Sebina watched Bert as he emptied the last of the whiskey bottle into his glass. He was pacing up and down in their room, now dressed in only a pair of running shorts, sweating profusely.
When they came back, he had immediately changed and gone to the gym to vent out his anger before coming back to his whiskey.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she slowly asked.
He looked at her and shook his head, giving her a ghost of a smile. "I just want us to win that tender. That's my goal. Look, you don't have to come with me to the dinners with Cass anymore. I am going to get this on my own."
"But what about our deal?"
"I'll give you the 250 000 we originally agreed upon-"
Sebina got up from the bed as fast as lightning. "But that's not what we agreed upon-"
"Look, you're basically just here for a holiday now that I'm doing this on my own-"
"But we agreed on 300! Just because you decided to be a one man show doesn't mean I have to suffer for it! We made a deal and you can't back out of it! I don't care if I don't attend your stupid dinners but I want what's owed to me!!" Sebina was furious.
"Look, can we talk about this tomorrow-"
"No! No! We talk about this now! You promised me 300 and that is exactly what you will give me!!" Sebina angrily removed her wig and threw it on the bed.
Bert was not going to do this to her! If he even tried her, she was going to take Kalin's offer, no questions asked! She walked to the bathroom then shut and locked the door.
Bert knocked. "Sebina-"
"Leave me the fuck alone!" she yelled.
"Come out...let's talk about this-"
She opened the door. "Kalin was right about you. You are a selfish dick."
Bert's brow furrowed. "You talked to Kalin?!"
Sebina walked out of their hotel room to the balcony, dressed in her sleeping shirt only, leaving him shocked and alone.
.
As she sat alone on the balcony, she grabbed her phone and video called Faizal. He answered after a while, looking like he had just woken up.
"Hey baby," he said with a smile. Then his smile went off when he saw her puffy face that had been crying. "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine," she said, unconvincingly.
"Sebina-"
She cried. "I'm sorry," she said. She felt guilty for lying to him. Now look how everything had backfired. "I have something I want to tell you."
He sat up, his shirtless body distracting her for a moment. "You're not about to marry some random guy from Cameroon, are you?" he joked.
Sebina wiped her tears. She was pretending to be engaged to one. And she was going to come clean. "No. I'm not marrying one but I am pret-"
"I miss you," Faizal whispered genuinely.
She slightly chuckled. "I've been gone for less than 4 days. And you call every day."
Faizal's green eyes regarded her for a moment and she felt the blush creeping from the bottom of her feet upwards. She knew how it felt to be loved just by the intense gaze Faizal was giving her. It was so pure and not filled with lust at all which Sebina found very weird coming from someone in their 20s, no matter how late. It made her feel good to know that she could make someone look at her like this.
Faizal wiped his face. "You look beautiful," he complimented her. "Where'd you go and who were you looking so ravishing for?" he teased.
"Dinner in the hotel restaurant. It didn't go well."
"Wanna talk about it? I mean its 2 am and I have work tomorrow but I can stay up with you-"
Sebina shook her head. "No. You go to sleep. I'll call during the day. Where's Vinter?"
Faizal turned the camera into the sleeping baby's face. "He was crying so I brought him to bed with me."
Sebina smiled. She missed them both. "Alright. Go to sleep too. Take care."
"You take care too." He smirked. "Llllover."
A giggle escaped. "Don't ever say that again." Vinter stirred. "Take care of Vinter and give him a kiss for me."
"You can't wait to get rid of me, can you? Ayt. I see what you're trying to do." Faizal smiled into the camera. "Goodnight. Love you."
There it was again! The L word. Faizal had said it for the second time and like last time, he seemed not to have noticed that he even said it as he cut the call.
The balcony door opened and Sebina looked up at Bert as he came out to stand beside her.
"I'm sorry," he said. "About earlier. I've been drinking and I was angry and I shouldn't have said what I said. I am sorry." He looked at her. "I'm going to make it 400 000. I'm investing 300 000 in your business. And the other 100 000...well, let's just say it's a gift."
"Does this gift come with terms and conditions?"
"No. The only terms and conditions are the 20% returns on my investment of 300 000. Nothing else."
"Send the money now. So that you can't go back on your word like you almost did earlier."
"Like right now?"
Sebina gave him her phone. "The beauty of internet banking."
Bert snorted before he took the phone and transferred the funds which would take a few days to clear. "There."
Sebina nodded then went into their room to sleep.
After a while, she felt the bed deep and scented Bert. He had his back turned to her and she turned to him. "Kalin offered me half a million," she said in the dark, the light from the bathroom seeping on part of hers and Bert's face.
He turned to her. "Were you going to take it?"
"I was strongly considering it earlier after you tried to con me."
He laughed. "I am sorry."
"Apology accepted. What happened? You came back so angry."
"Kalin happened."
"Oh. Yeah. She seems to know an awful lot about you. What happened?"
"Business. It's just a competition and she doesn't like losing. It's always like this with her. I win some, she wins some. I guess it's always been the same thing since she got married. Its like she wants to rub it in my face. I was rather an asshole when we were together."
"What did you do?"
"She was the good loyal girlfriend. I couldn't keep it in my pants. We were young...had so much going for us but...I ruined it. Since the separation, she has made it her mission to rub her success and happiness in my face. I don't blame her. Unfortunately I am only just learning my lesson with you. I thought because I had money, you'd be like all the other girlfriends. I thought you'd stay and we would talk it out or see a therapist or something. Unfortunately for me, you beat the crap out of me and then left me. And the worst part about it...the worst part is that I was and still am, in love with you."
"I am in love with someone else now."
"A sign written gevaar (danger), never kept us out now, has it?"
Sebina sighed. "Dala (do) what you must. But I just want to let you know right here and right now that you won't get very far no matter how much money you throw my way. I came to this point in my life without you and I will go forward without you or your money."
She got out of bed, grabbed a blanket and went over to the couch, laying down on it.
"Do you hate me that much?" Bert asked.
"I don't hate you. I hate your actions. I know, almost every man cheats and like I said, if I have to go through every dick in this world, I will."
"You've never really been in love, have you?" Bert asked.
Sebina kept quiet.
"Love...when you're in love, no matter how many times the other person does things to hurt, you still stay. Everybody thinks you are stupid and blind and of course, you are, but you still want to see the good in this person no matter how many people warn you to leave." Bert sighed.
"The one woman I wanted to marry turned out to be a female version of me, only worse. My friends told me to not to try to turn a hoe into a housewife but I believed that she would eventually change once we got married but who was I kidding. She did to me what I did to her and other women and I was so in love with her. It hurt a lot when I finally acknowledged that if I couldn't change my ways, why would she change hers. Look at a hoe trying to turn another hoe into a church woman. We were toxic and when we finally let go, there had been more harm than good done.
Again, like I said, Sebina, have you ever been in love?"
Sebina pulled the blanket around her body. "I have. Once. I almost killed him but I managed to keep my cool. He's married with two kids now. Married the same girl he was seeing behind my back. Apparently they are a very happy family and he treats her really well. I still wish death upon him."
Bert chuckled. "Our love lives. Hectic."
"Not mine currently. Goodnight, Bert."