Heart of glass
One man wins Zakithi’s fragile heart as another breaks it.
The dazed, delighted expression on financial investigator Manqoba’s (Melusi Yeni) face moments after his office quickie sex with Maluju Oil boss Zakithi (Nokubonga Khuzwayo) in early February was a highlight in this month of romance. He’s come to dig up dirt, but he has clearly struck gold instead. And knowing that he wanted Zakithi as much for her ambition and brains as for her beauty had viewers swooning for a new favourite couple. Alas, despite her powerful attraction to him and a little flutter in her heart, Zakithi just wanted to hit it and quit it since Manqoba wasn’t going to be hanging around to join Maluju full time. But we’ve loved seeing the ice queen melt a little. And this love affair isn’t over by a long shot, especially when Manqoba returns in the first week of March and Zakithi has to watch everyone panting after this man she still wants.
DOG IN A MANGER
“Being with someone that you still love when you’re not together is hard,” says Nokubonga. “Just seeing him talking to women makes her jealous. I’d have loved to have thought that she isn’t the jealous type, but love will make you do crazy things. She tries to control it. It comes up inside her like, ‘Why are you talking to my man?’ So she paints this picture that he is not such a good guy, you shouldn’t talk to him. It’s just her protecting what’s hers.” No wonder Zakithi is so torn. Her heart is at war with her mind – which is career driven and distrusting of men – and heart is winning.
TRUST ME
This softening in Zakithi’s heart opens a door that she’s kept shut against her dad Zimele (Tony Kgoroge) thanks his constant rejection – from a childhood where he’d favour her brother Nganono (Xolani Mfeka), to the day that he kicked her out of Maluju when he found out that she wasn’t his biological child. Zakithi and her dad are now processing Nganono’s murder and the shock discovery that Zimele is not their real dad. “There are beautiful things coming up where they are embracing and talking things through because for the first time, they have time to talk. She gets to say things to him that she has wanted to say all her life. The relationship gets better but I don’t think it will ever be perfect,” says Nokubonga. “This change then gives her father a chance.” And how does Zimele use this chance? He shows his true, deceitful colours and goes behind Zakithi’s back, trying to persuade Manqoba to plant fake evidence on Zakithi so that he can snatch back his position as CEO of Maluju – a position Zakithi ends up surrendering to him voluntarily just two days later!
FOR LOVE
When Zakithi uncovers the truth, it will wreck her world – in her relationships with Zimele and Manqoba. “She finds out that Manqoba didn’t take Zimele’s offer. That he chose Zakithi.” Zakithi is floored by the betrayal and the display of loyalty. “Her family has never chosen her! Growing up, they chose Nganono, that’s why she left for London. For the first time in her entire life, someone loves her for her,” says Nokubonga. But Manqoba had better prepare for the chill as he sets about melting his ice queen. He will be battling a lifetime of distrust, even though he has proven his loyalty. “Everything new can be scary because you don’t know whether to believe it or trust it. She gives in, bit by bit, to this man. It’s hard and scary and fresh, but she is learning and she is growing,” says Nokubonga.