One last chance

chapter 33

[Mbalenhle]
"I know you would think i don't understand the situation you in right now but more than anyone i do understand " he bitten his lower lip "she was four years, just four when the accident took her life, Owethu my daughter , no one understood, everyone kept saying its going to be okay, everyone expected me to heal immediately and i couldn't, it got harder daily and drugs, Alcohol were my coping system it took my father sitting me down,it took someone explaining the pain to me that i finally accepted i needed help, that was the first time i heard that my parents had lost a child before, the twins , they weren't actually twins but triplets, the pregnancy was a risk on its own and she gave birth at 28 weeks, we even invented a term for them, triplens, my point in this is i know the pain of losing a child, it doesn't heal but gets better at time ,i know because i haven't healed not even after numerous therapy but it got better with time, i won't say i understand the rape because i would be lying , And i understand that you've never been in Lwethu's life, i understand you feel the need to catch up,i understand you need to protect her but sometimes you need to let your gut down, you need to do something that Mbalenhle benefits from , you need to do what makes Mbalenhle happy , you'll find out on later stage when you live an unhappy life because all your life you focused on making other people happy and not yourself, the is this saying 'too much of anything can be too much'  its good to be an involve parent and putting the needs of your child before you but remember yourself from time time" he said squeezing me into a hug, the tears refuse to stop falling, i just continue sobbing while he brushed my back comforting me, his lips never seized to leave my forehead, for a moment there i allowed myself to cry,i allowed myself to let go of everything, the pain, for the first time i cried because of the pain that was nailed to my heart, until my cries died down, until my heart came down and i snatched myself off his arms wiping the remaining tears that didn't get caught to his shirt.

"What a first date huh" i said chuckling sadly i wanted to get rid of the tension that had built among us, he gave me a charming smile.

"Hot chocolate " he enquired i nodded my head before he stood up,dissappearing to upstairs and he came back changed shirt, he made both of us chocolate with mash mellows, we vacated the table to sit on the couch and he brought fleece covering us while we watched a movie.

"I've been thinking of putting Lwethu on my medical aid and opening up a trust fund but i need her documents" he said dipping a mellow in the hot chocolate before putting it on his mouth.

"Where you really or because you just found out she is claustrophobic" i raised an eyebrow he chuckled ,his smile was beautiful and contagious because i found myself doing the same.

"That and am just worried what if something happens to her" he said i understood his concerned, i nodded at that "plus she is starting high school in what 3 or 4 months and after that she has 5 years before varsity " he said a realisation came over me ,i haven't applied for her in any high schools.

"You an organized person ain't you" i raised an eyebrow at that.

"Not really i just love doing things in advance and properly,I've been meaning to talk to you about Lwethu, I've shortlisted some few good schools for her that i wanted to discuss with you but not today" he said.

"Why not" i asked tilting my head to the side.

"Because this is me trying to get to know you better and posible scorring a second date, know that won't happen if we busy discussing unnecessary issues, that can be discussed another time" he said sipping his chocolate , now i knew exactly that Lwethu didn't only take his complexion but his huge ears that suites his face perfectly, and his brown huge eyes compared to mine.

"You beautiful you know" he said making me smile as i turned to hide my blushing mess "why finance" he asked randomly.

"I studied Economists and to answer i guess the love developed when i would help my dad with figures and all,i would help him planing properly and calculating the expenses , the love grew when i would watch the economy news with my father, so i guess thats when i developed love for that and you why Lawyer, specially Civil rights lawyer " i asked he sipped the chocolate mine was now lukewarm.

"Well after the 12th grade i went to culinary school moreover because i loved cooking and baking, it had always been my dream starting my own restaurant and designing my own menu but things changed when the two of my twins decided to finally come out and reveal their true self thats when things didn't go well, people just rejected them because of lack of understanding with regards to LGBTQI community, and people would just bully them and do what they want, it because worse by days and I've realised that they weren't the only one's who's right were being provoked, one day after a month of finding a job in a hotel as a junior chef i attended a court session, it was the legalising of same gender marriage i feel inlove with Civil rights lawyer then and did my research and some few interviews before i registered to study part time in Unisa" he said to say i was shocked would be an understatement.

"So you have a whole degree collecting dust" i asked he laughed at that "how long did you work as a chef" i asked.

"I worked as a junior chef for about a year specialising in desert after that i was the assistant chef for about maybe 3 months before the head chef retired and i became the head chef for about 4 years before completing my degree served my articles , i stopped being a chef after that" he says i nod my head.

"How is it though growing up in a family of multiples and being one of them" i asked he chuckled.

"I always get that question, growing up in a family of multiples is amazing it teaches us to be independent since the are like 8 of you's and mom cannot keep up with all of us, when the triplens were born Mxolisi was 2 years old, and when we were born mxolisi was 5 years and the triplens were 3 years then, imagine keeping up with three toddlers and ontop of that five newborns, it just becames a total chaos but the family was helpful though according to my mother ,eventually they develop a strategy to keep up with everyone, they would put us in birth order and everything they did was in birth order, Mxolisi too eventually became helpful, but among everything its amazing to know that i have 5 people who got my back and i know they stuck with me forever and would do anything for me"