“Good morning, Celsie. I’m so sorry I came in unannounced and barged in on you like this. You didn’t respond to my text, so I decided to stop by and see how you’re doing,” Anita said with her usual smile while she watched Celsie’s face closely.
“You could have saved yourself the stress of coming all the way here by just calling,” Celsie pointed out with a smile of her own as she sat down on her seat while watching Anita closely and trying to discern what she was up to now.
“Well, I’m here already so I guess it doesn’t matter,” Anita said with a short laugh as she took the seat opposite Celsie, “So what was that about?” She asked with an innocent smile on her face as she jerked her head in the direction of Benne’s office.
“What was what about?” Celsie asked looking at her with an innocent expression. Celsie was glad now that she had been playing dumb with Benne a while ago, else Anita would have heard everything and found out who Benne was before she had enough time to equip herself to fight her.
The smile remained on Anita’s face as she watched Celsie play dumb. She needed to find out what the CEO had been apologizing to Celsie for as soon as possible. She had guessed that something was going on between the CEO and Celsie considering all the attention the CEO had bestowed on Celsie in front of them at Ocean Airlines the other day, but today she had heard enough to know that something was definitely going on between Celsie and the CEO. The only challenge was that she didn’t know exactly what was going on between them. Although one thing she knew for sure was that Celsie wasn’t interested in the CEO, and she intended to keep it that way, at least until she was able to convince the CEO that he was giving his attention to the wrong person.
“Were you just having an argument with the boss?” Anita asked, even though she knew that such a direct question was beneath her. It was uncouth of her to show interest in a conversation that wasn’t her business. Especially one that she had eavesdropped on.
“No, we weren’t having an argument. You probably misunderstood us,” Celsie said, and picked up her phone when it vibrated with a text message notification, “Give me a moment,” Celsie told Anita politely as she clicked on the text from Benne.
The text read, ‘What is she doing here?’
“It’s a text from my boyfriend,” she informed Anita with a small smile before returning her attention to the phone, ‘What do you think? She wants to hang out of course, and probably find out more about the CEO,’ Celsie texted back with a rolling eyes emoticon before dropping her phone.
“You have a boyfriend now? I thought you said you weren’t interested in men because your job was important to you?” Anita asked, not feeling too comfortable about the changes she was sensing in Celsie. She no longer seemed as naive and gullible as had been the last time they were together at her house.
“Well, you know what they say; Change is the only thing that is constant in life,” Celsie said with a slight shrug and then her eyes moved to the wall clock, “You’re not going to work today?” Celsie asked in time as Benne’s office door opened and Benne stepped out to join them.
Anita quickly stood up the moment Benne stopped by Celsie’s desk, and she turned around to face him, “Good morning sir. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to greet you earlier,” she said with a pleasant smile.
“Miss… Miller, right?” Benne asked, ignoring her greeting.
“Yes, sir,” Anita said with a nod as she kept her smile in place.
“What’s it by your time?” Benne asked, glancing at the wristwatch she was wearing.
Anita’s smile wavered slightly as she glanced at her wristwatch, while Celsie subtly rolled her eyes at Anita’s stupidity since it seemed like she didn’t understand what Benne was trying to say. Or perhaps she was just being stupid because it was the CEO?
“It’s 9:32,” Anita said, looking at Benne curiously.
“Great! It works. For a moment there I thought your watch was broken. Shouldn’t you be at your office? Why are you hanging around mine?” Benne asked, watching her with a stern expression on his face.
“Uhm, I came around to have a word with Mr. Harry and decided to stop by and say hello to her,” Anita said with a shaky smile and she nervously licked her lips.
“Mr. Harry? And have you seen him now?” Benne asked, and Anita gave him a nod.
“Yes, sir. I was just about to leave now,” Anita lied, and Celsie’s lips twitched in amusement at the unnecessary lie. She almost felt embarrassed on Anita’s behalf.
“Then you should leave now. And it would be best if you don’t randomly show up here during work hours next time unless you are invited. This environment isn’t a place for such visits, and you are not being paid to laze around. Don’t forget that Ocean Airlines isn’t a family-owned company anymore,” Benne said, jerking his head to the door for her to leave.
Anita’s cheeks burned bright red and Celsie couldn’t tell if it was because she was embarrassed or angry, “Yes, sir. See you around, Celsie,” Anita said with a shaky smile as she turned to leave.
“Uhm, I will give you a call later,” Celsie called out after her as she left and shut the door behind her.
“Do you treat her that way because she is your ex, or is that just the way you are?” Celsie asked with a slight frown, and Benne raised a brow.
So she was willing to talk to him now? He thought with a scoff and walked into his office without responding to her question.
The corners of Celsie’s lips curved in an amused smile when he shut the door. She could tell that he was very annoyed by how she had treated him earlier. Served him right. She intended to keep their personal business outside the office.
Celsie picked up her phone, ready to give Harry a call, but before she could do that her phone started ringing with a call from Sonia, “Hey, love!” She greeted cheerfully, and Sonia pulled her phone away from her ears to confirm that she was talking to Celsie.
“Hey, baby! How are you feeling today?” Sonia asked as she turned to glance at Bryan who was still sulking over her refusal to share the shower with him earlier.
“Great! How’re you?” Celsie asked making Sonia’s brows pull together in a frown.
“Great?” Sonia asked in confusion, standing up to excuse herself from Bryan so she could find out what was happening with Celsie but he quickly pulled her down, “You agreed that we were going to speak with her together?” Bryan mouthed to Sonia grudgingly and she rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, great! How are you?” Celsie asked with a smile as she could picture the confusion on Sonia’s face.
“I’m fine I guess. What’s happening, Celsie? Are you sure you’re okay? You can talk to me, you know?” Sonia asked with a worried frown.
“Sure. I’m fine so you have nothing to worry about. As a matter of fact, I’m at the office and everything is perfect,” Celsie said, surprising Sonia even more.
“You are at the office? Does that mean you have forgiven Benne?” She asked, making Bryan move closer to her so that he could hear what they were saying.
“Not exactly. But almost.”
“Almost? What is happening Celsie?” Sonia asked curiously, wanting to know what was going on in Celsie’s head.
“Were you able to talk to Bryan? What did he say?” Celsie asked, changing the subject as she wanted to know just how many people knew about her and Benne.
“Uhm… well, he knew about it,” Sonia said and then paused when she and Bryan heard the sound of the doorbell.
“I will get the door,” Bryan mouthed to her as he got off the bed and on to his wheelchair.
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.