I WENT to Akin and took him to the kitchen sink to clean his cut.

"You shouldn't have hit him back," I said, admonishing him.

"Oh! You expected me to be your boyfriend's punching bag."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Do you know how long he has been waiting to do that? He hates my guts because he feels threatened by my presence."

"Stay still," I said as he flinched when I used antiseptic on the wound.

I tightened my grip on the countertop to keep from fainting as a drop of blood trickled down his face. I threw the cotton wool in the trash when I was done and washed my hands by the sink.

"I know I deserved this and more for what I did to you but not from him. I'm sorry for hurting you," Akin said taking my wet hand in his.

"It's okay, you did it for a good cause. I know that doesn't make it right but I understand."

"Thank you. Are we still friends?"

"We are." I opened my arms for a hug and he came into my embrace.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I think I should go. PJ is going to be wondering what's keeping me," Akin said when we stood apart.

"Go then."

"Aren't you going to see Kelvin?"

"Not now."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

"I'll drop you off at his house. Let's go."

I went out with Akin and when PJ saw his bloodied face, he rushed over.

"What happened?"

"Nothing you have to worry yourself about. It's not going to happen again." He turned to me. "I don't think I've formally introduced you to PJ, Fatimah."

"No, you haven't."

"This is my ex-boyfriend now current boyfriend, PJ."

PJ blushed as he was introduced as the boyfriend. "It's a pleasure meeting you. I hope you don't hate me?" I asked.

"Not anymore," PJ said.

We all laughed at that and got into the car. I was dropped off in front of Kelvin's place and I knocked on the door. Kelvin opened the door and retreated back into the house without saying anything to me. I entered and went after him.

"What's it, Fatimah?" he asked when I grabbed his arm, stopping him in the process.

"How is your nose?"

"I'm not dead. How is your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend." I was literally aging from replying that sentence over and over again. "Can we sit?"

Kelvin sat far away from me. "What do you want, Fatimah?"

"Why did you come over to my place?"

"I came to apologize for acting childish when I heard you were sleeping with him."

"It was a lie though. Seye and your sister thought it was going to be funny seeing your reaction."

"And you went along with it."

I stood up in frustration. "When have you known me to be immature? What's wrong with you? You're suddenly so annoying. You get angry at the slightest provocation."

"Watch your mouth," Kelvin said with annoyance proving my point.

"Why should I?"

He stood from his seat and came over to where I was standing.

"What do you take me for? You think I'm some sort of robot that doesn't get his feelings hurt. You expected me to smile when I learnt you fucked him after we had sex?"

"I didn't fuck anyone." I hated using that word.

"What did you call it again? Pity sex. Every time we've managed to have something, you've tried to reduce it to something meaningless."

"I didn't actually mean that."

I'd never seen Kelvin that angry, he was livid and I was close to running out of the door.

"But you meant it when you said you thought I was someone else the first time we had sex. Do you have any inkling to what that did to me?" Kelvin's face was like thunder as he spoke. "We shared a moment and you thought I was someone else. You imagined him in you when I was with you, inside you. I didn't see sex the same way again after that. Alex was always wondering why I stopped sleeping in the bedroom, should I have told her what happened? That I couldn't get it up again because Fatimah imagined me as someone else."

"You're yelling." I tried to calm him down.

"And you wondered why I hated that asshole when it was his dick you imagined when I was in you."

"He's not an asshole. There's no point talking about this, I'm leaving." I turned to leave.

"The hell you are. We are going to talk about it today. I've always wanted to punch his face. Oh, the joy I felt watching him bleed," Kelvin said.

I stopped walking towards the door and turned back to him. "I can't believe you'll resort to violence because your pride was hurt."

"My pride? Do you hear yourself when you speak?"

"You had a bloody girlfriend, what did you expect me to say? I'm sorry for seducing you Kelvin, can you now leave your girlfriend for me?" I walked towards him and poked his chest as I talked.

"I would have done that. That was all I was waiting for, don't you get it?" he asked in annoyance. "A sign that you cared, that our connection meant something to you."

"Don't you dare put this on me. You were the one who got a girlfriend when he grew bored." I wasn't going to look on as he piled the blame on me.

"And what did you bloody do about it? You gave me advises."

"You shouldn't have been in a relationship in the first place. That's not on me." I shook my head as I finished.

"I was lonely and you were being an ass. Do you even try to think about what you'd have done if I'd asked you out on a date when I met you? You thought the whole world was out to get you, you'd have thought I was mocking you. You didn't even have enough love in yourself to give to someone else."

I struck him hard on his cheek at that and when I raised my hand to do it a second time, he caught my hand.

"Don't you fucking dare," Kelvin said, breathing fire. "I'm tired of making things easy for you. Leave." He dropped my hand and moved away from my side.

"Kelvin?" He paused when I called out his name, he was waiting impatiently for me to say something. I rushed to his side and hugged him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it when I said I thought it was someone else, I only wanted to make things better for you and Alex," I said as I cried. I couldn't go home without saying how I felt. "I love you. Only you," I said.

Kelvin's face softened, he wrapped his arms around me and wiped my tears. "And I love you too, since I saw you gulping soda without stopping to take a breath. It killed me being in a relationship with Alex, I didn't know how I got there so fast and I couldn't get out of it. When I finally did, his hands were always all over you and I kept on fantasizing the ways I was going to break his fingers."

"He was doing it to get a reaction out of you. He never wanted me that way, he has a boyfriend."

"Thank God. I don't want his hands on you ever again."

"And I don't want you on a date with anyone."

"I didn't go on a date with anyone."

"Seye said you did."

"I was going to go, but I couldn't."

"I love you."

"I love you." Kelvin took my lips and lifted me into his arms. "I've always wanted to do this without guilt. I was always thinking of ways I was going to make love to you when you eventually became mine."

"I'm yours now."

"You are and I want you, badly. Like now."

"Take me...not the bedroom," I said when he led me to that direction. I didn't want to be anywhere he had sex with Alex and Kelvin seemed to understand.

"We never tried the dining table. Do you mind?"

"I actually don't. I used to have orgasm in my sleep from dreaming about you."

"Allow me to make it a reality."

"Yes," I said breathlessly as he placed me delicately on the dinner table.