The liaison

I hadn’t seen Vuyo Batanda in years. We’d worked together some time back in the same law firm, but somehow had fallen out of contact. The guy would make you laugh, just seeing his big smile. He had a presence about him. When he walked into a room, everyone felt it. It was perhaps true to say, like most people who knew him, that my life was better for knowing him.

Then last week he suddenly appeared again. It was early evening and I was just sitting down to watch some television, a routine I’d fallen into over the last few months. A sort of blandness had befallen my life. Quite out of the blue I got this message on my phone. It was from Vuyo, asking how I was. Next thing the phone rings and it’s him.

Hey John? How are things? What are you up to these days? What could he want, I asked myself. I told him I was fine. Yes, I was still working at the same firm where we’d met. No, nothing much was new. He asked if I was seeing anyone. I told him I was, and her name was Julia. Well, was I doing anything on Thursday? he asked. He suggested we go for a drink after work. He wanted to introduce me to his woman, his new squeeze. She was Russian, was all he would offer up, a real impressive woman, he said, who ran her own business, something in the line of imports and exports. Anyway, he said he had something to discuss with me. We could have dinner, at that Mexican place where we once had one too many tequilas. Did I remember the place? Yes I did, and it was still there.

I hung up. A Russian girl. Strange, because I’d gone out with a Russian woman just last year, I think it was September. Alena was her name. It didn’t last long. That was years after I had last seen Vuyo. I hadn’t thought too much about her since last year, since I’d last seen her. We’d been sleeping together for a month. She was a mystery, but incredible with her clothes off. Even though she reckoned that she wasn’t in good shape. I didn’t know what she was talking about, I told her. Then one day she stopped answering my messages and calls and I never heard from her again. Perhaps she’d gone back to Russia, I thought. I’d tried not to dwell on it, in fact I hadn’t thought about it much until Vuyo’s call.

Julia, who stayed alone in an apartment across town, told me in her calm way that she was busy Thursday. She had a gym class and would probably get drinks with her friends after that. I pleaded with her to reschedule the drinks and join me for dinner with Vuyo and his Russian. If anything it should be an interesting evening. Little did I know how right I would prove to be.

A few days passed and the Thursday of the dinner was upon us. The weather was acting up. It had rained earlier that day and there was a chill in the air. I thought it a strange time to eat Mexican, something I associated more with hot weather, but in Russia or Siberia at least or wherever exactly Vuyo’s new women came from this probably counted as a warm day. Julia was next to me in the front passenger seat in jeans and a warm jacket and as we headed for the restaurant, my phone buzzed. It was Vuyo messaging to say they were running late.

After we had parked, we found a seat inside at the window, close enough to the entrance to be able to see when they arrived. Julia placed herself next to me and we left two open seats opposite us. A waiter came to take our order. I got a craft beer and she ordered a vodka lemonade. I wondered if Vuyo’s Russian would order a Moscow Mule. And then looking up from my menu, as the waiter took off with our drinks order, there he was: Vuyo, wearing an open-necked dress shirt and beaming that big smile of his. I rose and he pumped my hand. Then turning to Julia, I introduced her to him. It was at this point, when I had swivelled to face Vuyo again, that I noticed her, now standing next to him.

I froze. Her face, with its narrow eyes set atop almost sunken cheeks and framed by long brown hair was instantly recognisable. Hello, she said with a distinct Russian accent, her lips moving to form the most rapid of smiles. I felt a cold chill in the room. My eyes locked on hers and reciprocating I offered her the briefest of smiles, checking myself so as not to give away anything unintentionally. What was she doing here? I asked myself. Vuyo and her, it couldn’t be. I tried not to dwell on the images that besieged my mind at that moment.

Julia is the name, I heard next to me. Had I purposefully forgotten to introduce her? Alena, she replied, with deep penetrating eyes. She barely blinked. I tried to remain calm. But inside my heart was pounding, as we shuffled to find our places at the small table. Perhaps in a bid to distract myself I jumped at asking Vuyo how his day had been. No, fine, he said. I looked just like I had when he’d last seen me. Still a craft beer man, he said, bellowing a hearty laugh that had me in all my nervousness doing just about the same. He commented on how good Julia looked and on what a lucky man I must be, with a big grin that stretched across his face. Not wanting him to outdo the compliment, I told him, nearly gritting my teeth that no, it was in fact he, with Alena that was the lucky man.

As Vuyo’s hand shot up to call the waiter for some drinks, I could almost feel Julia’s eyes as they weighed on me, sizing me up by the tone of my voice and colour of my face. If I keep cool we’ll get through this alright. As Vuyo burst into some small talk about the waiter, the thought briefly crossed my mind about whether it would really be so bad if we were to come clean and tell our respective partners how we knew one another. Instead we sat and faced Vuyo, who proceeded to tell us about his day, about all the troubles he has to deal with at work from his politically charged overseers. The way he described it almost makes it seem like this is how things operate in the state prosecutor’s office. His animated face serves more to distract us both, Alena and I, than anything else.

