Sold To a Mafia King

I always knew that my parents despised me, but today they proved me right. They know very well that I’m starting a new job tomorrow, actually not just a new job. It’s my dream job but they decide to drop a bomb on me. It’s 8 am. I am taking a long bath after cleaning the yard and house for 3 hours. I always wake up at 5 am every Sunday so I can clean the house and yard. My parents are the most untidy people ever. They always host their stupid parties almost every Saturday with the food I bought, and I have to clean up when I wasn’t even part of their parties. Psssh as if I’d join them. “Mandy, hurry up, we have guests”, my mom. My budges into my room without even knocking. I hate it when she does that. “Give me 5 minutes,” “You need to hurry up. They are very important people. They can’t be kept waiting.” Gosh, this woman can be annoying. She can see that I’m still bathing after 3 hours of cleaning their mess. “I said 5 minutes. If they can’t wait that long they can leave.” “You’re so annoying” she leaves, slamming the door. It rattles on its hinges. I bought that door, you know. I take my time, her guests can’t tell me what to do and what not to do. Why is she even dressed up? When was the last time I saw her dressed up? Gosh, I can’t even remember. Now I’m curious. I hurried so I could see her guests. After 10 minutes I’m done. I walk into the lounge and the atmosphere changes. There’s something about the men in black suits. They are very powerful and very handsome, I must say. Even my loud parents are very quiet. I walked into the room, all eyes on me. I sit next to my mom. I greet them. The old man smiles and greets me back, but the young one just nods, looking around the house with a disgusted look. So rude. We sat in uncomfortable silence. “Mntanami (my child), we have something to tell you,” my dad tells me. Okay, something huge is going on here. My dad has never called me that, not even when I bought him the most expensive whiskey. Okay, maybe not that expensive, but it did cost me a lot, you know, and he finished it within 2 days. My God was I hurt. “Kanti, didn’t you tell her?” the young man asks, clearly annoyed. “What’s going on here?” I ask when my parents go mute. “Can you tell her already, we don’t have all day” the young man tells my parents. “Ayanda relax. Will you?” says the old man. So his name is Ayanda. He’s really handsome, even Trey Songz is not this handsome, gosh. Pity he’s rude. “This is not easy Mandy, the Nxumalo’s are here because your father…” that’s my mom. She doesn’t finish the sentence. I will just keep quiet, I’ll wait for them. “Your parents took a loan from me 15 years ago and when they couldn’t pay me back, they made a promise that when you turn 21 they will marry you off to my grandson,” Mr Nxumalo tells me. I’m sitting here hoping it’s some kind of a sick joke. I mean my parents have been trying to hook me up with people for money. That’s why I kind of ran away after Grade 12. I decided to stay at res I always come home unannounced and leave the very same day. Besides, I had to work otherwise we’d live in a 2 -room shack forever. “Is this one of your annoying jokes mom?” I asked my mom. I saw tears in her eyes. Why is she crying? What kind of parents make promises like that? Are they even my real parents? “I’m not marrying him,” I told them, pointing to Ayanda. “And I’m not leaving,” I walked out with the plan to run away and never look back. I can’t marry an arrogant ass. I walked out the gate. But there were men in black carrying big guns. What have my stupid parents done? All the neighbours are peeping through their curtains. I try to run but I can’t outrun these men. They stop me. I scream my lungs out with the hope that someone will call the police or be brave enough to help me, but none of that happens. My parents run towards me with worried faces, but I know they are not worried about me. Some parents we have. The guards took me back to the house. My head hurts from all the screaming and fighting. I’m still screaming when they put me on the couch.