"What do you mean."

"About why you got married." Flora raised her hand again, but he leaned away before she could touch him. "I know you didn't cheat on me with Kali. I have known it since the beginning, but I was hurt and angry, and I turned my heart off and listened to my brain. I doubted you, and you don't know how much I regret it."

Samuel pulled on his hair, frustration clawing through him as they stared at each other.

Why did this have to happen now? When he had already decided to accept his feelings for Kali and work on their marriage. He had held out hope for months that his mother would give him his freedom, and with enough faith, Flora would still love him enough to understand the decision he made. Months passed, and nothing changed except his feelings towards Kali.

Now, they were closer than ever, building their life outside his mother's rules. He had resigned himself and his story with Flora as a finished one despite his feelings. He reasoned she would have moved on, too.

Maybe it was all a way of dealing with his guilt.

"Samuel..."

"Don't come closer." He pleaded when she took a step towards him. "How did you find out?"

"Does it matter? What happens is that I know, and I forgive you, sweetheart. I forgive you for all of it."

"You can't be here."

"I know you are afraid of your mother. I know you want to protect me, but I can protect myself. You didn't have to make this big sacrifice for me. You didn't need to split us apart. Now, we can stand in this together. We can stand as one and face everything together."

He looked at her, pained to see the hope in her eyes. "I am married, Flora."

"To a woman you don't love. You only got married to save me. This marriage is not real."

"It is. In the eyes of God and the law, Kali is my wife."

"You know what I mean." Flora insisted. With tears in her eyes, she finally caught his hand and pulled closer. "She is not your wife."

"She is." He repeated. He could barely hear himself. "She is."

"So it's true? You have an actual relationship?"

"I do. We do."

Flora faltered, sharply exhaling as she took in the implications. He felt her hold tighten, her hand closing hard and punishing over his. More tears fell, and she lowered her head, but Samuel watched quietly.

Flora shook her head and stood taller, smiling through her tears. "I understand. For all this time, you probably couldn't talk to anyone else but her. She shared your pain and fears. Once, she told me herself that you loved me. I couldn't see then, but she was trying to drop hints about your feelings for me."

The information shocked Samuel. Kali never mentioned that to him.

"She must have supported you, and it's only logical that you confuse gratitude with love. It happens, but it is not love. You are only grateful for her caring and sticking with you."

"I am grateful," he agreed, dropping her hand from his. "But that's not why."

"So...in the end...after all the sacrifice, you just...threw it away." Flora sobbed, wrapping her arms around herself in despair. "You forgot me and moved on to this woman."

"It's not like that?"

"What is it like? I couldn't look at another man after we broke up. It's taking me forever to forget you but you just fall for someone else."

"That's not fair."

"Oh, please."

"It's not. I never asked you to wait for me. Not once. I didn't know how long my mother wanted this to play out, and I didn't want to condemn you to weeks or months of watching me share a bed, a house, a life with someone else. So, even at the risk of you falling in love with someone else, I bit my tongue against asking you to wait for me. It's unfair that you put that on me."

"You are right. I am being unfair. But let me ask you. What about me? Do you love me still?'

He considered lying. It would be better to say he didn't love her, and apologise for failing her. Maybe, she would not see a reason to endanger herself by going toe to toe with his mother in hopes of getting him back. He could say all the harsh words to keep her away, but he couldn't bring himself to lie. If the truth was coming out then the whole truth should be on the table.

"A lot of me still loves you, Flora." He raised his hand to stop her before she could speak again. He could see the hope lighting behind her eyes. "A lot of me, but not all of me."

"Because some of you desire her?"

"It's not desire. It's..."

"Don't dare say it." Flora demanded, her voice picking volume, "Don't you say it because it is not true."

"Wanting something to be a lie doesn't make it a lie."

"You are confused."

"I am not." He insisted.

"Then what is it with her that you were able to fall out of love with me? What?!"

"It isn't about that."

"Yes, it is! Say it to my face once and for all. Maybe you can finally tell me what she has that I am missing. Back then, it was nothing, but now there is something. Right?" She shoved his shoulder, and he stepped back. He glanced at the office, hoping none of his friends were watching. "Does she take care of you better than I did? Spoil you more? Tell me?! What does she have that makes it hard for you to return to me."

"Flora, I..."

"What does she have that makes it so difficult for you to choose me? To choose us?" She shoved him again as she continued to move closer and closer. Everywhere he tried to turn she followed. Forcing him to face, pushing him for the answer she wanted. "I am here. I know the truth. I forgive you despite it all. What is it that is keeping you from coming back to me?!"

"She has a hold over me!" He screamed back, anger and months of frustration finally pouring out of him. "She has a hold over me, and I cannot explain it. I don't know when it started. I don't know when she became so much to me. It's not about you being more or less than she is. I am comparing no one. It's me. I can't stop. I tried, for so long, but I can't seem to stop it. I love my wife."

"Samuel."

"It is the truth." He confessed, feeling like a weight had left his shoulders although it felt like more was pressing down on him. "I love her, and I can only apologise for it. It's all I can do."

"I told you not to say that." She screamed into her hand, tears falling harder now. "You can't mean it. How could you when I haven't even dreamed of that? Is that little you love me?"

"I don't love you little. If I did, I wouldn't have any love left."

"Then why stay with her? Why not choose to come back with me." She held him, drawing him close till their foreheads touched, and she palmed his cheek. "We can recover everything together. We'll be as before."

"We can't."

"Yes, we can. You'll get divorced, and we'll start again. Far from here if we have to. Away from your mother and everyone else. It would be just you and me."

"And Kali."

"Trust me." Flora insisted.

"What do you want me to be?" He asked brokenly. "A cheater."

"You are one now. You love me and her at the same time. You are being emotionally unfaithful. What's the difference?"

"She is my wife, and I don't intend on acting on what I feel for you. In that I am honest. I betrayed our love, yes, but I am not a cheater. If I leave her and come back to you, I won't be the same Samuel I was when we broke up. I'd be half. Half the love, half the man, half the relationship. And there would be the other half, that..."

"That what?"

"The half that loves her, that wants her. What happens if it doesn't stop? I won't be able to bear your face if I become the man I fear to be. She is inside my head, in my heart. If I divorce her with this feeling inside of me, I will break you, Flora. Then I will break myself."

"So, I should just...give up. Leave you for her?"

"Not just for that, but for your safety. My mother..."

"I don't care about your mother." She pushed away from him, wiping her tears away furiously.

"Flora."

"And I don't care about Kali. She knew how you felt about me, but she still stole you away from me. She wanted to be selfish, so why shouldn't I be."

"Flora." He warned, seeing where her thoughts were headed."

"If you think I am afraid of your mother, I am not. I already wasted enough time when I doubted myself and your love for me. I won't waste any more. That part of you that she has won, I would take it back. Whatever desire you have for her, I would extinguish. I won't lose you again."

"Flora."

"We will have the life we were meant to. I will be selfish, too. I will choose us over anything."

When she turned to walk away, he grabbed her arm and yanked her back, holding her in place despite her best efforts.

"You are not the only one that stands to lose their freedom. My mother has her eyes on your father, too."

Flora's face twisted into a grimace, her eyes bloodshot and her fist bunched at her sides.

"If your mother even goes a metre near my dad. I will kill her."