55. I want him, no more games

Walter stared at me for a long second expecting a response but I did not say anything. I was overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions. I had imagined the scene in front of me a couple of times and every scenario made me happy, in fact, previously it would have made me happy, but at that point, my heart was in a commotion, 'Did I judge him too harshly? Did I overreact?', all these questions were dancing in my head. I couldn't understand why I was not over the moon, I got exactly what I wanted, I got the confirmation I needed, Walter was not sleeping with Khalinda, but a small voice in my head suddenly chipped in 'Why did he say he was when we last spoke?'.

Seeing the distraught look on my face and the fact that I seemed to have frozen in a single position, Walter opened the can of cola, handed it to me, and explained, "Yes, Khalinda and I hooked up in the past, and during the time I was with Rachel, and I am not proud, so I ended things with her shortly after Rachel moved to my house. But somehow, my life remains tangled up with her, and the final product is never nice",

I finally snapped out of my bubble of distraught, with a complex look on my face due to the confusion that took over my mind, "Wait...wait, you said you were sleeping with her, that night we fought, I certainly heard you confirm. and now you are saying no?"

He paused for a second and finally spoke out, "Yes, I was seeing her, but not intimate with her", 

I sighed, "Walter, it is the same thing. The point is that I asked if you were seeing anyone and you insisted that you were not. I didn't care if you were together or not, we were not dating remember, but the problem is you lied. Do you get that?"

Walter dropped his face, "I couldn't bear to tell you. As much as we were not together, I couldn't tell you. I honestly don't know why."

His face looked genuine, at that moment I was supposed to be angry, but for some reason, my heart still broke seeing the sad look he was wearing. It broke my heart to the point that I decided to change the topic, I couldn't bear to see it any longer. "Okay, Fine, back to your explanation about the picture... how did she end up in a room with you, in that position? You were both clearly naked under the covers?"

He sighed restlessly, his face still frowning and darkened with guilt, "See, when I left your room that night..."

I took a sip of the soda, and I blurted, "Yeah, why did you leave *vele?"

He abruptly raised his head in shock at my question, "Uhm, you looked furious, you even shattered a wine bottle, and the whole atmosphere felt volatile. You were furious!"

In a calm voice, I replied, "Volatile? But you stayed when Khalinda and Rachel were about to fight". I could still feel a sting of jealousy as I spoke out,

"Two different situations, they wanted to fight because of my mistake. Think about it, Rachel just found out her sister was busy with her-"

My face turned dark, because that same day I discovered that I almost lost my career and I was deceived by the same woman, yet, He seemed to disregard that.

" But Walter, I was also hurt by the same woman, and you took a few punches from Rachel as well. And you left me alone over a small bottle, what did you think I was going to do, stab you?"

He took another long second to respond, then finally breathed out in confession, "I felt bad Thandie, okay? we were not official yet, but you were already suffering, seeing you that hurt, broke my heart. How can I stay? But I promise you, I never spent the night with her, especially knowing what I put you through. That day I left, I went back to the club. My friend is the owner, I just invested in it. I went back to have a drink, but I ended up drinking a lot and passed out, the next thing I knew I was at a hotel and when I woke, up, it was already dawn. I honestly have no recollection of that night. But as far as I know, nothing happened with Khalinda because I don't remember hanging out with her, maybe the bartender called her to look after me because she's a regular and we may have hung out there a couple of times.

I took a minute to think about what he said, but no matter how I looked at it, it didn't matter anymore, because he was moving on, and I was starting to feel cold, the sun had completely gone down making way for the chilly evening weather, I got off from the car prompting him to hastily grab my hand, "Where are you going?"

I sighed and gave him a subtly smile, "Thank you for explaining everything, honestly, I feel a bit at ease now. I understand you came with a date, don't keep her waiting, I have to get home as well. My mother is probably worried sick and thank you for meal-"

Walter jumped out of the car still holding on to my hand and nonchalantly replied, "I see. Do you mind showing me the place we spoke about"

"I do mind, use your GPS..."

Walter took out a phone from his pocket, "Battery died"

I sighed showing no interest in going, Walter let go of my hand, and pleaded with a soft voice, "Please, I have no place to sl-"

"Fine, follow my car", I said turning to my car

"Thank you."

I wondered where his new mate was, but I never dared to ask, the last thing I needed, was to sound like I was interested in his date. We drove for about 30 minutes from the mall which was in the opposite direction of my home. The moment we got to the accommodation gate, I noticed that the car had a puncture, and I had no spare, "Dammit! I cried out while getting out to have a closer look. Walter who was not far off from me, got out of his car, to have a look at what I was stressing about, "Oh, it's just a tire, do you have a spare?"

I ignored his question, I wanted to keep as minimal communication as I could with him, I immediately turned his attention to the big whiteboard written 'Sweet Haven', "The place is there, good night..."

Walter furiously took off his jacket, "Are you crazy? Do you think I will leave you here alone? In the dark?? Hand me the spare", 

I looked at his worried face, and at that moment, a realization hit me and I finally admitted the very truth I have been in denial about, 'This man was hot and I want him all to myself. I want to make him mine, officially, no more games'.