Nadir

I come out of the house and Ems is waiting outside by his car. For a few seconds he looks at me and I can see that he is star struck. I am starting to feel jelly weak in my knees because he looks really good himself.

‘Wow.’ He says when I reach where he is.

‘What?’ I ask feeling like the butterflies in my tummy are about to burst it open.

‘You look beautiful pumpkin.’

I haven’t heard him call me pumpkin in a while and I must confess it sounds really nice. If anything I missed him calling me that but of course I am not going to tell him.

‘You clean up well yourself.’ I say touching the collar of his shirt so that I fix a crease that isn’t even there.

He is wearing a black tuxedo and a crispy white shirt. I have never seen him this formally dressed.

‘You should dress like this more often.’

‘You like it?’

‘You look really nice.’ I say.

‘Thank you once again pumpkin, and I will try to dress like this more often for you.’ He says kissing the back of my hand.

He opens the door for me and closes it when I settle then comes to sit next to me. I had thought he would be driving but there is a a driver in the front and he politely greets me then starts the engine when we are both settled.

‘Where are we going?’

I realise I didn’t even ask that question.

‘It’s a surprise.’ He says taking my hand in his and we remain locked the whole way.

‘How was your day?’

‘It was okay, Martha was more excited about this date than I was.’

‘I swear I like Martha.’

We both laugh when he says that. My sister is a handful but she is good people and I am not saying this because she is my sister.

We finally pull up in front of a black gate somewhere off leopards hill road. I didn’t even realise we had driven this far until we get here.

‘Ems where are we?’

‘Patience pumpkin.’

My cheeks flush when the gate opens, the building inside is a two story exquisite building. As we drive in, I can see the well maintained lawn, everything is in place that I just want to step out and look through the rest of the place.

The driver parks and Ems comes out to open the door for me. He is being a gentleman I am over the moon.

‘Ems what is this place? It looks amazing.’

‘You like it?’

‘I love it.’

‘We will take a tour later but for now how about we get started with dinner?’

‘Yes please.’

He is still holding my hand as we walk into the house. I just want to stop and look around everywhere but he insists that we will have a tour later. We walk up the stairs until we get to the roof of the building where a table for two has been set in a romantic way it’s hard not to fall for him.

‘You look like you have been star struck.’

‘Literally.’ I say pointing at the stars in the sky.

‘Yeah right.’ He says with a smile.

‘Dinner is set, but I would like to have this moment and say something.’

‘Okay.’

‘Pumpkin I just want to say how proud I am of you. I don’t think I have met anyone that is stronger than you, anyone that has gone through the pain that you have and is still standing strong.’

I feel those words go straight to the pits of my stomach and it turns.

‘I am sorry your life didn’t go as planned, I am sorry you are not where you imagined yourself to be. But I am here to tell you that I see you, I feel your pain and I want to walk through this journey with you.’

I feel tears build up in my eyes and I am trying not to cry because my makeup will be ruined.

‘I know you have had people promise to live with you and not walk away, you have had people promise you forever and yet they didn’t stick to their words. I am not here to promise you heaven on earth, I will probably break all promises I make even before the day breaks but I want you to know that I will be intentional. I will love you with everything in me and I will make sure I do everything possible just so you always know that I have your back come what may.’

I can’t stop the tears any longer so I let them fall.

‘I am a broken man Nandy, the most broken you will ever meet but I want to do right by you.’

He removes a small box from his breast pocket and gets on one knee.

‘Ems what are you doing?’

‘I wanted to fake marry you, I wanted a fake wedding and get back at the world for what they did to you but truth be told I have always loved you Nandy. I got mad at you the first night I met you because I couldn’t understand why a beautiful lady like you would find yourself in such compromising situations and as time went by I understood that my being mad was because I took a liking to you right there and then.’

He pauses, his eyes filling with tears.

‘I have thought of all the reasons why this is wrong, all the reasons you have to say no, all the things that both our families will say but nothing is greater than what I feel for you Nandy and I figured if I don’t tell you this now I don’t think I will ever feel for another like this. I love you and I want to do life with you. I love you.’

‘I will marry you.’ I say without reservations because he is a good man and he might not come packaged how I imagined but he is good and I want to do this with him.

..

Kwenje’s Girl

Winnie

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