The next couple of days had been confusing to everyone. Swalha deduced Wale was spinning a web to trap everyone in it. Todo had returned the day after he left from his trip with news that Wale was adamant about meeting Kind and that had broken Cherry to pieces, she became frantic, unable to calm down. Swalha and Todo therefore decided to put her in a separate room for a while to calm down.
Everyone had accepted to assemble at Swalha's house. It seemed convenient since she was the mutual friend to them all and lived closest. Cherry was hellbent on moving back to Wale's so for the past one week, she insisted on waiting for Wale at his place claiming she had wanted him to find her upon his return. Good thing it was a weekend hence creating time became easier for both Swalha and Cherry. "Why does he insist of seeing Kind for a day? What could be his intentions?" Swalha asked. She knew the answer but didn't want to make it obvious seeing that Todo was around and seemed furious.
"I will not be a participant to his game Todo, and I have no intention of seeing him. He is making a mockery of us all, puppeteering us to his whims. He should be asking for Cherry instead, why is he doing this to her? Agh! I need some air," Kind stormed out, he badly needed to cool off. He hated Wale the most when he pulled stunts like this, putting him in a situation that made him look like the bad person. He claimed he wanted to see him, for what reason? He'd successfully distanced himself for almost two months since Wale forcefully brought him back, and chose to overlook everything including being drugged by him. He hadn't run away this time but Wale did and now he made unnecessary demands that made it seem like Kind was the reason he had left. Damn him!
After a brisk walk, he returned back to Swalha's surprised to find everyone more calmer than before, he almost felt guilty for missing out. "Whats going on?" He asked to which Cherry replied, "I suggested to come with you." Swalha and Todo immediately responded, "and we agreed." They both looked at each other then laughed. They seemed okay with the idea but he felt offended since none of them considered his decision, he hadn't agreed to go. "Doesn't my choice matter? I do not wish to see him so I have no intention of going."
Swalha walked to Kind and held his hands, the look in her eyes practically begging, "Kind, I do not think Wale is in the right frame of mind right now. He is only asking for a day from you that is all." Seeing that Kind was still against the idea, she requested Cherry and Todo to excuse them and dragged Kind to her room, closed the door and whispered, "I don't want them to hear us but this is a good opportunity don't you see it? This is a chance to talk to Wale...for you two to talk openly away from the eyes of everyone. You can ask him about his parents and that you aren't the mole Cherry made him to believe. Besides, I do not believe you are over him just yet." Kind whispered back, "You're forgetting Cherry will be there too and while we are on the subject, I'm in a relationship with Todo and I actually like him a lot." Pulling Swalha to sit down on her bed, he continued, "Do you even realize what you are suggesting here? I don't think I love Wale anymore as I used to. My feelings for him made me unhappy for years, nothing good came from it. Besides, Wale has hurt me in many times knowingly and unknowingly. I'm tired of being everyones pushover, it is extremely exhausting. I want to live my life free of anyones expectations...I'm finally happy Swalha." Kind stood up once more, he couldn't sit down, he felt utterly conflicted with what he said and what he felt. He turned back to look at Swalha who stared back at him with a look of concern. "I can't betray Todo. You've seen how he unconditionally committed himself to finding Wale despite being mistreated by him. I'd be a jerk to do that to him."
Walking back to hold Swalha's hands, he knelt down infront of her, desperately wanting her to see his point of view. "It makes no sense for me to go there and even if you all insist I must, it is my decision after all. Seeing Wale will only anger me more than I already am." Swalha smiled at him, "Very well. I agreed to Cherry's idea since in my professional opinion, you and Wale are opposites. You calm his storm and so does he. I can't believe you don't see it...both of you are too proud to speak the truth...how long are you going to be afraid to tell him how you feel? There is an end to everything and this is a moment to get your closure," Holding Kind's face by the cheeks, she whispered, "but as a friend, I can't do much but respect your decision. If I was in your shoes fallen for a straight guy, I'd make sure I'm the gay guy that turned a straight guy gay."
