CHAPTER 24

I was angry although Zama was scared and embarrassed. The only thought running around my head at that point was; who the fuck are you and why are you disturbing the breathtaking kiss I just shared with my woman.

"Zama you're busy kissing random men outside of your house now? I'm definitely telling Fika, so he can sort you out. This is nonsense, usuyajola manje wena Zama, usucabanga ukuthi usuyintombi. Heh, Zama, ngikhuluma nawe." She scolded.

Zama is twenty three for crying out loud, she can date however she wants. This woman is crazy, kambe what is her name?

"Buhle ngiyakucela please don't do this." Zama begged as she followed her.

Kanti her name is Buhle, I'm sure she's harmless. Buhles always bark with no bite. I was not expecting Zama to take her stupid threat seriously.

I followed Zama and pulled her to me and locked her in my arms. she trembled in my arms as I tried to calm her down.

"I will fix it, yehlisa umoya."(calm down)

"How?" She said

"I will fix it." I repeated and planted a peck on her lips before I left.

I noticed that Buhle went to the room that is used as Khetho's room when she is around which is by Zama's room. It was also easy to find it since she banged the door like it was her damn house I went to where Buhle was . The room was locked so I knocked.

"Who is it" she snapped on the other side of the door. I didn't answer her.

"Who is it?" She roared.

"I just want us to talk." I said and there was shuffling afterwards before the door clicked.

I opened the door with caution just incase she was underestimating me. She stood at the foot of the bed and simply glared at me.

"What do you want?" She spat.

"To talk." I simply said with my everyday cold tone. I closed the door and locked it, it took the key out of the key lock and studied her facial features as I slid it into my pocket. Alarm flitted in and out of her eyes.

Good.

I kept my cold gaze at her as I took calculated steps towards her. With every step I took towards her, she took one back. She ended up sitting on the bed and darted her eyes everywhere.

"Who are you? What is your name? Where do you come from? What are you to my sister?" She endlessly interrogated.

"Switch off the recording and then I will answer your questions."

This woman thinks I'm stupid.

"What recording" she asked with fake confusion. I looked into the depths of her frightened orbs until she gave up.

She searched for her phone from under the pillows and switched off the recording.

"I'm Nkosana Mdletshe by the way" but I noticed how her hand was still buried under the pillow. "I hate how you think I'm as dumb as you." I added and took a few steps closer, "what's in you hand?" I questioned.

She shifted her hand away from the pillow. Ukapa, how cute.

"Usuzoqala ukunginyanyisa manje" (you're going to start annoying me)I said and grabbed the tiny knife that wouldn't even have killed me. "You never saw me, I was never here. If I hear my name coming out of that mouth if yours, I'll make sure to cut that tongue of yours or your ears for not listening. Do not test me, Buhle." I said and walked away with her ukapa in hand .

"Your knife." I said and before she could register what I had said, the knife I had aimed right next to her head and landed on the head board.

Her screams filled the room. Dramatic much. "Good night, Buhle" I said in a bored tone while sliding my hand into pocket in my pants. I took the key out and unlocked the door.

I went to the lounge in search of Zama and she stood up as soon as I came into view. I rushed out as she tailed behind me. I halted at the door and turned on my heel which resulted to her crashing into my chest. I snaked my arms around her waist until she regained her balance.

"Nkosana what happened, did she agree to not tell on us?" She asked in a fear stricken voice.

"Do not worry yourself with these petty issues. I told you, I would fix it."

"I heard her scream."

"That was nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." I snapped. A hurricane of emotions presented themselves in her golden orbs. Shock, fear and a speck of anger. I huffed out the frustration that had dotted itself on my features. The mere sight of her softened my cold exterior. "Goodbye I have to go back to work." I said as I pressed my lips on hers in a chaste kiss. She stood frozen as she watched me leave.

******

"So which one should I take. This one or this one?" She asked with two dresses on both hands. On her right, she had a long royal blue dress. It was long sleeved with a velvety texture with a corset and flowed outwards at the bottom. The other one on her left was a black bodycon dress with a open a and spaghetti straps.

"Try them on so I can know which one looks better on you" I said while learning on the wall.

I tried being the good man who pays attention during shopping but I just could not. I would black out out on most cases and tell her to take both because of how indecisive she was and that was also the reason why I was carrying nine dresses.

She nodded and disappeared into the changing room while I glared at the woman who has been trying to approach me for the last five minutes or so. She had been standing in the middle of the room like a damn peacock while she flapped her fake eyelashes at me.

I checked the time so to not get her late for work. Zama had called me before her lunch break so we could go shopping. I was sleeping at that time but when she asked if I was busy or not I said I was not. I was tired as hell and could barely drag my body to take a shower. In most cases I would tell any other person to fuck off but like most cases, Zama was an exception.

