Bongani’s family decided not to open a case against Xolani, and Xolani was released back home. When he looked into his grandmother’s eyes, he saw the tears and questions within them. After a while, a hellacious slap landed on the already wounded and battered Xolani, followed by a question.

“Idiot boy, what the hell were you thinking, fighting with the boy from such a powerful family?” Bongani’s grandmother asked.

“I didn’t think Mma. It was a long time coming before I burst on him and …” Bongani responded, but before he could finish, his Grandmother smacked him on the face again and looked at him with fury.

“Are the rumours true? Did you impregnate the Nguni’s Makoti?” Bongani’s grandmother asked.

Instead of responding, Bongani bowed his head in sorrow and nodded. His grandmother knew a storm was brewing. He was already hated for being a half-breed, now he had done one of the most disgraceful things to do in the village.

At that point, Xolani’s grandmother thought of shipping him off to the big city, but she knew no one there. They knew no one from Xolani’s mother’s side of the family. They had fears that the community would conspire against him because what he had done was of the up most disgrace, but Xolani did not care about that. He later sat alone and gathered his thoughts.

“I have been through hell,” Bongani thought to himself. “My mother died when I was young, and my father left me soon after. I was bullied for being a half cast my whole life, the only woman in my life was snatched from my hands, and now I have been tortured for following her request for a child, my child!”

As Bongani was sitting alone, he boiled in anger and clutched his fists. You could see that, if anyone was unfortunate enough to cross paths with him at that minute, he would murder them.

“I have suffered long enough, it’s time for someone else to suffer too!” Bongani said, and without thinking, he raced to the Nguni residence. All he wanted was Bongani’s blood on his hands. All the torture, the bullying, and the wedding had finally broken him. All his common sense had left him, and all he was left with was anger.

Xolani arrived at the Nguni residence, rudely screaming and calling out Bongani. The Nguni elders came out to see the commotion. “What is this madness?” they asked. “Why are you here, you outcast?”

“Call that coward out! Tell him to face me like a man,” Xolani responded with much anger.

One of the elders looked Xolani in the eyes and got terrified. It had been a long time since he had seen a man with nothing to lose, and with such anger. He then approached Xolani. “What can we do to appease your rage?” he asked.

Even though Xolani’s rage had consumed him, he felt the man’s sympathy and tried to calmly answer. “I want the woman I love and the child she carries,” he said.

The other elders protested their displeasure to Xolani’s request. “That cannot happen!” they said. “This young man is crazy, he has been bewitched.”

Hearing all of that made Xolani’s anger and rage bigger. He then pushed the calm elder aside, ran into the Nguni household, and began calling out for Nokthula.

The calm elder, even though he was limping, rushed after Xolani and told him that they had both left and found themselves a new settlement to begin their life as a couple. That information broke whatever was left of Xolani. The elders heard his weeping, and his tears rocked the house of Nguni. The thought of the only woman who actually loved and protected him from the violence was to marry is biggest aggressor killed him inside.

All of Bongani’s strength vanished at that moment, and his anger fuelled his sadness. He felt that the earth could open up and swallow him whole.

The Nguni family went to Xolani’s family and left him there. Xolani stayed in his room for days. His grandmother tried feeding him, bathing him, and getting him out the house, but she failed at it. All Xolani could think about was dying.

As for Nokthula, she was disgusted and full of hate for being forced into marriage with the man who tormented the love of her life. When she thought of what Xolani had been going through because of her, the marriage, the baby, and the fact that she did not hate him like the other kids, she fell in love with something different. She was tired of the same guy, with the same skin, and the same attitude. She saw kindness and love if nurtured, and now she was married to the man who tormented her lover.

It sickened her when Bongani tried to kiss her, and she felt like dying every time he laid next to her. She would almost curse him out every time he called her “baby” or “wife”, and she felt like she could die. Maybe Xolani’s burdens would minimise if she did, and maybe he would move on and find someone who did not fuel his pain. Those thoughts always clouded her mind.

Nokthula was pregnant and depressed, and she even felt like killing the child. She knew that in her tribe, her tradition, there was no other divorce than death.

***

Tell us: What advice would you give someone in Nokthula’s situation?