“If not me then what are you scared of? And is that the reason you want to move out and quit your job?” Celsie asked in confusion as what he was saying wasn’t making any sense to her.
Benne swallowed hard as he gave her a nod, “I told you how I lied to you about certain things…” He reminded her without meeting her gaze, and Celsie’s heart skipped a beat.
Was he going to open up to her about what he was hiding now? What if they were things she couldn’t forgive him for? What if the truth he was about to tell her was something that would make her no longer want to look him in the eyes? What could be so bad that he would do that she couldn’t forgive? It wasn’t like he had killed someone and was hiding here, right? Why was she feeling more nervous than the person who had lied to her? Celsie wondered as she looked into his face, her heart beating fast.
She knew that she had prayed for him to tell her the truth before she finds out on her own, but now that she was faced with it, she realized that she wasn’t really ready to hear it. It was too soon. She still needed some time.
“Benne, I don’t…”
“I’m not who you think I am,” Benne confessed, cutting her off.
“…” Celsie opened her mouth to speak again, but her phone started ringing at that moment. Grateful for the distraction, she picked it up wanting to receive the call which was from Sonia.
“Celsie, can the call wait? I really need to get it out now,” Benne pleaded, thinking that if he didn’t tell her now, he might not be able to bring himself to do so later.
Celsie looked at her phone, and then glanced at Benne as she contemplated whether to take Sonia’s call or hear what he had to say.
Seeing the worry lines that creased his brows, Celsie could tell that this was very important to him, and as a friend, she owed it to him to at least hear what he had to say, “The call can wait,” Celsie decided with a concerned frown as she rejected Sonia’s call, and placed her phone on silent before dropping it on the table.
“Thanks,” Benne said with a nod, feeling slightly relieved that she was going to let him confess it all to her now, while also feeling anxious about the revelation he was about to make. His heart was beating really fast, and he couldn’t blame it. Even his heart knew that its wellbeing going forward was dependent on the outcome of this conversation.
Celsie gave him a nod, “Go on, say what you have to say.”
Benne took in a deep breath in an attempt to steady himself and calm his nerves, but it didn’t seem to be working, “I…” Benne started but paused to clear his throat when his voice came out cracked.
“Before I say anything, I would first like you to try to keep an open mind, and also understand that whatever I did wasn’t because I wanted to make a fool of you, or because I wanted to have fun at your expense,” Benne explained, since he knew that once he started telling her the truth she might not be willing to hear all of his explanations or excuses as the case may be later.
Conflicting emotions churned inside of her, and from the way her heart was beating, and her stomach was churning due to the nagging anxiety she was feeling, something told her deep down that she was not going to like what she was about to hear. She swallowed hard as she gave him another nod prompting him to go on.
“Also, I can’t exactly say that I’m sorry I did what I did. It was something I needed to do as if I didn’t do it, I’m not sure I would have made such progress with you in such a short period. And I probably won’t be telling you the truth right now if you didn’t open up to me about your past,” Benne added.
“You’re scaring me, Benne. Please just go on with whatever it is you have to say,” Celsie pleaded with a frown as she took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes before replacing them.
“First of all, my name is not Benne Handy… I mean, it’s Benne, but Handy isn’t my last name,” Benne confessed, and Celsie blinked at him in surprise.
What? Even his name was a lie? Oh, my God! What have I gotten myself into? Celsie thought in alarm.
Seeing the surprise and alarm on her face, Benne paused, “And I’m not a handyman either,” he added.
Oh, great! His job was fake too. Then was he even her driver? Who was this man that she didn’t know anything about? How had the company given a man with an unverified identity a job? “But you fixed my broken tap?” Celsie said, pointing to her bathroom when she remembered that he had fixed it when it broke.
Benne shook his head with an apologetic look on his face, “I brought someone over to fix it,” he said apologetically, and Celsie shook her head in disbelief as she looked away from him, trying to gather her thoughts.
“Hold on a minute, I need to get something straight. Did you come up with this new identity because of me or it’s….”
Benne shook his head, “No. It was not because of you. At the club where we met, I’m known as Benne Handy, a handyman. Anita knows me as Benne Handy too, and if you remember clearly even the waitress at the bar I took you to the last time also knows me by that name. It’s just a sort of pseudo-identity for me,” Benne rushed to explain, and Celsie gave him a nod as she let herself partially relax.
Okay. At least she wasn’t the only one who had been fooled. But why? “Are you an undercover agent? Or you’re a criminal hiding from the law?” Celsie asked as those were the only reasonable excuses she could understand that must have led him to come up with a false identity.
Benne looked at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
He had actually expected her to first ask him what his real name and occupation was, as that would answer all her questions, rather than trying to understand why he was using a false identity.
“Neither. I came up with that identity some years ago when I realized that people are more honest and real with me when they believe that I’m a nobody. It’s easier to know how people perceive me, and I also get to live more freely this way,” Benne said, making Celsie raise a brow.
“You think Benne Handy is a nobody?” Celsie asked, looking directly into his eyes. She had felt offended when the CEO implied it earlier, and hearing it from Benne himself she felt kind of disappointed.
“Trust me, Celsie, it’s not about what I think. From my experience with people over time I’ve come to understand that if you are not wealthy, and you don’t have a white-collar job, most people tend to see you as a nobody. And people usually don’t take you seriously when you’re a nobody,” Benne explained and watched as Celsie tried to process all that he was saying.
“Hold on. That means if you had to come up with such an identity, then you’re not exactly a nobody, are you?” She asked, wondering who he truly was. She knew she could easily ask him, but she was trying to process everything he was saying slowly.
Benne gave her a nod, and when he opened his mouth to say something else she raised a hand to stop him as the dots in her head started to connect.
Celsie’s eyes widened in surprise when something clicked in her head, “You moved in here because of me, didn’t you?” She asked, looking at him with wide eyes.
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.