Anita paced around her office biting her nails nervously as she thought about Benne’s phone call to her and then paused when she realized that she was biting her nail. Her mother was going to kill her if she caught her exhibiting such dirty unladylike behavior.
She dropped her hands to her side as she sat down on one of the seats in her office. Had she played this card too soon? Although she had no fear since she knew that there was no way it was ever going to be traced to her. She had dotted every i and crossed all the ts. She was confident.
One major reason she had publicized this piece of news now instead of after talking to Celsie, was so that she wouldn’t be suspected. Seeing how Benne had even called to warn her, she had thought he did that because he had seen the news already. So now they couldn’t blame her of doing it because she was mad at them.
Knowing that Celsie was already dating Benne, she knew that Celsie was likely not going to want to let go of him, especially if Celsie gets to find out that Benne is actually the CEO. So by doing this and every other thing she planned to do, she was going to cause friction in their relationship and end up making Celsie end things with Benne on her own.
She still intended to call Celsie and act like a concerned friend. Nobody would suspect her of being behind the rumors if they saw that she was making efforts to be a good friend to Celsie. None of them needed to know just yet that she knew Benne’s real identity.
Picking up her phone she dialed Celsie’s line. She wanted to know Celsie’s reaction to the publicized news, and also clear any doubt Celsie already had that she was behind it.
Celsie who had just finished trying to convince her parents not to travel down unsuccessfully, sighed when she saw Anita’s call. What did Anita want this time? Maybe she was calling to find out her reaction to what was happening? Although she wasn’t exactly sure yet if Anita was the one behind this, her gut feeling told her that Anita had a hand in it.
She received the call, and placed it on recorder just in case Anita might say something that would prove that she was behind it, “Hello, good morning!” Celsie greeted as she took off her glasses and placed them on the desk in front of her.
“Hey, Celsie! I hope I’m not calling at a bad time?” Anita asked, pretending not to know about the news which was all over social media.
Celsie’s brows pulled together at Anita’s question. How could she be asking her such a question as though she didn’t know what was going on? Celsie wondered.
“I’m fine. Just in the middle of work,” Celsie said, surprising Anita.
Middle of work? She was still at the company working? She had expected her to run away from work or be somewhere crying because of people’s reaction to the news, or was it possible that the people at the company weren’t giving her negative reactions?
“I’m sorry to bother you. I could call back later if you can’t talk now,” Anita offered instead.
“It’s no bother. What’s up?” Celsie asked, trying to sound normal since it was obvious that Anita was acting like she didn’t know what was going on. There was no way she was going to believe that someone like Anita was yet to see the news flying around social media.
“Uhm, Benne called me this morning. I don’t know if he mentioned it to you” Anita said and paused as she waited to hear Celsie’s response.
Celsie didn’t know why, but she didn’t like hearing Benne’s name from Anita. It always made her stomach churn, and it made her heart heavy. She preferred when Anita used to just refer to him as ‘Your driver’.
“Celsie?” Anita called questioningly when Celsie didn’t say anything.
“He did?” Celsie asked, pretending not to know.
So he didn’t tell her. Anita assumed that Celsie’s silence was because she had been surprised, “Yes. And he had a lot to say. I just wanted to let you know that I’m very sorry. I had no idea that he is the boyfriend you were always talking about. I wouldn’t have told you any of that yesterday had I known,” Anita apologized.
She didn’t know? Was that true? Celsie wondered. “I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I didn’t know how to go about it after you told me how you feel about him, I’m sorry,” Celsie said, wanting Anita to also keep believing that she was naive enough to believe everything she was saying.
Anita sighed, “It’s okay. I guess it’s my loss. I should never have let my mother’s words get to me in the first place. I guess she should be happy now that her plan has worked and I won’t be with him anymore,” Anita said in a wry tone.
Celsie who was feeling very wary of Anita and knew she had to be careful, said nothing as she listened to Anita. She really couldn’t figure Anita out.
“We can still be friends regardless of this, right? I really like you and I don’t want to lose your friendship over this,” Anita said making Celsie narrow her eyes suspiciously.
She was just going to keep believing the worst of Anita until Anita proved to be otherwise. It would too dangerous to just believe that Anita’s intentions are pure.
“Are you sure it won’t be awkward? I mean, it won’t be easy for you to be friends with me knowing I’m dating your ex,” Celsie said as she picked her glasses from the desk and wore them.
She honestly didn’t want to be friends with Anita anymore, but neither did she want to cut her off in an offensive way. Especially since Anita had not exactly given her any real cause to believe that she meant her harm, she was only following her intuition.
Anita sighed dramatically, “Doesn’t mean you should become my enemy, does it? Or wouldn’t that be a double loss for me?” Anita asked making Celsie’s brows furrow.
Was she perhaps judging Anita too harshly? Celsie wondered. Thankfully she didn’t have to respond as Benne’s office door opened and she quickly stood up, “Let’s talk later. I have to get back to work,” Celsie said with urgency and hung up the call immediately.
Benne stepped out of his office with the directors he had been meeting with, and once they left he looked at Celsie, “How are you holding up?” He asked with concern.
“Anita just called,” she informed him, making his face twist in a scowl.
“And what did she say she wants this time?”
Without responding Celsie searched for the recorded phone conversation on her phone and played it before handing the phone to Benne.
His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he listened to the phone call, “She is probably doing this so that we don’t become suspicious of her,” Benne said when he finished listening and returned her phone to her.
“Or maybe I’m just being paranoid and she’s actually being genuinely nice?” Celsie asked.
“That’s exactly what she wants. She wants you to question your suspicion. Don’t fall for her trick.”
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.