Backstabbing traitors

Thandi and Amahle were standing outside the court waiting for S’bu to come out with Sipho when Cindy and Tsepo approached them.

“Thandi” Tsepo said coming to hug her.

“I don’t think you should do that, your wife is not comfortable with me around you”Thandi said avoiding Tsepo’s hug.

“Seriously!” Tsepo exclaimed, giving Cindy a cold look.

“I’m sorry, I believed Jane and said mean things to Thandi” Cindy said, ashamed.

“She is the only person that believed you when you were accused of being a blackmailer and you couldn’t return that favour” Tsepo said, disappointed.

“It’s okay, the one thing I should thank Pretty for is showing me that I had no family and no friends” Thandi said.

“That is not true my child” a familiar voice said behind her.

“Dad!” Thandi exclaimed, hugging Mr J.

“I am sorry you suffered in the hands of our family. I am sorry I was not around to protect you” he said. Thandi could not hold back her tears anymore. She was soon sobbing. Mr J was like the Father she never had and she was sure that she would not have suffered so much had he been around. The past eight months had been so hard especially because she had no parent to support her. Her Mother and Mrs J had forsaken her. S’bu had just walked out of the court with Sipho and Menzi when he saw Thandi sobbing..

“Let’s go home and fix this as a family” Mr J said when Thandi finally stopped crying.

“I have no home and I have no family” Thandi said, tears rolling down her cheeks again.

“You will always have a home and family, as long as I alive. Tell me what you need” Mr J said kindly.

“I need a place to stay until the divorce is finalised” she said, wiping her tears away.

“I have just the perfect place for you, I will take you there” he said. Mr J took Sipho from S’bu and asked him to take Mrs J home as he was taking Thandi and the children to their new home.

“How I wish I could turn back the time” S’bu told Menzi, watching Thandi and his children leave with Mr J.

“I believe that the two of you have a rare connection. You will have your family back” Menzi reassured him.

“How are you so forgiving after everything I did to you?” S’bu asked.

“There’s a reason they kidnapped Mr J and chose me and Thandi to get to you” Menzi said.

“You were my support structures, I trusted you the most and you kept me sane. Your betrayal hurt the most and the anger I had completely blinded me from the truth. If they accused Thandi of cheating on me, you would have been the one to tell me how absurd that was. If they framed you and left Thandi alone, she would have been the one to show me the truth. To succeed they had to completely separate me from the the three of you” S’bu said.

“Exactly!” exclaimed Menzi. “They did their homework. I honestly don’t know of any man who would have survived this without falling into their trap.”

Mr J took Thandi, Amahle and Sipho to one of his properties in an upmarket estate. They were welcomed by June, a friendly caretaker who has been looking after the house for the past two years. June was a daughter of a distant cousin of Mr J’s from his Mother’s side of the family. She was doing a correspondence teacher’s degree while working as a caretaker for Mr J. Thandi took immediate liking to June. Not only was she respectful and hardworking, Thandi soon realised that June was very smart and focused. She used the money she earned to pay for her university fees and support her family back in a village.

S’bu came to the house everyday but never got a chance to speak to Thandi. She made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. S’bu was to arrange with June whenever he wanted to see Sipho and Amahle. Sipho was always looking forward to being with his Father and would sometimes leave with S’bu for days. Sipho would come back with different expensive toys every time and was spoiled rotten by his Father. Amahle on the other side refused to even speak to her Father. Each time S’bu tried to speak to her, Amahle would remind him that she kicked them out of the their home to make his concubine happy.

The Dlamini’s and the Jobe’s had tried to reach out but Thandi wanted nothing to do with them. She refused to attend the ceremony to welcome them back to the families. The only person she would speak to was Mr J who came to check on them frequently. Thandi’s life had become much better. She could go out without having to run away from journalists. Amahle would be going to the university soon as she was accepted to do Quantum physics. Thandi was spending as much time with her as she could before her departure. They were spotted a multiple times at their favourite ice cream shop giggling and having a great time. Seeing them so happy without him hurt S’bu a lot. He missed the times when they use to drag him along to that ice cream shop. He just needed time alone with Thandi but she wanted nothing to do with him. He hardly saw her when he came to spend time with Sipho and missed her a lot.

Mr and Mrs J, Mandy, Bonga and S’bu were meeting at the Jobe home to celebrate Mrs J’s birthday. S’bu already knew what everyone wanted to know from him and wished he had a better answer for them this time.

“S’busiso, what are you doing with your family?” Mr J asked. “It’s the first time since you got married that we don’t have them around for your Mother’s birthday.” he added.

“I don’t know where to start Dad, Thandi refuses to talk to me, I don’t even get to see her” S’bu confessed.

“Do you blame her for that? You betrayed, humiliated her and now you refuse to grant her the divorce. Do you expect her to want to talk to you?” Mr J asked sharply.

“Honey, don’t be so hard on S’bu, he is trying his best” Mrs J said.

“It can’t be easy on him Dad, I also can’t get Thandi to talk to me” Mandi said agreeing with her Mother.

“She does not seem to listen to anyone these days, she won’t even talk to her own Mother. Antie has been devastated” Bonga said.

“This is why everything became a mess” Mr J shouted. “You all knew Thandi well but you believed all that filth about her. You, my wife had known Thandi as a little girl but it was so easy for you to let people in our family persecute her. In my absence, you were the only person who could have stopped it but instead you welcomed that witch. You, he said looking at Mandy, were her best friend. You were literally lost before you met her. She helped you turn your life around. Out of everyone, you knew her the best but you betrayed her. You, Bonga, you are her cousin. You grew up with her. You knew first hand how she was raised up and how she behaved from a young age but still you betrayed her. You three are as responsible for destroying this family as S’bu is. You should not be surprised at all that she wants nothing to do with you. Who wants to be around a group of backstabbing traitors?”

Everyone in the room looked down avoiding Mr J’s eyes. They were ashamed for everything that happened but did not know how to fix things.

“Please help me Dad, I don’t know how to fix this” S’bu asked sincerely.

“Take a walk with me” Mr J said calming down.