Triangle

Chapter 3: Suspicion

Today is Buhle's birthday, on a Monday afternoon. She had taken a day off to prepare for it and had invited her friends, Katlego, Lerato and Lindiwe to come and celebrate this day with her. Sbu has also invited his friends, Jabu and Tsepo. He didn’t want to get bored here as the only man in the house. They decided to set up outside on the beautiful green lawn next to the pool since it’s a warm afternoon anyways. Buhle decided to have nothing fancy but just have a nice table by the wall that has snacks, a beautiful cake and drinks, then, Sbu and his friends are working the braai meat. Ladies are sitting not far from the table while the gents are sitting across the pool next to the braai stand and have their own cooler box.
“So my friend, what did your husband get you for your birthday? It must have been difficult for him since you are choosy and have ridiculously high standards. I know because it was such a mission
even for me to know what to get you” Lerato asks Buhle aa she takes a sip of her drink, but the party girl just smiles and ignores the question as she sips her drinks.
“Yeah I also really struggled to know what to buy for this one, I didn’t even know what she didn’t have” Katlego says as she smiles at her friends. “oh come on you guys. You know very well that
when it comes to you, it’s the thought that counts. And I really appreciate the gifts you guys bought me. I
love you all” Buhle says as she blows kisses to her friends, who blow back at her as everyone laughs. “Well, Sbu bought me a few things but I can’t tell you guys right now okay?” she says as she takes a sip of her drinks looking across the pool where her husband is seated with his friends. “Well I hope that involves a spa treatment for you my friend because who’ve been working like a horse lately.
Thanks to your birthday you finally had a day off” Lerato says as she takes another sip.
This makes Buhle thinks, for a moment as she takes a look again at her husband across the pool. “You know guys, lately I don’t have time for my family. I’m hardly ever home, my daughter doesn’t get to see me a lot lately. I come home tired and all I want to do is sleep” she says as her face
changes to becoming a little serious but her friends don’t interrupt her.
“You know, last night I came home late and Sbu had cooked supper and helped Naledi with the homework. I was expecting us to start arguing about it but he was nice. We ate super together as a family which we haven’t done in a while. If I’m not the one who’s working late, it’s him who’s away with work. And this isn’t affecting my little girl” she is now having a worried face. But Lerato jumps in, “But darling, Naledi is his child as well so it’s not like he must get a reward for helping his child with homework or make dinner for his family. If you are working late must they starve with all the food in the house?” she says as she takes another sip. But Lindiwe and Katlego look at her as if to say what the hell is wrong with you? But it doesn’t look like Lerato cares as she continues to sip her drink.
“Look my friend, don’t you think you should take a break? I mean, take leave for at least a week so that you can spend time with your family a little bit? I mean, the last thing you want is for them to think you are neglecting them for a job, especially Naledi. She’s still a child, she doesn’t everything
like an adult would okay? So just think about that” Lindiwe says with a serious face.
Buhle looks across the pool one more time and thinks for a second. “I hear you friend, but the timing right now isn’t good for me to take leave. Things are a little hectic at work right now and they need my attention” she says with a low voice. But Lerato jumps in right there, “But I’m confused by one thing my friend” she says, to which Buhle give her attention.
“Why do you even work? I mean seriously… your husband is not just running a small company but a huge international company that provides services to top clients. I’m pretty sure he can afford to make a living for both of you” she says but before she could continue, Lindiwe jumps in, “Oh come on Lerato, not everyone wants to be a stay home mom or be dependent on another person for life. Why would she go to medical school if she will waste that in the kitchen?” she says with a smile in order to not offend her socialite friend. “Yeah, Lindi is right” Katlego says as she jumps in as well.
“Not everyone can be like you Lerato, you live off rich men, they do all the hustling and you only
bring your assistance ass on the table, hahaha” she bursts out laughing.
At first Lerato doesn’t look like she appreciates the joke as she looks at Katlego with a straight face but when everyone else starts laughing about it, she can’t help but join in too, “hahaha, you guys aren’t funny, you know that? Hahaha” she can’t believe her friends are making a joke about this. But this light moment vibe is killed as they see Grace coming through, going straight to Sbu.
