Meanwhile, 9pm had barely struck the clock but Vulisanii felt as though a whole 10 hours had already flashed before his eyes. The white walls of the clinic's room serving as a canvas for him to freely paint his thoughts upon them, whenever the sight of his uncle proved too heavy for his conscisence to carry - as he laid defeatedly in bed, with no movement but at least the sound of breath. Leaving him with memories of how he'd risked his legs by jumping over the balcony and carried his uncle to a nearby car - after bribing some cops and the restaurant's managers to get rid of all evidence which had played witness to the events of Gummy Bear's shooting - so as to avoid the matter's news from reaching the public. What happened between their circle of enemies and associates had to stay between them - that was the code they lived by.
A mature nurse caring for Uncle G as he stood a few meters away.
"Spread the word, tell them he's dead, and clear his mansion of all his valuables, and as for the gents, they should secretly guard the crib, but should not be seen until I return" Vulisanii urged the person at the other end of the phone - one of his four most trusted friends.
"And what of the clients, his reputation, his turf, won't the sad news cause instability to all those?" The voice left Vulisanii smiling, he had seen it coming, "Don't worry about it, I have something up my sleeve." His laugh left his left ear itching and the nurse by his uncle's bed looking at him. Just until her eyes were pulled to the door which was slowly opened after a short knock, before a guy with white sneakers, olive green pants and a black tank top stepped in:
"Otherwise keep me updated someone just came through."
"Vulisanii Mukwevho, hasn't it been a second? Once again I'm sorry about your uncle."
"Don't stress it, he'll be back on his feet sooner than we know," Vulisanii returned Darren's hug before the two moved towards the window, possibly to have a serious chat. "And on your side, you been invisible lately." His words triggered Darren's sense of humor.
"Nope just been doing me, and If things go my way I'll be a father soon." Darren looked somehow worried as he confided in his friend. "She wants to leave me and even claims there might be no future between her and me - she knows I'm not going to surrender that easily."
"She doesn't sound like a novice at all - I have to meet her. As for me my marriage was ruined ealier today, when the detective my uncle was fucking fucked him over." He grinned and pressed the top of his clenched fist right beneath his chin. "Which is the same reason I've summoned you here Darren."
"If you're suspecting me just know that I had nothing to do with it... But I definitely am ready to help," he bounced his gaze from the floor to the ceiling, "And should we need extra killer instict, we can just call another person who was once painted bad by Dee Monique."
"If you're talking about Dumisanii Gumede you can forget it, I have enough soldiers and I know for a fact that Mastermind is busy planning for Zanele Mandalay's wedding, maybe with that same Dumisanii. Vulisanii looked back to Darren after doing the Maths in his head.
"Oh you haven't heard? Rumour has it she actually wants to replace Dumisanii; you have to hear this," Darren said and even though Vulisanii was tempted to call someone else for confirmation he walked out of the room after giving his uncle a nostalgic look before walking out with his talkative friend. Vulisanii was never one to dwell on rumours or misintepreted facts.
Yet as they talked and walked in the private clinic's small hallway, Anathii's aunt who was doing a voluntarily nightshift round -after recently quiting her short leave in order to keep her mind occupied from Aneni-Anesu's kidnapping - saw the two.
She recognized Darren and was ready to throw him a playfully gritty smile... Until she realized that he was walking next to the very same person whom Detective Divvy Jaars had warned them about letting her daughter date. With curiosity in mind she waited for them to pass, before contemplating on whether to call Detective Divvy Jaars or Nomsa, or retrace his steps to the very room he had just left.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Wakey Wakey!" Kimm JM said as she looked to the girl who was sitting on the second bed of that quiet room. "At least let's go take a shower or something, that dress looks a bit roughed up don't you think?" Kimm tried stepping closer with composure.
"Tell me something, when you got the gun and stayed behind, and those two gunshots went off... Did you kill him?" Aneni-Anesu said with emulsive emotion painted all over her make up, which had now been roughed up to the flow of her tears. Her teary eyes weren't dry yet.
"But you already know the answer to that, besides -how will knowing the answer do you any good?" Her voice held a boiled bitterness as she leaned against the wall, directly opposite A-A, and brought one leg over the other, in a manner that uncuffed a hidden truth.
"Such figurative speech... as though betraying him was not enough I suppose." A-A barked back
"I saved your ass back there, unless you wish you were on your flight to Mozambique right now, even more drunk than you were earlier," Her unapologetic words hovered over to A-A's temper and left her with a thoughtful look which almost made Kimm JM think otherwise.
"Long as I would have been with Vulisanii then I wouldn't have any complaints - but you took him away from me." Aneni-Anesu was was consumed by one thought, as per their reason for such heavy betrayal - as well as the possible mysteries for the actual act of dishonour. But thinking back provided her no clues as her tipsy memories proved rather foggy than helpful.
