The Daughter of Zion

By Pattie Ncube

Tina is a young and ambitious woman who works in the sales department at Wealth Bridge Funding. Her boss is the handsome and charismatic Edward who drives his staff to meet big sales targets daily. He is popular as a boss although firm and no-nonsense.
Tina was born to an unmarried mother who was abandoned by her partner at the time she fell pregnant. As a result, Tina would do anything to avoid the same situation. Betrayed by her long-term boyfriend, she shuts her heart off from any idea of romance and just works as hard as she can. Soon she gets recognition for her hard work yet, against her better judgement, Tina is attracted to Edward’s powerful sensuality and his relentless pursuit means that she finally gives in. Then her worst nightmare comes true. She is pregnant! But she cannot give birth to Edward’s child before marriage; she cannot keep it if he won’t marry her, either. It would break her and destroy her mother.
When circumstances stretch her to a breaking point, she prays to the God of Israel, her God, and has an other-worldly, deeply spiritual experience that leads her to make some decisions that will change the future of all mankind on earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pattie Ncube
• Release date: Apr 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005938192

Book preview

Chapter 1

The trees were green, and the smell of spring echoed the beautiful day. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the day out of the office; after all, it was a yearly work function. Tinashe was a young beautiful woman with zero interest in the male species. It had been months since Tina had been employed in the company and she had been having a difficult time fitting in since she’d started at the company.

To be thrown so suddenly into such a big event with so many people had intensified her unease, and her outfit choice had proved to be the biggest disaster. She had worn navy denim shorts with an embroidered flowery detail. The shorts looked fine for warm weather on a sports day, and they fitted her perfectly, not too tight, just right, except every woman at the function wore long tights and knee-length shorts and hers were an appropriate six fingers above the knee. So many people seemed to be staring, both women and men, staring at her downright bravery and stupidity, Tina thought. The fact that she had taken a break from work for a year had caused her to forget how to dress in these functions. But I am not even dressed in a slutty way, she thought. Unusual maybe, but these types of shorts were perfectly accepted by society; people wore them on sunny days. But she had come to realise too quickly that at this event for this company, she was underdressed. And going back home to correct her choice of clothing was not an option; it would prove defeat and worsen the situation. She was not prepared to give in yet. A few hours of ogling stares were not going to kill her, she thought. She told herself she would wear her choice of clothing in confidence today no matter what. But with every stare, her confidence was getting increasingly bruised. She decided to sit with the few other ladies who seemed not to be taking part in any activity, the more she limited her movements the less she would be noticed. Sitting with the chosen group was not rewarding, however, and time seemed to come to a standstill. These ladies were just drinking without a care; not something she was looking forward to. For all she knew, they could be spectators. Every company has at least one; in fact, this is one of the reasons everyone attends these events in most companies. The events of the day usually became the topic of the year and what people would be talking about in the coming months back at the office.

She’d had enough stares from one of the senior management already; her name was Danika, and she was the floor manager at the office. Tina had seen her eyes widen at the first glance, when she saw Tina arrive in the morning and judging from her look Tina had known then and there that she had made a great mistake. She had seen all mixed facial reactions from her in a split second: a look of shock, embarrassment and disappointment all at once. All of which had made Tina want to crawl in a hole and die. She couldn’t possibly top the headlines at this event by being drunk in her current condition. Being drunk would tarnish her name in the months to come if not for a lifetime. She had been cautiously sipping from the same bottle of Savanna since she arrived, but the taste was now combined with the summer heat and it was tasting rather horrible, like lukewarm tea without sugar, more like medicine than for enjoyment. Just looking at the half bottle made her stomach twirl and made her almost feel sick. If it were in a glass she would have put in some ice to make it taste better, but there were no glasses here, everyone was drinking from the bottle. And she, being black, born and bred in Africa, she knew very well that one does not simply waste food, water and alcohol; well, anything that has been bought with money to go into your mouth, you do not waste, those were precious resources. She literally could almost hear her mother’s scolding words in her ears, about how some kids in Africa are starving and that she is wasting food and blah, blah, blah, which had become a relentless reminder, every time she was tempted to throw away some food that was not rotten according to her mother’s views or when she wanted to throw a flat soft drink out. Defeated by her mother’s voice in her head, she took another sip of her drink.

