Nare wasn’t an easy person to understand and he had became less himself since Mabotse died. And their sister Napo was headstrong, selfish and spoilt so much so that she landed herself in a hot mess, when she fell pregnant at a young age. She had to be married off and it was all touch and go at first but now she was settled in, thank God.

Then there was him – Noko Mahube. He felt like he was morally allowed to be himself to do what he wanted. But now, he was pushed in a corner to do something he felt strongly against. He knew even God himself would be against it and he wasn’t even that religious.

Boledi sat down near the chair facing his own, her hands clasped together in her lap and gazed at her callused hands. Noko’s hands tightened automatically on his side as he watched her trying to find courage to face him. He wanted to hit something or pull her out of the chair and shake her, tell her to wake up and go find the life she dreamed about out there in the city than being cooped up in the village, chasing after his niece who had two grannies to look after her, when she wasn’t polishing floors or the furniture.

He looked at the aunts who spoke quietly among themselves while Mateu looked through his jacket for the small bottle of brandy he liked to carry around. Then Noko looked back at Boledi who was staring silently at her nails. He knew she could sense his gaze on her. She slowly raised her eyes to meet his big mournful eyes. Noko felt his gut clench in the despair, at the pain hidden in the depths of her eyes before her long eyelashes closed over her big puppy-like eyes and she shut him out.

Noko unclenched his hands from the armrest of the chair without realising that he was clutching it, to get up and walked back to the window. The silent decision was already made in his heart before he had much time to question it. He knew that what his heart had registered was something that his mind was slowly accepting although it went against everything he believed in. He turned to face them again and said, “I will do it!”

The room turned silent; Boledi gasped and everyone stared at him in disbelief as if he had said that he was taking his clothes off and running around the streets naked. It would have amused him, if he wasn’t regretting his decision already. But the shock on Boledi’s face and the softening of her sensible, lush lips got his blood pounding hard in his veins that he turned away and slowly walked out of the room.

“Hey where are you going? We still need to discuss how all this needs to happen before your brother returns from the city,” Aunt Naomi hurried to say, looking a little askew at Boledi’s Aunt. A plump woman who kept her hand in the scones tray most of the time and only agreed or disagreed with the head while her mouth was busy. Aunt Velemina enjoyed the family meetings because whenever she came to Noko’s house, they always treated her like a special guest. So she made most of it by wolfing everything down, if she wasn’t putting some of the food in her traditional tunic dress’s pockets.

Noko always found some of Boledi’s family members amusing, especially the two invited. They were present when Nare married Mabotse and intervened when there were squabbles. And they also fought a lot during the period when the couple weren’t getting children for two years. Then after that things settled after Mabotse found out she was expecting. But there was nothing amusing about their presence on this day.

“Yes, your brother will be coming back in two days. So, this needs to take place tonight and probably tomorrow just to tie things up well,” said Aunt Mora. She kept yawning and looking at the watch as if she was in a hurry. Noko found Mora the most annoying among his aunts. Mora’s coldness made people say unpleasant stuff about her although she was the choir master at her church. Noko simply walked out.

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