Chapter 254 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Although Anita wasn’t comfortable with the tone, she didn’t let it deter her, “I just went online and saw some news about you on social media…”

“And?” Sonia cut in rudely.

“Uhm… I was worried and I thought I should check on you to know how you’re doing,” Anita said, trying to sound concerned.

“That’s very sweet of you. Now let’s drop the pretense, okay? What exactly do you want from her?” Sonia asked rudely.

“I beg your pardon?” Anita asked as she got off her bed. So this wasn’t Celsie? “Who am I speaking with?”

“This is Sonia, Celsie’s very crazy best friend. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”

“She has never mentioned you,” Anita said in a cool voice. Judging by all she had heard about Celsie’s best friend, she was obviously not as naive or gullible as Celsie was.

“Too bad you haven’t, maybe if you had, you wouldn’t be trying to mess with my bestie. Now listen, I don’t know what you want, or what games you are trying to play with her, and I honestly do not care to know either. My best friend is NOT interested in being friends with you. You rejected Benne when he came to you, and now she is dating him. Benne no longer wants you, it is Celsie who he wants, and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Lose her number,” Sonia said, and hung up before Anita could respond.

“Was that necessary? What if she was really just trying to be friendly?” Celsie asked with a concerned frown.

“Always trust your instincts, Celsie. You were wary of her even before you realized that she was Benne’s ex-girlfriend, and you also said Benne is suspicious of her too. What other proof do you need? Plus, I don’t care whether or not she is just being friendly, I’m all the friend you need,” Sonia said as she dropped on the couch beside Celsie.

“Let’s get drunk and gossip the brothers until we sleep off,” Sonia suggested with a wink as she poured more wine into the glass, and handed Celsie the glass while she drank directly from the bottle.

*************

Disguised in their costumes, Benne and Bryan walked into a dark room where a young college student was seated, and tied to a chair with a black bag thrown over his head.

“Please don’t hurt me, please,” the young man cried when he heard the footsteps.

Benne signalled to one of the men who had captured the college student to take the black bag off his head so that they could see his face.

Both brothers exchanged a look when they saw how young he was. They hadn’t expected whoever had posted such malicious content on the internet to be this young, but then again they should have expected it. It was the social media age after all, and people could hide behind their phone and post all manner of things.

Once the bag was taken off his face, the young man looked at the two men who were standing before him with strange looking beards, and were dressed in matching black suits and black shades.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he pleaded.

“How can you hurt people’s reputation and their emotions, and expect not to get hurt?” Benne asked incredulously.

“I didn’t do anything. I haven’t done anything wrong,” he pleaded tearfully.

“Who paid you to do it? I will suggest that you think carefully before you respond to my question. Your rash action has put me in a tight spot and I am beyond pissed. I’m not a violet person, but I wouldn’t hesitate to hit you if you waste my time any more than you have already done,” Bryan threatened, and judging by the way his hands were balled in a fist, the young man could tell that the man before him was barely managing to control his temper.

“I’m sorry. I only did as I was told. I saw the news articles and I thought it was true,” the young man pleaded as tears ran down his face.

“I asked who?” Bryan barked at him angrily.

“Some random guy walked up to me and my friends at the club and asked if we were up for a job. We only did as he asked us to, and we were paid after making the posts,” he explained amidst his tears.

“You were paid in cash?” Benne asked, and the young man nodded.

“And there is no way you can reach this man?” Bryan asked, and the young man nodded.

“Why should we believe you?” Bryan asked, looking like he wanted nothing more than to beat the young man to a pulp, “Give me one reason why we should believe you and let you out of here alive?” Bryan asked as he looked around the room dramatically.

Seeing how Bryan was looking around as if he was looking for something with which to harm him, the young man started sobbing, “I swear to you, I’m not lying to you. My friends….. One of them recorded everything the man said with his apple wristwatch,” he quickly confessed when Bryan picked up a piece of metal.

Benne roused from sleep when he heard the sound of his doorbell. He turned to look at Bryan who was sleeping beside him. They were both still dressed in the suit they had worn the previous night. They had been too tired to take off the clothes when they got home. They had only managed to take off their coat, wigs and fake mustache.

It was past four in the morning before both brothers had finally made it to Benne’s apartment. Although they had both been very exhausted, they were satisfied with the progress they had made.

He glanced at his bedside clock. It was just seven in the morning. They had barely gotten three hours of sleep.

Who could be at the door? Celsie? She was with her family, so he wasn’t so sure she was the one. If not her, then who? He wondered as he quickly got off the bed so that the person wouldn’t ring the doorbell again. He tried to move quietly so that he wouldn’t disturb Bryan’s sleep, but Bryan stirred in his sleep.

“Are you expecting someone?” Bryan asked in a sleepy voice but didn’t open his eyes.

“Not exactly,” Benne said as he walked out of the bedroom. Although he wasn’t expecting anyone, he knew that it could be Celsie who had likely come to check on him after seeing her car parked outside her apartment. Once he got to the living room and opened the door, he was very surprised to see Sonia standing by his door.

“Hi! Good morning,” she greeted with a bright smile, while Benne just stared at her in surprise.

Although he knew that Sonia had traveled down to see Celsie, he hadn’t expected to meet her this way, not with her standing outside his door by seven in the morning.

Sonia had barely been able to sleep all through the night, despite the amount of alcohol she had consumed. She had been too worried about Bryan to sleep. She had kept waking up at intervals to dial his line, and each time it failed to connect, her heart became even heavier.

She had finally dozed off in the early hours of the morning and had woken up barely an hour later. Since Celsie and her mother were still asleep when she woke up, she had decided to take an early morning stroll. She had been surprised to see Celsie’s car parked outside since it hadn’t been there when she arrived the previous evening. That led her to believe that Benne was probably around in his apartment. And here she was.

“Good morning,” Benne greeted, his surprise evident in his tone.

“I’m Sonia…”

“Of course, I know who you are,” Benne cut in to save her the stress of introducing herself.

“Can I come in?” Sonia asked uncertainly since she didn’t know if Benne was going to be receptive to her because she had just publicly called off her engagement with his brother the previous day.

---