"Close your eyes, I'm coming out!" Zama yelled.

She shifted uncomfortably across the room. She still had not noticed that me eyes were not closed. Zama owned the fucking room without even realising it. My eyes were solely fixated on her as she flattened her dress. There were no creases as the dress fit her like a glove. It was a the black bodycon dress she had with her. The temperature had somehow risen. I cleared my throat in attempt of washing off all the unholy thoughts that had invaded my mind.

"Absolutely breathtaking" I inaudibly mumbled to myself.

"How do I look?" She asked with her naked back facing me while looking at herself in the mirror. She turned around to see my facial expression since I did not answer her for a minute or two. How could I, when the most exquisite creation of God stood before me with innocence radiating from her golden orbs. She honestly had zero knowledge of how much she affected me.

I stood up and took my time walking to. Mostly to make sure that by the time I got to her my breaths would be steady.

"MaCele, you look absolutely gorgeous."

"Say that again"

"Go get changed." I said as I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my pants to restrain myself from touching her in her public. She stared at me, wanting to know the reason behind my sudden change of mood. But with no answer to her unasked question, she went to change her clothes.

I looked everywhere but her retreating body. I tried my best to not focus too much on how every muscle on her body moved. The dress she wore fit her like a glove and it wasn't really making things any easier for my sore eyes. By then I had cleared my throat for the fifth time.

I waited, tapped my foot in impatience and counted from one to fifteen. The more you try to stretch time, the more it compresses itself.

Fuck it

I sped to the lady's changing rooms, looking around to check if anyone was watching. From a perspective of someone who did not know me, one would think I was some wierd creep sneaking into a women's changing room to feast my eyes on her naked body.

I knocked on the first occupied door. I didn't think the levels of awkwardness would be that high. I stepped away and called out her name instead. She yelled back telling me that she was on the sixth changing room. I knocked and there was a palpable band of silence between us, than shuffling and silence again. Kudos to Zama, she really knows how to keep a man on his toes.

The door open but only revealed her head, it was squashed up in the little space she had created for herself.

"Are you decent?" I asked shamefully. Embarrassment had whacked me in the head, I regreted going there. At that point I just wanted to turn around and leave.

"Yes, why?" she said.

"Uhm, ca-can I come in?" I stumbled upon my own words. The reason behind that was unknown to me too.

She shifted away from the door to give me space to get in. For a few seconds I did not touch her, she had not changed her clothes. As always her eyes shied away from mine.

"You will be the death of me" I mumbled to myself.

She slowly closed the distance between us, placed her hands on my neck forcing me to dip my head to meet her lips. When she was merely millimetres away from my lips she whispered.

"You're exaggerating."

I wasn't. I had somehow felt it deep within my bones, my soul even. I was the type of person to not allow death to take them but for Zama I would. I had learnt to discover how dangerous Zama was. Not because love was poison to our minds but because Zama was an exception to everything. Every question presented to me be it past or future, Zama would be an exception. Zama's lips alone drank all logic from my mind, being in her immediate vicinity brought solace to my heart.

On some days I would fear her discovering who I really was. If she would leave to find someone more sympathetic to human life or if she would stay. If she would accept my flaws and kiss my nightmares away. A man could only dream. And that is the reason why I dived deeper into the kiss, to somehow find reason to this vivid paradise that had dwelled in my mind. But every good thing had to come to an end. I guess that was why my phone chose that specific moment to ring. I ignored it, even as it vibrated in my pocket.

"Answer it, it might be important." She said against my lips.

"No" I said and carried on kissing her to avoid any more talking.

"Nkosana." She said trying to sound intimidating but became weak and breathy.

I released my frustration through one exhale and grabbed my phone from my phone. I held it a little too tight in hopes of breaking it. Without checking the caller ID I answered the phone.

"Ukhala ngani?"(what is wrong)

"You're celebrity." I caller said, from the voice I could tell it was Vuks.

"What do you mean?" I hissed, and let go of Zama and took a few steps away from her. I couldn't help but wonder if she could hear me because of how incredibly small the changing room was.

"Anonymous tipped me about a few people wanting you dead and they're going to your house in the next thirty minutes." He said as cool as a fucking cucumber. "I'll send back up" and with that said the call was killed.

"Zama, I have to attend an emergency and we need to leave right now"

"Okay, I'll just quickly change."

"No time."

I pulled her out of the changing room, walked past the middle aged Indian lady who scrutinized us. I grabbed the clothes to pay and ripped the price tag from Zama's dress to pay for it as well. The cashier.was taking her flipping time with whatever she was doing.

"R11 570" she spoke and looked at Zama in a way that said 'you can't afford it'.

Zama was ready to embarrass me by giving that horror filled face of hers. I took my card out of my pocket and gave it to the cashier. She tapped the card into the machine and gave it back to me.

