K#lling the Billionaire's Brother

Chapter 2| Is that baby mine?

Nkule had been standing at a distant watching his bride and his brother. He wished he could hear them, but the distance was too great. Their body language looked as though they were lovers. He was enraged. The feeling of betrayal coming from his bride his brother was too great.

Cindy wondered how Benjamin knew of her pregnancy when she had been keeping it a secret.

“How did you know I was pregnant?”

“I know you too well, Cindy,” he brushed her cheek. “You forget we grew up together. We’ve always be too close. Cindy, I’m gonna ask you one last time, leave him. Leave him for us.”

“Oh, Ben...” she saw the hurt in him. She knew not what to do for him. Her heart belonged to his brother, Nkule.

“We can leave this place. We can fly away and we’ll be just fine. Don’t worry about the expenses, it’s all sorted.”

“I’m sorry, Ben,” she said, “but I want to be with him.”

Nkule stood for long and he saw them part ways. Nkule turned and went back.

The wedding did go on. Nkule suffered a bit of discomfort through his big day but he managed to keep contained. They flew off to France, in Paris, for their honeymoon. He surprised her with it, she had, not even once, thought that their honeymoon would be in Paris. She had asked him before the wedding but somehow, he had managed to avoid the question. Without worrying her.

That first night in Paris she also had a surprise for him, “I’m pregnant.” But he had already learnt that at their wedding. He did not tell her that. He, rather, behaved the way any woman would expect a father-to-be to behave. Jubilant.

She told him, “The doctor said I’m four months already! And I had no idea!”

“So, lately when you had been crying of stomach cramps, it’s been the baby all along.”

“Yes,” she was excited, “our baby! I only found out last week and I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, you did. Really, you did.”

They happened to have had a good time there. Nkule battled with himself about returning home. He felt that they were safer there in Paris where his brother was not around to serve as threat to their marriage. Nkule was happy where he was but he knew his wife loved home, South Africa, so much. When the days were nearing, the days their honeymoon was to come to an end he felt the pressure. The hurt. And the betrayal.

At the bathroom door they sat. On the white tiles in each other’s arms. Her back laid against his chest and his legs crossed below her bent knees. They fiddled with their fingers. “I’m having a great time. Just the two of us and no third party,” he said. Their tiny newly born baby was in his little bed. It had been five months and just a few weeks. “You focus all your energy and your time on me. Just me.”

In ignorance of what he meant, she bluffed, “Oh, my love. We’re husband and wife now. Of course, it shall be you and I now. No third party. And of course, our baby.”

“Was marrying me a good decision you’d taken?”

She chuckled, “Why would you even ask that? Of course, it wasn’t. It was the very best decision I have ever taken in my entire breathing life!”

A lot of mushy things were said that quiet morning. A lot of giggles were heard that quiet morning. He began singing. There was nothing Cindy loved more than listening to this young man’s voice of which was rare. She loved it when he talked and even more when he sang.

During their early days, she would suffer numerous races of heart beats right at the sound of his voice. She would ask rhetorical questions only so she could hear his voice. “You stop the room when we’re walking. Sports lights on, everybody staring. Tell all of these boys they’re wasting their time. Stop standing in the line coz you’re all mine. And this evening I won’t let the feeling die, I never want to leave your side...”

…………………………………………………..

Nkule was starting to make peace with the baby he suspected was not his. He decided that he would take care of it and love it as his own. It also helped that he loved his brother and so loving a child he believed to be his brother’s would come easily to him.

That very week they were heading back to South Africa. None of their parents knew there was a baby coming. Cindy had asked Nkule to keep their little man a surprise. The plane landed. They hired a car to travel back home from the airport.

There was silence such an uncomfortable silence in the car. Cindy sat at the front seat with their baby in her arms while Nkule drove. The baby was beginning to sleep and the skies were darkening.

“Nkule?” she finally asked. “Nkule, what is it? You’ve been frustrated all day.”

He took some time to answer, he was still battling to figure out if he should answer or not, and if he was to answer, what would he say?

“What?”

“Come on, Nkule, don’t... I know something is bothering you. You’ve been like this since morning. Come out with it already!”

“I’m fine, Cindy.” He rephrased, “Actually, is that...” His fingers circled around the steering wheel. He turned to the window on his side. It was raining, already. He thought of how he could ask the big question. He thought hard. He was hesitant but finally, “...is that baby mine?”