The more she thought about it, the more something inside her, perhaps it was her intuition that told her that the CEO and the female OmniGlobal employee her sister had talked about were none other than Benne and Celsie. But how was that possible? How could she have missed something like that? Was it possible that Benne was the CEO and she hadn’t realized it this whole time? She tried to think back to every time she had met Benne and the CEO to see if there were any similarities in their character.
She clenched her fists when she remembered how the CEO had been mean to her for no particular reason the first time they met. She took off her pair of stiletto and threw them against the wall on one side of her office when she recalled how he was always taking Celsie’s side in front of everyone.
The only female staff she knew who was close to the CEO was Celsie, and Celsie was also the youngest female staff who to the best of her knowledge had a company driver.
“Benne was the CEO this whole fucking time? Benne? Wait a minute, Benne Handy, Benedict Delgado! Fuck! Anita, you dumb bitch!” Anita cursed out loud as her eyes flashed angrily and she overturned her table and threw down everything.
She felt like slapping herself and pulling her hair when she remembered how she had tried to hook them up, “Shit! Shit! How could I have been so stupid? I messed up!” Anita hissed bitterly and turned to the door when her secretary knocked.
“Are you okay, ma’am?”
“Get lost! And cancel all my damn appointments while at it,” Anita snapped at her.
No way! There was no way she was letting those two get away with this! As far as she was concerned, she had met Benne first, and if he hadn’t tricked her into believing that he was poor, she would have been engaged to him or even married him long before Celsie showed up in his life.
She couldn’t believe that she had always assumed that Celsie was the least possible threat and had even thought they could become friends. Now that she knew for a fact that Celsie was set on snatching her man from right under her nose with her false naivety, she wasn’t going to just sit back anymore.
This was no longer just a case of trying to make her mother and sisters proud! This had now become even more personal for her. She was going to first confirm that her suspicions were right, and once she was certain of it, she was going to find a way to get her man back from that snake! Anita decided with a determined look in her eyes as she walked over to the spot where her stiletto heels lay and picked them up. Once she had worn them, she picked up her car keys and handbag and walked out of the office.
**********
Harry sat on his bed, going over some documents on his laptop which he wanted to send over to Benne. He glanced at the door when he heard Jade speaking with someone over the phone, and resisted the urge to eavesdrop on her conversation. It wasn’t his business. If she decided to make decisions without informing first when he was here solely to help her, then there was nothing he could do about that.
He raised a brow when she knocked on his door a moment later, “Yeah?” He asked coolly without raising his head from his laptop.
“I’m coming in,” Jade announced as she opened the door and walked into the bedroom before he could stop her, “Hm! I think it’s the first time I’m entering your room. It looks more organized than mine,” Jade observed as she looked around.
“Did you want something?” Harry asked, not bothering to look at her or respond to what she had just said since he knew his response wasn’t going to be nice. And if he said something mean she was just going to get upset, and then they were going to get into an argument where he would have to apologize and he didn’t want that.
“I guess you’re busy?” Jade asked as she looked at him.
Harry looked up and noticed for the first time that she was holding two glasses of wine, “I didn’t figure you for the type to ask obvious questions. Do you want something, Esquire?” Harry asked, and Jade flashed him a smile.
“You haven’t called me that in a while,” she said as she moved closer to the bed.
“You can sit on the couch,” Harry said, not wanting her on his bed since he wasn’t sure it was appropriate.
“Are you okay?” Jade asked as she passed him a glass of wine before going to sit on the lone couch in the room.
“Thanks,” Harry said as he accepted the wine from her, “And yes, I am fine. What are we celebrating?” He asked, looking into the wine glass.
“Nothing. Just taking a break off work to unwind.”
Harry narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, “You’re not the type to take a break off work unless you’re forced to,” he pointed out.
Jade gave him a sheepish smile and raised both hands in surrender, “Okay. Fine. You caught me.”
“What do you want?” Harry asked, knowing without a doubt that she had done something he wasn’t going to like.
“Well, Aurora… The spa lady called me and asked why you were yet to give her a call.. I didn’t know what to say to her so I told her we are lodged here and invited her to have dinner with us,” Jade said with an apologetic smile.
“Can I ask you a question?” Benne asked after a while as they ate in silence.
“As long as it has nothing to do with the color of my undie,” Celsie said dryly as she took a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth, making Benne chuckle.
“I overdid that, didn’t I?” Benne asked, feeling somewhat embarrassed now that he remembered all he said that day.
“Yes, you definitely did. Now that we are on the subject, let me get something straight. Are you usually like that? I mean that… Raw?” Celsie asked after she swallowed the food in he mouth.
Benne shook his head, “No, I’m not. I was just trying to get into your head. Jade said good girls like bad guys and…”
“Hold on, that was really the reason why you did this whole makeover stuff with your appearance?” Celsie asked incredulously.
“But it worked. Didn’t it?” Benne pointed out defensively.
“I’m not sure I liked you because of your hair or earrings. And it’s definitely not because of your ungentlemanly ways either,” Celsie said with a shake of her head.
“But those were the things that made you pay attention to me, weren’t they?” Benne asked reasonably, and Celsie shook her head once again.
“Not at all. Although they were pretty distracting, they made me uncomfortable. I only started paying attention to you when I started looking for ways to get rid of you,” Celsie explained.
“So you want me to get rid of the color and the earrings?”
“I want you to be yourself. I want to get to know the real you, not this person you are not,” Celsie said, and Benne gave her a nod.
“Alright then. Let’s stop by the salon on our way home. I should at least show them I got the lady that made me change my hairstyle,” Benne said with a grin, and Celsie smiled.
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.