YOLANDA
“Girl, what’s up?” Tory asks, handing me a glass of champagne. Through him, I have adjusted to the taste of alcohol.
We are still at my stepfather’s house, “celebrating” the return of Thando who does not give a damn about any of us right now but herself. She is so selfish because we all could be doing our own things, yet we chose to come here to welcome her home, but she just quietly told us that she did not f*****g call us to come here. Argh, I think our time here is up.
“Tory, we should leave and do our own thing,”
“Gosh, I thought you would never say that. I only came here with you because I thought that your father’s men would be here, but all I see are our pals who are boring, and your stepsister, I think I like her better on i********:,”
I chuckle, getting off the barstool in the kitchen.
“I need to go and say my goodbyes to my family. I’ll meet you in the car?”
“Yeah, okay. And you are driving us back; I had a lot to drink,”
Yeah, Tory did. I only had one glass since we got here, and now I am having my second. I gulp it all down before I make my way to Thando’s room, where Anele has been, trying to convince her out of there. But anyway, no one cares about Thando. All these people care about is being in a billionaire’s mansion and taking pictures everywhere.
“May I come in?” I ask, peeping my head in.
“Sis, please tell her to come and enjoy her party with us,” Anele whines.
I sigh and smile at her.
“Squishy, unfortunately, I am here to say goodbye. I have to leave,” I caress her arm.
“So soon? Why don’t you sleep here?” She sadly asks.
“I brought a friend with me, and now I have to leave with him. Sorry, baby,”
She frowns and nods before she hugs me, squeezing the life out of me.
“I miss you so much. Will we ever live together again?” She asks, crying. “You were like the youngest mom to me, and I miss that,”
“Let her go, Anele. She never wanted to stay here in the first place,” Thando sneers, rudely.
“Thando, I see some things never change,”
“Because you are the reason that everything is happening! I hate you so much, Yolanda… I left because of you!”
I gasp in shock. How am I the reason for her to leave when I left this house first before she decided to experience life in New York?
“Don’t you dare blame me for things not going your way, Thando. I was not there with you in the States when things got f****d up for you,”
“Oh, God… I am going to call dad! I hate you two!” Squishy runs out of the room, crying.
“You see, Thando? Are you happy with yourself for making Anele cry? Poor child was really excited to have her sister back, but you just had to be a b***h and spoil this night for her. You couldn’t even pretend to be happy to see her?”
“You know nothing about me, do you understand? You know nothing!”
“I know well enough that you are selfish! You care about no one but yourself,” I shout. She gets off the floor and charges towards me with the aim of attacking me, but Daniel gets between us.
“STOP IT, RIGHT NOW!” He grumbles.
“She started it!” Both Thando and I say, but this only makes Daniel angry.
“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT! Yolanda, to your room, now!”
“I was just leaving,”
“I was not asking you. Just go to your room,” He shoots daggers at me. If looks could kill, I would have died the moment his eyes shot at me.
He is scary and looks dangerous. I cannot disobey that beast even when I want to.
I nod and head upstairs to what was once my bedroom and close the door behind me before I sit on the bed.
My tears immediately gush down my eyes when I remember Anele’s words. I can understand her anger and frustration for her to end up spitting the resentful words out of her mouth. I would be too.
This day was important to her as much as it was to Thando, yet we ruined it for her. I didn’t mean to, yet I was also tired of Thando’s bullying. I did not want to be here, but I came, hoping that things between Thando and I would change but she still resents me and determined to punish me for God knows what.
The door widely opens and Daniel walks inside the room, closing the door before he locks it.
“Thando has said enough. I don’t want to hear more from you,” I snort.
“I thought you already knew Thando. Why did you let her unleash what you are not?” He softly asks, and crouches in front of me.
“She hates me… your daughter just hates me,”
“No, of course not. She just feels intimidated by you, and looks up to you,”
I laugh and shake my head.
“Nice joke, Daniel. Intimidated by what? She is the whole social media influencer. Everyone loves her and her content, even I do, and I sometimes wish to be her,”
He laughs and holds my hand.
“You know, Thando lost her mother at a very young age. It has always been me, her, and Anele until I met your mother. She did not understand why I had to bring another woman home because according to her, we were doing great. To be honest, I needed help and I still do. Raising two girls as a man is hard, but I knew that I had to be there for them because I am all they have, so when I brought you and mom home, she felt like I was trying to replace her and Anele, but more importantly, she was overwhelmed by the mother’s love and care she received from mom. She does not hate you; she just does not know how to express how she feels. She remembers a lot about her mother, more especially the bad parts and I am only realising now how much my baby girl has been affected by her mother’s death,” He explains.
“What happened to their mother? Was she sick?” I ask.
“I will tell you about it one day when we move into our new house,” I quickly retract my hand from him.
“Daniel, not this again,” I growl.
“I miss you so much, Yolanda. Please give us a chance and let’s try and see how it goes,” He cups my face and wipes my tears with his thumbs.
“It’s wrong. What are people going to say?”
“I don’t give a f**k about them, baby girl. I give a f**k about you,”
“And your kids?”
“Why don’t we first talk about us, and then we will see the rest later?” He moves his face closer to me to kiss me on the lips. I let him and close my eyes. “Can we?” He whispers, towering me with his body.
“Daniel, you are still wearing your wedding band,”
“Then I will take it off tomorrow. It is stuck on my finger now, so I cannot take it off,”
He grabs my waist and carries me up. I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck and get face to face with him.
I cannot believe that I am actually doing this. To be honest, I had missed him too so much and all I could ever think about was him. I think I have fallen too deep for him and today is the day when I cannot resist him. I am ready for anything that daddy throws at me.
“Can we try?” He whispers.
I shyly drop my eyes and lick my lower lip.
“You promise that you will not hurt me or break my heart?” I question, not looking up at him.
“Only if you promise to behave, and never unleash that other side of you to anyone but me,” He squeezes my waist, causing me to flinch and look back up at him.
“Okay!” I exclaim, giggling.
“Things from now on will change. Are you ready for that?”
I nod, dropping my eyes again.
“That does not work with me, baby girl. I need to hear you speak and look at me. I am your man, and as my woman, I expect you to look at me when we talk,”
I shoot my eyes up at him and nod before I voice out.
“I am ready for us, but not for the world to know about us yet,”
“That’s alright, baby, that is okay. As long as I have you,”
He perches his lips on my mine before we both indulge in a kiss, a steamy kiss.
Two minutes later, my phone rings and I already know who it is.
“I need to go. Tory is waiting for me,”
“He can wait even longer. I still want to feel more of you.”
Yes! I don’t want to go too yet. I love this. There is no use denying it anymore. Kyle and I are over, me and Daniel are starting something together. I just hope that I do not regret it.
Aksara