"Face reality Aneni-Anesu, his evil uncle pushed him into dating you just as he was going to push the wedding between you too, and after coercively, but legally, marrying the two of you he was then going to keep you to himself..., didn't you listen." Kimm JM squeezed the air, as rolled her eyes to Vulisanii's girl's ignorance.
Aneni-Anesu could hear the words but deep down she was busy praying for the Lord's guidance. She could also feel the ring at the bottom of the necklace - both which Vulisanii had gifted her.
Whenever she touch the ring with both fingers she would feel her excitement surge to the thoughts of him, as though the ring almost gave her power to feel his presence. Whether that was delusional or not - she didn't mind it feeding the strength of his memorieds.
"By the way, I was simply just a pawn in all of this, I was just following orders from my boss as whom Dee Monique also works for." Kimm said epigrammatically, before moving against the wall ready to leave. She had been sent by Dee Monique to brainwash Aneni-Anesu and put her in her place, but seeing the state in which she seemed to be in - she just couldn't get that malicious. Hence she let that puzzled truth torture Aneni-Anesu, without force.
"You really aren't making sense Kimm, when I first met you you were a journalist, the second time you were my boyfriend's associate, and now you are a murderer?" Aneni-Anesu couldn't contain her laugh. "Only God knows who you'll be the next time we meet."
"As I said before, I'm just doing my job, remember that!" A sassy tone crawled out of Kimm JM's mouth, as she realized that the 20 year old in front of her had a solid point. She herself had been deeply getting intangled with the wrong people - all in search of that prestigious award, the journalist of the year award. She didn't know just yet whether Detective DM was still a good cop paying bad or if she had actually gone bad. "And whilst you await your unofficial trial, would like something to eat, or should I force you to pull yourself together and take a shower first?"
"I'll gladly take a shower first, but I have to ask...," her eyes trailed the wall before once again landing on Kimm, "what exactly do you think will happen after Dee Monique finally achieves what she wants, reaching the peak of both the Legal system as well as that of the criminal underworld?" Her voice scratched the suspicion out of Kimm's thoughts as Aneni-Anesu slid off the bed and found her feet.
Yet A-A wasn't shy to add more spice: "She obviously knows you're after a story, an award, and the truth, hence if she's left her good side behind her you will be met witth a deadly surprise soon enough."
"When I spoke to her earlier she seemed hungry for justice, but I'll still keep my prudent eye on her," she sounded doubtful over her new mistress who also seemed to be intimate with her real boss Mr Rosebank, judging by the way they had held hands and gotten into the car after Gummy Bear's shooting, and driven off into the evening as though they had won an award - probably her
Oscar's for her deceitful act.
"Then chat to her again, after she's had a few glasses of wine and see if your little theory is solid," Anathii's sister said whilst walking closer to Kimm - who seemed somewhat of suspicious of the same lady she had seen shooting the man she had been sharing her bed with for a while.
Kimm could remember meeting her boss, Mr Rosewell, alongside Dee Monique at the Journalism Without Borders headquarters a few days ago, when her boss had told her to watch out for Kimm and do everything Kimm wanted from her - before Kimm herself had informed her that she was going to do everthing within her power to convince Gummy Bear to convince Vulisanii to approach her with a coalition offer...
The same Mr Rosewell whose eyes had seemed glued to the brunette lady next to him, too much to even care about the Zanele Mandalay wedding - as though he no longer cared about being the first media house to cover that elite wedding - judging by how he had irresponsibly disseminated that opportunity to a few fairly unexperienced journalists
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elsewhere, Nomsa rushed out of the Uber ride as soon as it came to a halt, still thinking about her encounter with Genna's mother's Lindiwe Gumede's assiastant, whilst she had been helping Genna to choose the right Wedding dress. Lindiwe Gumede's assistant seemingly agitated for Anathii's negligence due to his failure to pitch up. It was then, when she had been with the Gumede's and seen how beautiful Genna had looked in her wedding dress that she had begun wishing she had rejected Zanele Mandalay's offer from the start. The Gumede's were sweet and humble, just as she had always known them to be.
Walking towards the clinic's entrance she could see Aunt Emma standing just behind the door, as a few other patients walked out and headed to their cars. Aunt Emma looked slightly agitated and impatient, even in her white uniform.
Nomsa could still remember, of the semi-hour old memories of her recent visit to check up on her niece, Caith and almost lost her mind when she'd come across a phone just in front of the door. A phone whose screen protector was cracked before she'd picked it up and thought of dialing the police's hotline in case of any looming foul play. Until she had actually bothered to open the door, shortly before coming across several cushions of the floor as a sound of yelling was coming from the nearby bedrooms...
Nomsa, A-A's mother had heard a bit: "...and then, why hasn't he called me... Doesn't he care about the baby or should I just bombard his wedding tomorrow and bring him the harm I'm about to spare this innocent baby." A voice had yelled at her niece's house, a voice she'd recognized to be Caith's.
"No bestie, you can't do that... I won't let you get a criminal offense over someone you aren't even destined to be with," Nomsa had heard Neliswa's voice vouching in defiance, in response, as she had stepped closer and closer to properly hear of the source of those news.
