Few weeks have passed and Katlego had finally given birth. After DNA tests were done, today is the day to find out who the father of Katlego's baby is. There's strong tension in the doctor's office where, Katlego, Jabu and Sbu await the results from the doctor. No one seems to know what to say to another.
For Katli, this whole situation is embarrassing and if she could, she'd turn the sands of time. Nothing can be more awkward than looking at these two gentlemen in front of her who also happen to be
best friend, and think that one of them is the father of her child. All she wants now is to get all this behind her and start a new life far away in Cape Town. As for Jabu this is just as nervy as he's really hoping that the baby is his. He's always wanted to be a father and has always wished for a stable relationship, but he's no longer sure if Katlego would be the right woman for him since she's been involved with his best friend. Ever since he found out that he could be the father he's had thoughts
of how things could be.
Sbu on the other hand; his nerves are a mixture of many things, understanably so. If this turns out to be his baby, it could possibly mean the end of his marriage with the woman he trully loves. But over the past couple of months he had accepted the idea that there are chances the baby is his and had learnt to accept that. Just like his friend Jabu he has had moments where he thought about how things would be like if he was a father again. But the real question now is, will the two best friends remains friends after all this?
As the three are in deep thought, the silence in the room is broken when the doctor comes through the door. Suddenly anxiety weighs on everyone as they look at each other. Nevervous anticipation and anxiousness is visible to everyone. They all wish the doctor could get this over and done with.
"Uhmm, I'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting" the doctor says as she comes in to sit down on her desk. "I know everyone is anxious about this moment and so you should. But the moment of truth has come, the results have come back from the lab" as she opens the envelop and pulls out papers.
At that very moment everyone's heart starts to race in anticipation. The results on that piece of paper is more than likely to change the lives of atleast a two of them. The doctor can see the anxiety in the room as she continues to read what's written in the piece of paper. She then leans foward on her a chair a little bit and looks at the three people.
"Here we go" the doctor says as she takes a pick at the three. "The results show there's 99% chance that Jabu is the father of Katlego's baby" she says as she looks for reaction on all three. You'd swear they didn't hear her as the room goes quiet. No one seems to know what to say at this very moment.
"Uhmm, are you sure doctor?" Jabu says as he looks shocked himself. He can't bring himself to look at his friend Sbu who looks like a staue in that chair. It is hard to read what he is thinking in this very moment. "Yes, we did the tests three times. You are the father" the doctor responds with a smile on her face which Jabu returns albeit with a nervous one. Katlego doesn't really know how to react to all this as much as she can't even look at Sbu's not knowing what he's feeling right now. In fact, she doesn't even know how Jabu feels himself. So she sits there with her mind all over the place.
At that moment, Sbu stands up and looks at Jabu, "Congratulations man" he says as he extends a hand to his friend. This is not what Jabu expected as he also stands up and looks at his friend's
extended hand. Instead of shaking it he invites Sbu for a hug, to which he accepts as they embrace.
"Okay let me give you guys some time to talk amongst yourselves" the doctors says as she leaves the room. They wait for her to close the door behind her before Sbu says, "Look guys, I know you'd also want to have a moment alone to discuss this further but can I just say something to you" as he looks at Katlego who is still sitting down. "Look I know that we haven't spoken throughout the pregnancy and I know that I had initially asked you to abort the baby. I'm really sorry about that, I was a real jerk. I was selafish and only thought for myself. Look, I panicked okay? And I thought about my wife and my marriage and..." he says looking down but he doesn't finish as Katlego stands up and cuts him off, "It's okay Sbu, really. That is past now" she says politely making eye contact.
"If anything, I'm the one who should apologize to you for wrecking your marriage. I apologize for the pain I have caused your wife Buhle and for luring you into my twisted world. Looking back now I really regret that. I mean not my baby of course. But you know what I mean" she says with a nervous smile.
