Married To An Assassin

I lied throughout the date...

"Oh my God." Cairo gasped. We all turn to look at him. He takes the remote to increase the volume. Another wealthy guy was murdered last night in his home office while his guards were drinking and dancing in a party a floor below his office. And his family was playing host. Such a cruel world. The news anchor links the murder to 4 other cases. Apparently someone is killing this group of wealthy guys. This is sad and scary at the same time. Who is killing these people and why?

*****

I was looking forward to this date all week. But now I have doubts. What if this guy thinks I'm not pretty enough? Or I'm not thin enough? What if he doesn't like the fact that I am a cleaner while girls my age are graduating. I text him.

I'm sorry I can't do this.

He replies immediately like the last time. I like that.

Of course you can. It's only a date. I won't bite. I promise.

I laugh at the text. And then he sends another text.

Is it because of the text I sent earlier? I was joking, I didn't mean to offend you. I just want to know you better, that's all.

I don't want to become 'the other girl' again. Just then my brothers walked in, both of them smiling. It makes me feel bad. I know how much this means to them. So I reluctantly agreed to go. Or maybe I'm just using them as an excuse.

If that's all. I'll see you at 7.

I can't wait.

I walk out the house feeling beautiful. My brothers did a great job with helping me prepare for this date. I'm really nervous though.

"Be careful there's a serial killer out there." My dad warns.

"Baba, you are going to scare her." Afrika reprimands my dad. I just smile at them. After Afrika saw me like that 6 months ago he's been worried about me. He's always checking up on me. It makes me feel bad, sometimes angry. But most of the time it makes me feel loved.

"I hope everything goes well today." Afrika tells me while holding the cab door. I just smile at him. I hope it goes well too.

When I walk into some fancy restaurant he's already there. Dressed in a dark green suit. Reminds me of the text he sent earlier today saying if I don't dress up then he's taking me to KFC. So I chose one of my few dresses. And a pair of heels I only wore once to an interview.

"You look amazing." He tells me, pulling out a chair for me. I smile secretly at the compliment.

"You also look amazing." I wanted to tell him first so that he wouldn't think I'm saying it because he said it first, but it doesn't matter. As soon as we sit down one of the waitresses walks towards us. I'm so annoyed we haven't even had the time to look at the menu. When I tell her that she tells me she'll wait. I don't even know what to order. We go through the menu together.

"What do you do?" He asked me. I hesitate.

"I'm an engineer." I lied. I know I'm being stupid but I want to impress him. It's not like I'm going to see him again right?

"Interesting. Never met a female engineer before. Which field?"

I think harder. I didn't anticipate him asking me that. I'm trying to think there's electrical engineering, there's civil engineering, there's mechanical engineering. Civil engineering sounds a little easy. So I told him I'm a civil engineer.

"What exactly do you do?"

"Is this a date or job interview?" I ask him so he doesn't ask me any more questions about the job I know nothing about. It wasn't even something I thought of doing. It's just that people still think engineers are more intelligent. That's how I want to come across to this stranger. As an intelligent person.

"I'm sorry. Like I said, I want to get to know you better."

"Why?"

He looks at me before he answers, "I like you."

I don't know what to say so I say, "Oh."

After that he gets a hint and we make small talk and we get to know each other a little. It's a little frustrating because when he talks he sounds interesting and intelligent. I keep doubting myself. So even when he asks about little things like my favourite colour, I still lie. If I say pink, he'll think I'm still childish. If I say black he'll think it's too dark. I don't even know why I'm torturing myself like this. I keep telling myself to be honest, if he doesn't want to see me again, it's his loss. But like most of the time I don't use my advice. I keep lying.

When the waitress gives him the bill, I ask her how much it is. When she tells me the total I calculate the half. When I offer the money, Zizwe, my date, looks offended and offers to cover the bill. I offer money for the tip, he won't take it either. Whenever Themba and I went out depending on whose idea it was, I either covered the bill or paid half. If I suggested going out I covered the bill. If it was his idea, I paid half.

I had the best time, even though I lied throughout the dinner. The 'it's only once, it won't happen again' mentality went out the window. I liked talking with this guy more than I'd like to admit.

But I couldn't help comparing him with Themba. I ignored the red flags on Themba early on our relationship. I don't want to make the same mistake again. I just can't wait to leave to avoid more lies.

Maybe this will make Afrika back off a little. Don't get me wrong I like that he cares, but sometimes it's too much. And I can't tell him that. I'd probably be the same if roles or situations were reversed.

"Text me when you get home." He tells me when he closes the cab door. And then he waits until the cab rounds the corner. I can't help but compare him to Themba again. Everytime I left he didn't even accompany me to the taxi rank or even tell me to notify him when I got home.

When I get home everyone is still up. They make excuses about watching TV. I tell them the date went well and I head to bed. I'm woken up by a text, it's Zizwe.

Are you home?

Yes, sorry I forgot to send a text.

Lie after another lie. I didn't think he'd follow up.