"Rather him than Darren who thinks the world revolves around him, plus whom I also do not have much solid history with in the first place," Caith had justified before almost adding more words to her vocal defense, in a manner which Nomsa had never heard from her before, judging by the twisted expression caused by her eavedrop.
"Ladies, ladies, come out! Mind explaining the reason for all this cat and mouse commotion," Nomsa had called them out and watched them with a shaming gaze as they both stepped out of the bedroom to follow her voice, nice and slowly, like kids which had just been caught playing hide and seek.
"Mom I'm pregnant and I don't think my boyfriend cares, all he cares about is coming here to see Neliswa," Caith had lied as she ran forth to hug Nomsa, leaving Neliswa in the dark to take a short lived blame for a small plan which had gone wrong - due to the fact that Caith and Neliswa had been hoping for Anathii to catch them in a fight which would point her bestfriend as the bad person.
"Caithie I'm very sorry but you know exactly that it's not my fault that Darren has a small crush on me," Neliswa had improvised, as questions had begun to rise at the back or her mind as to where Anathii could have been, since he had promised to come and inform them of his decision. Yet his mother had come instead - unless that was the response he had decide to send them she'd also speculated beneath her litte act.
"Yet you still entertain him by letting him chat to you whenever he comes over," Nomsa had watched as Caith had gone over to Neliswa with a lifted hand ready to deliver a slap. Until Nomsa had brought it upon herself to stop the little quarell and talk them into calming down.
Yet even now, as she hugged the agitated Aunt Emma, she was still feeling as though there was something she had missed, especially judging by how their argumentative yelling had only begun once she herself had stepped into their house. Nomsa had done theatrical drama, enough to know of a set up - she giggled to their little great act. Even remembering of how unconvincingly Neliswa had continued to apologize and calm her friend down, while Nomsa herself was saying her toodles and rushing outside where an impatient Uber driver was hooting loudly for her to return - the same driver who had just now dropped her at the clinic.
"Aneni-Anesu's boyfriend was here and when I saw him leaving a room and checked it out I was shocked t discover the person I found Inside." Aunt Emma seemed shaky and concernened as she pulled her arm to move her out of the way, to avoid blocking other entrants.
"No No! Could you be telling me what I think you're telling me?" Nomsa's shock doubled her worries and consumed her previous thoughts, "please tell me it's not my daughter, she's too young to be laying in hospital." Her eyes were now lit up to the thought of possibiities.
"Unfortunately not, 'cause when I went inside to check I was surprised to find that former old associate of your husband, Gummy Gumede himself, fighting for his life, apparently he was shot just above the chest." Aunt Emma softened her voice and tightened her grip on Nomsa wrist, fully knowing how she reacted to bad news, just before the two walked outside and stood by the steps. "But I wanted to check with you first as whether you think I should consult Detective Divvy Jaars about this."
"Won't be necessary, these hands are more than willing to save the detective's time as well as stop that evil man's pain," Nomsa's eyes had reddedened by the time she was finished, before she broke out of Emma's clutch and scampered back to the clinic. "That gangsta has cost me were too much."
"He has too big bodyguards just outside, plus there are survailance camera's inside," Aunt Emma whisphered upon catching up, "Not only that, but he's also under the clinic's protection, getting the best treatment and security it has to offer." Aunt coughed out the breath which had been caught up in his chest. "Seems he partly owns this clinic."
"Either you give me a uniform so I can disguise myself as nurse, or I'll find my own way to make him suffer just as much as he made me suffer. " Feeling overwhelmed with anger and emotion made it hard for her to be stopped, until her phone rang to the call from Detective Divvy Jaars. It was then when she pulled herself together, inhaled and exhaled deeply just before answering the call.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yet, 9 minutes before that very call, Detective Divvy Jaars stood by his board, which had pictures of suspects and names. Including that of Vulisanii Mukwevho, just next to that of Gummy Bear's right at the top of the board.
The Mukwevho family was known for, and suspected of being behind a series of hijacks. Of all the cases he had been assigned to concurrently, that Mukwevho assignment was one of the most important, and thanks to his former close partner, Dee Monique's, tip off they were able to stop another hijack - unfortunately at a high cost of the car itself and 4 lives, 2 from either sides of the law.
Detective Divvy Jaars was about about to look at more files and documents when he went back to his laptop, just in time for him to receive an email from an unfamiliar address. Only to check his antivirus before opening it - and discovering disturbing pictures of Dee Monique in a bed of money next to Gummy Bear - naked... Followed by a picture of a bleeding Gummy Bear, as well as other pictures of her and Mr Rosewell kissing and butt-grabbing by a rooftop pool.
"P.S keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, your department is rotten, but as for your partner we don't know yet." His brows and thoughts were suddenly left furrowed to the curious thoughts of the person who could have behind those confidential letters and pictures. Then and there he could feel himself being obligated to do one big thing, almost as big as a big bang theory.