The North

Chapter 16: 3 letters

Two weeks had passed since the party at the Sumo nightclub, and KB had not heard a single word from any of the Stars. It was midday and he had already been back at his mother's house for a few days - after Mbali's uncle had returned for a brief stay in the country – and KB was sitting on the couch in the small apartment, obsessing over his social media pages as he had come to often doing.

"You've been on that phone every single day, Kabelo..." Ma complained as she fed Lulama her lunch. Ma was seated next to KB on the couch, with Lulama balancing on her lap. 

"You've been out of school now for nearly two years. If you're not going to go back to University then you should at least go out and get a job." Ma continued. But KB, who was too absorbed in his phone, ignored his mother's words.

"Ma is talking to you, Kabelo!" Lulama complained from Ma's lap.

"What job am I going to get? I don't have a degree." KB replied without looking away from his phone.

"You can start out as a waiter at a restaurant, or what about a sales assistant at a clothing store, mtanam?" Ma suggested, referring to KB as her child. And then she placed her free hand on KB's shoulder when he once again ignored her.

"I'm going to my room." KB responded flatly before rolling off the couch.

***

Once in his room - after locking the door behind him - KB lay down on his bed and returned to obsessing over his Twitter feed. He had noticed a number of negative tweets directed towards him from Kamo's fans after the party at Sumo, and the number had only continued to increase since. He read them slowly: "I hope KB doesn't think Kamo is going to just sit back and let him take her spot like that. He better watch out!", "The Come-ups have been awfully quiet since those bankers appeared out of nowhere. You know what that means - they're busy planning a counter attack!"

"Shut the fuck up..." KB said to himself before reporting some of the comments. He signed out of his Twitter account and opened YouTube, returning to re-watch the video he had already watched countless times since it had been posted:

"Hi guys! it's me Nana, and welcome back to my channel!" KB repeated alongside the familiar voice when the video started. He knew the whole video word for word, and KB watched again as Nana documented all the events of that night: starting with her getting dressed with Lesedi, Lerato-Bailey arriving and doing their makeup, the convoy to Mbali's uncles house, and ending with the celebrations in the upstairs room with the glass view at Sumo. Everything had been beautifully captured and edited, and though KB had already watched the video numerous times he still felt immense relief at the knowledge of all the ugly parts that had been edited out.

"So these are the Bankers, you guys! The ones I've been telling you guys about since the Neighbourgoods market!" Nana exclaimed before turning the camera to face KB, Mbali, Senzo, and Thato, who each introduced themselves.

"These guys are like super rich, you guys. You should see the house they live in! And they're only like twenty-four years old or something like that!" Nana said.

"Black excellence, you know what it is!" KB replied with a drink in his hand "We just want to show people in the North where hard work can get yo-"

The video was suddenly cut short when KB's phone began to ring with Thato's name blinking bright on the screen.

"Thato?" KB answered, sitting up on the bed.

"Hey KB, what's up?"

"Same old, same old." KB sighed "You?"

"Same, man... listen, I spoke to my parents, and there's some Africa Investment Summit happening at the Sandton Convention Center next week. Apparently the who's who of business in Africa will all be there."

"Any chance your parents can get us all in? Including the Stars?" KB asked.

"The Director of the Summit is a good family friend of ours. He is trying to get more students involved in these things and asked my dad to help out. I gave him all our names and he's going to email the tickets to me soon." Thato explained.

"Hell yeah! Thanks Thato... You really pulled through this time." KB said. "Speaking about students..." KB continued "have you and Mbali been attending classes?"

"Yeah we have... but don't worry... we've been keeping a very low profile on campus. It also helps that Monash University isn't one of the bigger universities here..."

"Cool..." KB said.

"Anyways, have you seen the video? Nana's vlog? It's pretty dope. It's been up on YouTube for a while now" Thato said.

"I've just seen a bit of it, but I didn't watch it properly" KB replied. There was no reason for him to tell such an inconsequential lie, but KB did it anyways.

"Give it a look whenever you get a chance. It's hella dope! We look fucking fresh!" Thato laughed.

"I'm sure we do! And it's all thanks to you for hooking us up with those outfits!" KB laughed.

"There are more of those where they came from!" Thato assured "Anyways, I'll hit you up when I get the tickets to the Summit, okay? Later, fam."

KB hung up the phone and Nana's vlog popped back up on the screen. The video had paused on KB's smiling face and he stared at the still image in front of him, half recognizing the person smiling back at him.

So much had happened since the night of his twenty-fourth birthday celebration at the Harem nightclub, and KB hardly recognized the person he was becoming. He began to wonder whether Tau too had felt a similar way during his own rise to the top, whether there was some other version of Tau hidden beneath the character he played in the North. KB had briefly seen another side to Tau at the Neighbourgoods market - a soft and more vulnerable person that wasn't entirely convinced by the charade of the North and everything it promised. And as KB began to wonder about the mystery of Tau, Tau's words from that day suddenly returned to KB with a barreling force as if summoned by spell: "Stars are probably the most fucked up people you'll ever meet in this entire city... myself included. I'm only telling you this because you're beyond this superficial shit, Mr Banker."

And that was when it happened. That was when the unknown feeling suddenly pulled deep at KB's chest and made him type the message: "Can we meet tonight?" And it was the same unknown feeling that made KB scroll though his contact list until he found the three lettered name he was looking for. He pressed the send button and lay back down on his bed, placing the phone to rest face-down on his chest. Right above the place where the feeling continued its strange tugging and pulling.