Echoes Of The Heart

Episode 32

Every time he saw his mother upset, he would mirror her emotions.

Sibusiswe proceeded to hold on to her son’s hand with one hand while the other attended to their luggage that consisted of one big suitcase and her handbag.

Martin hugged his son for the last time before finally letting them go.

“Don’t forget to call me!” He shouted to Sibu before they disappeared from view.
“ Tsk tsk tsk ….” it was Sibeso looking Martin up and down with a scowl on her face. “If you loved her that much, why were you such a jerk to her?” She asked him.
“I was young and stupid then,” Martin answered and started his walk back to the parking lot.

Sibeso ran after him and the two of them walked together.
“You really hate me these days don’t you?” He asked her.
“Of course I do,” Sibeso replied honestly.
Martin glared at her and then laughed. “I see you still haven’t turned those lemons in your mouth into lemonade,” he teased her. “I thought motherhood turned all women soft.”
“It actually does the opposite mind you,” she corrected him.

Martin thought about what she had just said for a moment. “You might be right,” he finally said. “Sibu has become a thousand times harder to crack ever since she learnt she was pregnant.”
“Who can blame her,” Sibeso said. “She caught her husband in bed with another woman the very day she went to share the news of the pregnancy with him. You are lucky she didn’t cut off your balls,” she moved her eyes to the area in question and Martin instinctively used his hands to cover the area.

Sibeso laughed. “Relax,” she said blithely. “They are safe…because I am a mother now.” She assured him.

Martin laughed and relaxed a bit.

They had finally reached the car park.

---

Sibu had planned on using her stay in SA to work and relax as much as possible since she had left all the sources of her problems behind. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case for in Ted, she found a new source of frustration.

For the first three weeks or so, Ted had not said anything about his feelings to Sibu. At the office, the two of them interacted as colleagues and at home, they got along well as friends. He took them out on tours of the country whenever they were not working and together with Jacob they experienced all sorts of fun.

Jacob had been distant towards Ted for the first couple of weeks but Ted’s friendly personality was hard to ignore after some time. The little boy was forced to finally open up and the two of them became the best of buddies, much to Martin’s chagrin.

“He is a really cool guy dad,” Jacob once said to his father when he called.
“This is what the adults call betrayal Jake,” Martin admonished his son. “It’s first degree betrayal.”
“It’s not like that dad,” the five year old tried to reason with his father. He just takes us out to show us around because there is no one else to show us the city. You understand, right?”
“I don’t,” Martin sulked. “Where’s your mother? Give her back the phone, I need to talk to her.”
“Are you mad at me dad?”
“Yes I am. Let me talk to your mum.”
“Okay,” the little guy looked very disappointed as he walked back into the living room from his playroom to give the phone back to his mother.
“Where’s mum?” Jacob asked Ted who was sitting alone watching TV.
“I think she’s gone to the bathroom,” Ted answered. “Someone wants to talk to her?”
“it’s dad,” Jacob replied, holding the phone out.

Ted got up and went to collect the phone. “I will talk to him while we wait for mum okay,” he had put his hand on the phone to keep whoever was on the other end from listening.

Jacob simply nodded with tears in his eyes and then walked back to his room, his head down like a defeated man.
“Why are you torturing a five year old into being your spy?” Ted said the minute he had the phone to his ear. “Can you imagine the kind of pressure you are putting him under? When will you grow up Martin?”
“Where’s my wife?” Martin voice blasted through the phone. “Why are you answering her phone?”

Ted laughed. “Calm down, she’s slightly indisposed at the moment…but you and I can talk while we wait. I am sure there should be something we can still talk about considering we used to be best friends.”

“I have nothing to say to you Ted. Do you think I don’t know what you are plotting?” Martin growled.
“Oh, so you know,” Ted said sarcastically. “That makes things a little easier for me then. You are right, I am still in-love with Sibu and in case you’ve forgotten, she’s not your wife anymore, she is your ex-wife.”
“Don’t you have any shame man?” Martin asked. “How can you go after my wife when you and I used to be friends? What sort of position will you put Sibu in if at all you succeed in pursuing her….you want her to be the woman that married her ex-husband’s best friend?”
“There’s the difference between you and me right there,” Ted was saying. “You care too much about what people think and I don’t. So what if people argue semantics and give unnecessary opinions? Everyone knows that we were both interested in her from the get-go and we both had fair chances of winning her heart except you cheated and gained the upper hand. God, you almost ruined her life! Bottom line is, I have no qualms whatsoever asking her to be my wife because I don’t owe you a thing. You and I are no longer friends and, if at all you considered me a friend, you would have backed off years ago when you saw that she liked me better than she liked you.”

