Sisipho decided to throw another party and she invited all her friends to spend two weeks at the mansion. They all were too happy and everyone was having a lovely time. George seemed to be settling in quite nicely. He had gone after the long weekend and returned a day later. He was spending more time at Sisipho’s house than at his. He had moved in somehow and made himself. Sisipho was more than happy with having him there.
“Feeling at home I see,” Sisipho said one evening, jokingly to George.
“I could leave if you’re uncomfortable,” he said taking it seriously.
“No, I was kidding dear,”
“You know I feel like a fool. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how I feel from the beginning,”
“It’s quite fine, George,”
“No, it’s not. I should’ve said something earlier,” he said trying to explain.
“Not today, my mother is on her way,”
“Why?” asked George, a little nervously.
“I don’t know,”
*****
That afternoon Sisipho called Nkosi.
“Hi Sweetcakes. Listen, we should end things. I can’t carry on living like this.”
“What are you talking about, Sisipho?”
“I’ve finally figured out what I want,” she said coolly.
“Who is he?” Nkosi asked irritated.
“I said what not whom,” she said rolling her eyes. “Happiness, that’s what I want. And a child or a couple. That’s what,”
“I also want that but not now,”
“I know you do, but I want and need them now. My clock is ticking, dear,”
“But…”
“But nothing. Goodbye, Nkosi,”
She hung up. And they never spoke again.
*****
Sisipho’s mother was enjoying her stay at her daughter’s. They were spending most of their days together indoors. Nokhu was even shocked when her daughter would not want to go out of the yard. “I’ve spent so much money on all this but I never really have time to enjoy any of it,” Sisipho would say when he mother persisted that she goes out. Her mother almost collapsed when she returned one afternoon from shopping, to find her daughter glued to the TV.
“My God, it’s been forever! Even when you came home you’d be busy with work,” she said clapping her hands to emphasise her astonishment.
“So, is that really bad?” Sisipho laughed. Her mother was too shocked to answer so she walked away.
Later that day George went up to Sisi’s room and found her sitting with her mother.
“Sanibonani,” he greeted. “Sisipho, I’m going to be gone for four days, a week at the most,” he announced.
“Take her along with you,” her mother offered.
“Haibo, mama!” Sisipho gave stern look then turned to George, “I’ll see you when you get back,”
After he left the room Sisipho turned to her mother, “He is just a friend, you know?”
“Just like Nkosi once was,”
“Don’t start. Oh, by the way, we broke up,” Sisipho said it as an afterthought.
“Oh, by the way, tomorrow I’m leaving,” her mother took from her daughter’s page.
“For ntoni? You’ve only been here for three weeks, njena,”
“Uyavuya sana, mna ndinomyeni,”
“Ha mama,”
“What? Uyabuya uSethu kungekudala,” said her mother referring to George; she never called him George.
“Mama, we’re friends,”
“For 15 years?”
“Yes, ma, for 15 years.”
“Why is he living here?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“He is visiting,”
“And the wife?”
“They divorced some years back, I think about three,”
And her mother gave the ‘see what I’m talking about’ look. She got up from the bed and went to her room, leaving her daughter with plenty to think about.
***
Tell us what you think: How hard is it to live in the same house with someone you have feelings for? Do you think Sisipho and George will finally get it on?