DANIEL
It has been a quiet drive, and at every chance I got, I would look at Yolanda, who is quietly sitting in the backseat, looking outside the window as if she is thinking about something. I cannot believe that she still has not changed her mind about going to her father’s place.
That i***t!
I found out that he had given up his life to alcohol. How irresponsible of him! Did he f*****g forget that he has a daughter who needs him? How disappointing of him not to even show up at his ex-wife’s funeral and be there for his daughter.
“Baby girl, are you sure that you want to go to your father’s place?” I ask as I turn down the volume of the soft music that was playing. I stop the car on the side of the road and turn to look at her.
She raises her head at me and nods her head slowly.
I had bought flowers and a sweet treat hamper filled with all kinds of sweets for her. It I really hard to think of a birthday gift for an eighteen-year-old, so I decided to add the latest expensive Samsung smartphone and a smartwatch, not forgetting a white mini plush dog. I thought she would have seen them already, but they are sitting right in the front passenger seat. I take the flowers and hand them to her. She gasps, accepting them, and asks,
“Are they for me?” She sounds so nervous.
“Yes…” I clear my throat. “I mean, happy eighteenth birthday, Yolanda,” I take the rest of the things I bought for her and give them to her.
I notice a little curve on her lips before she thanks me.
“A new phone too?” She asks, sounding surprised. “I really did not mind my Samsung J7, daddy,”
“That phone is too outdated. Your mother and I had planned to get you a new phone for your birthday,”
“Thando won’t like it,” She really isn’t going to like it, but Thando is too spoiled. Just a few months ago I bought her an iPhone 13 Pro Max, and now she wants a 14 Pro Max? I don’t mind getting it for her, but this is the time I need her to focus on her books more. She spends a lot of time on her phone which I am even thinking of confiscating.
“I know, but you should not worry about her, okay?” She nods.
“Daddy, please take me to mom?”
***
I was a bit hesitant about taking Yolanda to her mom’s grave. Mary’s death really pains me, but I am not one to easily show emotions. I am a man with so much pride, so while Yolanda spoke to her mom, I just stood there, watched, and listened to her.
Guilt engulfed me. Firstly, I feel so responsible for Mary’s death, and secondly, my feelings for her daughter are getting stronger. I am just not sure if they are only coming out now because Mary is gone, but I am falling deeper for Yolanda. What would Yolanda even think of me if I had told her that I am falling for her?
We are now in the driveway at her father’s place. It does not look like anyone is home, so I help her with her things to the front door. I wanted to tell her about her drunkard father, but I did not want to seem like I am stopping her from being with her father.
She unlocks the door with the code and opens the door. No one is home, and I hate that she is going to have to spend her birthday like this.
“Are you sure that you want to be here, Yolanda?”
“Yes, daddy… I will be fine; this was once my home before my parents got divorced and mom and I moved to a new house, then later we moved into your house. Your house will always be my home and I will always visit, especially for Anele,” She says, smiling happily.
“Call me if you need anything, okay? Even if I am at work, or three in the morning, I will always pick up my phone when you call, okay,”
Just when I did not expect it, she throws herself on me and wraps her hands around my waist.
“Thank you, daddy,”
Diffidently, I also envelope her in my big body and kiss the top of her head.
***
I am at the warehouse with my pack, counting the money from a heist last night. It should be over twelve million Rand. The exciting part about this heist is that I was there, and I know that the police know that it was the Alpha and his wolf pack. We are like ghosts; they never see us coming but I always leave my signature for them to know that the King has just passed by.
After a crime, I always leave a black card consisting of a King of black spades. I have many of them packed, only King of black spade cards, and the back of it is designed with a black wolf with red eyes. No one in my pack got hurt, but shame, the poor men that were moving and guarding the money in the fidelity trucks were hurt terribly, and unfortunately, three died.
“Alpha, we are done counting the money. It is over thirteen million Rand,” Capo says.
“Separate the ten million from the three million and set it on one side. You can share the rest of it,” I order. You see, I have my days, but I can be nice too.
They have been counting the money for hours, but had we not had the machine for it, it would have taken over a day.
My tiredness is tired, so I leave everything to Capo and go to my office. It has been a day with the children’s fun day. If it was not for my wife, I would have not gone there. It is just after seven in the evening, and I check my phone to see if Yolanda has called or sent me any messages, but I don’t find anything.
