Tainted

Chapter 15

I walk out of the apartment with my head hanging on my shoulders. As a person I dont think theres anything more painful than someone dumping you without any reason, I think I'd be more understanding if I had fucked up or she had found DMz between some girl and i but nothing. For once I actually gave a relationship my all, loved a girl like my life depended on it and then she went on to break my heart just like that. I drive to my apartment when I receive a call from mom but I dont respond to it. I walk into my apartment and head straight to bed. I always imagined myself getting my heartbroken by finding my woman in bed with another man or something but never this, I didnt hear anything funny about her nor did I find out anything displeasing about her instead she just dumped me for reasons known to her and as a person I cant just push myself into her life if she doesnt want me in it.
I'm woken up by my phone ringing, I check the screen and its mom. I answer it because she wont stop until I answer
"Mrs Langa"
I say
"Hey baby. How are you?"
She asks
"Asante called it quits"
I say and she gasps in shock. She let's out a breath
"How are you?"
She asks with concern laced in her voice
"I'll get over it eventually"
I say
"Dont do that, dont be like that. You allowed to hurt and cry if you feel like it"
She says and I chuckle, if theres one thing mom has tried by all means to stress and instill in us is to never take our emotions for granted, that if we felt like crying then we should because rather that than bottling things up until we eventually blow up and the situation is now out of control and honestly over the years, outside home I have learnt to control my emotions and let it out to her since she is more understanding of human behaviour than dad is, her career choice comes in handy I guess. I let out a sigh
"I'll be fine Mrs Langa, I just want to sleep and I promise you I'll be fine"
She sighs
"Ok fine I won't push but know that I am here ok? I understand you hurting but shes going through a lot and with what she's going through she believes pushing you away is what's best for you. In her head she believes she might be protecting you from herself"
She explains
"That makes no sense, why would I need protection from her? Mom please just tell me what's going on with her?"
I plead
"I wish I could tell you but Aaron its not my place to say anything. When she is ready she will talk to you about everything. Until then just focus on you and your music"
She says
"Bye mom, Theres someone at the door"
I say to her getting off the bed
"You better not go drinking Aaron"
She warns
"Talk tomorrow Queen"
I say and cut the call placing my phone on silent and then walk to get the door. I open and its Lumi and Azure
"Change out of your clothes and let's hit the club"
Lumi says pushing me out of the way. I sigh and greet Azure who nods heading to the lounge
"I dont feel like going out"
I tell them as I walk in after them
"Yeah, you missed the part where I wasnt asking you cuz. Get dressed!!!"
Lumi says channel hoping. I let out a sigh and drag my feet to my room to change out of my things and dress up casually.
"Will you be performing tonight?"
The stocko beside me asks, of cause Lumi invited some girls over to our table
"No I wont be"
I say leaning back pressing my phone checking Asante on WhatsApp contemplating texting her. I keep typing and deleting the message. I'm startled when someone grabs my phone out of my hands, I look up and its Azure
"We are here to drink and let loose. whatever you going through you can deal with it tomorrow ok?"
He says and then slides my phone in his pocket
"Come on dont do that, give me back my phone"
He shakes his head no
"No. You are going to drink and get sloshed and take a girl back to your place after"
He says and walks away to dance with some girl. I let out a sigh annoyed and sit back gulping the remaining contents of my beer. The girl beside me keeps throwing herself at me and for some inexplicable reason I cant bring myself to play along, maybe it's because Asante would have never threw herself at me like this. She respects herself and would never try this hard to get with me or any man for that matter. Her desperation puts me off and I stand up leaving the VIP section to get myself another drink or a shot maybe, anything to make me forget about Asante even if it's for a little while.
"Can I have shots of Cruz, keep them coming"
I say to the bartender and he turns around to pour me my shots
"Rough night?"
He asks
"Yeah. My girlfriend dumped me"
I say gulping down the shot
"Sorry to hear that, must have been really special for you to drink this hard"
He says and I shrug
"Worst of it all is I dont even know let alone understand why she dumped me"
I say and he pours me another
"Well alcohol is never the solution. My advise is that you call and sit her down and try understand what's going on"
I shake my head hanging the tot glass on the table
"Nah, she had a chance to explain but she chose not to so I wont chase after her"
I say gulping down the other shot, he tends to another customer leaving me with 5 more shots
"Can I join you?"
