The Bridesmaid's Lover. Tsire Mushoma

Zandi smiled back at her brother, then picked up the suit from the couch and went to her room.

      After she had changed, she hung both the dress and the suit in her closet. Looking at the suit, she could imagine her date in it, more handsome than ever. At the end of the day he would take off the jacket and look dashing in the white shirt. Zandi couldn’t help it, but she just had to imagine this irresistible man in her kitchen, cooking them dinner. But at that moment she heard Sizwe calling from the kitchen, asking about dinner, and so she was brought back to reality.

      There was no dashing man in her kitchen.

      Chapter 2

      2

      Zandi had worked as an economist for Modise & Associates since graduating from Wits University, and she still enjoyed her job as much as she did when she started there five years ago. Modise & Associates was a consulting firm which had been started by an old man everyone affectionately referred to as Modise. Although it was a small company, it had been in existence for over thirty years and employed people who had years of experience in the finance industry and were good at their jobs. Zandi had chosen to work for a smaller firm because she felt it would allow her to grow as an individual, while feeling appreciated as an important member of the team.

      She had started at Modise & Associates as an eager graduate, wanting to learn everything she needed to know in order to do her job well. It had been a wonderful opportunity to have Modise as her manager and mentor. Zandi always thought he was the most patient man she knew. She admired his wisdom and intelligence, and was grateful that he was always happy to share everything he knew about the business. She was aware that Modise had high expectations of her, and in turn she worked hard to prove to him just how committed she was to growing as an expert in her field of work.

      Before Sizwe came to stay with her at her flat in Fourways, a twelve-hour workday was standard for Zandi, especially after she broke up with Jeffrey. Spending most of the day at the office was the only thing that kept her from breaking every single thing in her flat; she was too exhausted by the time she got home at night. Eventually the anger had subsided and loneliness took its place. She hated coming back to an empty place after a long day at work. Although she and Jeffrey had not lived together, he had spent a lot of time at her flat and she had never known what it felt like to be alone.

      That was when she decided to ask her mother if her brother could come and stay with her. It was an arrangement that Zandi felt could benefit both him and her. She needed the company and Sizwe would be able to go to a better school in the city. Like him, she had also gone to school in Nongoma, a small village in KwaZulu-Natal. Siyaphakama High School, like most rural schools, didn’t have many facilities beyond tables and chairs. The teachers did their best with the little they had to work with, but Zandi still remembered how difficult it was for her when she started at Wits University. She had to work twice as hard just to have the same level of understanding of the work as the other students who had gone to schools in town. For that reason she felt things could be easier for Sizwe if he came to stay with her.

      Zandi thought her brother had settled in well at Fourways High. He had been more excited than nervous at the thought of starting at a new school in a completely different place. What worried Zandi was that her mother didn’t have any other children besides her and Sizwe and would now be left at home alone. Zandi believed it when her mom assured her that she could manage on her own, but still worried about her. On some days Zandi worried about her brother too. Although he had taken the move well, she had never lived with a teenage boy before and didn’t know how to look after one.

      Although Sizwe was well mannered and never caused any trouble, Zandi couldn’t help but worry about the influence the big city might have on a boy who’d spent all his life in a small village. Her mother had done a wonderful job of raising Sizwe and she didn’t want to undo the discipline instilled in him. There were times she felt overwhelmed, not knowing who his friends were or if he came straight home after school. Zandi dropped him off there on her way to work in the mornings, but he had to walk back to the flat in the afternoons.

      She supervised his homework and then felt guilty that maybe she was being too strict with him, remembering that teenagers didn’t like to feel as if they were being kept on a tight leash all the time. Even though mostly she felt she had no idea of what was required of her, Zandi definitely didn’t want to feel as if she wasn’t trying hard enough. Long hours spent at work became a thing of the past; she made sure she came back in time to have supper with her brother. If needed, she worked at home in the evenings, after seeing to it that Sizwe had done his schoolwork.

      Zandi was busy working on her laptop, happy that Sizwe had done his homework, when her house phone rang. She almost jumped; nobody phoned her at that time of the night, and she immediately thought of her mother alone in Nongoma.

      “Hello?” she answered cautiously.

      “Girl, what are you still doing up this late?”

      Zandi was relieved to hear it was Tondani on the phone. “What are you doing? You always go to bed at eight.” Tondani was the one person Zandi knew who could sleep the whole day and the whole night and not even complain of a headache on waking up.

      “Not tonight. Lutendo invited some of his friends over for dinner and they’ve just left. I can feel it’s long past my bedtime; I’m too old for late nights. But you didn’t answer my question.”

      “I’m working,” Zandi answered sheepishly. Tondani had made it clear that it wasn’t healthy for Zandi to pour herself into work the way she did after her break-up. Zandi had promised to take her friend’s advice and not take work home, but rather spend the evenings watching movies or reading a book that had nothing to do with the economy.

      “Goodness, Zandi; I’m going to talk to Modise about this. The man is capitalising on you being single by making you work all the time! Single people also need some rest.”

      “Modise has nothing to do with it; I choose to work.” Zandi really didn’t feel like arguing.

      “That’s the problem. Your boss is loafing and you’re doing all the work. Anyway, that’s not why I called. I’ve got exciting news – I just couldn’t wait until tomorrow to tell you! There’s this guy – he’s Lutendo’s friend and his name is Rhulani Mhinga. He joined us for breakfast once at the festival in Mafikeng last year.”

      Zandi remembered the festival and she certainly remembered that she and Jeffrey had a lot of fun. But she definitely didn’t recall having breakfast with a friend of Lutendo’s. “No, I don’t think I met him. Anyway, I only had eyes for Jeffrey back then.”

      “It’s good to know that you weren’t busy ogling some other guy.”

      “As if that mattered to Jeffrey.” Zandi could feel the sad thoughts fighting to come to the surface. She had managed to keep them buried since the time she broke down in front of Neo and Tondani, and she didn’t feel like crying herself to sleep tonight. So she quickly focused her thoughts on the cultural dances and other things she had seen and enjoyed at the festival.

      “Why are we even talking about Jeffrey? So this Rhulani asked about you and was very interested when he heard that you were now single. He wants to meet you so bad that he tried to bribe me.” Tondani lowered her voice to a whisper. “I accepted the bribe, so you can’t say no.”

      “What? You just went ahead and told him that your single friend was desperate to find a boyfriend?”

      “Not really; I simply mentioned it while everyone was still seated at the table. Just kidding, you know I have a way of putting things way nicer than that. The point is, he’s dying to meet you, so it’s up to you if you want to save the guy’s life or not.”

      “Okay, did you give him my number?” Zandi knew the answer to the question even before hearing it. She was getting nervous just thinking about what Tondani had already told this guy about her.

      “I did, and I made a reservation for dinner tomorrow evening.”

      “What?”

      “Tomorrow