Neither of them said a word to each other until Benne pulled the car into the parking lot of a five-star restaurant, “Give me a minute,” he told Celsie as he got out of the car, and before she could figure out why, he went around the car and opened the door.
What was he doing? Why was he doing this? She wondered, feeling very uncomfortable by his action as she stepped out of the car.
Benne shut the door and they both walked into the restaurant side by side, even though Celsie kept trying to move a step behind him, Benne kept matching her pace. A waiter met them by the door and led them to their seat which had been reserved earlier.
Benne pulled out a seat for her, and once she was seated, he took the seat opposite her and picked up the menu, leaving her to do the same.
“Are you okay?” He asked some minutes later when he noticed that Celsie was still looking at the menu, or better still, she seemed to be hiding behind the menu.
“Yes sir,” she said with a nod but didn’t put down the menu.
“You seem to be having a difficult time making up your mind on what you want. Would you like me to help you?” Benne asked politely, and Celsie gave him a nod as she dropped the menu on the table and met his gaze.
Benne didn’t bother to look at the menu before signaling to the waiter closest to them. Once he placed their orders, and the waiter left, he returned his gaze to Celsie, “So, I heard from Harry that your fiance was involved in an accident and you both called off the engagement,” Benne said, making Celsie swear under her breath.. It seemed like that one little lie was never going to stop haunting her.
Benne watched Celsie in amusement as she told him about her fiance’s ‘accident’ which had resulted in her resuming at the office late.
“….We were so glad that he only fractured his scapula and femur,” Celsie concluded, and Benne nodded his head in agreement. Not in agreement with what she was saying, but in agreement with what Harry had said.
Harry had been right when he said Celsie was a natural born actress. If he didn’t know better, he would most definitely have fallen for all the lies she had just told him. He needed to inform Bryan that Celsie had the potential of becoming an award-winning actress.
“And he chose to call off your engagement simply because you were not there at the hospital to look after him?” Benne asked, wanting her to continue with the entertaining story.
Celsie gave him a nod, “Unbelievable, right? He said I was a workaholic and that wasn’t the kind of person he wanted to share his life with. After dating him for three years I still can’t believe he did that to me,” Celsie looked away from him as if she was too sad to meet his gaze, but she was actually feeling shocked hearing the words that were coming from her own mouth. How did that come out of her mouth? Where did she get such inspiration to tell such a magnitude of lie? Three years relationship? How?
‘Celsie, when did you become such a liar?’ she asked herself inwardly.
“Aww. That must have really hurt you. How did you get over the heartbreak so soon?” Benne asked, leaning forward in his seat to look at her while he sipped from a glass of wine a waiter had served them some minutes ago.
Talking to him this way, Celsie realized that her boss wasn’t really as frightening as he had seemed a moment ago. The more she looked at him and talked to him, the less weird he became in her eyes. She was becoming more and more comfortable talking to him. He sounded like a regular guy having a conversation.
“Work. I buried myself in my work.”
“Yeah. Work. That always works,” Benne said with a nod and leaned back in his seat when two waiters approached the table with their orders.
Neither of them said a word until the waiters were done, “Thank you,” they both told the waiters in unison.
The waiters gave them a polite bow as they left, while Benne and Celsie stared at each other. Celsie was impressed to know that someone as wealthy as Benne still had the good manner to thank the waiters for serving them.
“I noticed that I’ve been the one asking all the questions, is there nothing you would like to know about me?” Benne asked as he picked up his cutlery, waiting to know how curious she was about him.
Seeing how much effort he was putting into trying to get her to talk freely, Celsie decided to loosen up some more, “I actually have a question. Why do you like to stay hidden?” She asked the first question that came to her mind.
“Stay hidden?” Benne asked, cocking his head to the right to look at her as he diced the steak on his plate into smaller sizes.
“Yeah. Most people don’t know what you look like, not even your staff. I’m just curious to know why you try so hard to not be known,” Celsie said with a shrug before picking up her cutlery set.
“Not everyone loves to be seen or known. Some of us prefer to live like a wallflower,” Benne said, and Celsie looked at him curiously.
“Don’t you think yours is extreme? I mean someone like you should be known, right?” Celsie asked, making Benne’s right brow arch.
“Someone like me?”
“Yeah. I mean someone as successful as you are shouldn’t be completely faceless,” Celsie explained and looked at Benne in confusion as he switched their plates, giving her the diced steaks, while he took hers, “Thanks,” she murmured.
“Why do I need to be known? I shouldn’t be my introverted self simply because I am successful? Only an unsuccessful person is allowed to remain unknown?” Benne asked with a curious smile.
“That’s not what I mean. I’m just trying to say, apart from the fact that it raises speculations which may lead to harmful gossip and rumors, there are people out there who could easily impersonate you, and anyone would easily believe them because you are faceless,” Celsie pointed out, “Also, don’t you feel somehow when most people think Mr. Harry is the CEO?” She added.
“Maybe the first thing you should know about me is that I don’t care what people think about me. If I did, I won’t be where I am right now. I don’t have any issue with people thinking Harry is the CEO. He puts in almost as much work as I do into the company, so it’s okay for others to think he is the CEO. I have no problem with that,” Benne said making Celsie sigh in resignation.
“Okay.”
Hearing her resigned tone, he smiled, “I guess I will just have to work on my personality then,” Benne murmured as he chewed on a piece of steak, “You will help me, won’t you?”
“Help you with what?” Celsie asked in confusion. Why was everyone asking for her help now?
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.