Dr. Nguyen finally gave the go ahead for Mali to be discharged. And Lei was the one to take her home. Her brothers were a no-show; they were probably upset about her refusing to go back to their family home with them. Not that Mali cared. She knew they'd come around. As always.
"I have to stop by Peter's house to get my stuff," Mali told Lei as they left the hospital premises in Lei's car.
"Warren said not to meet that bastard," Lei replied. "Or he will kill him."
"Oh. And since when do you listen to what Warren says? Also, I thought you wanted Warren to kill him."
"One, I always listen to what your brother says. Everyone does," Lei told her. "And two, I want Warren to kill the bastard because he cheated on you, not because 'I' took you to his house. I don't want blood on my hands."
Mali rolled her eyes and leaned back on her seat. Lei's reasoning probably made sense in her head, but Mali found it difficult to comprehend what she just said.
"I need to get my stuff from his house, Lei. So please," Mali pleaded.
Lei only hmm-ed. But she did drive Mali to Peter's house.
When they arrived, Lei wanted to go in with her but Mali insisted that she'd be fine. She also told Lei that she wanted some time to talk to Peter. Alone.
And though reluctant, Lei agreed to wait for her in the car.
Peter's house was luxurious. He had money after all, lots of it. Sure, it was earned while riding off of his parents' fortune, but he could still claim it as his. Money was a powerful resource. And Mali vowed to take that resource from him as she climbed up three large, stone steps, all brown and beige and grey. She stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath. Seeing Peter after the fiasco he'd caused gave Mali chest pains, but she was going to suffer through it.
So, she opened the door and walked inside, didn't bother ringing the doorbell.
Peter was busy in the kitchen, probably just making himself an easy snack because he couldn't cook for shit, Mali knew that much. He called after her as she waltzed through the house to where 'their' bedroom was.
Nothing much had changed in the bedroom, but Mali couldn't help but pause and stare at the bed, wondering if Peter and Amanda had slept on that bed every time she was at the hospital on a night shift. Or day shift, because, who knew when they pumped.
It wasn't until Peter touched her shoulder that Mali snapped back to reality and noticed his presence behind her. She shrugged his hand off of her shoulder.
"Where did you go just now?" he asked casually, like the two of them were best buds.
Mali moved to grab two suitcases from the closet. "I was just wondering how many times you did the hunka-chunka with your side piece on that bed."
Peter knitted his brows in confusion. "Did the what?"
She didn't answer that. She silently proceeded to unhang her clothes from the closet and throw them in the suitcases. Peter just watched by the door, with folded hands, as his ex-fiancée moved around the bedroom packing her stuff.
He didn't even have the decency to appear guilty. But he did apologise, even though it was half-assed.
He stepped into the room. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Maliah. I really didn't mean for things to become so serious with Mandy. It just happened."
Mali zipped up her luggage. "I'm sorry, Peter, but you can go stuff your sorry where the sun doesn't shine."
"I guess I deserve that, but-"
"Anything after the word 'but', is horseshit," she spoke as she pushed the bags out of the room, with Peter following closely behind her.
At the eve of her departure, just by the front door, she stopped and turned to face Peter. Once again, a sharp pain zigged across her her ribcage, and she massaged her chest gently.
"I have only one question for you, Peter, and I want you to answer me truthfully," she said. Peter dumbly nodded. "Did you ever love me?"
He scratched his forehead, a sure sign that whatever was going to come out of his mouth was shit, and Mali wasn't going to like it.
"I don't know," he answered. "I just- Maliah, you loved me so much I had to love you back. I guess I- I wasn't really in love with you, I just loved you because you loved me. I was merely reciprocating, I think."
Mali's eyes filled with tears but she didn't cry, she didn't want to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
"All you had to do was talk to me, Peter," she whispered. "That's all you had to do. You could have come up to me and said, 'Hey, let's break up, Maliah, you're a stuck-up bitch and I don't love you like that'. I would have understood, really. But no, you went ahead and made a fool of me, cheated on me, and you ultimately killed my son."
"Why do you keep blaming me for that?" Peter's voice went an octave higher. "I already told you that none of it was my fault, and no matter how many times you repeat the same thing, it won't become the truth. You're just looking for someone to blame and I-"
"Shut up, Peter. Shut up!" Mali screamed, palming her temple with a shaky hand. She doubled over, and Peter moved to hold her, but she held up another hand, halting him.