Then after the waiter had brought him a beer and Alena one too (no vodka) he started on that whole thing about how Russia is trying to build new nuclear reactors here. Perhaps it was his way of making Alena feel welcome. Yes man, he said, everyone knows that they are going to win the contract. I mean officially they will say there was a tender and a competitive bid. You know, that everything was done by the book, but meanwhile they will have already given it to the Russians. Isn’t that right Alena? he said, as he smiled and put away another gulp of beer. Alena didn’t look amused. There was a smirk on her face. It’s the same kind I saw her give me that time she made borsch for me and I lied and told her it was excellent, when she asked me what I thought. Anyway, I shouldn’t say anything bad about the Russians, hey Alena? said Vuyo.

Alena simply stared back at him. She barely moved in her chair. There was a kind of iciness in the air. Then she said she needed to visit the toilet. She looked at Vuyo and asked him where it was. He pointed vaguely in the direction of where the bar was. She got up. I wonder if she had felt offended. As she walked off, her back to us, Vuyo turned to face the two of us at the table, raising his eyebrows as he did so. Sheez, I really stuck my foot in that one. Then he let out a nervous chuckle. Julia sighed and said she’d go and see if Alena was okay. I’ll be right back, she said. Order for me, she told me. Before I could ask what she felt like, she’d already disappeared.

It’s only now for the first time that I catch the music, some sultry Latin song, probably Cuban. Women, hey, said Vuyo as he leaned forward in his chair. He looked around behind him, as if surveying the place, then his eyes settled on me again. I wanted to ask him how he and Alena had met, if only to confirm what she’d been up to since she’d left me hanging. But Vuyo beat me to it. Tell me something, I heard from someone, I think it was Joe, or I don’t know it could have been Lucas, that you were seeing some Russian girl last year. Is that right? I smiled, or perhaps it was just my lips that parted briefly. Aah there was someone, he said, as I felt a hand crash down on my shoulder, as he grabbed hold of me and grinned. Hey, well you have taste don’t you, he said. I simply raised my eyebrows, which was enough to get him off my case. The two of you, how did you meet, I asked.

Alena and I? On a dating app, man. Isn’t that how people meet these days! Yeah it was sometime last year, was it October or September. I forget now, he said. I froze again. Then I picked up my glass of beer and gave it another swig, a long, hard swig. September or October, I thought. Could it be that she had left me for this guy when she cut me off? Then a thought briefly crossed my mind: could it be that she had been seeing us both at the same time? But I didn’t have long to dwell on it.

Know what you want to order yet? It was Vuyo. Our waiter had suddenly appeared before our table. I looked up and pointed at the menu where the cheese nachos were. I think we’ll have some of these. Two of these, I added. Vuyo ordered a burrito and a salad, which I suppose was for Alena. Vuyo took another mouthful of beer from his glass. No, it’s funny that you were with a Russian. But what was her name, man? I told him I thought it was Irena or Rena or something. That really I couldn’t remember exactly. Can’t remember, he muttered. She couldn’t have been that good then, he said and let out a big belly laugh. Maybe he was right.

I was wondering how much more of this I would have to take, when Julia appeared at the table. She looked flustered. She’s gone. Alena’s gone, she said. I saw Vuyo’s face drop. He turned to look at Julia, who was still standing there. What do you mean, gone? She left, took a taxi, said Julia. Vuyo’s eyes widened and he jumped up. His wooden chair made a terrible rasping sound against the tile floor as he pushed himself away from the table. Then he dashed off.

Through the big bay windows we saw him run outside and begin hastily looking up and down the road. It seemed like he was questioning anyone he saw standing there. Maybe about which taxi she’d left in.

Somehow while Vuyo and I were talking, she must have been able to get a taxi and leave, without us noticing. Julia was still standing there, looking less than pleased. I asked her if she wanted to sit down. She glared back at me. What had happened, I wondered? Tell me something, how do you know Alena? Come sit down, I told her. But she remained standing. I had my head turned, trying to distract myself by looking out of the window at Vuyo. I thought I’d caught sight of him running back towards the restaurant. But it could have been someone else. Julia meanwhile was still looking at me, waiting for an answer. I don’t know her at all, I offered up. Really, said Julia. Is that really so now? Are you telling me the truth? she asked. She said something to me in the bathroom about Vuyo being just like you. What could she have meant? Julia asked. I really don’t know Julia, I said. She was pretty upset. She was shaking her head and mumbling something about you and Vuyo being the same and walked out of the bathroom and out of the front door. That’s crazy, I said. Why would she say that?

So, you really don’t know her at all? asked Julia.

No, I’ve never seen her before tonight.

Is that so? So, why can’t you look at me and tell me that when you say that?

I turned to face her again. From the corner of my eye I could see Vuyo approaching our table. He looked confused like he was trying to make out what had just happened. In a way, so was I. So were we all.