76. The Secret Garden -2

The man said Ta-da in the most casual way possible like it was just another sunny day at Bloomville, nothing out of the ordinary. I agree he was hot, not the worst person to go on a date with, but a little heads-up would have gone a long way. I tilted my head back in awe of his reaction, "Hello...is this a date? How come I wasn't aware?", I said as quietly as I could, the last thing I wanted was to cause a scene.

He smiled awkwardly at his friends before gesturing that we were coming back. He pulled me towards the bar area, and with a guilty face, he began explaining, "I got an invite to this club. It's my friend's birthday and I was expected to bring a date, but I had no one, so the plan was to not show up. That's when I decided to rather chill somewhere else, and when I saw you, I suddenly felt the urge to attend this thing." 

I furrowed my eyebrows, giving him a questionable look, prompting him to smile innocently and clasp his hands together begging me to stay. I remained firm in my sternness, but he became even cuter, using even his eyes to plead, I found myself melting at his cuteness, "Nope...not happening", I said trying to keep my cold demeanor, but inside, I was slowly melting.

He continued to act cute, then topped it up with a promise, "I can even find you that person you were so eager to see-", and that moment right there was what won me over, I needed the extra pair of eyes and hands.

Looking back now, if he had waited a minute longer, I probably would have given in. My goal was to party, yes he deceived me with the whole date thing, but he was right about the club. It was everything I hoped a club would be, the right kind of music, the right kind of lighting and I was not getting any thirsty stares, it was just good fun.

After hearing the promise to help me in my quest to find Walter, I smiled brightly and nodded, and his face instantly lit up, then turned to the bartender to get us drinks, I wanted wine so he bought me a whole bottle and in turn, got himself 2 lagers, he was driving so he didn't want to be too drunk.

As we waited for the bartender to fix us our bucket, I couldn't help but admire how amazing the place was, "How come this place is not on the internet?", because it looked like a place Walter would likely be a regular at.

"Well, this place is only known amongst the big-money people and a few high-class escorts.", I gave him the eye and he laughed, "Not saying I'm rich money. I am talking about big -filthy rich people", I nodded in agreement because the place reeked of money.

We got our drinks and went back to the table, everyone was surprised that we brought a bucket, but Ntando quickly pointed out that none of the drinks catered for his "date", everyone laughed at his remark and responded by apologizing and a promise to do better 'next time'. Once we were seated, he then began the formal introductions and he introduced me as his friend. I must say, his friends were really chilled, I instantly felt like one of them, we just clicked. It turned out he was friends with the guy who hugged him, his name was Mika and two of the girls called Kats and Tessa - very friendly women. The rest were plus ones, like me.

After the pleasantries, I began to charm my way to the wine bottle, and three glasses later, I was tipsy and I became super chatty. It's safe to say that Ntando kept his promise about talking some more because I ended up telling him about Walter and how I ended up in the club where he found me, once I started, I couldn't stop, thanks to the wine in me.

He laughed and admired my determination, but his last words of advice were, "Know when to give up. Search for him, but don't get consumed by it and forget to live your life.", I instantly thought about Sandra, they sure would get along.