Chapter 255 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Benne glanced inside the house, wondering if Bryan would like to meet Sonia yet. On second thoughts he opened the door for her to get in, knowing that if his brother was anything like him, he would want to meet Sonia at any point of the day.

“Thank you,” Sonia said as she walked into the house.

Bryan who was now awake and had been on his way to the living room to find out who was visiting his brother so early in the morning, paused when he heard the familiar voice, and his heart skipped a beat.

Had it been less than twenty-four hours since he last heard that voice? It felt like ages since he had last seen laid his eyes on her. He missed her and wanted nothing more than to kiss her and let her know how much he loved her and couldn’t bear to be away from her.

“Uhm, I know it’s our first time meeting, and you probably already heard that I called off things with your brother. I’m very sorry for barging in on you this way,” Sonia babbled, and Benne shook his head to stop her.

“You don’t have to explain yourself or be sorry. Is Celsie okay?” He asked the first question that came to his mind. He recalled that he had promised to give Celsie a call when he got home the previous evening, but then he had been carried away by Harry’s call, and then Bryan’s call and arrival, and following that Bryan had insisted they find those behind the social media scandal. They had gotten home too late, and he hadn’t wanted to disturb Celsie’s sleep so he had failed to call her.

“Physically? She’s okay. Her mom is with her. But I’m not so sure if she’s okay emotionally, considering all that is going on. That’s one of the reasons I’m here. Before we get into that, have you heard from your brother?” Sonia asked with a concerned frown.

“Bryan?” Benne asked in a loud voice to alert Bryan that he was the subject of discussion.

“Yes, unless you have another brother that I don’t know about,” She said with a trace of sarcasm in her voice, making Bryan’s lips curve in a smile as he listened to her. He could almost imagine her rolling her eyes.

Although he was very tempted to go out there to her and show her just how much he had missed her, he refrained himself from doing so. He needed to hear what she had to say.

Benne’s lips twitched in amusement, “No, I haven’t heard from him. Why?” Benne asked, and Sonia looked at him for a moment without saying a word.

Knowing how Benne had deceived her best friend in the past, she couldn’t exactly be blamed for not believing his words, “Can I take your word for it?” Sonia asked doubtfully.

“It’s up to you. Hold on, let me get my phone and see if I can reach him,” Benne said as he walked past Sonia and headed for his bedroom. Seeing how she seemed to have trust issues with him, he didn’t want to start on the wrong foot with her since she was not just his baby’s best friend, but his sister-in-law.

He almost bumped into Bryan who was standing by the door and eavesdropping on their conversation, “What are you trying to do?” Bryan asked as he followed Benne on tiptoes.

They both walked into the bathroom so they could speak without being heard, “I thought you were still asleep. Why are you eavesdropping? You don’t want to talk to her? She is very worried about you,” Benne said, and Bryan snorted.

“Serves her right. She decided to call things off after all,” Bryan said, and Benne shook his head.

“Just yesterday you looked like you were going to die if you didn’t see her, and now you’re going to let your pride get in the way?” Benne asked.

“She should get a taste of her own medicine,” Bryan said stubbornly.

“You’re so immature. Suit yourself,” Benne said as he picked up his phone and returned to the living room to join Sonia.

“I intend to,” Bryan said with a smirk as he followed Benne, and then stood behind the door once again so he could hear what Sonia had to say.

“His line is not connecting,” Benne said when he dialed Bryan’s line and raised it to his ear.

“Yeah. Everyone has been trying to reach him. I hope he’s okay,” Sonia said with a slight frown.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s okay wherever he is. Bryan is known to sulk when he doesn’t get his way,” Benne said with a wink, and jerked his head in the direction where Bryan was hiding, making Sonia narrow her eyes.

“One time when he was fourteen, he bedwet and then tried to hide the clothes so that no one would find out what he had done. He even turned the mattress over…”

Bryan’s face contorted in a scowl, and he gritted his teeth in annoyance as he listened to Benne share the embarrassing details of his childhood with the lady he loved, while Sonia who had sounded very worried a moment ago started giggling.

“… And then his school crush who happened to be Jade’s friend came visiting. Mom wasn’t aware of the girl’s presence, so when she went around the rooms to pick our dirty laundry and got a whiff of the stale urine under Bryan’s mattress she started yelling about how Bryan always…”

“Shut up, or I’m going to kill you!” Bryan growled at Benne angrily as he came out of his hiding, ready to swing a punch at Benne, but he was quick to duck.

Sonia who had already gotten the hint from Benne that Bryan was in the house, looked at Bryan with disapproval as he continued to chase Benne around the living room, but it was obvious that he was still favoring one of his legs.

“Bryan!” Sonia snapped at him, and he turned to look at her with a scowl.

“What do you want?” He asked grudgingly, even though now that he was standing face to face with her, he could no longer remember why he was mad at her.

“Why are you here?” Sonia asked even though what she wanted was to run into his arms and embrace him.

“What do you care?” Bryan asked with a scowl.

“Alright.. Daddy will excuse you kids to sort things out while I give Celsie a call,” Benne said as he walked away, but neither of them paid any attention to him.

Celsie roused from sleep by the sound of Sonia’s ringing tone. She couldn’t believe that she had slept off on the couch. Her whole body ached due to the cramped position she had slept in.

Celsie stood up and stretched out her body before it occured to her that Sonia wasn’t in the living room. Where was Sonia? She wondered as she called out to Sonia, but didn’t get a response. Her eyes fell on Sonia’s phone which had resumed ringing again after the first disconnected call. She picked it up when she saw that it was Sonia’s editor who was calling, and silenced the phone as she walked around her little apartment in search of Sonia.

By the time she returned to the living room once again, it was obvious to her that Sonia wasn’t in the apartment. She glanced at the door and sighed when she noticed that her slide slippers wasn’t there.

She dropped Sonia’s phone and picked up hers to see if there was any missed call or text message from Benne. She scowled when she didn’t see any, and angrily dropped the phone when she heard the sound of the doorbell.

“Good morning, dad!” She greeted when she opened the door and saw her father standing there.

“Good morning, Princess. Whose car is parked out there? It wasn’t there when we left last night,” her father said as he walked into the house.

“A car?” Celsie asked as she walked outside to see the car, even though she was aware that it was hers.

When did Benne return the car? Or did he send the substitute driver from yesterday to bring the car to her? She wondered as she glanced at his apartment. She wasn’t sure he was at home.

“What are you staring at?” Lucas who had been on the phone with Rachel, asked as he got out of his car and looked in the direction of Benne’s apartment, “Is that the apartment of that your friend’s friend driver? Or was it colleague’s friend’s driver?” Lucas asked with a grin, and Celsie scowled as she turned to look at him.

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