Chapter 27

"That's nice. So you said earlier that you wanted to ask me a question?"

"Yeah. Oouuu, you remember the things I say, you and I are going to be close for a long time." Then they both laughed and she said, "So, here's the question What's your biggest turn off?"

"That's easy, nagging. I don't like nags at all."

"Have you ever been with a nag?"

"Yup. Once and it was a very toxic relationship. When I'm with anyone I expect that they trust me and are very secure. I think nagging comes from insecurities. I honestly cannot be with anyone who nags. When I get back from my day's adventure, I'm not coming back for a round of questions and debate, it's unhealthy. It's a turn off, I hate it and I don't condone it. What about you?"

"I hate liars. Just like you hate nags, I don't think I can stand liars. People think they're doing others a favour by lying to them. In their words, they're trying to protect their feelings. If you tell me as it is, I would appreciate it more."

"That's really nice. Random question: are you the kind of girl that'll rather stay at home all cozy up and watch a movie or the kind that will prefer to go out to the movies."

"Easy, I will prefer to be in a blanket, all cozied up and see a movie with someone I care about while drinking hot chocolate and eating hot popcorn. What about you?"

"Probably the same if I'm being honest. And would you say you've broken alot of hearts? I would not be surprised if you have. I think it's rude to think you haven't so please, I'm sorry for asking that question." He joked

She laughed and said, "I haven't broken too much hearts but I've gotten mine broken a couple of times."

"Really? Well, you're a considerate queen, you gave undeserving men the chance to hold your beautiful heart and those losers did what losers do, they broke it." He joked again and she couldn't help but laugh her eyes out.

That night, they talked and lost track of time. It was when the bartender was about to pack up that they realized how late it was. He walked her to get a taxi back home and then he went home.

As she sat on her bed and remembered how much fun she used to have with Nathan she realized that she must have messed up the one man that made her genuinely happy. She hoped he'd forgive her and maybe give her another chance because that's what she actually needed. But she knew that she had done the two things he did not like; having a baby and nagging him away. She knew she might have to give up something if she wanted to be with Nathan. But the question remains, what will Leighton give up to be with Nathan.

"Okay, this was fun while it lasted, I'm bored and out." Matt said to both Juliette and Carolyn.

"How rude!"

"Rude? You're literally the one talking about how me and Juliette are attracted to each other. It's crazy to have such thoughts or even make such assumption. She has a boyfriend and never fails to shove that information down my throat at every chance she gets. And you making fun of us in the name of detecting some tension as you claim is not as funny as you think it is."

"Okay Matt, I was just joking."

"Um, Carolyn, I don't think it's a great joke."

"Yeah, Matt just pointed it out. Look guys, I'll just be on my way to my room, I have things to do anyways. Goodnight."

Then Carolyn walked out of Juliette's room. As she left, Juliette turned to Matt who was also leaving and said, "You didn't have to be rude to her."

"She wouldn't be here making preposterous assumptions if you had at least listened to what I had to say."

"Are you blaming me for what happened?"

"Do you think I have the time to play the blame game? Look, I'm hungry and tired and I need to eat and sleep. This right here is old and boring."

"Interesting."

He didn't say anything, he just walked out of her room and she stared at him in disbelief. Carolyn had embarrassed her with the things she said but she knew that Matt felt more embarrassed than she  felt. He did bring her to apologise, not to say he was in love with Juliette when they were just two people that shared an apartment.

Just as she was about to take off her clothes, her stomach rumbled and she knew she was hungry but she wondered if she should order room service and eat in her room or go get something with him downstairs. She wanted to eat with him, she was bored didn't want to eat alone but she also did not want to have any conversation with anyone at the moment. She sensed that Matt was upset and probably needed to be by himself. He did look like he wanted to be by himself and how he walked out of her room made her know that and she respects boundaries too much to shove herself in his room so she called and ordered room service.

When Matt got to his room, he was still feeling a particular type of way about had just happened. First, Juliette was upset with him because he told Carolyn that she was the one he shared an apartment with. He did not know what she was expecting him to say but he admitted that it may have been wrong to call her the same thing he corrected her about but then when he decided to analyze the situation, he was not angry when she used the term "roommate" with him. Infact, the only reason it felt like he was telling her to say something else was because he envisioned that there will be more times when people would compliment them and if she didn't want to give up too much unnecessary information about herself to complete strangers, the best thing to do is not to tell them about their living situation.

