CHAPTER THIRTY THREE - "FLAWS"
He was emotionally and physically exhausted. The past few weeks had taken its toll on him but as soon as she said 'okay' he felt the weight of the world roll off from his shoulders. He stood up from his crouched position infront of her and pulled her up from the bed into his arms. He tightly clinged onto her just to satisfy his need to be close to her, to reacquaint himself with the smell and sound of her being.
"You have no idea how much I have missed you" he whispered before placing a kiss on top of her head and releasing her from his bone crushing embrace.
He knew that she was exhausted and he did not want to keep her awake any longer, whatever else they had to talk about could wait until tomorrow or rather until later today because it was way past midnight. With that in mind he went to his closet to retrieve some pjs for them to sleep in. He reached for one of his pj sets. It was nothing fancy, just some shirt and pants.
"You can sleep in this and I will sleep in these" he said relinquishing the shirt to her and keeping the pants to himself. "You can change in here and I will use the bathroom."
He walked into the en-suite bathroom, so that she could have some privacy. He had no qualms with her undressing infront of him nor did he have any qualms with helping her undress but he was not too sure how she would react to that, so he would rather avoid her retracting into her shell.
As he was undressing, his mind couldn't help but to wander. He loved her. Don't ask him when or how it happened but he just knew in the depth of his heart that he loved her. The mere fact that he was willing to put up with so much drama in such a short amount of time only affirmed that because if it was someone else, he would not have had the time nor the patience to stick around. He really did love Azania and that thought alone terrified him. He could not imagine his life without her and that was the kind of love that could build or break a man. He did not want to become like his father...
His train of thoughts were pulled back to the present when he heard what sounded like his name.
"DeAndre..." he heard her call out to him.
"Yeah?" he responded when he walked back into the bedroom with his clothes in his one hand and the shoes in the other. His feet were still clad in socks. As he placed the items in their respective places, he saw her eyes briefly scan his bare chest before she averted her eyes and cleared her throat.
"I-I was just wanted you to know that i was done" she stuttered. "Where am I sleeping?''
"Right here" he responded.
"DeAndre I don't want to inconvenience you and put you out of your room. Just show me to one of the guest rooms and-"
"Azania you are not putting me out of my bed or my room because you and I are going to sleep in this bed together-"
"But-" she attempted to interrupt him but he interjected her objection.
"Must you always be so difficult woman!" he exclaimed. "There is no buts. I am way too tired to try to seduce you Azania and I don't want us to be this exhausted when we make love for the first time. I intend to take my time to explore every curve on your frame but tonight is not the night for all that. Just allow me to hold you, to be close to you."
"But if it's too much to ask for, you can use any one of the guestrooms that you want" he continued. He didn't wait for a response, instead he went to the bed and got inside. Is this what he had to look forward to? Someone that is always going to question his motives?
A few seconds later he felt the bed dip as she got inside. He was surprised when he felt her arms wrap around his torso and she laid her head against his back.
"I don't mean to be this way...I just need you to be a lil more patient with me...please DeAndre, please be patient with me..." she whispered.
A deep sigh escaped from his lips. He felt bad for going off on her. He turned around to face her and laid her head on his chest.
"I'm sorry for going off on you...being away from you was just so hard and when I got out, you were the first person I wanted to see...the first person that I needed to see. Right now I just want to make up for lost time" he said before placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Hopefully this will help" she said before placing a lingering kiss on his lips.
He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss while his hands roamed her body. He broke the kiss before he got carried away and placed a final kiss on her forehead. She reclaimed her position on his chest as his fingers lightly traced a path from her arm to her hip. He was deep in thought. Her breathing informed him that she had not drifted of to sleep yet.
"You have lost a lot of weight..." he said when he could no longer keep his train of thought to himself.
"Yeah..." she simply replied.
Just a few weeks had passed since he last saw her and Azania had dropped a considerable amount of weight in a short amount of time. He was not an expert when it came to weight loss but he doubted that it could be good for her health.
"Is there something that you need to tell me?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" she asked lifting her head from his chest to look at him.
"You have lost too much weight in a short amount of time, are you starving yourself?"
"Are you complaining that I'm losing weight?"
"The selfish side of me wants to say yes because I will be the one losing the pleasure of grabbing onto those curves but this is not about me, it's about your wellbeing. I don't care what you weigh, I just want you to be healthy...and if you have some hips and curves to grab onto, I definitely don't mind that" he stated while grabbing onto her hips.
"Is that right?" she asked with a shy smile.
"Uh-huh" he replied.
"I haven't intentionally been losing weight" she conceded "I just had a lot on my mind..." she trailed off.
Realisation dawned on him. "You mean us?"
"Yes DeAndre" she sighed. "When I'm stressed or something, I throw myself into my work and things like eating become secondary."
"That's not good."
"I know, it's just one of my many flaws..."
"I'm trying to think of something corny to say right now, but nothing comes to mind."
"How about we all got flaws?" she offered.
"I said that already, so you know that I'm not perfect either."
"Well I haven't seen anyone of those flaws."
"Give it some time, you will see the cracks and I can only hope that you will still love me when you do."
"Who said that I love you though?"
You don't have to say it yet, I already know that you do."
"I see it now, arrogance is definitely one of your flaws" she chuckled.
"Not arrogance baby girl, it's more like confidence. I'm confident that you love me...just like I love you..."
"I do love you DeAndre...but just a little bit" she joked.
"Well I'm going to make sure that you love me a lot" he smiled.
He saw her eyes dropping, she could no longer fight the fatigue. "Good night Azania..."
She placed a lingering kiss on his lips before she laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso. "Good night DeAndre" she replied before they both drifted off to sleep.
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Issa Update!
Thank you for the comments (I love those) and the votes (I appreciate those).
The picture in the media depicts Azania's weight loss but this book won't be one of those weight loss books.
I've read a few books on Wattpad and I hate how people make rape/abuse seem so casual. For eg. a person get raped and then a few hours/day later they are already having relations like nothing happened. Mxm!
Anyhoo, I appreciate y'all. ❤😘