SIBLINGS-IN-LAW:LOVE & CONSEQUENCES

TWENTY-ONE

LUYOLO MAYIZA

“Luu? What is she doing here?” She asks, looking at me gravely. I take Lindokuhle from her arms, and hand him to his mother, Yoniswa. Yep, I bought Yoniswa with; Well, something came up and, she is ought to be here. I hope my wife understands.
“Sthandwa sam, can we please go upstairs and talk about this?” She gives me a deadly stare and right there, I couldn’t recognise my woman. She is very angry with me. She looks at Yoniswa one last time before heading towards the stairs.
“Please, have a seat. We'll be right back.” I say as I follow my wife upstairs. We walk into the study room because, it is the nearest room we could get to and I close the door after we walked in.

“Luyolo, why is that woman with luggage in my house?” Her voice is so calm, but her face says otherwise.
“Baby, let’s sit down and talk, please.” I plead.
“Sitting down won’t make any difference. I can still hear you while I’m standing.” Fine, have it your way my love. I put my hands in both sides of my pockets in my pants and look at her, she is not keeping eye contact.
“Okay. I found out that, Uhm, they…” I sigh. It’s hard to talk about this. “Lindo has a stomach cancer…” Her body taunts and she looks at me in awe and only now she sits down on the sofa, I join her.
“Oooh, poor baby. How has he been?” You can never miss the concern in her voice.
“He is taking medication to stabilise him but, he needs to start with the procedure of getting him to undergo chemotherapy ASAP, which is why I brought him here, I made a few phone calls and the best doctors are found here. I can’t lose my son Khanyisile, I just can’t.” I pull myself together and bury my face in my hands. I feel her hands pulling me into her side hug and I want to cry so bad.

“Cry honey, let it out.” She says as if she read my mind. I cry anyway… “We are going to find him the best doctor that he needs okay? We won’t lose him, not when we are still alive honey, he needs us to be there for him and, and….” She breaks down, we both break down, still in each other’s arms.

I like how she said everything, she made it clear that WE are in this together. She did not subside herself out of this for obvious reasons, I really love this woman. 
We stay in the position for like, five minutes until we oriented ourselves, then I pull out from the hug and put a peck on her lips.

“Thank you. Thank you so much for being by my side.”
“Duh, who did you expect.” She rolls her eyes and smiles. “I’ll always be with you. We will weather the storms together.”
“I love you.” I confess.
“I love you.” I hug her again. “Now, what is she doing in my house, Luyolo?” Can someone just shoot me!
“She is here for Lindo.” She makes a face I can’t describe.
“In my house?” Are we going seriously going to do this? “When is she going back home?”
“Khanyisile, I really don’t have strength right now. I’ve been driving for almost 8 hours and right now, I need to eat, shower, have good sex and get some sleep.” Is it not that obvious? I know sex is out of the question right now but hey (shrugs).
“Luyolo, you can’t just arrive here with your ex and go on like you don’t see anything wrong in that. Could she not find at least a guest house or something like that?” 
“She…” I breathe as she continues.
“You could have at least gave me a heads up about her coming here.” What difference would that have made? 
“I didn’t th…” I think that I should just shut my L and let her do the talking.
“For goodness sake Luyolo, we are married and we have to make decisions TOGETHER!” She emphasizes. That’s fair. She goes quiet and I think this is my chance to defend myself.
“You are right. I should have…” I fucking called someone to shoot me!!!!
“Hell yeah I am right Luyolo! I am not happy about this! I don’t want her here! First thing in the morning, I want her out of here!” 
“KHANYISILE!” I warn her, she startles. I won’t let my wife yell at me like that. “That woman down there, is the mother of my child! She will only leave when Lindokuhle gets better. I will not let you control me in my own house!”

Her eyes are puffy, like she wants to cry again llllll “Now, we are going to walk down there and you will give her the best hospitality. I hope that I am clear.” Her tears fall as she blinks. Her mouth moves like she wants to say something but, she decides against it. She looks down and wipes her tears before she stands up, walking towards the door, not saying anything. What in the shitty world did I do.
“Mrs me, I am…” The door shuts before I could even finish what I want to say. “Sorry.” I say it anyway.

***

I had finally gotten used to using the stairs, I had realised that, they are good for losing calories. As I descend to the living room, I hear giggles filling up the lounge. I stand at the last staircase and watch them as they play a happy family, it is beautiful I won’t lie but, I still stick by my word, Yoniswa must go. Luyolo married me, I am his wife and I will be here for both him and Lindokuhle, not that Yoniswa can’t be there for Lindokuhle, no but, I just don’t want her in my home.

“Oh hey! We didn’t see you there.” Of course, how can you when you are busy nagging on my husband.
“Mommy!” The only person I can smile genuinely to is Lindo. He melts my heart.
“Good morning baby, how did you sleep?”
“Fine. Mommy come play with us.” It’s still so early and this child is awake. Here I am, crying to go back to sleep but, ijob yi job hey. I am surprised that Luyolo is still in his pyjamas; is he not going to work today? 
“Aaw baby, mommy needs to prepare breakfast so that we all eat and mommy also needs to go to work.”
“I already did breakfast, you can just dish up for yourself because, we already had ours.” What!? In who's kitchen?
“Oh?” I look at Luyolo who is awfully quiet. His face just looks blank. So, what am I going to do with all the time that is left before I go to work, I can’t sit with Yoniswa in the same room I feel like, I am going to do something to her so, I need to keep my distance.
“Yeah. Oh and, thank you for letting me stay here with you and tata ka Lindokuhle.” I so want to laugh at her right now, she does not mean that. She just wants to remind me that, this is her baby’s father’s house.

I walk towards the kitchen leaving them to continue with whatever they were doing and dish up for myself. I also make lunchbox with the leftovers of what I cooked yesterday since, I couldn’t eat. You know what that bitch did last night?

Well, after the study room saga with I had with Luyolo, I walked back downstairs and I found her making herself comfortable with the food that I cooked for my husband and his son! Just when I thought I’ve seen it all, she dished up for Luyolo. And I, (chuckle), I were told that, “I didn’t think that you were hungry, but you can dish up for yourself”, Same time, I lost my appetite, right there. The confidence that she has, the nerve that she has, ordering me in my own house? Hell is going to break lose, I tell you.

After rinsing the dirty dishes, I make my way to our bedroom and I find Luu stepping out of the bathroom, naked. I’ve seen Luyolo naked numerous times but, I can never get used to it. Anyway, I get my handbag together with my laptop bag and walk towards the door.

“I'm off to work.” I say as I stop on my tracks at the door.
“I’ll be working from home this whole week. I want to spend time with my son.” Nigga saying it like I am against it? I don’t have a problem at all. As much as I want to spend time with Lindokuhle, I won’t skip work as long as Luyolo’s baby momma is still here.
“See you later then.” I close the door and request a cab as I make my way downstairs.

I find Yoniswa sitting on the couch, with her feet on my COFFEE TABLE! I swear if I survive another minute without strangling the shit out of her, I will throw a fit. Breathe Ntombi, breath!
“Enjoy your day!” She shouts before I step out of the house, making my way to the cab that just arrived.