45. Khalinda!

I stared hopelessly at the waitress who was still trying to help me up, I thought that maybe she was as confused as I was, 'Walter and Khalinda? No way!', I also thought maybe she was mixing the two Baker girls, "Sorry Ms, but don't you mean Rachel?",

I was praying she'd say yes, but the lady stuck to her word, "Nope. I don't even know who Rachel is. I am talking about Khalinda", my face fell and my knees started to tremble. I was soon hit with the realization that Walter may have slept with Khalinda as well, and if that was the case, then what was Khalinda's reason for approaching me? Come to think of it, how did Khalinda know where I was?',

Seeing my distraught face, the waitress reached for the bottled water on the bucket that was on the floor, "Oh, you poor thing....see, Khalinda is-", just then Walter came out and grabbed me by hand, "We are going home!", however, upon seeing that I was too weak to walk, he carried me. I looked at him while in his arms, I had so many questions for him, that I didn't even know where to begin, the people watched as he elegantly descended the stairs.

Even in the chaos and in the crowd, Walter always stood out, he had the charisma to match his charm and when he spoke people had no choice but to listen, his aura was commanding enough to make anyone look, so having me in his arms naturally caused people to start whispering and I gained myself a few stinky looks from some of the girls at the club. 

But none of that mattered to me, the most important thing to me was finding out the whole truth, "Walter, what is going on? Just now, I saw Rachel...and she-", I was feeling a mix of emotions that weighed heavy on my heart, just when I thought we had a fresh start, this happened. I was even regretting coming to the club.

"I will tell you everything when we get to the hotel room...", Walter said while whisking me out of the club.

He finally put me down when we got outside, the silence and the clear cold breeze felt refreshing, it brought along a sense of calm, and I could finally hear myself think. Walter made a quick phone call to the driver, the moment he got off the phone, I began bombarding him with questions,

"Walter, you need to tell me, what is Khalinda-",

"I heard my name,", Khalinda appeared from a dark corner walking with Rachel,

Walter gave Khalinda a disdainful look, "What the hell Khalinda?", his voice was covered in anger, "Keep it moving, no one is talking to you"

Rachel pulled Khalinda back, "Let's go sis! You are drunk, you don't want to say something you will regret-"

"Regret?! Regret!! I heard my name and I responded, besides I have nothing to regret now, everything is ruined because of this bitch", Khalinda pushed me back, and if it weren't for Walter, I probably would have stumbled and fallen.

I was flabbergasted by Khalinda's sudden change in personality, what bad could I have done to make her hate me so much, just the other day we were sharing a drink but today, she was treating me like enemy number 1, "Khalinda, what did I do?", I said in a soft voice, but not Walter, he was now fuming in anger causing him to raise his voice,

"Khalinda, I am warning you, lay another finger on her again and I won't let you go so easy, I let you go the first time but not this time?". 

The noise started to attract a crowd, everyone was now looking at us, from the people going out of the club to the people standing in line.

I was now also starting to get frustrated, clearly Walter and Rachel knew exactly why Khalinda was upset, yet no one was telling me anything, instead, they were busy trying to silence her, "The last time? What the hell is happening?!", I could feel myself losing my cool. On one hand, I had Khalinda shouting and cursing at me with her face filled with hatred as if I killed her pet, on the other hand, Rachel and Walter were saying nothing except trying to take her home. I was surrounded by three people who knew exactly why I was being hated yet no one was trying to clarify the situation to me. The feeling of being left out pushed me to snap, "Hey! Khalinda! if you are going to hate me, the least you can do is tell me why..."

Khalinda snapped back, "Fine! you wanna know what you did?!"

"Yeah, tell me, what did I do?!", I fired at her as well, showing no sign of backing down, 

Khalinda tried to push me again, but the third time, I was ready, I evaded and swung both her hands away from me, causing her to lose her balance and fall. Rachel rushed to help her up while Walter held me back with both his hands.

"That's enough KHALINDA! We are going home!", Rachel said more firmly, pulling her up but Khalinda was not happy. I just embarrassed her in front of everyone who was watching, she looked at Walter expecting him to say something, but Walter just silently looked down at her, she tossed a piercing look at me and gritted her teeth in anger, 

"Fine! I will go! But you...you are going to pay,", she pointed at me with a lot of determination.

Now, I know the right thing to do would have been to let her go, but I went through a lot over something I didn't know, after all the cursing, the shouting in my face, and pushing me TWICE! There was no way I was going to let her go without explaining the reason behind the torment.

I slipped passed Walter's hands and grabbed Khalinda's hand, "Oh no! You are not leaving like this, you owe me answers,", I pulled her back causing her to turn and look at me,

Walter realising that I was already out of his hands, shouted "Rachel take Khalida now!".

But even that was futile because Khalinda was already playing ball with me, "Why the rush Walter, your little girlfriend wants to talk, so let us talk. Should I? or You will?", she stared at Walter with a smirk on her face

Walter ignored her and turned back to me, with a heavy sigh he gently took my hand, "Thandie, please, let's go, I promise to tell you everything at the hotel," 

But I was not hearing it, I endured a lot from Kalinda, "No Walter, this woman has been out to get me since she saw me tonight, she at least needs to tell me why,"

Khalinda looked at Walter who was holding my hand with so much affection and calmness in contrast to when he was talking to her. Her eyes immediately burned with fury and jealousy, she turned to me and screamed "Because of you bitch! Ever since you showed up in his life, he no longer has time for me!".