"I'll call you when I get home" I said while her focus was solely on my lips. I furrowed my brows and waited for her to snap out of whatever world she was in.

"Your lips" she simply said and then proceeded to rub her thumb onto my lower lips. "They have lipstick because of uhmm...the-uh" she stuttered when she realised the cashier was shamefully indulging into our conversation.

"It's fine." I said while removing her hands from my lips. "Good bye" I added with a kiss.

"But Nkosana, I have lipstick." She heaved.

"I know" I stated and chuckled at her disbelief.

"Nkosana!" She called and I stopped on my way out. She mini ran towards me and when she had reached me she just stood in pure silence. "I...I love you" she stumbled upon her words. Like it was the first time saying it or a confession. No matter how many times she stuttered those words made my heart swell nonetheless.

"Nami ngiyakuthanda, MaCele." I said and dipped my head so I could peck her forehead.

She pulled my head further and placed a kiss on my forehead as well. She later mumbled to herself about it did not feeling right to have done what she did and redeemed herself by kissing my cheek. Zama had her own silly way of showing affection and that was why my grin had started from one ear and ended at the other. Zama had that affect on me, even the most minimal things she did would make my day.

We said goodbye to one another and I headed to my car while she carried on with her day. As soon as I started the ignition and my foot did not leave the accelerator until I got home.

I parked my car and hurried inside however I was very vigilant because of the possibility of having someone in my house. I made sure to check every nook and corner that looked or felt suspicious. I made sure to pack my lucky gun and stuffed it on my waist and while at it my phone had rung. Not letting a second pass by, I answered immediately.

"Someone's at your house-" and after that I was met with silence. I check my phone to check if I had disconnected by mistake only to find that my phone had switched.

Such great timing.

I stayed in my room and waited for the expected ambush. And there it was, from my bedroom window one could get a view of the front yard and a certain portion of the gate if standing at a particular angle. About three taxis crowded the road, not bothering to find parking space, some parked in the middle of the road.

Typical taxi drivers. Surely proud of themselves for living up to their stereotype.

One taxi drove straight towards my gate. Tried three times before my beautiful and very expensive,might I add, gate collapsed onto the floor with a loud thud. A few seconds later loud knocking was heard. The person was punching my poor door rather than knocking on it

"Yeyi wena mfana, vula lom'nyango wakho"

I counted seconds up until I reached the second minute before his idiocy washed away and he realised the door was unlocked. Maybe he was just having manners but I doubted that judging by what had happened to my gate.

"Phuma man sphukuphuku"

"Ngiqonde njenge ndoda"

"Phuma leli gwala leli"

Whoever screamed across my house. I was sure they were rummaging through my stuff to find any other additional information about me. I made sure to hide any trace of my siblings so they would not be used as my weakness. I walked to the lounge where I suspected they would be and trust Fika to have a bottle of my eight thousand Rand whiskey to his lips.

"Why are you screaming like an inebriated fool?" I questioned whilst trying to hide the irritation in my voice.

"Because I can" he arrogantly answered

"What do you want Cele"

"To kill you."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you"

"And why not?" He spat and raised his gun at me.

Me!? Raising his gun at me!? He clearly does not know me.

"If I die, you die."

"Yeyi, wena marshmallow. Uyangazi Mina ngoba usungitshela ukuthi uzongibulala. Uyini Wena uzukwazi ukubulana nabantu. Wena boy, ucabanga ukuthi ifilimu Lena, heh?" He yelled with his gun still pointed at me. He walks over and sticks his gun on my face. He thought I didn't notice the gun in his hands and he hoped to scare me with that little thing of his.

"If you honestly think that you're scaring me with that little gun of yours than you're dumber than I anticipated." I said with my eyes digging into his. "And get it out of my face" I said while I swatted his hand away.

He looked perplexed by my nonchalant behaviour at the sight of a gun.

"Uwazini Lona ngesibhamu?" He questioned.

"So you didn't do your research." I concluded and let out a hollow chuckle. "Cute." I added just to spite him.

"I did."he lied and I could see how agitated he was getting because he knew that I knew that he was lying.

I short stubby man walked into my house. These people have no respect for people's property I tell you. I looked at me dead in the eyes and I immediately recognised him and I'm he did recognise me too. I could tell from the way his eyes widened like saucers. He opened and closed his mouth like a dying fish.

"Uyasazi yini lesilima, Nkatha." Fika yelled at his second in command.

"I..I..yes, yes ngiyamazi"

"Umazelaphi?" He yelled yet again as he grew impatient.

I pulled out my gun and angled it straight to his head. "Akhethe Kahle amagama akho Nkatha. I know everything there is to know about you. I know you're wife, Sindisile, your two daughters, Afika and Zime as well as your home address. Silence is the key to life. Always remember that."