They watch as she hugs him and his friends. The look on Buhle's eyes is indescribable as she looks on with disgust. She is enraged by seeing Grace with her husband, on her birthday no less. Grace takes out what looks like a file from her bag and gives it to Sbu, who once again in appreciation gives her another hug. “Well, your husband’s girlfriend has some nerve, I will tell you that much my friend” Lerato says as she shakes her head but Buhle gives her a look as if to say, this is not the time! “Are you seriously going to let her get away with this my friend?” Katlego jumps in as well but before Buhle could respond, Lindiwe cuts in, “Oh come on you guys. Grace is Sbu's PA it’s her job to show up whenever her boss calls her. Now please leave the poor girl alone. She probably didn’t choose to be here” she says, to which the girls keep quiet
***
“Thank you for bringing this file here as quickly as you could Grace, you are a life saver you know that?” Sbu says to his blushing PA as she smiles. “So you are not staying for the party?” Tsepo asks
as he takes a sip of his drink but he realizes that Sbu and Jabu are giving him a look as if to say Dude what are you doing now? So he keeps quiet.
“Oh no, this is Buhle's party. Plus, I was actually busy with something at home” Grace says looking at her boss Sbu, who looks embarrassed that he didn’t invite her. Not wanting to make things more awkward than they already are, Grace asks to leave. “Okay boss I will see you tomorrow. Please say 'Hi' to Naledi for me okay?” she says, but before Sbu could respond, they are interrupted by a scream “aunt Grace, aunt Grace…” it’s Naledi who comes running and Grace, in excitement picks her up and hugs her. “Hey sweetheart, how are you?” she says as she puts her down. “I got to run
darling okay? Be good to your parents okay” she says as she turns around to leave. She walks until she reaches the gate but as she opens it, she is once again stopped, this time by Buhle
“Grace, can I talk to you for a second?” Buhle says, fiercely. Grace reluctantly turns around and looks at her in the eyes. Suddenly this strong tension builds between them. Buhle’s eyes are filled with
rage but Grace’s eyes are hard to read as there’s a stare down between them. Grace is not willing to start a small talk; she was stopped on her way out anyways.
“Grace, what are you doing here? Exactly what do you want with my family. Are you trying to be Mrs Ndimande now huh, is that what you are trying to do?” Buhle says with anger but Grace keeps quiet while looking at her in the eyes. “Now you are trying to play mommy with my daughter huh? You come here, pretending to bring in some work but you are actually here for my husband right? Oh so you thought he will ask you to stay for lunch huh? Well forget it bitch, this is my home okay?” Buhle says as she continues to lash to a very calm Grace. She turns around to open the gate but Buhle grabs her by the arm. Now she has gone too far, Grace thinks to herself. “Listen here Buhle, I’m really tired of being bullied by you okay?” she says as she pulls away from the grip.
“Why don’t you direct that anger or insecurities to your husband okay? Why are you blaming me for this? Did I force your husband to hire me? If you have a problem with me working for him, why
don’t you tell him to fire me then, huh?” she says coming closer to Buhle’s face but she takes a step back to avoid collision.
“Oh so what, you slept with him and then he hired you, huh? Is that how you do things? You sleep around with your bosses in order to get ahead, you are that type huh?” Buhle raises her voice now. “Listen here Buhle, you seriously need to work on your insecurities okay because for a doctor, this makes you very pathetic…” Grace fires one back but as soon as she says that, Buhle slaps her so hard that she bumps her head against the gate, which causes a cut on the side of her right eye. In a flash, Sbu was there by the gate to see what’s going on there. Now everyone is standing up and watching this little drama from a distance. Sbu comes close and sees that Grace is now bleeding. “What the hell is going on here?” he shouts while looking at his wife who looks away as she feels a little embarrassed about this. She probably didn’t mean for things to get out of hand like this. Sbu gives Grace something to wipe the blood off as he looks at his wife with furious eyes. “Look, I’m sorry about this Grace. Please let me take you home okay?” he says as he looks at his friends who are standing far.
“No, no, no please I will go by myself. I’m okay, now let go please” Grace says angrily. But Tsepo comes flying to the scene, “No, look Grace you are not okay so please let me take you. That cut is deep so I will have to stitch it up. I know how. Please let me help okay?” he says looking at his friend Sbu who looks furious at his wife, who now wishes the earth can swallow her, the way she’s so
embarrassed by this whole thing. “okay fine” Grace says while holding the side of her eye as she gives Buhle a very sharp look of condemnation. As she and Tsepo attempt to leave, Buhle stops them, “Wait please. I can take care of that wound plus I have the first aid kit here in the house.
Please don’t leave” she begs with a regretful voice but Grace takes a look at her and ignores as she walks out of the gate with Tsetpo following her.