“You really have some nerve Ted,” Martin burst out. “She will never be your wife as long as I am alive.”
“Good,” Ted retorted. “With your health history and lifestyle, that won’t be such a problem for me.”
“hmm hmm,” Sibu deliberately cleared her throat to announce her presence in the room. She had already heard more than enough.
Ted quickly turned around and found Sibu awkwardly smiling at him. “Is that Martin?” she asked.
“Son of a b—h,” Ted could hear Martin cuss before rudely ending the call.
Ted looked shaken. “How long were you standing there?” he asked.
“Not long enough,” Sibu lied. “I just came in and heard you talk about health history. From your tone of voice and from the color of that phone you are holding, I figured it could only be Martin.” She was forcing herself to smile in order to hide her tired and weary looking eyes.
He removed the purple covered phone from his ear and held it out to her. “I think he’s already cut though….”
“It’s fine, as long as he talked to Jake.” She took the phone from him. “I am going to go upstairs to lie down for a bit. We had quite a crazy day today.”
“I know,” Ted nervously smiled back at her. He was not convinced she had only heard the last part of the conversation. “You should rest,” he said. “I have some work I need to look at also, so….”
“Yeah, let’s chat later then.” And she turned and headed upstairs to her room.
Ted knotted his fingers into a fist. That was not how he had wanted her to learn about his feelings. Dame that Martin, he silently cussed as he watched Sibu’s figure disappear up the stairs.
Ted confirmed his suspicions the very next day when Sibu’s attitude towards him changed. She had become distant and avoided being anywhere were they would be just the two of them. This went on for over a week until he decided he couldn’t take the pressure any more. He accosted her at lunch time at work and took her somewhere where they could talk in private.
They found the perfect spot at the rooftop of their office building. There was a bench there that was strategically placed for anyone sitting there to view the city uninterrupted.
They both sat down.
“You know what I want us to talk about, right?” Ted said.
“I do,” Sibu admitted.
“Your behavior since that evening,” Ted was saying. “Should I take it as some sort of response?”
“What response?” Sibu asked.
“My feelings,” he said. “I know you heard what I told Martin. I am still in-love with you Sibu.” He had turned his body to face her.
“I know,” she said, her face still facing forward and her shadowed gaze fixed on the buildings in the distance.
“I need to know how you feel about me,” Ted pressed on. “I know a lot has happened over the years but not once did my feelings change. If anything, they have grown stronger. I know there was a time when I thought I had a chance with you but I am not so sure about now. The moment you heard about my feelings, you went mute on me and started acting distant.”
“That’s because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings Ted. All these years I only thought of you as a friend…nothing more.”
“I know, that’s why I am willing to give you time to start thinking about me as something more than just a friend…like a man who’s interested in you, a man who has feelings for you.”
Ted….” she had started to protest but he wouldn’t give her a chance.
“I don’t think that evening was the first time you learned about my feelings for you Sibu,” Ted said. “There were so many times in the past when I tried to tell you…I think I told you enough for you to have picked up on what I meant. You just chose to ignore it. I have seen how awkward you got whenever our eyes meet ever since you arrived here. You act nervous or uncomfortable whenever we find ourselves in an intimate situation. You knew all along and I think that the only reason you kept avoiding confronting the truth was because you knew that there is a possibility you might like me too.”

“It’s not like that Ted….”
“Then what is it about Sibu?”
She was silent, her gaze still shadowed by whatever thoughts running through her head.
Ted waited, keeping his gaze closely on her.
“I don’t know Ted,” Sibu finally spoke. “My life is just a complete mess and I just don’t have the time to think about dating right now.”
“I think you are just making excuses,” he told her. “You’ve had enough time to date from the time you came here.”
“I don’t think that constitutes dating,” she argued.