"Yeah I know what you mean" Sbu jumps in with a nervous smile as well. "Look I did all this to myself. I can't blame you or anyone abou it. I have to deal with the consequencies of it. I am a very bad husband; I don't deserve Buhle" he says with a low voivce that makes Katlego feel a little guilt. But she says, "I know I can never win Buhle's trust back let alone have her as friend again" with a sad voice. "But I'm goig to work hard to become a better person from now on. This baby is a new beginning and a second chance for me. And I'm going to grab that chance with both hands" as she makes eye contact with Jabu who all along has been quietly listening to the two.
"As for you buddy" Sbu says as he turns to his friend Jabu. "Look man, I really don't know where to begin with this" he says with a low voice. "I know that you will make a great father because you're a great guy, a good man. I honestly wasn't sure how I'd feel about this day or how I'd react to it. That's why I have been so nervous the days leading to today. I really hope our friendship continues man, I really do. I don't want to lose you over this" he says much to Jabu's surprise. This is not the reaction he expected from his friend. "Whatever you guys decide over this I just want you to know that you have my full support" Sbu says as he looks at both Katlego and Jabu before heading for the door.
They look at him as he heads out and closes the door behind him.
"Look we also better leave, this is a doctor's office" katlego says with a nervous smile. "Uhmm oh yeah, you are right" Jabu says as he looks down trying to avoid eye contact. This is a very awkward moment for both of them. "Uhmm so we are parents now?" he says gathering courage to look at Katlego who just smiles without answering that. "Look can we go somewhere, where we can talk a little bit about this? I'm actually starving, I couldn't eat this morning thinking about this day" as he takes his jacket. "Okay sure, we need to talk anyways, don't we?" Katlego says with a nervous smile as they both head out of the doctor's room
***
Few weeks have passed since Ndoda, Lerato's boyfriend was kidnapped and things never really were the same again. She fears for her life every day, suspecting that whoever came for her man may just come for her as well. While she still has hopes Ndoda is okay wherever he is, she can't help but hear the voices whispering in her ear that say what if something bad happened to him? What frustrates her even more is the fact that she can't go to the police since she won't be able to explain many things about her boyfriend's double life.
As she sits on the couch thinking about all this while having coffee, there's a knock on the door. Who might that be? she thinks to herself. She just had a chat with with Lindiwe and Buhle on their
WhatsApp group and none between them indicated that she may stop by. I'm also not expecting any client or colleague today, so who's that? she wonders as she puts her coffee down and heads towards the door. Suddenly she starts to panic as she begins to think it could be the same people who came for her boyfriend Ndoda. Anxiety befalls her as she searches her pockets, she's trying to locate her phone. Maybe I should call 10111 and tell them there's an intruder, she thinks panickly.
But as she looks over to the couch and sees her phone, a voice calls from the other side of the door, "Baby it's me please open up" it whispers. Lerato can recognize the voice, "Love is that you?" she whispers as she comes closer to the door. "Yes love, it's me. Hurry up open the door" the voice says.
She opens the door and it's her man, Ndoda that comes through. He has little bruises in his face that are beginning to heal. "Oh my God baby..." Lerato says as she jumps and clings on Ndoda. "Oh thank God baby, I thought..." she can't finish what she wants to say as words can't come out but she begins to cry as she holds on to him like she doesn't want to ever let him go. "I'm okay love, shhh..." Ndoda says as he also holds on to his girlfriend. For a moment there's silence as the two love birds hold on to each other for dear life, they even forgot to close the door behind them. "What happened to you baby? Do you know how sick I was with worry?" Lerato says as they break the hug.
"Look baby, I will explain everything to you but this place is no longer safe for you" Ndoda says as he shuts the door and locks it before they go to the lounge to sit down. "What do you mean I'm no longer safe in my place baby? I am not leaving my place, okay? What happened to you?" Lerato says in protest to which Ndoda doesn't seem happy about.
"Look baby, I have to tell you something okay? Some of the stuff you know but some you don't and it may shock you a little bit" Ndoda says as he looks away to avoid eye contact. But this can only make Lerato curious as she fixes her eyes on her boyfriend who is forced to make eye contact again, albeit relunctantly. "Okay look, you already know about what I used to do right?" Ndoda says with a low voice. "But I want you to know that ever after I met you I never took a contract again. I fell helplessy inlove with you and I quit. I took your advice and made all my businesses legit as you know. But..." he tries to find words but Lerato cuts him off,
"But what, babe?" she asks anxiously.
