56. The turning point

I had never felt as confident in my feelings for Walter as I did at that moment, I felt ready to take him back, and I subconsciously began to acknowledge his good deeds towards me, that was the night that changed everything for us, I wish that night never happened.

That night I realized that he truly cared for me, he had said quite a few times that he liked me, hell, we were even planning on making it official before the whole Khalinda debacle. But this whole time, I acted as if it weren't a big deal whether we became exclusive or not when deep down, it was tearing me apart, I hated seeing him with other women, I got jealous, truth is, I wanted him to be exclusively mine. In my efforts to not catch feelings, I ignored his efforts and focused on his flaws and mistakes, however, I was also soon hit with the realization that I was a bit late because he was moving on.

I sighed with a heavy heart, "It's okay Walter, the security guy is right here and besides, I don't have a spare. I will call the tow truck and request an Uber to take me home, go on, I don't want to keep you waiting-"

Hearing my mention of the Uber, the guard chimed in with a polite tone, "Sorry Ms, but it is difficult to get an Uber in this part of town, especially at this time of night...and you cannot get a tow truck either, the best option would be to buy a wheel and change it here..."

I immediately got anxious, now I was certain my mother was going to get worried, any option sounded better than spending a night with Walter and his new person, "Okay, I hear you, where is the closest place to get the new tire?"

"It's not far, about 3 km from here, but the thing is, is already closed-"

"Already closed? what do you mean? It's still 7-", checking the time brought me back to my humble self, it was already 8:00 pm, Walter and I basically spoke for 3 hours, I also saw a few calls from my mother and I immediately dialed her number, 

"Thank goodness, do you know what time it is?", so asked the voice of an anxious woman on the other end of the line

"Sorry Mother, I have a tire puncture around Glen Hill-?",

My explanation only made her more anxious, "Glen Hills?? What are you doing all the way there?? Do you know how difficult it is to get any sort of help? which is weird for a very expensive neighborhood." 

I couldn't tell my mother about Walter, as much as she accepted my healing process, I didn't think she would appreciate knowing that I spent an evening with the source of my pain, so I calmly lied, "My lunch with Bonga ended quickly, and I decided to come see a high school friend, we were having so much fun, the time just ran away with me..."

I could hear my mom's sigh of relief, "Fine, if it gets too difficult to come home, ask your friend to accommodate you or book someplace for the night. I'd rather you be safe than anything else."

Pleased with my mother's suggestions, I smiled, "Okay, Mom, I will let you know how it goes."

"Okay, call me if you need anything, even money for the bookings."

I hung up the phone feeling a little better, hearing her voice sure made me less anxious. I turned my attention back to the guard to resume our conversation, "So, what you are telling me is that there is no way my issue can be sorted tonight?"

"Yes ma'am,", he nodded

Seeing that I had no other options, I sighed, and dropped my face, "Can I leave my car in here?"

"Where are you going?", Walter who had been silently listening to my back and forth with the guard suddenly spoke out, "Where are you going to go at this time of night? I know you lied about the friend"

I turned to him, and nonchalantly asked, "You are still here? Shouldn't you be trying to reach out to your date or go to your room or something-"

Walter's face became even more serious, "I told you, I am not leaving you in the dark-"

The guard cut us out, "Unfortunately ma'am, you have to be checked in to leave the car here", the guard explained leaving me to fend for myself. I couldn't book at Safe Haven because the prices were a bit steep for me, so, getting a cheaper place became a priority.

"Well in that case, which other affordable places do you know around here?"

Walter chimed in again, visibly still worried, but his tone also harbored a bit of frustration, "And how are you going to get there? Why can't you stay here?"

Hearing his invite me threw me off balance, the last thing I needed was to be caught in another love triangle, I wanted him, but it was not worth that drama, "Walter, seriously, geez, go in! I am not your problem?"

"Why are you pushing me away?", he suddenly asked, his face now completely covered in frustration, 

I coldly replied, "Do you want to talk about that right now? While I am in this situation?"

Walter suddenly grabbed my hand led me to the passenger seat of his car, slammed the door on my side, and just before he got in, he asked the guard to help bring my car inside the property. Frustration was written all over his face, and his demeanor felt a bit cold, it was evident that he had lost his patience. As we drove inside the property, he didn't say a single word, except, when he suddenly instructed me with a cold and stern voice, "Stay in here while I go check in, and I mean it." All I could do was submit to his request like a good little puppy, soon enough, he came out with the keys and we drove for about 5 minutes. "We are here, you can go out now.", he said as he turned off the car engine.

I have been in Silverton for most of my life, but I had never seen such a beautiful and elegant lodge, the rooms were standalone, with private parking giving guests their privacy. You can tell that it was built for monied people, its location alone, was incredibly expensive, 'Wow, now I know what Sandra meant.', I thought as I stepped out of the car, following Walter from behind.

He opened the door, seeing my hesitation to walk inside, he pulled me in forcefully and I landed in his chest, I heard the bang noise of the door closing behind me. My heart started to beat uncontrollably and I hastily pulled away from him, "Sorry Walter, I didn't mean to do that, I-"

I felt a pair of cold lips pressed against mine, I pulled back and impulsively landed a slap on his face, "What do you think you are doing? I am not a home wrecker...you have a girlfriend now, is this why you brought me in? What if sh-?"

"Did you miss me?", he suddenly asked while his hand brushed the cheek where my five fingers landed 

Feeling flabbergasted and embarrassed, my face turned red, and I stammered, "W-w-hat??! Are you s-serious? W-why-"

The look on my face, somehow amused him because his tense expression was instantly replaced with a naughty grin, "I said I was going to ask my date if she missed me, so did you?", 

I squinted my eyes, "Don't play games with me Walter, you had a real date and it wasn't me..."

He wiped the grin on his face, "Yeah true, like you and Bonga, my date didn't work out because of you. I missed you Thandie, a lot, are you going to keep pretending as if you don't know why I am in Silverton??"

"Uhm, Wa-"

He slowly walked closer to me closing the gap between us, he lowered his head and softly said, "Since you can't use words, let's try action. I am leaning in to kiss you again if you miss me, you will not move but if you don't, stop me anyway you know how? 5-4-3"

'Of course, I missed you', I thought as I impulsively reached for his lips. I didn't wait for him to finish the countdown, I also knew what it meant to allow the kiss to happen but, I was set on doing things differently, I decided I was going to be more honest and direct about what I wanted. However, little did I know of the floodgate of trouble I was opening myself to.