Some says standing next to me, I turn to look at her. Shes cute
"Have at it"
I say and she gulps down a shot
"I'm assuming you here with friends?"
She asks and I nod
"So why are you here drinking alone?"
I shrug gulping down the shot, I'm left with one more tot when the bartender walks over to us
"Hes had enough Katlego"
She says to him and I frown looking at her
"Ok then"
The guy says
"We shared a class or two"
She explains and it clicks my mind
"Makes sense. Why did you tell him to stop?"
She shrugs her shoulders
"Because alcohol is never the answer. Come, let's get you back to your friends"
She says helping me up, I stumble a little and then find my balance
"Maybe you should drink water"
She says and i shake my head
"Dont be stubborn, you'll wake up with a killer hangover if you dont drink water and try sober up a little"
She says as we get to the VIP section. She helps me sit down and then leans in to whisper next to my ear
"I'll be back now"
She says and then walks away. I pour myself henny and dash it with water then drink until she gets back. She looks at me and frowns
"I thought we were done drinking"
She says and I shake my head, she grabs the glass from me and places it on the table
"Here"
She says handing me a pump water bottle.
"Drink all of that"
She says
"What do you want? Free alcohol? What?"
She frowns
"I dont want anything from you Aaron Langa, cant a girl be friendly to you without wanting anything in return?"
She asks clearly annoyed standing up, I pull her arm
"I'm sorry."
I say and she looks at me
"Not every girl out there is trying to get into your pants!"
She says and I nod
"I understand that, and I am sorry"
I say again and she sighs
"I dont know what you going through but I really hope you get better"
She says and yanks her arm out of my grip and heads down. I let out a heavy sigh and drink the water she handed me.
I wake up and check my phone, it's around 1pm and my phone has a couple of unanswered calls from an international number. I remove it from silent when it rings again
"Hello?"
I answer walking to the kitchen
"May I speak to Aaron Langa?"
Someone says
"This is he, may i ask who this is?"
I ask
"You are speaking to Jenine Muller from the Columbia Records. We have been following your music career and we would like to offer you a contract"
She says and I from
"I dont understand"
I admit cluelessly
"We would like to sign you, a one year contract as a start up and then if you go platinum we will extend the record deal to a longer period"
She says and I gasp in shock
"I have already spoken to your manager and he said to call you and then get back to him. This is a once in a life time opportunity Mr Langa and we would like a response before the end of today"
She says
"Uhmm, thank you. I will get back to you before the end of the day thank you"
I say and she narrates her numbers and email addresses I can reach her in. We end the conversation and then I drop the call and stand in the kitchen trying to process all of this. Maybe it will do me good to leave South Africa now. I order food on Uber Eats and then call mom
"I'll be there later"
I say to her as soon as she answers
"Ok honey. Bye"
She says and we end the call. I wait for the food and as soon as it arrives I eat and then shower then drive to my parents house. The house is clean from the decorations and all. I find mom and dad cuddled on the couch and then greet them.
"So I have news"
I start off and they both look at me waiting to hear the news
"What news?"
Mom asks
"I got an offer from Columbia Records"
Dad sits up and so does mom
"As in the international record label?"
Dad asks and I nod, I cant read dad's expression while mom doesnt hide her shock
"Son that's good news"
Dad says, I look at mom waiting for her to say something
"Did you accept?"
Mom asks with her jaw on the floor
"I haven't yet but they expect an answer before the end of the day and I'm going to accept"
Mom shakes her head no
"As you should, it's a great opportunity son"
Dad says happily
"Mom?"
I say and she shrugs
"Its not like you want my opinion, you'll do as you please anyway. So yeah, go ahead and accept"
She says getting up but dad grabs her hand
"Honey"
He says softly
"This is a great opportunity for our son and we said we would always support them in what they do"
Dad reminds her, she let's out a sigh and sits back down
"You only just graduated"
Mom says and I nod
"This is a great opportunity mom and I would be an idiot to let it pass me by. Please dont make this hard for me"
I plead, she looks at me and then at dad
"If you go, you promise to come back home every three months at least?"
I chuckle
"Yes mom I'll come back whenever I can. I promise, does this mean you ok with me leaving?"
I ask with a smile and she nods, I walk over to her and hug her tightly helping her stand
"Thank you mom"
.
.
To Be Continued