Can’t live without her

The following day, Thandi went to see S’bu in his office. The JC staff were exceptionally friendly to her. It was well known that S’bu had transferred everything to her, including JC. It was also common knowledge that the judge had to authorise their salaries until the divorce process was completed. This meant that Thandi had the authority to hire and suspend anyone and might be responsible for signing off their salaries in the future. When Thandi reached the CEO’s floor, Sbu’s PA’s did not try to stop her. They were so friendly, they even offered her coffee.

“MaDlamini, it is great to see you” S’bu said lovingly.

“Don’t try to flatter me”she said sternly.

“I am just happy to see you”he said charmingly.

“I have made my decision about the research. I will come back to JC with the sponsor provided you sign the divorce papers”she said.

“No”he said.

“You have not even looked at the contract, it’s fine if you want to think about it”she said.

“There’s nothing to think about, you are more important to me than that sponsor. I will be a fool to let you go”he said with a husky voice.

“Refusing to sign divorce papers does not mean you still have me. You lost me eight months ago”she said cheekily.

“I will spend the rest of my life trying to get you back but I’m never signing those papers” he said adamantly. Thandi took a deep breath, it was pointless talking to S’bu when he had made up his mind about something. “I need you stop filling Amahle with this lovely dovey nonsense. She has exams coming up and I don’t want her getting distracted or thinking she needs a boyfriend.”

“Why would she think she needs a boyfriend?” S’bu asked.

“Because you showed her the bracelet I made you when I was 17 years old, now she wants me to teach her to make one and you told her about the first time we were together. She thinks it’s all romantic”Thandi said, throwing her hands in the air.

“And you don’t?” he asked coming closer to her.

“That’s not the point” she said, moving away from him.

“What is the point?” he asked moving closer to her again until there was no space between them.

“She’s not supposed to have a boyfriend until she is at least 21 years old, how do I enforce that without sounding like a hypocrite?” she asked.

“Oh, no, she can’t find out that by the time you were 19 years you couldn’t keep your hands off me, you even begged me to break you virginity” he said teasing her.

“S’busiso!” she exclaimed, blushing.

Before Thandi knew it, S’bu was kissing her and she had instinctively kissed him back. Familiarity and many years together made it all feel so natural and so normal. Soon they were both breathless.

“No, this is not happening”Thandi said, breaking the kiss, pushing him away and leaving the office.S’bu was left in his office smiling. “Dad was right, our children will lead me back to your heart”he said with a grin.

Thandi left JC as fast as she could. “I should not have come here” she told herself. “Since when am I blushing again when he says something? Since when am I kissing him back” she asked, irritated with herself. She was driving home distracted, thinking about what to do next. She knew S’bu well enough to know that he was never going to sign the divorce papers, she had to decide what to do next. She could not stay at home forever, she had research to complete and needed to decide which company to go with. Staying at JC would be much easier as she was used to the laboratory there and even though she was not talking to Mandy, it was still fair to complete the project with her since they started it together. The only problem was being in the same building with S’bu.

She was still in deep thoughts when she heard a huge bang then her car veered off the road and rolled down the hill.

S’bu was walking to the boardroom for a meeting when he received a distressed call from his cousin who is a paramedic. A truck had a problem with brakes and collided with Thandi’s car, knocking it off the road and down the hill. He dropped everything he was holding on the floor and rushed to the accident scene. When he arrived, traffic police vehicles and ambulances were everywhere. The truck driver had a broken arm and was already loaded in one ambulance.

“Where’s my wife?” he asked from one paramedic.

The paramedic pointed down the hill, not knowing how to tell S’bu how critical Thandi’s situation was. S’bu looked down the hill and his heart sank. Thandi’s car was so badly damaged, it looked like a big ball of metal.

“Is my wife still there?” he asked.

“Yes Sir. The paramedics that went down could not get closer, there is fuel leak and the car might explode any minute now”one paramedic explained.

“Give me the ropes, let me go down”S’bu commanded.

“It’s too dangerous”Sir, the paramedic said shaking his head.

“I don’t care how dangerous it is, that is my wife in there, give me the ropes now”he shouted.

“Give him the ropes son, a voice said behind them” It was Mr J. He had received the same distress call and had arrived few minutes before S’bu. The paramedics gave in and gave S’bu the ropes to go down.

“If we don’t make it, please take care of our children Dad”S’bu said jumping down without waiting for Mr J’s response.

“Uncle why do you let him go down? it’s so dangerous and looking at that car the chances of her being alive are very slim” the paramedic asked Mr J. He was Mr J’s sister’s son. In his many years of experience as a paramedic, he had seen a lot of car accidents. This one was the worst he had seen. Thandi’s car was so damaged it was unrecognisable.

“He will never forgive himself if he does not go down”Mr J said.

The way down was not difficult at all for S’bu, thanks to his martial arts training. He ran towards the car as soon as his feet touched the ground. Thandi’s car was so badly damaged, we wondered if he would be able to get her out without assistance. He ignored the possibility that Thandi might have died already.

“Thandi” he shouted looking inside. The car was already on fire, with fuel spill all over the fire was spreading very fast. He shouted louder and louder but there was no response and he could not see anything in the wreck. The car suddenly rolled away from him and exploded.

“Noooo”he shouted in horror. “Thandi!” he shouted falling on his knees.

Above the hill everyone watched in horror, some unable to hold their tears. The heartbreaking sobs from S’bu down the hill could be heard from a distance. A group of paramedics climbed down the hill as soon as the smoke started clearing. They found S’bu still on his knees, sobbing.

“Cuz, we have to go now. The forensic department will take the car to their laboratory”the paramedic said softly.

“I cannot leave her, I can’t”S’bu said shaking his head, tears rolling down his face.

“She is gone Cuz, we to go”the paramedic said sympathetically.

“I can’t live without her, she is the love of my life and I betrayed her, now she’s gone”he whispered. Sbu’s cousin told the other paramedics to leave him and sat next to S’bu in silence. He could not think of anything to say to make S’bu feel better.