"Do you remember your friend's husband, Sbu's accident?" Ndoda continues, "Well, the client had asked me to do the job but I refused so the client got someone else to do the job and as you know Sbu was in the hospital. Thank God he didn't die and..." he says with a low voice, still fixing his eyes on Lerato who abruptly cuts him off, "Why didn't you tell me that you knew about this babe?" as she raises her voice. "Didn't I ask you if you knew anyone who could have done this? And din't you say you had no idea who did that to my friend's husband? You lied to me Ndoda" she says with a trembling voice as tears begin to fall down her face which makes Ndoda look down in shame.
"Look baby, please listen to me" he cuts her off as he looks at her. "I couldn't tell you because I was trying t protect you. Knowing wasn't safe for you. I wasn't sure if someone was watching us or not" he says as he wipes his girlfriend's tears but this makes Lerato curious as she asks, "What do you mean by that?" as she looks at him.
Ndoda thinks for a second before exhaling heavily. "When I turned down that contract on Sbu the client wasn't happy so he put surveillance on me. He wanted to monitor who I talk to, about what and..." he says but he doesn't finish as Lerato cuts him off once again, "The client was the MEC
Tendai Lebese, wasn't it?" as she fixes her eyes on Ndoda who is caught off guard by that question. He seems lost for words but Lerato jumps right back in, "Oh come on Ndoda, you think I didn't figure that out the first time I knew what you did for a living?" as she raises her voice once again. "How do you think I figured that out in the first place? The first time I saw you in a restaurant you were with
the MEC and I saw him sliding you an envelope. The very same envelop that I found in your place
that had that journalist's details, the journalist that you killed" as she stands up to go and stand by the window.
Ndoda follows her and stands next to her. "Okay look, you got me okay?" he says with a low voice of defeat. "Yes babe, yes. The client was Tendai" as he sighs heavily but Lerato looks at him with annoyance before going back to sit on the couch, to which Ndoda follows her again and sits next to her.
"Why did the MEC want Sbu dead?" Lerato asks with a low voice. "I mean I can get the journalist who was about to destroy his reputation but I don't understand why Sbu" as she wipes her tears once again which makes Ndoda think for a second before saying, "Look I don't know okay? I can only assume that it's business related. I don't ask questions; I just do the job I'm paid to do" as he looks away. "Are you sure you never took a contract since you met me?" Lerato asks curiously with a low voice. "I swear baby, I got out from the time you and I started dating like I said earlier. Please believe
me" Ndoda says with a begging voice as he looks at his terrifiedly looking girlfriend.
"MEC Tendai found out about me and you so he grabbed me a few weeks ago and they tortured me. He wanted to know what I told you, how much you know" he says as he looks down, ashamed of what his girlfriend might think. This makes Lerato so sad as she comes closer to her boyfriend and brushes his back.
"Oh I'm so sorry my love, I really am" she says as she looks at Ndoda with eyes of sadness. "After hours of torture I managed to escape and have been in hiding ever since" Ndoda says as he clears his throat. "But I told Tendai that I didn't tell you anything. Of course I doubt he believes that, so when I escaped it became a nightmare for him. So you see baby? You are not safe here. He knows you are friends with Lindiwe, the woman I almost killed. The woman whose boyfriend, the journalist, I killed. Tendai is worried that if I told you anything it's just a matter of time before Lindiwe or anyone else find out about it. So he sees us as liabilities now and he wanyts to tie up lose ends" as he puts his hands on his head.
"Oh my God" Lerato says in panic as her eyes are once again teary. "What are you going to do now, babe?" she says looking at Ndoda who takes a minute to think. "Look, you can't stay here okay?" he says. "I have a safehouse where you can lay low and..." he says but doesn't finish as Lerato cuts him off, "What do you mean 'lay low'?" she asks curiously.
