Ugly Duckling: No One Wants Me by Hlengiwe Mathebula (best manga ereader TXT) 📕

to eat. They are chit chatting, but I am bored because I don't know who they are talking about. Joyce's phone rings she puts it on speaker and continues to eat. Okay this family is strange, who does that.

"Joyce, you need to come home quickly" comes a very loud voice. The person is panicking and judging from the voice, the person is trying so hard not to cry. This must be the husband, the bustard who tried to rape Smanga and placed the blame on her.

"What's wrong" Joyce answers panicking.

"It's Joy, I can't tell you. You need to come now" he yells over the phone.

"How am I going to get home? The train leaves in 10 minutes and you know I can't afford to take a taxi I don't have money" she replies.

"You have to come now" he yells again and the line goes dead. We all go mute. "How am I going to get home, this time when I don't have money" she asks her siblings.

If she wasn't a bitch I'd book a flight for her but I won't. So I leave the room to give them some privacy. I have been in my room for 5 minutes when I hear someone screaming. Oh God I walk to the lounge. It's Joyce they are all tryna console her, they look helpless. She needs help let me put the negative things aside. I take Njabulo outside and I ask him what's wrong.

"It's her daughter, she was hit by a car about 30 minutes ago, she's critical. The Doctors said she might not make it, so Joyce needs to be there as soon as possible" he tells me.

He looks sad. I'll do anything to wipe that sadness in his face. I take his hand, he looks surprised well I've never done that but right now I feel that he needs that.

"I'll help her" I tell her siblings. They all turn to look at me. They look surprised. I rush to my bedroom and take my laptop, I book her a flight, she's lucky there's a flight leaving in an hour. I rush her to the airport and we get there in time. I give her another R500 just in case she needs to use uber. She opens her arms to hug me but I just push her towards the gate before her flight leaves. She waves and runs towards the plane with the promise to call when she gets home. Njabulo hugs me again.

"I love you" oh shit, I know we have been dating for like 6 months now, but this is the first time he has told me this. I don't know what to say so I just cry. I tell him I love him too through the tears. This is the sweetest that he has ever said to me. I always wanted him to tell me this. After some time he takes my hand and leads me to my car. I know he won't drive until I ask him to. I take him out for coffee we stay there for almost 3 hours, he's quiet, so I give him space. I'm too emotional to even drive and concentrate on the road. He drives after some time he thanks me for helping his sister even though she was nasty to me. I didn't do this for his sister but I did it for him I tell him. When we reach the apartment Phindile the other sister and Mpilo are crying.

"What's wrong" Njabulo asks them.

"Joyce called 5 minutes ago, Joy passed away” Mpilo answers. I don't know what to say, when I see tears in Njabulo's eyes. I feel helpless, I just hug him, Smanga joins us, they are close. When the family turned their backs on her, Njabulo was the only one who supported her and believed her when she told her that Joyce's husband wanted to rape her. I just hug him without saying anything. I don't know what to say. After some time, they all calm down. I don't know what to do, so instead I make them coffee. We all sit in silence.  After some time Mpilo says they need to leave first thing in the morning, but they don't have money for transport because they were planning to go  back home by train after 3 weeks. Apparently they visit Njabulo during this time for 3 weeks, but their stay was cut short. There are 6 of them, they won't fit in the car. I decide to let them sleep we will leave first thing in the morning. I give them my phone so they can call their annoying big sister and I give them privacy. I prepare the guest room for Njabulo and his 2 brothers Mpilo and Simon. Then I prepare my room for all of us, Smanga and I will sleep on the floor. Then Phindile, Mary and Sweetness will share the bed. I go back to the lounge when everyone is in bed, to tidy up and wash the dishes. Njabulo joins me, he was planning to do the same. I wash the dishes he dries them. After 30 minutes of washing the dishes and tidying, we sit in the couch. He's too silent, I just hug him. I check the time it's after 12 midnight. I tell him to go sleep we'll leave after 8 in the morning. I join Smanga on the floor, as soon as my head hits the pillow I fall asleep. Njabulo wakes me around 4 they need to leave and fetch their bags. There are no taxis around this time, so I force him to take my car. I wake Smanga up, we bath. Then I wake her sisters while they are bathing, I am packing. I want to support Joyce even though she's annoying, she needs my support right now. At 7 we have already had breakfast. Njabulo and his brothers walk in after 10 minutes, they eat. While they are eating, I'm organizing a trailer for the bags. I ask Njabulo to drive. I sit in the passenger’s seat, his sisters behind us. Simon and Mpilo are sitting at the boot. I'm praying we aren't stopped by traffic cops. We leave at 9.