They both laughed at her statement...it felt good to laugh, Kind thought. It really did feel good to laugh especially after how rough the couple of days had been. Seeing Todo's dedication to his friends made him feel guilty though. He hoped this game woven by Wale would end soon. Standing up, he sat next to Swalha once more then whispered, "Only one day and that's it." Swalha gave a broad smile, happy to have made Kind finally agree. "Once you get back, I want to know everything my dear Kind."
They both returned to find Cherry cooking. She seemed to be in a good mood since she was humming. Todo on the other hand was on his phone playing games. It was clear these two would never get along. Kind informed them of his agreement to cooperate with Wale's ridiculous demands. They agreed to leave that evening for the trip. While on the way, Kind didn't want to utter a word to Cherry. He didn't want to admit he still was concerned but the thought of when she'd conspired against him gave him the strength not to reach out to her. Cherry though was the one who broke the silence after a dedicated driver had picked them up from their flight to Wale's location. "Your boyfriend is a wealthy man, seeing that he gave us his helicopter for this trip and helped a great deal in this matter despite what Wale did to him." When Kind didn't utter a word, she continued, "Thank him for me since there is something I must bring to Wale's attention once we reach."
"I will." Kind's response had been brief but Cherry still felt she had more to say. "They threatened my work and my family. They mistreated me and I lost my pregnancy five years ago. I had to cooperate with them, I was traumatized and wanted to run away. Still, I admired how you stood by Wale and I wanted to be his anchor too so I was only protecting our relationship." Cherry was speaking as she nervously played with her fingers. She didn't have the courage to look at Kind now that it was only the two of them and the driver. "Wale found out about my miscarriage afterwords and we agreed to keep it between us. He didn't want you and Swalha to worry but still, he became suspicious. He kept looking into why I miscarried despite my efforts to convince him it had been stress from work. Thats when he stumbled upon pictures of him and me taken without our knowledge. His family had been spying on us for months. I told him they were yours and that I was investigating you for leaking information to his family. Knowing his relatives, Wale concluded that was the reason I miscarried. 'It must have been stressful dealing with this alone,' he said. 'How could Kind betray me like this to the point of loosing our baby?' he had asked." She finally looked at Kind. "I convinced him you were being threatened and that was why you did what you did. He forgave you so easily I started being jealous of you. You two became even more inseparable after that. After a while I decided to stop being jealous since I had a good man with me...but you were always around him. My jealousy wouldn't just go away. I knew he loves me, however whenever I compared, he just seemed to care for you more so I wanted a title and marriage to him would have given me that. On the night of our engagement when I caught you with your lover, a thought came to me. Maybe Wale was bisexual and unaware of it that's why he loves both you and me. However, knowing how he chases after you whenever you disappear as you did, he was bound to discover soon enough how he feels. If he finds out you are gay, what is to stop him from leaving me? Nothing. Therefore you musn't tell him of your orientation, I beg you Kind, please...say something!"
Cherry couldn't help but cry again. Kind glanced at her briefly and felt sorry for her. He wanted to comfort her but stopped himself from doing so. He understood her desperation however, Cherry had betrayed him by slandering him. He looked outside the window wondering why Wale never confronted him about the false accusations against him. Still, that was expected. Wale was the kind to not care about such things after handing over the responsibility to uncle Frank...but uncle frank never contacted him either concerning that matter so maybe whatever information Cherry gave out may not be that big of a deal. No matter. He'd come here all this way and who knew where they were going? He was going to confront Wale concerning his declined resignation, Kind was convinced Wale was behind it.
Looking back at Cherry, she was still hysterical. He didn't want to seem heartless so he thought he'd say something. "You used to be so tough and upfront. What happened to you?" Wiping her tears away, she responded, "The struggle to fight for your man must have gotten me here." Lifting her head to look at Kind, she forced a smile and said, "Nowadays I'm more emotional since I've been pregnant for four months now and my hormones are acting up."