"Ndoda I can't be locked somewhere like a prisoner and have my freedom taken away by MEC Tendai. I have a life okay? That can't just come crushing down around me, I refuse" she says furiously to which Ndoda throws his hands as if to say, Okay you win! "Okay look, we''ll talk about our next step when we get to the safe house okay?" he says. "But at the moment please go and get some stuff so that we can leave, alright love?" as he goesby the window to look down.
***
Somewhere else at Tsepo's house things have been looking great between him and his girlfriend Grace. They managed to gradually rebuild their trust after things went a little dull when Tsepo found out about what his friend Sbu did. They haven't had drama ever since and they really appreciate each other every day. As for Tsepo, he hasn't hung out with Sbu since he confronted him over what happened with Grace. Their friendship took a serious dive and none between them seem interested to try and fix things.
"Baby, what's all this?" Grace asks a smilling Tsepo as she looks around the lounge room that is filled with romantic candlelights and red roses on the floor. Beautiful music is playing softly in the background and when she looks on the coffee table there's champagne.
"Baby are we celebrating something that I may have missed? Did I miss your birthday or something? No isn't that on..." asks curiously but Tsepo cuts her off as he says, "No baby It's not my birthday" he continues to smile. "Oh okay" Grace says with somewhat relief. "Then, what is the special occasion?" she looks around the beautiful lounge that smells romance. But then Tsepo extends a hand to lead his pleasantly surprised girlfriend by the hand to come and sit on the couch. She duly obliges as she can't stop smiling at what she sees. She looks at her boyfriend who is dressed semi-formal and wonders what this is.
"Baby, uhmm I know that we have had tough moments in the past few weeks where it seemed like we were going back to square one" Tsepo says with a low voice as he looks at Grace in the eyes. "We have had to work hard to fix things and regain our trust for one another but throughout the hard times I never doubted for a second that you were the woman for me" as his voice begins to sound nervous.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that during that time when I felt like I was going to lose you I realised that I really want to spend the rest of my life with you" he says as he goes down on one knee in front of his shocked girlfriend. He then pulls out a ring from his pocket, "Grace Khoza, will you make me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to marry me?" as he lifts it so that Grace
can see it. To say she is surpised by all this is an understament as she puts one hand in her mouth. "Oh my God babe, are you serious?" she asks as she raises her voice a little. "Yes baby, I'm serious"
Tsepo says as she stands up with a smile.
"Oh baby, of course yes. Yes, yes, yes I will marry you" Grace says as she screams before jumping onto her boyfriend and hugs him. At hearing that Tsepo hugs her back in excitement as well. "Oh baby, thank you very much" he says as he breaks the hug and puts the ring on Grace's finger.
"Well, this calls for a celebration" he says as he pops the champagne and pours for both of them. "Wow I really didn't expect this Mr., I'm still a little off balance hahaha" Grace says as she takes a sip
of her bubbly. "Well you better believe it miss" Tsepo says as he pulls his girlfriend closer. They
begin to kiss passionately before Tsepo carries Grace upstairs to the bedroom for more celebrations.
***
Somewhere else things aren't as rosy as Bheki has come to see Tendai who is frustrated by the fact that a few weeks ago Ndoda escaped from the facility they had me held. He worries about what he's ploting or telling his story. All he knows is that they have to find him ASAP before he goes on and open his mouth to his business opponents. Bheki himself is in the middle of divorce settlement negotiations with Lindiwe and so far he hasn't had his way with what he wants.
"So you say you haven't found your guy? I mean, how does he even escape? Your men are incompetent, I will tell you that much" Bheki says to a frustrated Tendai as he puffs a cigar. "Thank you very much for that useless observation Bheki" Tendai says, annoyed by that silly joke from his friend.
"Look man, all I'm saying is that people don't just disappear alright" Bheki says as jumps right back in. "He's not just going to wait for you to come after him. He is probably plotting and watching you as we speak for Christ's sake and..." he doesn't finish as Tendai who can't take it anymore cuts him off, "Enough okay?" he shouts. "And if you think he will come for me and not for you then you are
being naive" he says as he pours himself a strong drink, irritated by his friend who doesn't seem to take this seriously. There's a little awkward silence after as both men down whatever was left of their glasses. They are in deep thoiught about this.