Finally, there was the announcement that lunch is ready. Everyone sat down at a very long table stacked with chairs, where the food was served, and pictures were taken. Finally, everyone was seated and concentrated on the meal in front of them. For a moment she felt at peace and began to settle in. When seated there was no judgement, no stares, just a group of hungry people eating and drinking.

At the far end of the table, however, there was a loud group that had managed to settle together. A group of guys and ladies who seemed to have gulped their food down quickly, and they were back to drinking. Tina was convinced it was out of hunger because lunch was an hour and a half late, due to the prolonged sports activities that had taken place prior. The group was admired by everybody seated at the table it seemed. Everyone chuckled and almost choked on their food while they ate, listening to their silly talking and jokes with one another. They kept the outing alive, with their zealous spirit and carefree dispositions. Amongst the group was one of the ladies who sat a desk away from Tina, she was very bubbly and very confident, something Tina was not. She was sitting on one of the guy’s laps, facing him with her legs over his hips. The front of their bodies were not quite touching, but almost. Tina wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol that had encouraged such behaviour or her usual outrageous self. Here she was thinking her shorts had made the office headlines. And there it was, something worse. She sighed out of relief and consolation.

Across from them was the Sales Manager that Tina and everyone at the outing reported to. He immediately stood up and moved away after he witnessed the obscene tableau. His repelled self-expression made Tina chuckle. The sales manager’s name was Edward; everybody called him Ed. He was a Caucasian male; he had dark-brown hair that was kept in a pompadour hairstyle. His facial features were soft and calm, and he had a confident way of walking that resembled the famous David Beckham. He had the combination that is ‘very’ in everything a mix that sent women at the office into a tizzy. His most striking feature was his voice. When he was not around at the office, you could feel the dead beat of the day, a normal eight-to-five day at work would turn to a twenty-four-hour shift literally. He was blessed with the voice to uplift and brighten the day for everyone; he had the power to draw attention with single ‘hello’, especially for all the women at the office. He had the type of voice one wouldn’t get tired of listening to. But at his thirty-six years of age, Tina could tell that a man like him had had a significant number of bed warmers and probably was in a number of relationships even though there was no evidence of marriage on his ring finger. Even if he was married, men like him hardly wore their wedding rings, Tina thought, because they never really step out of the dating game. He was the type of man that gets what he wants from any girl he wants. And once he loses interest in a woman, he would do so by suddenly confessing his devotion to his previously undisclosed wife or his other mysterious lover in your face or do something worse and act like an arsehole until the poor woman leaves on her own. He was the type that would leave smitten girls broken-hearted while he moved to his next target. He was the catch-and-release kind of a guy whom Tina would never imagine herself emotionally or physically investing in. He was just good to admire from a distance because she could smell heartbreak just by looking at him.

When Tina first met him on her first day during the briefing meeting on her role. Edward had asked her why she wanted to take the job, and why she had made an application to this company, which had zero connection to her university degree. Tina had solemnly explained how she needed new experience in a different field, and how attractive it would look in future on her resume. She was hoping she made sense to him because she knew her emotional well-being depended on it. Although she had acquired a university degree that she hadn’t used for over a year, since her previous job, Edward had made it clear that the pay on the position she wanted would not be as great as her previous work. Tina had agreed since she needed something new; she needed a diversion, the opposite of what she had learnt at the university, a new beginning. But when Tina had told her mother about her career plans, her mother, of course, did not approve. She had told Tina that she needed to build her career path towards her qualification; she made it clear that she had spent a lot of money towards Tina’s university studies and was not happy for that degree to just sit and accumulate dust. And also her mother had protested against her decision saying she needed to stop drifting from job to job and warned her that this new job would be an aimless endeavour and that it would put her behind in her career instead. But regardless of all her mother’s warnings, Tina had told herself that she had been listening to her mother all her life and it was high time and a perfect moment for her to make her own decisions even if it meant enduring the consequences that came with it. Even though she hadn’t fully come to terms with grasping her own decision, she had told herself that this decision was experimental, and she was just going to just dive into it. She kept reminding herself that it was the only motivation she needed as long as it felt right.

She could still remember the day she started the job… even though she had been nervous, she had welcomed her new beginning with excitement; it had been the new start she had been looking for. Edward had called her to his office that morning after a short tour of the company building with Danika. She had sat on the chair opposite his desk. Tina couldn’t help the penetrating gaze on Edward’s face, dark blue eyes behind a square framed set of reading glasses. It was one thing to stare appreciatively at an idol, it was quite another to have it come to life and stare back at you!

