Chapter 125 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“I…”

“Why can’t you be more like your sisters? Do you have to keep disappointing me by behaving like your incompetent father?” Her mother asked harshly.

“I’m sorry…”

“Did you at least get a competent private investigator? Or have you learned nothing from me in all this time?” Her mother asked without giving her room to speak.

“I will do so immediately,” Anita promised, even though the first private investigator she had gotten had been unable to find anything.

Her mother was a powerful woman who wanted to have close ties and connections with only the richest and most famous people in the society, and all three of her sisters had married into influential families making their mother proud by bringing her desire to reality.

She had found the perfect opportunity to follow in the footsteps of her sisters when her uncle announced during a family meeting that he was contemplating selling off his airline to OmniGlobal. He had told them how wealthy the CEO was, and upon further inquiry, he had informed them that the CEO was young and single. That had been the moment her mother decided that she wanted the CEO as her son in-law.

“Leave it to me. I can’t trust you to not mess up this opportunity, so I will have my investigator gather all he can on him.” With that, the line went dead.

The phone remained in Anita’s hand long after her mother hung up the call. She knew she couldn’t afford to mess this up no matter what it takes, as she very well knew that her mother wouldn’t hesitate to cut her off if things didn’t go as she planned.. Her mother was always quick to remind them that she never associates herself with failures, and cutting off their father when he lost his wealth to a bad business deal had always been her reference point.

Benne lay on his bed, unable to sleep as he thought about what he was doing with Celsie and questioned his actions. Was he supposed to feel sorry that he was lying to her? He wasn’t doing any of this to hurt her. Maybe if she had been more open to the idea of being in a relationship he would have been able to handle things more differently… Perhaps.

His mind drifted to the conversation they had both had after they left Jasmine’s home. Celsie had insisted they sit on the trunk of the car to receive the cool evening breeze before heading for their various apartments.

Sitting on the trunk of the car with their back rested on the back windscreen of the car and looking at the stars that decorated the night sky, Celsie had turned to look at him, “Can I trust you?” She had asked looking at him with hopeful eyes. She was beginning to trust him already, so she needed to know if she could go on trusting him, or if she needed to keep away from him.

“I believe you already know the answer to your question,” Benne had said without turning to look at her. He couldn’t bear to look into her face right now as he feared that with all the conflicting emotions he was having he might just open up to her and confess everything at once, and he wasn’t ready to do any of that yet. Not until he was sure beyond reasonable doubt that she loved him. He wanted her to love him.

“Do I? Why did you tell me that you have been lying to me?” Celsie had asked further, wanting to see if she could make him tell her everything she needed to know about him.

“I didn’t say I have been lying to you. Although I have not been entirely honest with you, I haven’t entirely lied to you either. I won’t hurt you if that is what you want to know,” Benne had assured her, but Celsie wasn’t satisfied.

“How bad are the secrets you are keeping from me? And why can’t you just be entirely honest with me?” Celsie had asked thoughtfully.

“I guess it depends on the perspective you view it. To me, the secrets are not bad, but you might not exactly appreciate them. And I can’t be entirely honest with you until I’m sure about how you feel about me,” Benne had said, but Celsie had interpreted it to mean that he wanted her to earn his trust before he could divulge his secrets to her.

“I guess you are entitled to hold back on telling me certain things about yourself until we have fully established trust between us,” Celsie had concluded logically, and Benne nodded his head.

Now that he was alone in his bedroom, he couldn’t help but wonder if she would be that understanding of his reasons when he finally tells her everything. What would happen and how would she react when she eventually finds out about his true identity? He knew that she was likely going to be very upset considering the fact that he had deceived her, and she was big on trust. Benne dozed off with a worried frown on his brow as he thought of what he could do to reduce Celsie’s anger when she eventually finds out the truth.

“Good morning, Miss Miller,” Benne greeted politely the next morning as Celsie walked up to the car to join him as usual.

This morning she was dressed in a fitted sky blue shirt which was tucked into a gray-colored high waist knee-length skirt that had two pleats in the front of it. On her feet was a biro blue stiletto which matched the handbag she was carrying.

“What’s that?” Celsie asked with a slight frown. Although she had thought it would be awkward to have Benne driving her to work as her driver considering all that had transpired between them over the weekend, she realized that it was even more awkward having her temporary boyfriend referring to her so formally.

“What is what?” Benne asked innocently as he patiently waited for her to get into the car.

“We are not at the office yet. So save the formality for when other people are around us,” Celsie muttered as she got into the front seat of the car.

“Whatever you say, boss,” Benne murmured as he got into the driver’s seat and turned on the car.

“Did you sleep well?” Benne asked as he drove the car.

“I did. What about you?” Celsie asked, turning to look at him.

“Same.”

Neither of them said a word to each other after that as they were both occupied by thoughts of their own. While Celsie was wondering if the CEO was going to want to talk to her about her relationship with his soon-to-be sister-in-law, Benne was thinking about the meeting he had to attend at Ocean Airlines later that morning.

“Uhm, I might not be available until later in the evening. I have a job I need to attend to, I hope you don’t mind?” Benne asked once he parked the car.

“Will it take all day?” Celsie asked, wondering if he was going to be back in time to bring her lunch.

“I will be back in time to take you home, you don’t have to worry about that,” Benne assured her as he extended the car key to her.

“You should go with the car so that your movement will be faster and less stressful” Celsie offered with a small smile.

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