"Perhaps he would learn if you would stop mothering him and solving all his problems." He said angrily. His mother was aware of her younger son's short comings and instead of helping him become independent, she helped him be dependent.
"What good will that do? He will just stumble." Rose said fixing her hair and checking her clothes.
"We all stumble, Mother! That is the basis of life. Do you know that Tumi fathered two more children, paid Lobola to their mothers and then disappeared?" His mother stared at him shocked.
"That is a lie! Who told you such filthy lies? Tumi wouldn't do such a thing?"
"And you would know, right?" He sneered at her. "I checked his trust fund account. Twice he withdrew ten thousand Rand. Do you know what he did with that money?"
"I…I…" Rose stuttered. "Your brother has a very expensive taste and why shouldn't he? He is a Motsepe."
"He receives a large allowance every month for doing nothing and has credit cards the company pays for. What expensive thing would he want that costs ten thousand rand?"
Rose didn't have an answer.
"Your son is nothing but a lazy irresponsible spoilt brat who has a silver spoon up his ass. While poor Sindi and her sisters, all abandoned by their mother and had a rough childhood, work hard every single day and take care of themselves. They have no mother to run to, no trust fund and no company that pays their bills. All they have is each other and that boy and you want to take him away from them. Do you really think Tumi is a father material? He hardly can take care of himself, how do you expect him to take care of Joy and you said it yourself, you are no spring chicken."
Mother and son stared at each other. Tebogo didn't know what was wrong with him. Never before had he defend anyone besides his mother and brother. Mandisa wasn't just under his skin, she was also in his conscious and that didn't sit well with him.
"So what are you saying?" Rose asked wondering the same thing as him. Tebogo was the dutiful son, always doing right by the family and never asking questions when it came to her requests. She had always dependent on him knowing that he would never disappoint her like her last son. For the first time in her life she looked at him and didn't see her obedient faithful son but saw a man… A man just finding out what it meant to love a woman.