Tina do you have any questions? he had asked.

She had not heard half the conversation; it was like she was caught up in a trance. She had always thought that she had been living in a cave for the past year, hiding from the world in her apartment. The only men who reminded her that there is a male species on earth were the male security guards in her complex that she had befriended. They were always nice, fond of her, and always looked out for her. They would always greet her and engage in brief conversations whenever they encountered her. Tina liked them, they were a source of comfort and came as a source of nourishment to her soul when she needed a simple conversation with a male human being. But the problem was that they never cut it for her to remind her of the romance that can exist between the male human species and female human species on planet Earth. And it was not because of their looks or their philosophy or career ambition; there was just no spark or that invisible connection that drew her to a man. It was purely platonic.

But with Edward, she had almost a déjá vu experience, which reminded her of someone she knew. She had told herself that it was her mind playing tricks on her after all it had been a year since she last was in the corporate space and being back and seeing such an intriguing man live in front of her was an alarming and yet refreshing natural stimulus to her hormones. After all, she’d had the same feelings at times when watching a good movie: Brad Pitt, for instance, in the Troy movie was breathtaking physically and combined with his noble actions in the movie, the overall combination made him the most desirable man of the year and the movie had reminded her that she is still feminine and not an automaton without feelings. So she didn’t beat herself too much about it. She told herself it was her body appreciating a good-looking man, nothing more to it and it meant nothing because after all, she had told herself that it would be a couple of years before she would fall for any men. Romance and relationship did not do her any good but only reminded her of the love she gave in vain. But the devil was out to play but she wasn’t going to give in to any of it. I am here to work, I am here to work. She had repeated her affirmations in her head.

No, I don’t; I do not have any questions, thank you, she had finally replied.

If you ever need anything, feel free to ask me, Edward had added.

She had nodded her agreement to him, but she hadn’t asked him anything since she was afraid to approach him.

Tina looked at the group at the far end of the table, she didn’t fit there at all and joining them would result in total awkwardness, she thought. So she sat quietly with her chosen group and politely engaged in their small talk, but the problem was that they were mostly overweight individuals who had no interest in any sporting activity, just eating and talking about soapies and TV dramas. But she began to appreciate them after convincing two ladies in the group to join her in three different sporting activities that afternoon. After they were done, they had returned to the others. Tina realised they were a source of shelter for her because staying with them meant less movement and fewer ogling eyes on her crazy outfit. She politely engaged in their small talk while mostly thinking about the hot drink she was sipping and the clothes she had forgotten to take out of the washing machine and hang outside that morning. Although she’d had fun at the sports activities she took part in, Tina felt like she was experiencing a midlife crisis. And life seemed to be at its best when she was on her own. It always felt better to be by herself than to be part of a group where she felt she didn’t belong. Being alone felt enjoyable, it felt right. She was on a quest for something, longing for something… maybe for a feeling or a desire to feel alive again but she wasn’t sure where to search for her need. Furthermore, it felt like she was searching for a needle in a haystack; it left her numb, uninterested, uninvolved, unaccommodating and not present in the world of the living. Though she was physically present she knew she was mentally and emotionally absent. Tina knew she needed to come back to the real world and fast and start being present in the land of the living. But she didn’t know what it would take to bring herself back or what would it take to snap her out of this nightmare. It was another blow in the face not knowing where to go. She finally stayed quietly with the current group, while she wondered if she would be able to keep up with the eating and drinking that was happening so quickly in this group.

At least she had Bonnie whom she had been hanging out with for a while during lunch hour at the office. But the other problem was that Bonnie looked incredibly content with these new surroundings and the people they sat with, and her face even glowed from being amongst the people who enjoyed and appreciated so much food as she did. But Tina couldn’t blame her; she knew she was an emotional mess. Tina had to admit she’d never seen Bonnie so alive like this when they sat together during their lunch hour at work.

