Most wanted

S’bu and Mr J were walking in the garden.

“Listen son, I know you are sorry and you want to fix things. These are my suggestions. You have to publicly apologise because you publicly hurt and humiliated her. You need to fix what you destroyed starting with her home you burnt down in the village. Thandi was never interested in your money, transferring everything you own in her name will not win you any points. You will get to her by focusing on what she loves the most, that’s Sipho and Amahle. I know that you and Sipho are now inseparable. Now you have to win Amahle over as well. If you succeed, you will have your wife back” Mr J explained.

“I have started building the house in the village, I am doing my best to make sure that it is exactly the way it was. It should be completed soon” S’bu said. “Amahle hates me, I can see it in her eyes. I don’t know how to win her over” he added.

“Amahle is as stubborn as her Father” Mr J said smiling. “She is very loyal to Thandi but we both know that she has always longed for a normal family. Her normal family includes you. All you need to do is show her that you are sorry and prove that you love her Mother more than anything.”

S’bu listened to his Father and started feeling hopeful. Thandi loved Amahle and Sipho so much that she would give up anything for them.

“Thank you Dad and I’m sorry I let you down” he said.

“We all make mistakes son, what’s important now is that you take responsibility and ensure this never happens again”Mr J said patting Sbu’s back. The following day, S’bu informed Thandi that he will be fetching Amahle from school. Amahle was not impressed when she found her Father waiting for her at the school gate.

“Mom will be coming for me, thank you” she said walking away.

“I told her that I’m fetching you”S’bu said.

“Why can’t you just leave us alone?”she snapped, getting in the car and banging the door.

“I can’t, because you are my life”he said softly.

“Not so long ago, you didn’t care”she said angrily.

“I love all of you very much. I love your Mother so much that I was so hurt when I thought that she cheated on me. I was blinded by jealousy. If I could take it all back, I would” he said sincerely.

“You hurt her and you deserted us!”she shouted, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I was wrong, I am so sorry” he said softly.

“Can you take me home now?” she asked wiping her tears away.

S’bu started the car and took Amahle home. He knew that he had a lot to make up for but at least he managed to speak to Amahle today.

That afternoon, JC was all over the news. Their employees were on strike because their salaries were not authorised and they did not get paid. Since S’bu transferred everything to Thandi, she was now required to sign off everyone’s salary but she was not having it.

“I never asked S’bu to transfer everything to me, he should reverse it because I don’t want it” she told her lawyer.

“S’bu refuses to take everything back” the lawyer informed her.

“Then no one will be paid and the company will collapse. I refused to be cornered, I am not doing it” Thandi said stubbornly.

By the end of the week, it was clear to S’bu that Thandi had no intention of authorising JC employee’s salaries and wanted to reverse the transfer but Zake advised against it.

“Thandi is not opposing shared custody of the children anymore, the only thing delaying the divorce case now is that you transferred everything under her name and she is strongly against that. If you reverse it, the mediation is done and we have to go back to court. If we go to court she will be granted the divorce, but if you leave it as it is, we can delay the process until you two make up” Zake said.

“What do I do about the employee’s salaries?” S’bu asked concerned. He did not want to divorce his wife but he also did not want JC employees to suffer.

“How about we take it to court and suggest that the judge authorises the payments of salaries until everything is sorted” Zake suggested.

“I’m happy with that” S’bu said relieved.

Zake managed to convince the Judge that both Thandi and S’bu had no intention of authorising the payments as they both wanted nothing to do with the money. The judge had no choice but authorise the current and future payments until mediation process was completed.

Day after day S’bu offered to pick up Amahle from school. Their relationship was getting better each day and Amahle was no longer bringing up Jane as often as she used to. S’bu took out a beaded bracelet. “Do you know what this is?” he asked.

Amahle shook her head.

“This is a Zulu love letter your Mother gave me long time ago”he said.

“It’s pretty, what does it say?” Amahle asked curious.

S’bu explained patiently to his daughter what the shapes and colours meant.

“That’s amazing and romantic!” exclaimed Amahle.

“It is, I wore it everyday for six months” he said.

“No you didn’t” she said laughing.

“I promise you, I did. I was so in love with her, I never wanted to take it off and I told everyone about it” he said, laughing as well.

Amahle took the bracelet and looked at it. “How old was Mom when she gave you this?” she asked.

“She was 17 years old. I have been crazy about her since the first time we met. It is the reason why my enemies always targeted her to get to me” he said.

Amahle looked at how sad her Father had become and was starting to feel sorry for him. Thandi was starting to enjoy the peace again. The news about all the Jobe wealth being under her name had been all over during the time the JC employees were on strike. Now that the judge had signed and employees were payed, the journalists had stopped bugging her and she could go out again. She decided to take Amahle shopping. Besides everyone staring at them, something they had gotten used to, it was a good day. They decided to go pass their favourite ice cream shop on their way home. The waitress had just left to prepare their ice cream when they were suddenly surrounded by journalists.

“Mrs Jobe, you have just become the most wanted women in the country, what do you feel about that?” one journalists asked.

“Have you decided which company you will be working with?” another one asked.

Thandi held Amahle’s hand and looked around but there was no where to run. They were surrounded and she had no idea what they were all talking about. “I am afraid I have no idea what this is about”Thandi said, looking at them.

“The American company that funded your research has announced that since you resigned from JC, it is pulling off the 50 billion dollars sponsor and will fund whichever company you decide to work with”one journalists explained.

“Have you decided which company you will be working with?” another one asked.

Thandi sat down on the chair defeated, it seems her life was never going to be peaceful. This was a huge amount of money and if this was true, every company will be bugging her until she makes her decision. Amahle saw Thandi sitting down worried and became furious. “Not so long ago, you were all hunting her down calling her a gold digger and all sorts of names. Now it’s about her wealth and sponsors. None of you have even acknowledged how wrong you were and you feel so entitled to disrupt our lives so you can write your stories. Just leave us the hell alone!”Amahle shouted.

Few journalists were touched by Amahle’s words and moved away but most remained and kept asking Thandi questions.

“I am pretty sure that if my wife wanted to talk to you, she would invite you for a press conference and it would definitely not be in an ice cream shop”S’bu said, taking Thandi and Amahle away.