He thought that most people, average members of the society cannot wrap their heads around the fact that two adults of the opposite sex are living together without having any sexual relations with each other. He has never thought there was anything wrong with it but after some people had given him weird reactions after he told them about the living situation, he stopped going that deep.

He was an attractive man and people thought that no woman will agree to live with him as just a roommate and if he tried to explain to them, they always doubted him. At first, he thought those people were right because he noticed that Juliette started telling everyday that she had a boyfriend.

Whenever they were together getting groceries or just being in the same space, people assume that they were together and some even go as far as asking them how long they've been married. The rate of stalkers where they lived was very high that it was really unwise to let people know of your business just because you're trying to clarify an information that will always be ambiguous and require explanation. When he made the suggestion to Juliette, she saw reason with what he suggested, she even liked the idea and it worked very well for them. At least till Carolyn.

Carolyn had come to him and even though at first they were just having random conversations, it got pretty serious and he was on the listening end. She told him a lot about herself and it just felt rude not to tell her a few things about himself too because she was asking a lot of questions and he didn't want to be rude so he answered. And when she asked him where he lived and the living situation, he mentioned that he shared an apartment with someone just because the single ones he found was not good enough and he had a short time to get a place because he had just gotten his job. She asked him where he worked and what he did there, he lied about where he worked. In fact he mentioned the company that Juliette worked at and then said he was a secretary. He didn't want to give her every information about himself and when he ran into her the next day, he forgot that he promised himself that he was going to avoid her at all cost, and when he saw her, he was with Juliette and he felt as though his cover might blow because he knew that Carolyn is someone that warms up to people and acts like she's known them for a while and she might forget that there are boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, so he quickly excused Juliette but the mistake he made was not waiting till she was out of earshot before saying that she was his to roommate.

Then she got upset with him and didn't even explain her anger only for him to find out after literally embarrassing himself and then she continued by slamming the door to his face. He was upset and didn't want to escalate the situation so he quietly called Carolyn to come for them to both explain the context of why he called Juliette that. When Carolyn came and Juliette started explaining the situation, he realized that that was a stupid move. He shouldn't have brought Carolyn to talk to Juliette, it made it look as if there was something actually going on between them and it was useless denying it to Carolyn considering that he brought her to talk to her.

He tried so much to change the story in his head to console himself because he knew he had just done the dumbest thing anyone could ever do and no matter how much he tried to, it was a glaring fact in his face that he had just created a scenerio that was going to be in the mind of the two women for a really long time. He knew that he was not interested in having a relationship with Juliette but this move would make her think otherwise. He knew she'd try to shove her boyfriend chant up his nose again after Carolyn left so his next best move was to simply annoy both women and then exit the room graciously. And that's what he did. And just like he predicted, Juliette tried to play the blame card but he was too tired and hungry to egg her on. That's when he walked out.

So he ordered room service and went to shower till it was ready. When the person bringing the food got to his room, he was already out of the bathroom and in his bathrobe. As he sat down to eat, he got a call from his buddy, Sam.

"Hey Man"

"Hey. So how's the trip going?"

"Well enough. It ended today so I'm supposed to fly in tomorrow."

"You don't say. Maybe we could have a drink and talk about recent development on your brother."

"Sure. We are getting close though."

"How so?"

"Well, last week, he offered to help me with the presentation that Leighton used for the presentation we had here."

"Really? That's good. Did you guys have any other discussions on any other thing like maybe his mum?"

"His mum?"

"Yeah, we found her. She is in a mental hospital right now. She has been here for years due to a particular incident but her record said the only thing she said before she went dumb till today is, "She would kill me if I say anything" she didn't say who would kill her or why anyone wanted to kill her."

"I didn't know that."

"Apparently, Winston has been doing a good job hiding his nutjob mother from anyone and everyone, we wonder why"

"So, what do you think we should do about this?"

"Maybe get his trust and then you can ask him all these question. If he's hiding it, you're going to do alot to build his trust and make him open up to you. Just get back and we can take more about this."

"Sure thing man."