She had always noticed how Bonnie had been careful with the food portions she brought to work and what she ate for lunch around her. She had noticed that in the first two weeks when they were just new acquaintances at work. Bonnie was free at first. She would bring a heaped lunchbox full of rice and four pieces of fried meat. But when they began to be good friends, Bonnie began to reduce her lunch portions significantly by half to match hers. Tina had felt guilty for supposedly putting her friend on a diet when she really did not need to. She had said nothing regarding Bonnie’s decision and decided to ignore it altogether in fear of unintentionally embarrassing her new friend by mentioning it. But what Bonnie didn’t know was that Tina’s slim body was due to her poor eating habits and that she was fighting her own demons too, and a chronic condition that caused her to lack appetite. Tina wished Bonnie would stop idolising and admiring her body because it was not perfect and there was a lot she needed to correct about her own diet as well. She didn’t understand why the people surrounding her – except her mother of course – seemed to be oblivious to her unhealthy eating habits but complimented her well-proportioned, lean body instead. When she could literally starve to death while staring at food in front of her because of the lack of desire for it and as most times, she wistfully wished she could open her stomach and put food there directly without it having to pass through her mouth and without her having to chew it.

Back at the function, Tina slowly began to awkwardly adjust to the group as she listened to their conversations and giggles and silently sipped her drink while they talked about whatever it was they were talking about. She wondered when someone would bring up at least one topic she was familiar with or, at the very least, when would someone arrive who had something interesting to talk about. Someone with depth, someone she could talk to about meaningful topics, like death, sex, aliens or maybe topics with an intellectual slant like the purpose of life and the meaning of human existence.

Suddenly a familiar male voice said, I see you are not drinking much; are you not enjoying yourself here?

It was Edward pulling a chair to sit a metre across from her. Tina’s heart throbbed. She certainly needed the diversion of a new topic with someone, but definitely not with her boss. The day was just unravelling to be the worst possible day of her life. Just when she thought she could catch her breath and adapt to this setting, things had to get worse. She wondered if he had been watching her. She quickly looked at him and then broke her eyes off from his down to her drink.

The zip line was fun… she looked back at him and nervously forced a smile.

She remembered how he had watched her from down below when she was having her turn at the zip line. They were others as well but mostly chit-chatting and up and about their business, a few screaming, Go Tina! She had met his eyes in the crowd below. Tina still remembered how it made her feel, sending chills all over her body, making her legs weak and she would never forget how he made her feel: ashamed and displeased with herself. When she saw Edward stare at her bare legs, she hated herself for it. That was not the intention behind wearing those shorts; that was not the attention she was asking for. It was a mistake, a pure mistake and the world needed to simply understand that. How could she have known? She hadn’t been working for the past twelve months. She painfully admitted to herself that she had taken this whole gathering very lightly.

It was exciting. I enjoyed it too. What are you drinking? Edward asked her.

She faked a smile and said Guess, as she tried to calm her nerves. She hid the bottle label from him with her hands; it didn’t help calm her nerves one bit. But it did help cover where her now tasteless drink ended. The way the heat had scorched her drink and made it taste so horrible, she was sure its distasteful nature was visible through the bottle. The drink even had bubbles inside the bottle. She could swear he could tell just by looking at it through the bottle. That she was drinking rubbish.

A cider? He smiled at her.

Yeah! How did you know?

Tina was smiling nervously, and she was still wondering his reason for having this conversation with her and she wondered if he would bring up her unsatisfactory work at the office.

It’s the only drink you have had since we got here, he said.

So, he had been watching her, Tina silently confirmed her suspicion.

Here, try this. Edward handed her his plastic cup, with purple liquid inside and two blocks of ice in it. What is it? she asked him.

At the back of her mind, she wondered where he got the cup, as she had been looking for one since she got here and had given up after she concluded that maybe the cups were only available for management only and the rest of the staff were expected to drink like animals. Tina knew companies would do anything to cut costs at these events. And her company had certainly cut a great deal towards this expense. There was only a big container filled with different kinds of glass bottles and cans of alcohol mixed with ice blocks. One had to pick his or her choice of drink and drink it fast while it’s still cold or if they were a slow drinker like herself, they were expected to suffer and go back to the dish and pick up a block of ice and suck it while drinking to cool off.

It’s the Potency energy shooter. Take a sip, you will like it.