I decide to call Thando and tell her not to wait for me and keep the doors locked because I will be late. She tells me that Anele has been brooding all day because of Yolanda who left her. If I could, I would take her to visit her, but the thought of my pumpkin in that man’s house makes my blood crawl. I still hate it that Yolanda is there. I know that it is her father, but he drinks a lot lately, so I am worried.
***
YOLANDA
I was sleeping on the couch as the rain started pouring in. I looked at the time and I noticed it is just after eight in the evening, so I got up to close the curtains and turn on the light. I sigh in sadness when I realise that my father is not yet back. I am now hungry, so I head to the kitchen to check if there could be anything to eat, but besides leftovers, the only dominant thing in the fridge is a quart of Heinekens in the fridge.
Is my father going to have a party or something? Why is there so much alcohol in the fridge? My stepdad had sent me money, so I decided to order some meals from KFC, enough for both my dad and me when he gets back. Where could he have gone to?
It is my birthday today – my eighteenth birthday. Does it not mean anything to him? He had never missed any of my birthdays before. This has got to be one of the worst birthdays I have ever experienced. I wish my mother was here; she would have baked a special cake for me and told me how much she loves me. I miss my mom so much.
As my tears roll out, I hear loud noises from the front door, and it is my father and some woman, getting inside the house. Wait, did they bring the whole tavern here because it surely does smell like one?
Are they drunk?
“Papa?” I call out, standing in the foyer. I don’t know who the woman is, but I don’t like how she is clinging to my father as if I will snatch him from her.
This is my father!
“Yolanda, what are you doing here?” My dad asks, looking surprised.
“I said I will come; I texted you,”
“I must have missed the text,” He then burps. He cannot even stand still; that is how drunk he is. What the hell was he drinking? “Or did you perhaps see the text, sweetie?” He asks the woman.
“No, darling,” She responds.
“Papa, it’s my birthday today; did you forget?”
“Birthday? I love birthdays. Let us call our friends and celebrate, baby,” The woman interjects, and my dad is standing there, dumbfounded. I want to cry so bad. This is just the worst day of my life.
The woman lets go of my dad and takes out her phone before she walks away from us.
“Happy birthday, then. How old are you again, twenty-one?”
Really? Is he that drunk to even forget about my age?
“Eighteen, papa,” I cannot even keep my tears anymore, I finally let them out.
“Oh, yes… oh, don’t worry, our friends will be here to celebrate your birthday. We have a lot of alcohol in the fridge, go and take one and enjoy yourself. You can finally drink, isn’t that great?”
What happened to my dad? I don’t like the man I am seeing right now; he can’t be my dad.
***
I locked myself in my bedroom, crying. When the delivery man arrived to deliver my food, my dad’s friends were already here and they took everything and ate it up, not leaving anything for me. I am glad I did not unpack because I want to leave.
I grab my phone and call my father.
"Yolanda, is everything okay?" He asks instantly as he answered as if he was waiting for me to call.
"Daddy, I need you to come and fetch me. I cannot sleep here!"
There is so much noise and so many drunkards in the house. I am scared for my life. What if one of the men decides to come to my room and do something to me? My father is too drunk to even remember that I am here, so he would not be much help. My mother must be turning in her grave, seeing that the house she once called home for me is turned into a brothel. Is this the reason why they got divorced?
"Where are you?" My stepfather asks, and I can hear some shuffles through the phone, and I know that he is on his way.
"In my bedroom, daddy. Please hurry,"
"I'll be there in less than twenty minutes. Did something happen to you?" He asks, just to make sure that I am okay.
"It is my dad... he..." I cry out.
"It's okay, stay in your room, baby girl. I am on my way."
I trust he is.
I don't get how it is my birthday, yet the people who are enjoying it are in the dining room, drinking their souls out, and I am here, crying and hungry. When I return home, Thando is going to have a field day about me. I did not take all my things, but I am certain that she has already made herself comfortable in my bedroom.
Before I left, she wished me a genuine happy birthday and hugged me. For the first time, she was genuinely nice to me but that was for her own purposes. As she hugged me, she whispered in my ear,
"I will not miss you". Oh well, some things were too good to be true, hey. She was not celebrating my birthday but that I was leaving. Shame, only if she knew.
Aksara