“Are you out of your mind? What’s wrong with you Buhle? Huh? What’s wrong with you? Why did you hit Grace like that?” Sbu shouts at his wife. He is furious. Buhle looks down, remorseful and
embarrassed, “I didn’t mean to hit her like that okay? I was upset okay. I was upset that you brought her here into my house. What did you expect me to do?” she says as her eyes are teary.
But those words just make Sbu so angry, “Are you even listening to yourself Buhle?” he shouts. “You hit her because she came here to bring me work? She is my PA for Christ’s sake, how is this any of her fault? I called her here damnit. She didn’t even stay for over 15 Min and she was on her way out when you did something stupid by attacking her. She even refused to stay when Tsepo asked her to. So what do you do? You go on and hit her like that?” his voice is only getting higher and everyone now is looking at the two of them and it doesn’t even look like these two are noticing that. They haven’t from the gate and their friends are still standing by where they were seated but just looking at this drama.
“But I don’t understand why you had to bring her here Sbu” Buhle says as she wipes her tears. “You know how I feel about your little girlfriend. I told you to fire her a long time ago but what did you do?” her voice is also getting raised a bit. But, lost for words, Sbu shakes his head in shock and that doesn’t please his wife at all.

“Don’t do that okay?” she says, “Don’t act like I’m some kind of a crazy wife. You bring your PA here and expect me to be happy about it? Would it be okay if I brought a male colleague from work here, huh?” she is now shouting but Sbu cuts her off, “Do you know what this PA does?” he shouts back.
“When you forget to fetch your child from school, she’s the one who does that. When you come home late she’s the one that helps Naledi with homework and prepares her something to eat if I’m also not there. And that’s not even her freaking job. She does it because she’s a good person not because she is sleeping with me or trying to replace you. You should be great full that she covers for your absence so that your daughter won’t notice that she has an absentee mother” as he leaves his wife standing there by the gate.
Those words cut deep in Buhle’s as tears fall all over again. This time she isn’t upset but she is hurt by what her husband just said, calling her an absentee mother. She stands there for a moment facing the outside of the gate. When she turns around she realizes that her friends are standing there by
the table looking at her. She is so embarrassed. She then walks right passed them and gets into the house but they follow her inside. Sbu is left outside with his friend Jabu.
***
Somewhere else, Bheki is having a phone call with Tendai. These two have been business partners for a long time. They have often been accused in some quarters as having a corrupt relationship and are not the type of people you really want to mess with. Tendai is a finance MEC and Bheki is a Direct General in one of government department. Both men are well connected.
“So you say this Tsego Rabadi was asking about our deals?” Tendai asks from the other end of the line with a voice that sounds concerned. “yeah man, that’s what he asked about and he sounds like he really know what he’s talking about?” Bheki says, sounding stressed about this as well. “He said they will be airing the story this week, so he was giving me the right to reply” as he breathes a sigh.
“And what did you say? You denied the rumours right?” Tendai asks curiously to which Bheki takes a
moment to think before saying, “No, I told him to get lost” this almost get Tendai to fall off the chair from the other end of the line, “What the hell did you say to him? Are you crazy?” he shouts. “What’s wrong with you? So you want him to report that on the news?” Tendai is panicking.
“Hey look, I couldn’t just say that it wasn’t true, without knowing where he gets his information from. What you and I need to do is to find out what this journalist knows, who’s he’s been talking
to? Then we’ll know what we are dealing with. Denialism becomes a problem when the story turns out to be true because no one believes you after that” Bheki says as he is trying to calm his friend down.
“Listen, we don’t have time to check how this guy gets this info. You said they will air this story this week, right? So when are we going to get that information?” Tendai asks but Bheki can’t answer
that question as he keeps quiet. “Look, whatever happens, we can’t let that story run in the media, is that clear Khuzwayo?” Tendai says authoritatively. “oh okay so how are going to do that?” Bheki asks curiously but that seems to rub Tendai the wrong way as he says, “Come on man, use your
imagination okay?” but Bheki thinks for a second and start to realize where his business partner is going with this. “Oh no Tendai we are not going to freaking kill the guy, are we?” he asks in shock.
“Listen here…how are you going to stop the story from being in the media by the end of the week?
Do you have a solid plan?” Tendai asks firmly but Bheki thinks for a second. “Look I’m not even in
the country okay, so this isn’t possible in this time frame” he says as he panics. “Okay then leave this to me okay? Because I’m not about to have my name all over the media this week, you hear me?” Tendai says as he drops the phone.