"Look man, I know that alright" Bheki says camly. "In fact I have been meaning to tell you something the past couple of weeks but I didn't know how. It just never seemed to be the right time, you know" as he goes to stand by the window for a minute to look at the cars passing down the road.
"Lindiwe is giving me trouble with this..." he says as he comes back to sit down but he is cut off abruptly by a fed up Tendai, "Do I look like I care about your divorce issues right now Bheki?" he shouts even louder this time. "In case you haven't noticed, I have a seriosus problem on my hands right now. There's a dangerous man out there on the run, who means to harm me and you" he says as he stands and starts walk up and down the room. "Look, I understand that and..." Bheki says camly, trying to defuse the tension in this room but he's cut off once again by his friend, "No, no, no.
I actually don't think you quiet understand the magnitude of this situation Bheki" he shouts as qhe comes back to sit down.
''Do you understand that, after I failed to kill him he will come all out guns blazing?" he continues. "He probably has damaging files on me, on us. He can just sell those to my competition for security.
Unlike us, he is a government hitman. He can easily disappear and no one can find him but we can't hide from him" he now looks terrified.
"Tendai, can you shut up for a second and let me speak, please?" Bheki, also just as fed up with his friend jumps in. "This is what I was trying to tell you" he says. "If you are worried about this guy then, you might as well worry about my wife" as he pulls away from eye contact, which makes Tendai curious as he asks, "What do you mean by that?" But Bheki exhales big as he looks to the ceiling. "Lindiwe has material on us" he says as he stands up to go stand by the window again. "What are you talking about, what material?" Tendai asks curiously as he follows his friend. "She has a dosier of our dealings together. I mean eerything, my other separate dealings and your separate dealings" Bheki says as he comes back to sit down.
"What with the half answers Bheki? Details, please" Tendai says as he also comes back to sit next to him. "Look, what do you want me to say, alright?" Bheki responds as he raises his voice. "That journalist Tsepo Rabadi, that you had killed apparently left Lindiwe a safe deposit box in case of his untimely death. He knew that someone would eventually come for him. It is clear that he really loved Lindiwe that he'd leave her such important and sensitive material and..." he doesn't finish as Tendai cuts him off, "How do we know that all of this is true because..." he says but Bheki cuts him off as well, "Oh but it's true alright" he says pouring himself a double.
"She told me about the contents of this safe deposit box, dealings you and I had. Not just you and me bro, but other very important people that if this would come out would render us loose ends. There's audios and video files etc. Remember the whistle blower? There's CCTV footage of the night she dissapeared" he says as he downs his double in one go.
"But how did that journalist get his hands on all those files? Who was his source? And why the hell didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Tendai asks curiously as suddenly his face is filled with panic. "Look, I don't know man" Bheki says with a low voice. "What I know is that Lindiwe will use this against me if I don't play ball in the divorce settlement negotiations" he frowns at the thought of all that. "Look my friend, whatever you do, you better make sure she never uses this against you or us" Tendai says as he pours himself a double. "Hey look, you want me to bow to Lindiwe and let her do whatever she wants?" Bheki protests as he doesn't seem to like what his friend is sugesting. "What if she decides to be greedy and want everything that's mine, huh?" as he puts his hands on his head in disbelief.
"Hey, hey, hey. Look man, this is your marriage and your mess. You got to fix this. I don't know how but you have to, you hear me?" Tendai says as his voice changes to being upset. "Do you realise that this suddenly makes Lindiwe a very powerful woman? More powerful than you and me. People with that kind of information are dangerous, so you better fix this unless you want me to deal with it myself" as he downs his double in one go.
"Hey man, don't you dare touch my wife okay?" Bheki protests as his face changes to being upset at the threat from his friend. "Hey, she's soon- to be your ex wife so why do you care what happens to her, huh?" Tendai says as he attempts to light a cigarette but Bheki cuts him off, "Tendai I said don't touch my wife okay? I don't care if she's soon-to be or not. Don't dare touch her, you hear me?" he says as he stands up and heads to the door. "Where are you going?" Tendai shouts curiously. "I've got things to take care of. I will talk to you later" as he shuts the door behind him.
