Diary Of A Mafia King's Wife

Dear Diary: meeting his friends...

"Freshen up if you have to. We are meeting my business partners in an hour" Mlondi tells me. Okay I've never met any of his friends. On our way I'm worried. What if they are friends with Owami. What if they don't like me?

An hour later we walk in at Ocean Basket and I see 3 guys with 3 ladies probably their wives or girlfriends, he walks towards them and I follow him. It makes me wonder how Mlondi is going to introduce me to these people. And the way he walks towards them reminds of a quote I read just last week. 'I didn't come here to participate. I came to dominate'. For some reason I know these guys are in the same business and they are all married.

"Hello, this is my wife April" he introduces me once we're sitting down.

"Hello, I'm Zekhethelo, you can call me Zeh and this is Zweli my husband and this one here is Sibusisiwe our daughter. It is nice meeting you" she smiles at me. I can't help but smile back. And the lady sitting on my right introduces herself.

"Hey, I'm Buhlebendalo, I'm Melusi or Bova's wife" she turns to hug me. I feel like screaming no. I hate being hugged I don't know why. But I hug her back so quickly I see a confused look when I'm looking at the third lady. She's looking at her phone like everything is boring her. I wonder if she dislikes me or she's like that. I see the guy sitting beside her nudging her. It must be her husband. She says 'what' in a bored tone. Oh wow but this is not new. I don't think I'm a likable person. Or maybe she's Owami's friend. So I just smile at her husband, I can tell he feels bad. He offers a handshake and he introduces himself as Ayanda and the rude lady as Mandy his wife. I just feel bad for the people she stays with. We sit around the table and listen to the guys discuss their future plans for their businesses. Apparently, Melusi or Bova is being investigated. I'm curious about these ladies how they met these guys. I hope I'm not the only one with an embarrassing story. Even after 3 months I still feel as if people are judging me. And it's okay I judge myself too. I mean honestly who marries her sister's fiance?. I should've ran away, but how? I'm not even listening to all the stuff everyone is talking about. I'm busy thinking about my sister wondering where she might be, what she's doing and why she left like that. But now that I live in the same house as Mlondi I don't really blame her, but she gave me the feeling that she liked living this kind of life. Dangerous and loaded husband is her thing. Unless I don't know her as I think. Zeh nudges me.

"I'll order for her. She eats everything, one of the things I like about her" I hear Mlondi telling them. WHAAAAAT???

I just give him a questioning look and he just shrugs like it's normal for him to make comments like that. I think his family told him that. We only shared one meal together, otherwise, we don't talk we even ignore each other. Sibusisiwe starts crying, Zeh is trying to shush her instead she screams really loud and people from other tables start giving her nasty looks.

"This child needs her mother" instead of giving Mandy that nasty look she looks at her husband who takes the baby and she stops crying instantly. I wonder what Mandy means. Did they adopt the child? It's the way she said that it's like she doesn't like Zeh. I see Ayanda looking at her and shaking his head. Is Mandy the mother of the child? I don't think they get along, but they come to these meetings because they want to show their support to their husbands. We eat in silence, I can see the hurt in Zeh's eyes, and I feel bad for her. After eating Mlondi tells them that we are leaving.

"Whatever you do never ask Zeh about what Mandy said," Mlondi tells me. I'm curious but I just nod. I will find out later if we continue meeting.

I'm in the lounge when one of the guards tells me that I have visitors. I hope my parents are not here, I'm really not in the mood for those 2. But I find Ndalo, Zeh and her daughter standing by the door and I feel bad for them.

"Why are you standing there like that?" I ask them. They tell me that they didn't feel comfortable following the guard as he asked them to. I lead them to the lounge while trying to think about what to cook for them. I look at the time, it's 11 am. They must have had breakfast. I offer a drink, they want any kind of wine that we have. I don't know which one tastes better. I don't drink anything alcoholic. I take one of the bottles maNgubane likes the most. That dramatic old woman is going to swear at me when she finds out I gave away her favourite her bottle to people she has never met. I take the glasses, with a bottle juice for Sibusisiwe. I find her sleeping on the couch. I sit down and pour the wine for both ladies. They tell me that they thought they should check up on me and get to know me. I don't really feel comfortable with this. This is not my house, no matter what everyone says. I don't even know the price of the couches we are sitting on. I don't really know my husband maybe he'd have a problem with Zeh's child sleeping on his expensive couches. But I just thank them and we sit in uncomfortable silence. I don't know what to ask. Not that I don't have any questions but they are too personal for me to ask them. I don't want to scare them away.

"I'm curious" Ndalo looks at me "how did you meet your husband?" she asks smiling. She has a beautiful smile. I'm sure she just smiled at Bova, and he went bananas and proposed there and then. I don't know how to answer the question. I don't know if I should lie or be honest, but I go with the latter.

"He was my sister's fiance" I look at their shocked faces. "my sister disappeared hours before her wedding. And my parents said basaba ihlazo and decided to marry me off instead. But to be honest I think they were scared the Dlomo's were going to ask for their lobola money back and they spent it to feed my dad's drinking habit. How about you ladies?" I ask them.

"Let's just say I fell in love with my kidnapper," Ndalo tells me laughing, it is just the wine.

"Let's say I was taken by a mafia king," Zeh tells me "and Mandy was sold to a mafia king," she tells me laughing. I don't know if she's tipsy or not.

I just say oh. I suck at making friends or a conversation especially if I'm with people who are friends. I just don't know what to say. Just then Sibusisiwe wakes up and she screams. Mlondi walks in and he takes her and leaves the room without saying anything.

"Your husband loves kids. He used to come to my house just to see my daughter before he got busy. We never really talk, he doesn't like talking. I don't think any of them likes talking, but Mlondi is worse. If it's not business or him talking to Sbusisiwe then you won't hear a word. I don't know if he's private or plain secretive" she tells me pouring another glass of wine. I just smile I'm going to bore them to death, I don't think they'll visit me ever again. I know Mlondi told me not to ask her about Mandy's comment but I'm so curious I need to know. So I whisper just in case he can hear me.

"Mlondi told me not to ask you, but I'm really curious about the comment Mandy made the other day. About your baby needing her mother", she just laughs, I really hope she's not offended.

"Oh Zweli and I separated and he got another woman pregnant. She didn't want anything to do with the baby so I took her. I know what you are thinking Mandy is not the mother. I'd divorce Zweli if he touched that woman" she tells me. Okay, I don't know what to say honestly. I just hope Mlondi doesn't find out