04

TEARS OF A ROYAL BLOOD

04

ZIZIPHO

Later during the day, she has woken up and the alcohol was out of her system. She took a bath and wore new clothes. She walked out of the room to find her brother. When she saw him, she attacked him with a hug.

Zizipho:I’m glad you are here.

Solwazi:I had to come. Are you okay?

Zizipho:Now that you are here yes.

They sat down.

Solwazi:So what happened? I wanna hear your side of the story now.

Zizipho:Dad just angers me so much bhuti. I hate him. He doesn’t care about mom. He is a bad father and a bad husband.

Solwazi:Zee but I told you to stay out of our parents’ issues. It’s not our battle to fight. Mom will leave when she wants to. We just need to be there for her and support her. You need to stop being so disrespectful to dad, he is not a good father I know, but that’s on him. He isn’t worth the energy, don’t give him that satisfaction that he makes you angry. Let it be.

She sighed.

Zizipho:I just hate this. I wish it was only the three of us.. He has brought another wife now, my mother will not even exist to him.

Solwazi:He sees what’s going on, I don’t know whether it’s ignorance or he just doesn’t care, but he’s an old man. He doesn’t need to be reminded by us how to handle his marriage with his wives. I’m telling you this for the last time, don’t ever disrespect dad again.

Zizipho:Yebo bhuti(Yes brother).

Her brother has spoken and his word is final. Crazy that he is a father figure to her more than her father could be. Man even missed her birthday last month. She chuckles as her heart gets hurt all over again.

They see him walking in and she wants to stand up and leave but decides otherwise.

Qhawe:Good evening.

He greeted and sat down.

Solwazi:Yebo.

Qhawe:Ndodana(son) I didn’t know you were here.

Solwazi:I came during the day, Zee was not okay.

He looks at her.

Zizipho:Yeah uhm… dad I would like to apologize for what I did in the morning. I shouldn’t have called you by your name, that was disrespectful. I’m sorry.

She goes and kneel in front of him…..

Qhawe:It’s okay, I forgive you. I am also sorry for hitting you with my royal staff. You can stand up..

She goes back to her seat.

Qhawe:Where is your mother?

Solwazi:In the bedroom..

Qhawe:Okay let me go to her.

He stood up.

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In the bedroom.

He gets inside the room and finds Sindiswa already in bed. He closes the door and walks to the bed.

Sindiswa:Are you hungry? I cooked.

Qhawe:No, I already ate at Khethi’s.

Sindiswa:Oh.

That hurt, he knew he was coming to her house so obviously she was going to cook for him.

He gets in bed with her and holds her close.

Qhawe:How are you? I feel like we are strangers now.

Sindiswa:As long as I am still waking up every morning, I have nothing to complain about.

Qhawe:I meant emotionally. Are you still okay?

Sindiswa:I’m fine, Qhawe…

He brushes her thigh.

Qhawe:It’s been a while. I miss you.

Sindiswa:I miss you too…

He turns her to her and kisses her.

Midway between their kiss, his phone rang. 

 Qhawe:Just a minute. 

He takes it and answers. 

Qhawe:Yes… 

……… 

Qhawe:Okay, I’m on my way. 

He hung up and looked at his wife. 

Qhawe:There’s a royal emergency, I need to go. 

Sindiswa:Will you come back here? 

Qhawe:Yes I’ll come back. 

He gets out of bed and wears his clothes. He kisses her one more time and walks out. 

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SINDISWA 

Qhawe said he would come back yesterday but he didn’t. She waited for him until she fell asleep. She knew he wouldn’t come back. He never does. It’s almost like he doesn’t care about her anymore. It hurts she won’t lie. 

She looks out the window and he sees him coming out of Khethi’s house and fixing his pants. 

She gets teary and runs to her bedroom. 

She locks the door and takes out Sipho’s picture. She hugs it close to her chest and cries. 

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In the Main house. 

Kholo is preparing lunch. It just feels at home when she cooks at the main house. 

Her daughter is helping her. Thembeka is a replica of Kholo, everything about them is the same, from the looks to the personality. She’s dark like her. 

