Msindo introduced me to his friends. We spent the moments, which followed laughing, dancing, and having a great time as we continued drinking wine. I was gradually feeling more and more comfortable with him. As the night wore on, we sat on a couch, talking and getting to know each other better. He had a wife and a daughter. The moment it was my turn to talk about my family, I put my fingers on his lips and stood up, pulling him to the stage. On the stage, he didn't wait for me to lead the dance. He was something else with hands and legs. He was pacing to the throb of the beat and so flexible, as if the music were casting out the soul from his body. I enjoyed it when he carried me on his shoulders. His hands held a tight grip on me as he nuzzled his fresh-shaven face against my stomach. The gentle scratches of his skin sent shivers down my spine, and I couldn't control my feelings. I crushed his neck with my thighs and he failed to stop himself either as his warm tongue licked my stomach. The music was then playing slowly, like jazz. The feeling of pleasure caught me. He slowly put me on the floor. I felt so dizzy and leaned into his posture.
"We took too much cocaine," he whispered into my ears.
I held his shaven cheeks and pinched them a little in admiration. He was fun and a lot crazier than I was. At that moment, it slipped my mind that he had a wife as he made me remember my ex, who was much like him—the same charisma. Msindo didn't wait to kiss me, and without thinking too much, I fell into the moment. However, it wasn't long before his wife showed up and gave me a tight slap. I moved backward as she came in between us. The music stopped, and everyone stared at us. The incandescent lights were then turned on when they started playing jazz like music. I came back to my senses. Menzi was back, standing on the stage. He didn't say a word as Msindo's wife continued shouting at me and flying continuous slaps and punches into my face. Msindo intervened. He apologized to his wife, but she was deaf and unstoppable. She only wanted to kill me.
"Enough!"
That was Menzi calling for my rescue. Msindo's wife stopped and looked at Menzi. She looked outraged. Menzi walked down the stage and came straight to me. He stood in front of me but didn't utter even a single word. Msindo's wife wanted to finish me and she was calling me a bitch. Menzi gripped her arm and pulled her to his face. He revealed I was with him, so any insult to me was an insult to him. It was intolerable. Thereafter, he commanded Msindo to take his wife and go home, not to mention the competition that Msindo was so interested in, which was over. Again, please don't judge Msindo and me. We were both drunk. I also wonder how all that happened while I was with Menzi that night and I asked myself what was Msindo's wife doing at Kaden House that late. Anyway, I messed up that night.
Msindo and his wife left. The Joker continued to entertain people, and I was running behind Menzi as he was heading to his car. I was at a fifty-metre distance behind him. When he opened his car, he entered and locked the car doors. He started the engine. At that instant, I lost my mind because I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I knew no one in Drazen Central; worse, Menzi was leaving me. I screamed, calling his name, but he ignored even my gestures, which cried for his help. The cocaine stopped functioning for a second in my head. Menzi was leaving me if I remained calm. I ran into the front of the car and continued trying to make him stop. I even went down to the ground on my knees, and he halted. He opened the front door. I fast stood and ran to the car.
When I got inside, he harshly pressed the gears. I knew I was the cause. I acted stupid when we were at Kaden House. He focused on the steering. I got even more afraid as he was increasing the speed of the car in every tenth of a kilometre. I tried to apologize to him many times, but it was all for nothing. Ultimately, I felt like I was desperate. If he had endeavoured to behave like Msindo towards me, I wouldn't have behaved as I did in Kaden House, so it was also his fault. He stopped the car next to a heavily fenced perimeter. Inside the perimeter were many buildings, and the lights flooded in every direction. He went outside the car after telling me we were at his workplace and commanded me to stay in the car. I was glad to hear him tell me that because, from Kaden House to his workplace, he never said a word to me, even if I tried to show how sorry I was to him.
I sat tightly inside the car and watched him speaking to some people at the entrance. He then went inside for about thirty minutes. I checked the clock on the dashboard and realized it was already four in the morning. Thereafter, I looked for my purse and phone in the car, but I didn't find it. I recalled removing my phone from the charger the moment we got outside the car when we were going into the Kaden House. Instantly, I got confused opening the dashboard tray, and I couldn't believe my eyes on what I saw. There were stacks of hundred-dollar bills piled on each other. I ended up forgetting about my purse and phone, which I realized I had lost at Kaden House. Aside from the money, there was a box of cigarettes and a lighter. I took only the cigarette together with the lighter and got outside the car to smoke. The situation drained the drugs and alcohol in my body and made me sober. Many questions were throbbing in my brain veins, as I got confused, thinking about Menzi's way of living after seeing such a lot of money. When I was still puddling in my thoughts, trying to figure out about Menzi, I saw him coming out from the perimeter. I stood, smoking the cigarette as if I wasn't seeing him until he came next to me.
"Stay in the car… was that hard for you to understand?" he asked, trying to snatch the cigarettes from my fingers.
"It was clear. I wanted to smoke!" I said, pressing the cigarette with the tip of my fingers.
He wanted to come too closer to me, but I pushed him away. Thereafter, I took the box of cigarettes from the car seat and gave it to him. He lit the cigarette, and then we smoked silently for some time.
"I hope you only took the cigarettes, Lisa," he said, knowing that I saw his money.
"… And the lighter! You know what… that got me thinking… who are you, Menzi?" I asked, looking at him.
"This is not a good time to question me, Lisa," he informed me.
"Enough, Menzi! I am no longer in my hometown here. I need to know you… what if something happens to me? What if you are protecting and behaving well to me, only to lure me into some trap? I kissed Msindo… you saved me from his wife. Why? Tell me, what do you do for a living? What do you want from me?" I inquired to know him, and threw the cigarette away and cried, "Please, I need at least something more tangible to know you, not just your name."
He looked at me and grabbed my shoulders after he also threw his cigarette away. I was an inch closer to him, and he talked to my ears.
"Something tangible… is it what you want, huh?" he asked softly. Suddenly, he commanded, "Open my jacket!"
I opened his jacket and froze instantly. Menzi was a gangster. He had a pistol under his belt.
"Now, get in the car. I need to sleep!" he ordered, freeing my shoulders from his grip.
I was already miles deep in thoughts and afraid. To make things worse, I didn't know where he was taking me to. He frightened me because it was my first time to see a pistol in reality. I was traveling with a gangster man at night while I didn't have a phone. I looked at him in fear and got into the car so silently.
"You now look so worried," he noticed. He then showed kindness by asking how I was feeling. I whispered I was okay.
"Please relax, you're safe with me," he said, assuring me as he pressed the gears. "Soon we will be home."
I kept quiet, and I don't know how I fell asleep.