Lei burst open the door and looked between the two of them before she moved to Mali's side. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.
Mali nodded, then straightened up, glowering at Peter. She was menacingly calm as she spoke, "You're going to regret what you did to me, Peter. I will make sure of it. You killed my child at ten weeks so, like I promised, I will return the pain tenfold. Over the next ten weeks, you will breathe, but you won't be able to live. I will snatch away your life, your identity, and your very soul. I'm going to cause you pain that'll hurt deep to your bones." She spat, "You're going to have nightmares about me every night for the rest of your pathetic life, you fitlhy bastard."
Peter gulped with fear. He reeked of it. He'd never seen Mali so angry in the time they'd been together, so he didn't know what she was capable of. But he knew she was a Manghini, so she was capable of 'something'. Something way bigger and more dangerous than the threats and insults she uttered when she was angry.
Mali sniffled, swiped at her nose and pulled one suitcase, leaving Lei to come with the other one.
They put the cases in the trunk and Lei drove off. The silence in the car was deafening, so Lei turned on the radio.
Mali turned it off.
Lei glanced at her, but didn't say anything, just continued driving. After ten minutes or so of driving around aimlessly, which Mali didn't notice, Lei stopped at the bank of Lake Kekoa, a famous lake at the eastern edge of the city. It was quiet, serene.
Only when Lei killed the engine did Mali finally take notice of her surroundings. She looked around, and then at Lei. "What are we doing here?"
Instead of giving her an answer, Lei got off the car. Mali watched as she went and took a seat on a glossy brown bench on the bank. She sighed, but then decided to go and join her.
The two women just stared at the body of water in silence.
After a while though, Lei shifted a little to face Mali. "Cry, Maliah. Grieve," she told her. "You're allowed."
Pain knotted in Mali's throat, and she suddenly struggled against it. Her heart raced, her hands shook, and her chin wobbled. Her stomach twisted and curdled so much that she knew the minute she moved, she was going to vomit.
"You know, I never found out if it was a boy or a girl..." Mali whispered, "it was too early to tell, but in my heart, I know it was a boy."
"Maybe it just wasn't the right time," Lei tried to comfort her. But her words were going to have a negative effect, she knew that, and maybe that's what she wanted. "Ek bedoel, alles gebeur vir 'n rede, jy weet."
Mali's eyes narrowed as she stared at Lei. She snapped at her, "And what do you think was the reason I had to lose my son? Was I going to be a bad mother? Is that it? Am I a bad person? Did I do something wrong?"
"I just meant-"
Mali choked on a sob threatening to escape, she suddenly couldn't catch her breath. "I ate healthy, I didn't smoke, I didn't drink caffeine or alcohol. I took my prenatal vitamins, I went for regular checkups, and I did yoga. I did everything that you are supposed to do when you are pregnant, and I avoided all of the things that you are supposed to, so..." her voice cracked with emotion, "w-w-why, Lei? Why did he die?"
Lei swallowed, tears forming in her eyes as she watched Mali in such pain again. She had no words of comfort to say to her, but she knew she had to say something. She had to soothe her best friend's pain somehow, even if a little.
"Maybe he just wanted to rest," replied Lei. "In peace. With all the other babies, you know. Babies who struggled in their mother's wombs. Babies who fought until their last breaths. Babies who wanted to stay babies forever."
"He wasn't supposed to die!" Mali screamed, her voice hoarse with heavy emotion.
Her whole body started twisting like she was writhing in unfathomable pain. Then she fell forward, on her knees, and Lei was right there with her, engulfing her in a hug.
Mali's stomach twisted violently now, bile rising in her throat, the sour burn mixing with the thick, acrid scent of something in the air.
Everything burned. Her heart. Her lungs. Her belly. The pain overwhelmed her body, but there were no wounds. She tried to breathe properly, to control the sobs rising in her chest, but it was impossible stopping a tsunami. She gasped, the sound incredibly loud in the stillness of their surrounding. Then the tears erupted, hot and fierce.
"He was supposed to live. He was supposed to be my rainbow baby, Lei," Mali's voice quaked. "His name could have been Asé. I could have been his mother. I already have practice with Aura and Zac; I was going to be a very good mother to him, Lei. I was going to raise him so well, he was never going to lack anything in this life."
Lei continued to hold Mali in her arms, her heart breaking into pieces for her best friend.
"It hurts. Here." Mali clenched her fist and pressed it to her chest, over her heart. "It hurts so much."