area around her. “We’re supposed to walk down the aisle in less than an hour. He can’t just disappear.” There’s a trace of panic in her voice.
Tumi finds Nandi’s phone and hands it to her.
Thomas doesn’t pick up. Nandi leaves a message. Next she calls the best man. He doesn’t pick up.
“No response from his other friends either,” Zaza says. “I’ll see if my husband can find him. Thomas must be around.” Zaza comes around and hugs the bride. “I bet he’s having a private spiritual moment before he says ‘I do’ – you know that’s something your man would do. In the meantime don’t stress, we’ll find him.”
“We’ll help look for him,” the twins speak in unison. They stand up and leave the room with Zaza.
The bride, in a half-buttoned dress, starts pacing the room. She dials Thomas’s number again; it goes straight to voice mail. She leaves another message. She does the same with the best man. She has worked so hard preparing for the wedding to make sure nothing goes wrong. How can he do this to her? Nandi feels the tears collect and spill over, warming her cheeks.
The room is immediately filled with murmurs and exclamations.
“Hhayi bo, umkhwenyana wenzani?” someone says.
“It’s unlike Thomas to act this way. He’s a responsible young man,” Nandi’s mother says. “I hope nothing bad has happened to him.”
“Ingane kasisi bakithi, on her wedding day,” another person adds.
“Nandi, come and sit by me and stop walking around like a headless chicken,” her mother says.
Nandi obeys and takes a seat next to her mother. She keeps her head down and tries to control her breathing. She’s too stunned for words. This isn’t happening, she thinks. This is her worst nightmare come true.
Tumi and Princess come and crouch beside her. Tumi takes Nandi’s hand and says quietly, “Don’t worry, we’ll find him, chomi.”
A few minutes pass, no one is speaking. Nandi is sobbing softly next to her mother.
“My baby, what’s wrong with your face? Are you allergic to something?” Nandi’s mother asks, examining her daughter’s cheeks. She asks Princess to fetch a wet cloth.
“What do you mean, what’s wrong with my face?” Nandi shoots up from her seat and rushes to the mirror. She lets out a cry of horror and touches her swollen face as though it’s a foreign entity, not part of her perfect body. Her lips are the size of the Drakensberg and her eyes have completely disappeared – she’s surprised she can still see. “Mama, what’s going on? Tumi, what’s happening? Why is my face swollen?”
“I . . .” Tumi starts and then stops, unable to explain. The dress was dry-cleaned and Nandi had a trial make-up run, twice, without reacting. The brunch earlier had been the usual affair; she had made sure there were no experimental dishes.
There’s a soft tap at the door, Thomas walks in. Nandi sees him reflected in the mirror. She impulsively runs to him and throws herself in his arms. “You scared me. I didn’t know where you were, I thought you were gone. I called and you wouldn’t answer your phone,” she cries feverishly into his shoulder. “Where were you? Why did you disappear on me like that?”
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. The aunts ululate and break into another wedding song.
“You almost killed us with worry, mkhwenyana,” Nandi’s mother says with a smile.
Abruptly Nandi detaches herself from Thomas’s embrace. She looks at him with a mixture of alarm and confusion. “You’re not supposed to see my dress before the ceremony.” She raises her hands to her head, then brings them down and tries to cover herself up. She backs away from him, whispering in disbelief, “You’ve seen my dress! Oh, my God, this wedding is doomed!”
* * *
In a town house situated in a residential estate in Fourways, a popular cosmopolitan suburb north-west of Joburg, Nandi woke up with a start. She was shuddering violently and her pyjamas were soaked in sweat; dreaming of one’s wedding was a bad omen, a very bad omen.
“Thomas?” Nandi called out in the dark, her voice trembling. “Darling?” she called out again, reaching for him, only to be greeted by an empty space.
Nandi bolted out of bed and searched every room in the house. Finally she went into the garage. His car was gone. Nandi ran back to the bedroom, grabbed the cellphone from the bedside table and with unsteady hands dialled her fiancé’s number. The clock registered 1:05 a.m.
Thomas answered at the first ring.
“Thank God, you’re all right,” Nandi said, gasping for air. “Where are you?”
“Hey, baby, I’m sorry, I had to leave to take care of some business,” Thomas responded. “But everything’s sorted out now. I’m on my way back. Go back to sleep, I’ll be right there.”
Nandi looked at the clock again. “What business? It’s one in the morning.”
“I know, don’t worry, just go back to sleep,” he said, as though in a hurry to end the conversation. “I’ll see you in a moment, okay?”
“Thomas, what’s going on? Where are you?” Her voice rose.
He went quiet, then whispered, “I’m at Lunga’s mother’s place.”
“You’re at Pinky’s?” Pinky was his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his son, Lunga.
“Yes.”
“And why are you there?” she demanded impatiently.
“Lunga was running a temperature. Pinky panicked.”
“Again? It’s the second time this week you’ve had to rush to her place.”
Thomas was silent for a moment. “I know, baby, but I can’t ignore her when she calls and goes berserk,” he said slowly, as if deliberating over each word. “I get edgy if Lunga is involved.”
“I’m not asking you to ignore anyone.” Nandi’s tone was indignant. “I’m tired of you running over to them every second as if you don’t have a life of your own. Right now I need you here.”
“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”
“No, I’m not okay, that’s why I need you here.” Her voice broke.
Thomas drew in a breath of air. “I’m on my way, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, I promise.” He paused. “Nandi?”
“What?”
“I’m trying my best to make the situation work for all of us.”
“Well, it’s really not working for me.” Nandi hung up before Thomas could speak. She returned the cellphone to its place, crawled back into bed and lay staring at the ceiling. Her mind buzzed with thoughts – about the four months that remained before her wedding, the promotion that she had been waiting for since she started her