Does it taste bitter? I prefer sweet drinks, she said as she hesitantly took the cup then handed it back to him. Even with her cider tasting like lukewarm tea, she feared the side effects of a stronger drink in the company of her colleagues. She was only an occasional drinker, and she knew that strong alcohol is notorious for causing most sober people disastrous side effects after only a few sips. And also, for her, bitter alcohol reminded her of the aloe vera juice that her mother used to give her when she was little when she came down with a cold or when she had a stomach bug. She hated the taste of it and would always wash it down with something sweet when her mother was not watching.

No, it’s not bitter, don’t worry, you will like it, trust me… Edward said, looking at her.

Tina looked at her unfinished bottle and the purple liquid in the cup. It could not get any worse, she thought and because she had been struggling with her cider already, she closed her eyes and took a small sip. Immediately she was hit by the magnificent, sweet taste that she’d never had. She marvelled at the unique taste, and she smiled genuinely at him.

It tastes great, thank you, she said taking another sip and delighting in the taste.

Take it easy; it’s not a cider; it’s quite strong, he chuckled as he watched her drink it like water.

Tina was not familiar with many beverages. Born and raised in the church meant little room was left for any exploration towards what the church labelled as sin. Apart from that, she never bothered herself nor needed any alcohol while dating a man from the church. Entertainment for her was Bible study and Bible quizzes. She appreciated the unbothered lifestyle which she had lived by and loved it. Her former boyfriend’s holy kisses and divine touch kept her on a natural high. She never felt the need for any external ecstasy when she was involved with him.

But she had come to realise too late that she had ventured into a parley with her former lover and that she had fallen victim to his wiles. And when their relationship ended, Tina had gone boldly to the liquor store in broad daylight, as evidence of her great rebellion towards the church. There, she purchased the most popular beverage she had seen advertised on TV. She remembered that her first purchase was at the local store, where the probability of meeting five to six brethren in the shop was very high but she did not care. She remembered that she also did not take any plastic bag with her to carry and cover her goods. She carried her first six-pack just like that and did not care whom she met or who saw her from the church. She had painfully learnt that day that when love breaks so do all the human senses. She wondered what her next heartbreak would cause her to do. Turn her to do drugs? God forbid.

Tina could feel Edward watching her as she drank; she could feel his eyes move from her face all the way to her breasts, down to where her shorts ended.

She put the cup down and put her arms over her legs in an effort to try and cover them. He instantly looked away; a knowing smile appeared on his face, as if in awareness that his deliberate penetrating eyes made her uncomfortable.

So what do you think of Wealth Bridge Funding? he asked.

This was what Tina had feared; was he doubting her interest in the company? Any work-related discussion with him set her on edge. She knew she was not performing her very best at work she also knew she was uninvolved, uncommunicative, unaccommodating and not very productive. She knew her overall outlook wasn’t benefiting her at work; in fact, many were the times she had thought, if she was a business owner, she definitely wouldn’t have hired somebody like herself, in this state. How she had made it, in getting the job, she was not sure because her explanation to be part of this company wasn’t really convincing. She had felt like a runaway convict, running away from her past and she had felt like she needed to be carefully investigated before being given an opportunity like this. She felt undeserving. She could only give credit to the intervention of a higher source; it was comforting to know God hadn’t abandoned her.

Tina knew that although the task of hiring individuals seemed simple, in reality, it is quite onerous. Because companies hire according to what they see on paper, and because there is never screening on candidates’ emotional state. None of it is written on paper, well the truth of it, at least. If resumes actually stated the individual’s emotional state, ninety percent of the world would be jobless. No business owner could risk hiring an individual with shocking and severe unresolved personal problems; surely common sense would alert them that. The employee’s personal problems would contribute to incompetency and also become an obstruction to the individual’s focus at work and contribute to poor performance and poor productivity too. Tina was convinced that there are millions of people who are dealing with massive heartaches who have transformed to be bionic individuals, with meaningless routines and programmed minds and with no sense of purpose nor any need for transition. She didn’t understand how anyone could live like that without showing real emotion and on top of it dedicate a hundred percent to any work other than that which is soul penetrating. Surely, as humans, our main purpose is to connect deeply with soul-searching projects or tasks? If we as humans remove emotion from projects and tasks, we become the walking dead. But if we commit fully, we elevate and live in the highest attainments of happiness and achievements. Because the truth is that anyone can attain any skill when given the time to learn but skill without passion is useless, as with such a combination one can never live to see the full meaning of their purpose or discover the full meaning of their existence. She saw the entire hiring process