Twisted fate

SEVEN

"Do whatever pleases you Lu," Tulani said, angrily getting up from the table.

"You always do whatever you want in the end right?"

"Don't you think your own parents deserve to know that they have a four year old grandson?"

Tulani froze.

Their father, who had been quite throughout finally said, "A grandson?"
"A grandson?" Tulani and Ayanda chorused.

"Don't give me that look Tula, acting like you don't know what am talking about. For years you've been with that woman, even when she was married and you've hidden that life from us, your family.
Any woman capable of cheating on her husband and fathering a child with another man is obviously okay with you not introducing your son to the family. But I knew I had to tell mum and dad about her the moment I learnt the truth."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tulani asked her. "That child isn't mine, and Natasha never cheated on anybody. Look at me, why am I even explaining myself to you people?" He pushed his chair back and was ready to bolt out of there when Luyando's next words stopped him.

"If you are not the father, why did she list you as the father on that boy's birth certificate?"
Tulani turned back around. "What?"
"That boy's name is Sean Mulenga, you can stop playing dumb now Tula. She ended her marriage with her husband about five years ago, that was around the time you travelled to the US. Not long after, the two of them divorced and nine months later she delivered a bouncing baby boy that looks exactly like you."

"You should shut up if you don't know what you're talking about," Tulani snapped at his sister. "Natasha divorced her husband about a year ago. She had turned me down to get back with him after they had been separated for over a year. That was the time she and I were together but she later dumped me to start again with him."
Hearing Tulani's explanation, Luyando realized in that moment what she had done.

"So he didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?" Tulani asked.
Luyando who was in a daze did not realize that she was saying her words out loud. "That that boy is your son? He looks so much like you...how can you not know?"

"That's because I have never seen the boy before and I have never bothered to ask about him. She never posts anything about him on social media and she never talks about him with me."

"So you mean to tell me you have a son that you didn't even know about?" Ayanda asked.
Joshua abruptly stood up. "In the living room, everyone." He commanded his family and led the way there.
Tulani appeared to be in a trance as he followed them into the living room.
"Sit down Tula," his father said sternly.
"I gotto go," Tulani announced in his daze-like state. "I need to find out something for myself." He grabbed his keys from the sofa and ran out of the house.
"What's going on here?" Ayanda asked the two remaining in the room.
"That woman is a conniving little vixen who has Tula wrapped around her puny little fingers." Luyando told her parents. "Can you imagine that despite lying to him, she asked him for a job and he hired her as the lead news anchor at the station?"

"How did my son end up with such a woman? How can she not tell him that he's the father of the child? What's her motive?" Ayanda asked.

"Who knows? Such girls always wait for the right opportunity so they can pounce on you and blackmail you into giving them a lot of money."

"Can we not jump to conclusions?" Joshua cautioned the women. "None of us in this room is in any position to know what's really going on so let's avoid making wild speculations. Let's wait for Tula to sort out his business and he will tell us what's going on the moment he sets his affairs in order." And he got up to head upstairs.

"What do you know about the girl Lulu?" Ayanda asked her daughter.
Luyando was about to open her mouth when she felt her father's burning look and she looked up to find him glaring at her from the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me?" her mother probed.
"Mum, I think I should leave now," she got up, her eyes still fixed on her father's retreating figure.

"Why? Don't you think a mother deserves to know if her son might be in danger?" Ayanda was following her daughter behind who was rushing towards the stairs.

"Dad, I'm leaving now!" she shouted to her father who was now at the top of the stairs.
"Yeah, good night." He said and disappeared into the bedroom without turning to look at her.

"What's wrong with him?" Ayanda asked. "It seems his terrible moods are back. Could it be mid-life crisis?"

"Isn't it a little too late for that mother?" Luyando said as she walked back into the living room to get her handbag.

"Are you going to leave just like that Lulu?" Ayanda was still pleading for more information. "I think I am going to die from curiosity if you leave me hanging like this."
Luyando laughed and leaned towards her mother to whisper, "I will give you a call to meet me at the usual place tomorrow so we can gossip freely." She was looking upstairs where her father had disappeared.

"Ah," her mother quickly caught on. "Good idea. I'll wait for your call tomorrow, don't keep me waiting."
"Good night mother," she hugged her. "I love you, see you tomorrow."
"I love you too my baby, give those two brats big kisses for me and pass my regards to Peter."

"I will mother." She opened the door and left.
Natasha was busy scalping her mother's hair when a knock came through the door.

"Nooo, I don't want to move from here, it's too comfortable." Martha complained.
"Let me get Sean to check, Sean!"
The boy came running into the living room from his play room. "Heard it! Will get it!" And he ran to the door.

"You must be Sean," he said.
Natasha quickly turned her head towards the door the moment she heard the familiar voice.

"Tulani?" She jumped from the couch and sent her mother who was seated on the mat falling to the side.
Tulani lowered himself to the boy's level, completely paying no heed to his mother.

"Are you mum's friend?" Sean asked the strange man who looked like he was about to cry.

"Did bad people do something bad to you?" the boy asked.
Tulani laughed and blinked back the tears. Clearing his throat, he asked,

"No they didn't. Why do you ask?"
"Because you have tears in your eyes. Mum, come and see!"

"Sean sweetie, come here." Natasha called out to him. The boy turned and went to his mother. "Go over there to grandma and tell her to get some ice cream for you from the fridge."

"I can have ice cream?" The excited four year old was jumping up and down as he ran to his grandmother.
"Mrs Chimeko," Tulani greeted the woman the moment their eyes met.

"Tulani," she answered, guilt written all over her face. "Let's give the adults some privacy Sean." She took Sean's arm and let him away.

"What are you doing here?" Natasha said, a nervous smile playing on her face.

"Come out, we need to talk." He said in a very tight tone that sent chills down her spine.

Natasha knew exactly why he had showed up at her door unannounced.