Chapter 221 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“You want a therapist?”

Celsie smiled when she heard the surprise and joy in his tone “Yeah. I just want to get it done with,” Celsie explained.

“Wow! That’s just wonderful! You made the right decision, Celsie! I’m going to get you the best! And you don’t have to worry about the cost, I will pay for it myself,” Lucas promised.

“Sorry, someone else is covering the bill. You can’t pay for it. Besides, you need all that money for your wedding preparation, so don’t worry about me,” Celsie said dismissively.

“Who is paying for it? Not your driver boyfriend, I hope?” Lucas asked in disapproval.

Celsie stuck her tongue in her cheek, “Well, he insisted on paying.”

“How could you let him do that? Do you have any idea how expensive therapy is? This would cost him a lot and put a financial strain on both him and your relationship. Ask him to forget about it, that your brother is going to take care of it. I’ve been saving some money for it anyway,” Lucas said, making Celsie smile softly.

She loved to know that her twin brother still cared this deeply for her, despite Rachel’s presence in his life. She felt a lump in her throat, and cleared it, “Don’t worry about me. He can afford to pay for it, regardless of the cost,” she assured him.

“He can? How? Is he from a wealthy family?” Lucas asked in confusion.

“Nope.”

“Stop playing around, Celsie. This is serious,” Lucas complained when he noticed that she was deliberately being slow about it.

“Okay, I found out that my driver is actually Benedict Delgado, the CEO,” Celsie said, making Lucas gasp in surprise.

“What? I totally didn’t see that coming,” Lucas said in disbelief.

“Yeah, me too,” Celsie said with a nod.

“Did you know this before you told mom and dad that you were dating your boss, or after?” Lucas asked curiously.

“After.”

“Wow! I suppose a part of your subconscious must have picked on it, but you didn’t know it. How did your boss become your driver? Why? How did you find out the truth? Did he tell you? Was he stalking you?” Lucas asked the question as they came to him.

“Well, after I met him at the club on the night of our birthday, he purchased the building next to mine, and decided to be my driver so he could get to know me,” Celsie said, making Lucas shake his head in amazement.

“Weren’t you freaked out by it?” Lucas asked, wondering how his sister must have taken the revelation.

“I was. But he’s actually a really nice person so…” Celsie paused when she heard some voices outside her office door.

“Let’s talk later. Work calls. Don’t forget to get me the therapist. Love you,” Celsie said, and quickly hung up the call.

*********

“Good day, sir!” Anita greeted the director of the human resources department at OmniGlobal with a polite smile as she walked into his office.

“Miss Miller?” The man in his late thirties asked as Anita approached his desk, “Please sit down,” he said when she gave him a polite nod.

“Thank you. I’m sorry for showing up at your office this way,” she said apologetically.

“It’s alright. How can I help you?” He asked, looking at her curiously.

“Well, as you must know, Ocean Airlines was recently taken over by OmniGlobal, and I’m one of the top directors there, and the head of the human resources department too,” she explained.

“I see.”

“Seeing how organized this company is, I was hoping that I could learn a thing or two from you on staff management, and maybe get some information from you on how things are run here so that I could do some upgrade or downgrade if necessary over there too,” she explained, and the director gave her a nod to go on.

“We need to cut some costs due to the financial difficulty the airline is experiencing at the moment, so I was hoping I could find out how things are done here so that I can compare and contrast. Perhaps you could tell me about the benefits most of the employees here enjoy. For example, does the company give the employees company cars and drivers?” Anita asked curiously as she took out a jotter and her pen.

“Company cars? Yes, that’s one of the perks of being a director here. Not just any employee is given a car. But we are not given drivers. Why would the company pay someone to drive you? It is expected that you should be able to drive yourself around, and if you can’t, then you should be able to afford to get yourself a driver,” the director explained.

Anita pursed her lips as she listened to him while pretending to jot down all that he was saying. On the day he had met Benne on their way to the company’s cafeteria, Benne had said he was one of the company’s drivers, not that he was Celsie’s personal driver. That meant that he had lied to her.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how many young female directors do you have in this company? I mean in this building, not all the branches,” Anita asked curiously after asking some other questions.

“Hmm… young? I think they are just two. Before now there was just Director Cora Anderson, but recently, Director Celestia Miller was promoted,” the man said thoughtfully, even though he wasn’t exactly sure why Anita was asking.

“And they both have company cars too? I’m sorry I’m asking so many questions. I’m just trying to see if I can cut down some of these benefits with age as a factor even though it might affect me too,” Anita said with an apologetic smile.

“The CEO is young, as are majority of the employees in the company, so age can not be a factor when making such important considerations. Both ladies have their company cars.”

“Oh! I see. I suppose they can both drive really well then,” Anita said jokingly.

“I don’t know about Miss Miller, but Miss Anderson drives just fine on her own,” he assured her with a grin.

“You have no idea how helpful this has been. Thank you very much for your time,” Anita said with a wide smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes as she shook his hands firmly.

Once she walked out of his office the smile disappeared from her face. She had just confirmed her suspicions.. Benne was actually the CEO.

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