***
It's been a couple of days since Sbu had found out that he wasn't the father of Katlego's baby and it is hard to tell if where his head is at with regards to that. What is for sure is that he wants to fix things with his wife Buhle. What has given him hope all this time there are in separation is that Buhle hasn't filed for divorce, not yet atleast. He sees this as a sign that Buhle is not ready to give up on their marriage either. He also knows it's not easy to fix something like this but he'll never know unless he tries.
"Thank you for letting me in, I won't take much of your time I promise" he says to Buhle who sits on the couch opposite him. She's not showing any emotion as all, it's hard to read where she's at. Even Sbu is struggling to get a read on her, which was somethig he was good at.
"Where's Naledi?" he asks nervously as he looks around this beautiful apatment. He looks on the wall and notices that there are pictures hanged there on the walls. There are a pictures of Buhle and Naledi, and there's none of him or wedding pictures. That doesn't seem to sit well with him but I suppose he expected it. "Naledi is at her friend's" Buhle says with a short answer, still giving a poker face. "Oh okay. Is she doing okay? I haven't seen her in a few weeks, things have been a little hectic" Sbu says with a nervous smile as he clears his throat. All the while Buhle is just looking at him, unmoved.
"So how's the baby?" she asks with a straigh face again. To which Sbu looks down as he's caught off guard. He clears his throat as he searches for words to say. "Uhmm, I hope the baby is fine, I will ask Jabu about it" he says as he looks at Buhle who is suddenly embarrassed by the question.
"Oh, uhmm okay. I'm sorry to hear that" she says pulling awya from eye contact. "Yeah DNA results showed that Jabu is the father of the baby" Sbu says as he also looks away as the moment turns awkward. There's a little bit of silence now as both of them don't seem to know what to say after this. "Uhmm look," Sbu says as he breaks the silence. "I have come to apologies to you for everything I put you through, you didn't deserve that. I was a bad husband to you, who didn't appreciate you enough. I'm not expecting you to suddenly forgive me for what I did but I just came here to say to you that I'm really sorry. I'd do anything to reverse everything I did to you and Naledi" as he restores eye contact again.
"Please know that I love you and I love you very much. I never stopped, I was just foolish and childish. I hope one day you will find it in your heart to fordgive me" he says as he stands up to walk towards the door but Buhle calls out on him, "Sbu wait," she says with a low voice.
"Look you are not the only one who was bad" she says as she stands and goes to stand before Sbu. "I was a bad wife to you too. I did things as well, things I'm ashamed of now. So I just want to say that I am sorry too" as she looks down in shame to which Sbu gives a little smile and nods before turning around to open the doqor. But Buhle stoops him again, "Uhmm, are you disapointed that the baby is not yours?" she asks with a low voice still looking down. This seems to catch Sbu off guard as he turns around slowly to look at Buhle who is looking down, embarrassed by the question she's just asked. "Uhmm, no I wouldn't say I'm dissapointed" he says trying to make eye contact in vein.
"I'm happy that Jabu is the father. I'm happy for them. Anyways I was never there for Katlego throughout her pregnancy, so I didn't deserve to be the father. But Jabu is a great guy who deserves to be happy and I hope this baby will make him happy" he says with a low voice.
"Oh I see" Buhle says as she restores eye contact. Moment of silent passes as these two look at each other in the eyes without really knowing what to say to each other. "Uhmm, well maybe when you have free time you can come over and join me and Naledi for supper. Well, that's when you are free though" Buhle says witha nervous smile, not knowing how this will be received. "Uhmm, sure yeah I can do that. That would be great thank you"Sbu says nervously as he looks down. "Well let me leave you then. Please kiss Naledi for me okay?" he says as he turns around and walk out the door, leaving Buhle standing there by herself.
YOU ARE READING
Triangle
RomanceFriends must try and find a way back to each other after secrets threaten to tear them apart.
