Diary Of A Mafia King's Wife

Dear Diary: Meeting my father-in-law

I'm woken by a gunshot. I look at the time. It's two AM. Mlondi and Manqoba come to mind. And then I hear screams. It's maNgubane screaming the boys' names. I quickly leave the room. When I get downstairs the boys, their mother and grandmother are pointing guns at some man. MaNgubane is holding an AK-47. I've been saying there's something dangerous about my new family. I don’t think they heard me coming. The man smiles, there's something sinister about that smile. Nobody turns to look at me.

"April go back to your room and lock the door" Mlondi tells me without turning to look at me. When I turn around. The man speaks. He has such a deep voice.

"I heard you asked about me makoti. Sorry we had to meet like this in this hour" there's something about him I don't like already. I walk up the stairs just then he speaks again.

"We could sell her for a fortune," he tells Mlondi. I have a feeling he's still looking at me, and I freeze for a moment. Maybe this is why Mlondi got mad when I asked about him.

"You leave my wife alone. If you dare look at her, I'm going to kill you and no one is going to stop me this time" this is not an idle threat and Mlondi's dad knows. Because he doesn’t say anything after that. I ran to my room.

Someone wakes me up after I've been asleep for like 5 seconds after tossing and turning for almost 3 hours. It's maNgubane, she still has her gun.

"Did I forget to lock the door?" I ask her, sitting up. She shakes her head and tells me she has a key. She looks a little upset and I don't want to ask. She tells me to go back to sleep. If she wasn't upset I was going to tell her off. She wakes me up and tells me to sleep. I just nod. Just then hubby walks in, when he sees the gun he stops dead on his feet.

"Why do you have that thing?" he's not shouting but I can tell he's mad. MaNgubane looks at her gun like she doesn't remember holding one. She just sighs and leaves the room.

"Are you okay?" believe it or not this is the first time hubby has asked me that question. And I've known him for years. I just nod. I'm still mad. I hold grudges so he'll have to live with it. He tells me to go back to sleep. He kisses my forehead, I'm shocked I jump and almost scream. He holds the cover for me and he tells me he'll leave when I fall asleep.

I wake up around 11am. I don’t remember waking up this late. I decide to take a long bath. I sit in the tub until the water runs cold and there are wrinkles on my feet. I walk downstairs just after 12. There are usually guards around the house but right now I don't see one. I don't have anyone's digits. I call out Mlondi's name. I hope I don’t sound scared. He walked in after I called his name 7 times. Followed by the rest of the family.

Strange family

I just tell them that I didn't see the guards and I don't have their digits.

I've never felt the need to have their digits. They are always here, I always run into them. I just can't stop thinking about his dad's comment. I wonder if Owami was also sold.

"Owami wasn't sold. She left because she wanted to" Mlondi comments like he knows what I was thinking. I just nod. He asks if I want something to eat. When I nod he tells me he'll make me something to eat.

"You were supposed to do that after I woke up in that room" I tell him. I'm not saying he was supposed to make me breakfast because he beat me. He just leaves the room without saying anything, not even 'sorry'. Manqoba offers, but Simphiwe's look stops him. I decide to make myself a sandwich. MaDlamini looks stressed. I wonder what really happened.

"What happened this morning?" I ask when it's clear that no one is volunteering with the information.

"Nana, give me your phone. We are leaving just now. I want to store our digits just in case you need them" MaNgubane tells me.

"Is it because I made a comment about everyone being here all the time? I wasn't complaining or anything like that. I was curious"

"It's not that nana. We've been here since you guys got married and I don’t think it's fair. So we are giving you guys space" I just nod. I know she's lying but I guess they are not ready to tell me things. Maybe they don't trust me or they think I'm not old enough. It's going to be super quiet here without them but they have their reason. I offer to help them pack only to find out they already did. If I slept the whole day, I wasn't going to find them.

Twenty minutes later I'm standing by the garage door waving at MaDlamini the last person to drive off. I turn to look at the mall Mlondi calls home and I feel so alone. I hope they resolve their issues soon. I just go back to my room to draw a sketch. I think tomorrow I'll go out explore and maybe find a nice spot to draw. Today I'm too lazy plus I feel like I didn't rest enough. Drawing helps take my mind off things. I can draw for hours without even getting hungry. At nine PM I decide to go downstairs, I'm hungry. When I open the door it's dark, I don't see anyone. I quickly go back and lock the door. I wonder where hubby is. I scroll through my contact list and there's a contact stored as 'Honey'. I can't help but laugh. MaNgubane though. But I don't feel comfortable texting or calling him so instead I text his grandma.

Me: Gogo, do you know where Mlondi is?

I hope she's not sleeping already. I hope she texts me back now. I don't want to call her incase she's already sleeping.

Gogo: I don't know, maybe he's in his study.

Me: I'm scared and hungry. The passage is dark and there's no one.

Gogo: He's on his way.

Me: Okay thanks.

Gogo: At some point you'll have to communicate with him.

I don't reply. Mlondi walks in, with a tray. He gives me the tray and he sits in one of the chairs. There's rice and chicken.

Hmmmm smells super nice. We sit in uncomfortable silence. I keep looking at him. He's typing on his phone.

"The food was delicious thank you. I didn't see anyone today. Who cooked?"

"I did"

Oh wow. I didn't think he could cook and I tell him. I also ask where everyone is.

"I actually went to a culinary school. I love cooking but I hardly eat. Gogo and mama made sure that we could cook. We grew up with maids around the house. But we were forced to cook, clean, do the laundry and other chores once in a while. I just love cooking so when it was Manqoba's turn to cook, he asked me to do it for him because he hates cooking. He's surprisingly good for a person who hates cooking."

I've never really had a conversation with this guy. Imagine.

" What do you hate doing?"

"I hate ironing. Manqoba did that for me"

"You sound close. Yet I was told you like shooting each other" and when I feel like I have crossed some invisible line I quickly add, "Where's everyone?"

"We are close. I'm close with my brothers but gogo is my 'go to' person. Manqoba and I are just competitive which leads to fights when one of us is losing. He's good with guns, sometimes it annoys me" as if remembering my question he adds, "I told everyone to go home. It's clear that someone has been leaking out information to my dad. How would he know you asked about him. He knows lots of things he shouldn't have"

I wonder if that's what caused the fight.

"I get the feeling everyone doesn't get along with him. What's up?"

"Nope. Time for you to sleep" he announces, walking towards me taking the tray and holding the cover for me. He puts the tray on the table and he joins me. I really don't mind. I don't know maybe it's because I'm scared or I always had a little crush on my husband.