52. Still haunted by Khalinda Baker

Bonga stood silently in front of me with a puzzled look, prompting me to repeat my question, with a more firmer tone, "I will ask again, did you know Walter was going to be here?".

He started fiddling with his finger, then became visibly nervous, "Uhm...You see...I...You"

"Answer me!", I demanded in a cold voice, causing him to flinch, "Yes, I did. But Thand-"

Without letting him finish, I hissed, "How did you know all those things about me? What kind of research did you exactly do because that didn't sound like the information you can get off social media?"

"Your moth-", he was about to say before I cut him off,

"Don't you dare even think about lying, would you like me to call her now?". At this point anger was the only emotion I felt, my lungs were pumped up to the maximum and if looks were daggers, I would have been declared a murderer. 

Seeing me pumped in anger, Bonga sighed heavily, then took a few steps closer, "Thandie please calm down...I can explain, I promise...", his words were calm, but had the opposite effect on me, I took a few steps backward, I was starting to tremble in anger, since we were at the parking lot, the people passing by were starting to steal glances at us, 

"Please come with me, I will explain, let's find a spot and sit down, or a cafe...or even inside your car, people are watching us," he explained. I was not in the position to be in an enclosed space with him, my anger was fueled by the deception I felt, I was angry enough to burn him to the ground, it was not enough that he made me a laughing stock in front of Walter, but he had to blame my mother. However, he had a point, and so in my fury, I led him to my car, the last thing I needed was to get kicked out of the restaurant because of commotion or make the other customers feel uncomfortable, "You have 5 minutes...", I noted as I opened the driver's seat, "Sit at the back", I instructed him while I got in front.

The moment he got to the car I glared at him from the rearview mirror, "Explain yourself,"

He took a deep breath and his whole body relaxed, with a calm tone, he started explaining, "I am sorry Thandie. To tell the truth, we bumped into each other last year, more like I bumped into you during a business trip in Amberspruit, you were at a coffee shop, and I initially thought you were alone, but then I saw him, Walter joining you. You were glowing with happiness, and even more radiant that day. Seeing you smile like that evoked some feelings I thought were long gone, but since I thought I was too late, I decided to just continue to see you from a distance, well that was the plan at least until I met Khalinda Baker. I added a few days on my business trip just to see you some more, I-"

Upon hearing Khalinda's name, my heart dropped a thousand times, that name has been haunting me since Cape Town, my face darkened, and I couldn't mask the torment in my voice, "You know Khalinda?"

Bonga instantly shook his head in denial, "No...no...no, not like that, I didn't know her until that day I followed you and Walter to a pub just outside of town, and while I was watching you dance, she came, and sat next to me in my dark corner. At first, I thought she was just a woman infatuated with me, but she soon revealed who she was and offered to help me win you, when I told her I was not about to break off your relationship with him because you are happy, she told me you guys were not together. At first, I was angry at Walter for not making you his girlfriend, but then I realized that it meant I still had a chance with you. From that day on, in addition to following you around, Khalinda would also feed me information... and that is how I came to know all about you and him..."

'So, Khalinda was the reason Bonga approached me?', I began to feel like my whole life encounters were orchestrated by her, 'Just how far did she go?', I began to wonder if I was ever going to be free of her, I let Walter go, yet she still appeared in front of me in a form of Bonga, a boy I once had a crush on. It was as if she was a ghost always lurking around me.