CHAPTER 1
SINOBOMI NDALO-HLATHI
Surely, Noma was joking, right? I mean, Daniel has been dead for three years now. How could he be standing at my front door? Noma knows my husband died; it was everywhere. Even if you didn’t know him when he was alive, you certainly knew him after he was gone, because that’s how South Africa is.
“Noma, that’s not funny,” I said, my voice laced with disbelief.
“Ma’am, I swear this is no joke,” she replied, her voice trembling. Her hands weren’t steady, and she looked shaken.
I stood up and went to the kitchen, with Noma trailing behind me. There, through the trellidor, I saw him. The man standing on the other side looked exactly like my husband. Daniel is a twin, yes, but everyone knows the man they fell in love with. He always had that thing, that presence, that gave you assurance it was him. So, the rumors of him being seen in foreign countries were true... My husband was still alive.
“Ndalo Entle,” he greeted, his voice sending chills down my spine. It was really him. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I wiped them away quickly. I stood there, frozen, staring at him. He hadn’t changed at all, hadn’t even aged. He was still the handsome man I fell in love with and vowed to spend the rest of my life with. After a good five minutes, I finally gathered the strength to speak.
“What is this? What game are you playing at?” I demanded, my voice trembling with a mixture of emotions. Anger, more than any other, bubbled to the surface.
“Sino, please let me in so I can explain,” he pleaded.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” I shot back, my voice rising.
“Sino, it’s me,” he insisted.
I shook my head, refusing to believe. “No.”
“Sino, it’s really me, the man you fell in love with, the man you married on the 10th of January. Please, just open this gate so I can explain to you.”
“No. My husband died on the 11th of July in a bank robbery. I saw his body at the morgue. I watched his coffin go down on the 20th of July three years ago. So who the hell are you?” My voice broke, and tears flowed freely now. This was tearing me apart. How could Daniel put me through this? I had become a shell of a person after his death. I lost my mom that same year, and then he goes and fakes his death? Am I in some kind of movie? Or better yet, are we in *Days of Our Lives* where people die and come back to life as they please and go about their lives as if nothing ever happened? It doesn’t work like that for me. I’m sorry.
“Sino, please, just let me in so we can talk,” he begged again.
“No! Whoever you are, go back to wherever you came from!” I shouted, slamming the door shut and running up to my room.
All this was too much for me to handle. My husband had died, shot in places where no one could survive. I saw his lifeless body at the morgue, and it was a gruesome sight. I was hospitalized for a whole week after losing him. So him being here had to be a prank. It just had to be.
.
.
DANIEL HLATHI
Let me take you back three years ago, to the day I “died.” That day, I was supposed to meet up with a client. I did meet him, and I was shot. The bullets missed all the vital spots, but I was mistaken for dead. A security guard, a true savior, rushed me to the hospital before I lost too much blood. At the hospital, a friend of mine saved me. I asked him to help me fake my death because as long as I was alive, my family was in danger. I had to get away from South Africa.
There’s an injection that stops your blood from flowing for an hour. They used it on me at the morgue to convince Sino I had died on the spot. As for my funeral, it wasn’t me they buried. It was one of those unclaimed bodies from the morgue. A friend performed plastic surgery on the guy to make him look exactly like me. I must say, the resemblance was uncanny.
For the past three years, I’ve been haunting my enemies. I succeeded in getting rid of them. I’m not a murderer, but I made them pay for what they did. I made them see things that weren’t there, convincing them I was a ghost haunting them from beyond the grave. Some committed suicide, others ended up in mental institutions. I hate myself for what I put my wife through, but it had to be done. I love Sinobomi more than life itself, and the last thing I wanted was to hurt her intentionally.
I heard movement in the kitchen and knocked. The lady who had opened for me before, opened the door again.
“Sir, I think you should leave,” Noma said.
“I’m not leaving until I talk to my wife,” I insisted.
“But...” she began.
“I didn’t get your name,” I interrupted.
“Noma,” she replied.
“Okay, Noma, please just open the burglar gate and let me in so I can speak to my wife,” I pleaded.
“But sir, I can’t do that,” she responded.
“Yes, you can. Don’t you want Sino to be happy?” I urged.
“I do, but...” she stammered.
“No buts. I am Sino’s happiness, and she and I have a lot to talk about. Do me this favor, and I promise you, you will get a raise,” I promised.
“Ma’am Sino pays me enough,” she said firmly.
So she couldn’t be bribed. I liked her loyalty to my wife, but she was wasting my time.
“Look, Noma, I need to speak to my wife alone. If the guard can let me in, why can’t you?” I reasoned.
She thought for a moment, then took out a key and opened the gate.
“Thank you so much,” I said.
“I didn’t do this for you,” she retorted.
I left her and searched the lounge but didn’t find her there. I climbed the stairs to our room and found her face down on the bed.
“Sinobomi, please just hear me out,” I said softly.
She got up and turned to look at me. “How did you get in?” she asked, her voice filled with anguish.
“That doesn’t matter. Can you please just let me tell you what happened, and then you can do whatever you want after that,” I said, standing by the door. She sat on the bed with her knees curled up to her chest.
“Fine, talk,” she conceded.
I told her everything that had happened and why I did what I did. “I swear to God I didn’t mean to cause you so much pain,” I said.
She was crying. I moved closer to her.
“Don’t come anywhere near me,” she warned.
“Sino, please!” I begged.
“You think you get to disappear for three years and waltz right back into my life and expect things to go back to how they were? It doesn’t work like that, Daniel. You hurt me. I ended up in the hospital because of you,” she accused.
“I know, Miss Ndalo, and I am so sorry,” I apologized.
“Why now?” she asked.
“Huh?” I was confused.
“Why come back now?” she demanded.
“I missed you, Sino. I missed my wife and our family. I needed to be sure you were safe,” I explained.
“And how would you know I was safe and out of harm’s way?” she questioned.
“I had people keep tabs on you,” I admitted.
“So you were spying on me? Great,” she said sarcastically.
“I know no amount of apologies can undo the pain I caused you, but I am hoping that we can try to pick up where we left off,” I pleaded.
She still wore her wedding ring, and I had mine. My wife was still as beautiful as the first day I met her. She looked at me for a while.
“Get out!” she suddenly demanded.
I looked at her, shocked. I hadn’t expected this reaction. I thought she might be happy to see me or something.
“GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM, DANIEL. I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN,” she screamed.
“What?” I was stunned.
“I SAID GET OUT. LEAVE!” she repeated.
“Sino,” I whispered.
“Daniel, please leave,” she said, her voice breaking.
I looked at her and saw the damage I had done. I never wanted to hurt my wife the way I did, but it was the only way. I walked up to the door and opened it. I looked back at her one last time.
“I love you, Ndalo Entle,” I said, my voice filled with regret and longing.
