Chapter 308 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“I followed the interview yesterday. It was so touching. You both were beautiful…”

“She almost bawled her eyes out,” Harry cut in.

“I didn’t bawl,” Jade hissed at him.

“You did. You bawled so much I had no choice but to go get you a box of tissues,” Harry said making both Celsie and Sonia smile.

“I never imagined you could be such a talkative,” Jade said with a scoff as she turned to Celsie, “As I was saying before the rude interruption, I want to let you know that I admire your strength, your courage, and of course, your friendship,” Jade said, looking from Celsie to Sonia and then back again.

“Aww, thanks. I’m glad to finally meet you. You are so beautiful, and your hair is so chic,” Sonia said with a wide smile, and Jade giggled.

“Sonia has said it all, I don’t know what else to say. You’re welcome,” Celsie said with a small smile, wishing she was half the extrovert Sonia was.

“By the way, you did great. I’m glad it all turned out okay,” Harry told Celsie as he reached out and patted her shoulder lightly.

“Thank you, Mr. Jonas,” Celsie said with a polite smile.

“Just call me Harry. Don’t you think it’s awkward referring to your man’s best friend so formally?” Harry asked before turning his attention to Sonia, “Although I know you, but since neither of them saw it fit to introduce us officially, I figured I do the honors myself. I’m Harry, the only reason Benne can afford to have a social life,” he said, and Sonia grinned as she shook his hand.

“I’m Sonia, and it’s good to finally meet the very weird Mr. Harry that Celsie talked about…” The rest of her words trailed off when Celsie stepped on her foot.

Harry turned to Celsie with slightly narrowed eyes, “I never said you were weird. She is mistaken,” Celsie said with an awkward smile.

Benne chuckled, “Why are you scared of Harry? Did you forget that you told me he was weird? Remember that day in the car while he was driving us to Ocean Airlines? You even said he was sulking,” Benne reminded her, and Celsie pressed her lips together, while the others laughed at Harry who had a scowl on his face.

“He is very weird. I completely agree with Celsie on that. So now that the introductions are over, can we go in? I’m so famished. Why were you all outside by the way? And where is Candace?” Jade asked curiously as she turned to head inside.

“I see you are still fond of asking so many questions at the same time. Good luck with getting your answers,” Bryan said with a shake of his head.

“By the way, you both are aware that dad’s birthday is tomorrow, right?” Benne asked not wanting to disclose to them that he had just found out about it.

“Oh! You remembered?” Bryan asked, surprised.

“Thanks to Harry’s reminder, I found out only a moment ago,” Jade said, giving Benne a pointed look which he ignored.

“Maybe all three of us should facetime with him tomorrow,” Jade suggested, and her brothers exchanged a look.

“Why facetime with him when he is here with us?” Benne asked, and both Jade and Harry exchanged a look.

“Mom and dad are here? When did they get here? And why did nobody mention it to me?” Jade asked, wanting to run for the house.

“I have an idea,” Sonia quickly spoke before Jade could run off.

“How about we surprise him with your presence tomorrow? You could go back home with Harry right now, and come over tomorrow evening. You can bring a birthday cake and gifts along with you. I’m sure he would appreciate that,” Sonia suggested.

“Today, tomorrow, what difference would it make?” Jade asked, looking at her brothers, while Harry inwardly groaned at the prospect of having her under his roof for another night.

“Well, I’m sure he would be more excited if he sees you tomorrow after thinking we all forgot his birthday than if he sees you now. It would be a very pleasant surprise for him I think,” Bryan said thoughtfully.

Benne shrugged, “It’s your call. We need to pick out birthday gifts too. How long will you be here for?” Benne asked Jade curiously.

“Maybe a day or two. I will make up my mind after I talk with Candace,” she explained.

“Okay then. Let’s do that. You can go back with Harry and we will all try to come up with a good plan for his birthday later this night. I and Celsie will leave for work early in the morning as usual, and Bryan and Sonia can leave the house and go hang out at the other apartment. Let’s make them feel like we completely forgot about it, and then in the evening we can all go home together,” Benne suggested, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Sounds good to me. I’m game,” Jade said as she turned to Harry, “You are stuck with my smart mouth for another twenty-four hours,” she promised with a wink as she went to where he was and linked their arms together, and Sonia hid a smile. This was going to be fun!

“Unfortunately so,” Harry muttered with a shake of his head as he tried to unlink their arms. “If that’s your decision, we should get going before either of your parents see her. We will stop by a restaurant on our way so that you can get something to eat,” He said the later part to Jade as he separated their arms.

“See you tomorrow,” Benne called to Harry, as they watched them get into the car.

“Inform Candace that I will be seeing her tomorrow,” Jade called to her brothers as she got into the car, and they all waved at her as the car left.

“Let’s go talk about the games,” Celsie whispered to Sonia.

“We will see you two later,” Sonia told the brothers as she pecked Bryan, and Celsie did the same to Benne before walking away.

“I’m surprised that you remembered dad’s birthday despite all this madness. If not for Sonia, I wouldn’t have remembered,” Bryan said as they both headed for the house, and Benne narrowed his eyes.

How come Sonia had so conveniently reminded Bryan at the same time Celsie reminded him? “Sonia reminded you of it? How did she know dad’s birthday? What did she say?” Benne asked curiously, and Bryan relayed their conversation to him. By the time Bryan finished, Benne was laughing.

“It’s funny that Celsie was the one who also made me remember dad’s birthday,” Benne confessed to Bryan and went on to tell Bryan how Celsie had gone about it too.

Bryan laughed out loud, “Do you think either mom or dad told them to remind us?”

“I don’t think dad would do that, and I doubt that mom would need to ask them to remind us of it when she can do so herself,” Benne said thoughtfully.

“Then do you think maybe that is what Celsie’s dad discussed with them after breakfast?” Bryan asked, and Benne gave him a nod.

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