed your meals mum!" Luyando shouted as she carried some plates to the dining room.

Ayanda laughed. "At least you are here once or twice every week unlike your brother. That boy will only visit when I tell him am sick...and I can be sick only so much in a week."
Luyando appeared back in the kitchen. "I guess there must be something keeping him busy these days."

"What's that?" Her mother asked.
A mysterious smile appeared on Luyando's face, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "let's wait, maybe we will find out during dinner."
Ayanda stopped stirring the gravy and turned to look at her daughter quizzically. "Is there some big announcement he will be making?" Her eyes were dancing excitedly at the thought of her son finally settling down. "Did he meet a girl?"

"Mum we're home!" Tulani's voice came through the kitchen from the living room.
"They're here," Ayanda said, grinning from ear to ear. She removed the pot from the hot plate, laid it on the side and turned off the stove.
"Put this on a plate and take it to the dining room. Let me go and welcome the boys home." She grabbed a towel from the rail, quickly rubbed her hands and ran into the living room.

"There's the light of my life," Tulani said the moment he saw his mother appear through the door. He rushed to give her a hug while his father watched on the side with a smile on his face.
"I missed this scent, you smell like my son." Ayanda said.
"And I missed whatever is in the air tonight. What's cooking mum?"
"Go to the dining room and find out. Your sister is setting up the table."
"I am just going to sit here with dad until she finishes setting up everything." Tulani went to join his father on the sofa. "I am too hungry and tired to help her out and knowing her, she might bully me into doing everything."
"Are you talking about me behind my back Tula?" Luyando was towering over him from behind before moving to greet her father.
"I missed you dad," she said, leaning her head against him and locking her arm into his.
"Why didn't you invite your husband over as well?" Her father asked. "I called him to ask if he could bring those tools he told me about last time but he told me he wasn't aware of any dinner plans here."
"Oh," Luyando said, thinking about the response she was going to give. She had not expected that her father would talk to Peter. "I didn't want to bother him since he's still working on that research paper."
"Don't always exclude him, he might start feeling like he's not part of the family. Isn't dinner ready yet?"

"It is," Luyando said, smiling uncomfortably. "We can head to the dining room now."

Tulani was the first one up. "I'm famished!" He said, rubbing his flat stomach as he walked to the dining room.

"Luyando said that there was something you wanted to tell us son," Ayanda said to her son at some point during dinner.
"Me?" Tulani threw his sister a puzzled look. "What is mum talking about? I don't have anything to announce."

"Are you sure?" Luyando asked, clearly avoiding his gaze as she focused on the food on her plate.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Tulani asked. "Is this some kind of joke?"
Luyando laughed. "You see, that's exactly what I thought when I first found out about it."
"Found out about what?" Ayanda asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Why don't you tell them about the love of your life bro?" She was looking at him now, taunting him with her eyes.
"I knew there was a woman involved!" Ayanda couldn't hide her excitement. "Who is she son? Do I know her?"
Tulani wasn't listening to what his mother was saying, he was too busy glaring at Luyando to concentrate on anything else. Did she have to go that far? He thought.

He obviously planned on telling his parents about Natasha but he first needed to get her to agree to date him first before telling his parents about it like some excited teenager.
"Aren't you going to answer mum's question Tula?" Luyando asked him.
Tulani put down the ball of nshima in his hands and looked at his mother, suddenly losing his appetite. "What was your question mum?"

"She asked about your girl," Luyando provided. "Who is she?"
"First of all, she is not yet my girl," he answered curtly. "And secondly, I will tell you guys about her when the time is right, not when my sister feels like it."

"So you won't even tell us her name?" Ayanda asked.

"Yes," he answered. "Because nothing is definite yet. There's a time for everything mother. Do you want me to come running here to make announcements every time I meet someone I like even before dating them?"
"Does it make a difference if am the one who tells them instead?" Luyando asked her brother.
While Ayanda was looking at her expectantly, Tulani was giving her an evil eye that threatened to burn the food on her plate.

"Should I tell her bro?"