Thembeka:Lisa should be helping us. Where is she? 

Kholo:That one is lazy. You will see she will come here when we are done. 

Thembeka:Nop, I’m going to call her. 

She walks out to Mkhonto’s room and finds them holding each other in the couch. 

Thembeka:Lisa we need you in the kitchen. 

Lisa:Okay I’m coming. 

She stands up and walks with her. 

Kholo:You’re here great. I want you to make butternut. You know how to do it right? 

Lisa:Yes. 

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KHETHI 

 Apart from the drama, she loves being a royal wife. The benefits it comes with, is nothing than she imagined. She even has her own car now and an unlimited bank card. Soft life! 

She needs to go shopping and turn the stores up. 

Qhawe is older than her, but daddy sure knows how to satisfy a woman. 

He always can’t get enough of her. Maybe it’s because his wives are old, so he couldn’t do to them what he’s doing to her. 

Her friend calls her. 

Khethi:Mngani(Friend) 

“You no longer update me. What’s the latest?”

Khethi:It’s that drama of yesterday, but oe Solwazi is such a dream yeer! When he laughs I just want to squeeze myself into him. 

“Sisi control yourself, he’s your son”

Khethi:Welele, we can still have something though. 

“Qhawe will divorce you”

Khethi:He won’t, because I won’t do anything. Its just a stupid crush. I’ll talk to you later. 

She hungs up and gets out of the bathroom. She hopes no one heard her. 

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QHAWE 

The mantle of being a King was passed down to him by his father when he was only 23 years old. All his life, he has been dedicating it to the kingdom and ensuring that all is well. Sindiswa was the first woman he met, and he fell in love with her. They didn’t have children, until he was urged to take a second wife. That broke Sindiswa because she thought maybe she wasn’t enough. But it wasn’t about that, the Zondo Surname needs to be big. 

Kholo fell pregnant first, he was not sure how that happened because they had been trying with Sindiswa. Until he found out that she used something on him, he was angry when he found out and almost wanted to chase her out. But he forgave her, after some time. That’s how Kholo got to have the first born. And by the Zondo tradition, a first born son is the heir, no matter which house he comes from. Mkhonto needs to prepare himself for taking over soon. 

But he’s worried, none of his sons seem to be even interested in the throne. That’s why he needs more children, and Khethi will give him that. His family’s legacy can’t go down the drain like that. His ancestors did everything in their power to make sure that the throne remains and belongs to the Zondos. He would have let them down if he doesn’t produce an heir to the throne. 

Yesterday, he said he would go back to Sindiswa, but when he came back it was already late and Sindiswa was probably still sleeping. So he just went to Khethi. 

Right now, he’s going to Sindiswa to apologize for what happened. 

He arrives at the house and finds Zizipho in the kitchen. Eish! No child of his intimidate him like she does. She’s stubborn and angry. 

Zizipho:Hey dad. 

Qhawe:Hi Zee. Is your mother here? 

Zizipho:Yep. 

He walks to the bedroom and finds her there. 

Qhawe:We need to talk about Zee. 

Sindiswa:What about her? 

Qhawe:Where does her anger come from? She’s always angry at me. The way she just looked at me in the kitchen scares me. 

Sindiswa:You seriously haven’t figured it out? 

He shook his head. 

Sindiswa:You haven’t been a part of her life for 23 years yet you are in the yard. Did you even know that it was her birthday last month? 

Qhawe:Her birthday is in June. 

Sindiswa:Nop, her birthday was last month. She’s angry because her father doesn’t have the time for her, never has and probably never will. She doesn’t know what a father’s love feels like. Solwazi is filling that gap but you are here. 

Qhawe:I’m a King, Mzilikazi. Everything needs me. 

Sindiswa:Gather your four children around and ask them how they feel about your fathering style. I told you that before you are King, you are a father to four children. Do you even know what they love? What their hobbies are? Do you know anything about them? 

He looked down and tried to think of when was the last time he talked or even spent time with his kids, but nothing was coming up. Is Zizipho’s anger really caused by him?