“Don’t tell me you told him,” Jade said, and then her hazel eyes flared angrily when Harry didn’t deny it, “Didn’t I specifically ask you not to tell him about it?” She hissed at him in annoyance.
Here we go again, Harry thought to himself. For a moment he had thought the conversation was going really well and they were going to start getting along, he should have known that like most women, Jade was bent on fighting with him.
“Listen, you may have asked me not to tell him, but I never agreed to do that. I’m not going to lie to you or apologize for going against your wish just to make you happy. I hate lies and I don’t want to get caught up in them. I’m not going to lie to your elder brother who happens to be my best friend about your wellbeing simply because you asked me not to. I was on the phone with you, and something happened. Your brother deserved to know! I’m not going to apologize for it, so it’s best you suck it up,” Harry said as he turned to look at her briefly.
“Yeah, right. You should probably be awarded the best friend of the year award! So what are you here as? My babysitter? My bodyguard?” Jade asked in a mocking tone.
“Isn’t it obvious, considering how you’re acting like a child right now?” Harry fired back, and Jade curled her slender fingers into a fist.
“You are very annoying, do you know that?” Jade asked, and Harry snorted.
“In case you haven’t gotten the memo yet, I’m not here to please you or make you happy. Keeping you safe and making sure your case goes smoothly is my priority, not your happiness. So I’ll suggest you get over your hormones and get your head straight,” Harry said in a stiff voice.
“I never asked for your damn help you jerk, so get lost!” Jade yelled at him angrily.
“Well, your elder brother did, Princess,” Harry informed her calmly, sounding completely unaffected by her outburst.
Jade huffed angrily on seeing how unaffected he was, and how he had a ready response for everything she said. Choosing not to bother with him anymore, she rested her head on the headrest and shut her eyes, not wanting to talk to him anymore.
Harry on the other hand shook his head as he kept driving with his eyes on the road.. What did he say this time? He had not even called her ugly or said anything terrible about her appearance, so why was she mad? Was it a crime to be honest? He had only been trying to straighten out things with her, yet she had managed to make it seem like he was a jerk. Women!
Benne gazed into Celsie’s eyes through her glasses as they both stood there in the open street staring at each other, without a care in the world. Nothing mattered more at that moment to either of them than the person who was standing in front of them.
Benne could see the questions swimming in her cloudy gray eyes. He knew that she needed him to give her answers that would clear whatever doubts she was having about him. How was he going to do that? Where was he going to start from? “What were you doing out here?” He asked curiously as he moved his gaze away from her to look at the apartment he had just asked them to put up for sale.
Celsie shrugged her shoulders, “I was bored. Needed to think, so I was taking a walk and found myself here,” she said with a small smile, “Why are you moving, Benne?” She asked, looking at him with serious eyes. She had a lot of questions, but she decided to take it one at a time.
‘No more lies. Don’t lie to her’ Benne said to himself in his head, as he tried to figure out the best way to say what needed to be said. He cleared his throat, “We should probably go in and talk,” Benne suggested as he patted the back of her head like she was a little girl.
Celsie gave him a nod and turned to leave in the direction of her home, but Benne held her hand before she could walk ahead of him, “Let’s walk together,” he said, as he stepped in line with her.
Without saying a word they both walked over to her apartment together hand in hand while Alicia watched them from behind her curtains, wondering what Celsie was doing just after everything she had told her a moment ago. Alicia pursed her lips in disappointment and she shook her head, Celsie was too trusting for her own good.
Once they got to Celsie’s apartment, Benne took the keys from her and unlocked the door. Once they walked inside Celsie’s apartment, Benne sat down on the couch and pulled Celsie down to sit beside him, and they both turned in their seat to face each other, “Can you tell me about your day while I try to gather my thoughts?” Benne asked hopefully.
Celsie looked at him for a brief moment, wondering if he was planning on telling her what he was hiding from her now. She partially hoped so. Celsie gave him a nod and then pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she started to tell him about her day.
Benne watched Celsie as she spoke, telling him all about her day after she woke up at the hospital, and she also told him about the time she had spent with the CEO, only leaving out the details of her conversation with the CEO, as well as Alicia’s visit.
He had come, planning to tell her the truth about everything, but seeing how happy and excited she had been to see him, he became nervous. What if she pushed him away angrily after hearing the truth? What if she refused to understand things from his perspective? Although he knew that she was beginning to fall in love with him, he knew she wasn’t all the way there yet, and he didn’t want to take chances. But wouldn’t keeping the truth away from her much longer cause even more trouble later?
“You’re not going to say anything?” Celsie asked, feeling awkward when she finished speaking, but Benne just kept staring at her without making any contribution or asking her any question.
“Let’s just say I enjoy watching and listening to you speak,” Benne said with a crooked smile which Celsie returned, “I hope the CEO didn’t bother you much?” Benne asked, wanting to know how she felt about all that had happened between them earlier.
Celsie wrinkled her nose in distaste, “He is so full of himself. I think a person like him deserves a person like Anita,” Celsie said with a shake of her head, making Benne raise a brow.
He realized that he must have really pissed her off for her to be wishing him a person like Anita. “Why? Did he do or say something harsh to you?”
“Not exactly. I guess I’m just disappointed in him. I realized that he happens to be one of those people who believe that money is everything. It’s pitiful,” Celsie said, shaking her head in disappointment.
So he was right. Benne was glad to know that he was right about her, and she wasn’t like Anita and the others who thought money and power were everything. He wanted this woman for himself, and the only way to do that was to first be honest with her.
“Enough about him. So you tell me, what came up earlier this morning that you had to leave me that way?” Celsie asked, looking at him with curious eyes as she adjusted her glasses once again.
Benne swallowed hard, his heart beating really fast as he looked at her. Never had he felt so nervous in his life. Not even a meeting with possible investors or his board members made him feel this way. ‘No more lies’ he reminded himself.
“Uhm… I was confused, worried, and scared,” Benne confessed.
Celsie could understand him being confused and worried about her because of the way she had fainted, but she couldn’t understand why he would leave her because of any of that. Besides, hadn’t he said he wasn’t scared of her? Celsie frowned, “You left because of that? But you said you were not scared earlier,” she reminded him, sounding a bit hurt.
“Yeah. I’m kind of scared, but you’re not exactly the reason I’m scared…”
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.