We stop at 4 garages for food and the bathroom, 8 hours later we’re at Joyce's gate. She lives in KwaMashu, never been to this place. We enter her house, all eyes on me. God I won't get used to this. There are people where Joyce is so we wait. Njabulo asks me if I want take a walk. I tell him to go ahead, I'll sit here. After 20 minutes they leave, her siblings are nowhere to be seen. So I enter alone. I put my R200 on the saucer; I greet her with a hug. I ask how she's holding up, she's holding back tears. I tell her to cry and I hold her, and when she does. I can't stop myself I join her. After some time she thanks me. We sit there in silence until she shows me her daughter's pictures. She was an adorable 10 year old. Too sad her future was taken away from her so quick. I tell her that if she needs anything, she can tell me. I leave when some family walks in and they start crying. This is too sad. I leave and find Njabulo standing with a very cute girl. I just decide to sit down I don't want to disturb him. When he sees me he waves me over, I join him. He introduces me to the girl, she's Nobuhle his ex. He introduces me to her as his girlfriend, I can't help but smile.

Chapter 12

My parents have been calling me non-stop so I decided to switch off my phone. They always have family meetings without me, so why change that now? It’s 4am and already people are up and cooking, do these people ever rest. I am sharing the room with Njabulo’s 3 sisters and 4 cousins there’s no space. They wanted me to have the bed since I am the guest but I refused. So I slept on the floor with Njabulo’s sisters. I need to bath, so I wake Smanga up to ask her to help me I need warm water and a bath tub. I am a visitor, I can’t be walking around here as if I own the place. So Smanga leaves to fetch water for me. She comes back with water in a bucket plus a plastic tub. I take a bath and change to the grey dress Njabulo bought me. When I was packing I came across lot of clothes I don’t wear, some of them still have price tags so I don’t know what to tell Smanga when I give her the clothes, I don’t want her thinking I look down on her or that she’s some charity case, I only bought 4 dresses with me.

“Smanga would you like to have this dress, I never wore it” I  turn to Smanga holding a black maxi dress across my chest.

“Oh yebo (yes) sisi I would love to” she smiles and hugs me.

“Do you have other clothes, you no longer want” asks Phindile.

“Yes, here” I answer her while looking through my bag.

“Here you go” I hand her one dress.  I also give Sweetness the dress, I’ll give Joyce the 4th one, I hope she’ll like it. After taking a bath, I walk to Joyce’s bedroom. I knock she answers. It’s 4:36am. Gosh the last time I was up at this time was on my wedding day.

“Good morning sisi how are you holding up?” I ask her. Never been to a funeral before, so I googled what to say and what not to say to a grieving parent.

“Morning to you too, I’m not so good. I wish I hadn’t left here. I should’ve taken her with me. My heart is sore” she replies.

“I’m so sorry, I wish I could help” well I didn’t google that answer.

I really feel bad for her, even though she was nasty.

“I bought you something, I hope you’ll like and it will brighten your day” I tell her and give her the dress. For the first time ever, I see her smiling. Such a beautiful smile pity she doesn’t look like she smiles too often.

“Well I was just checking up on you” I tell her, I suck at making conversations, I just want to leave now.

“This means the world to me, thank you so much. Even when I was nasty to you, you still helped me. I am sorry for acting that way” she replies.

“No, it’s cool” I tell her and leave. I miss Njabulo I last saw him last night around 8. When I leave Joyce’s bedroom I bump into him, I take his hand and lead him outside.

“I missed you” I tell  him as soon as we’re outside. “Missed you more” he tells me while hugging me. Oh boy I love Njabulo yazini.

“How are you, how did you sleep?” he asks. “I’m good thanks, I slept well. Wena?” I ask him. “I hardly slept, but I’m okay. Thank you for the support. I will repay you the money you used for the plane ticket and