Chapter 317 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Celsie sighed contentedly as she lay naked on the bed beside an equally naked Benne, with her head snuggled on his chest.

Benne’s eyes were closed, and he rubbed her back as they enjoyed the comfortable silence, “Jewel?” Benne asked.

“Huh?” Celsie asked, wondering what he was asking.

“Do you like the name? I want to call you that. My jewel,” Benne said, and Celsie grinned as she raised her head to look at him.

“That sounds sweet. Why did you choose that?” She asked curiously, and her eyes widened slightly as Benne drew her close so that she was lying on his body.

“Are you sure you’ll be comfortable this way?” Celsie asked, looking down at him with concern as she was now lying on top of him, and she feared that she was pressing on his abdomen and chest.

“I’m fine,” Benne assured her as he held her gaze.

“I love the name Jewel. You’re more precious to me than gold and diamond,” Benne said, and Celsie’s lips curved in a wide smile that made her eyes twinkle.

“I love your smile. I love it when you smile,” Benne said, and she turned her face away in embarrassment as she giggled, making him chuckle, “Now you’re being cute.”

“So, are you okay with the name?” Benne asked again, and she returned her gaze to him.

“Yes. I love it. You’ll call me that only when we are alone, right?” Celsie asked, and Benne’s brow shot up.

“No.”

“You will call me that in front of the others?” She asked curiously.

“Isn’t that the point?” He asked in amusement, wondering why she was asking such a question.

“Oh,” Celsie said with a slight blush, and he chuckled.

“You’ll get used to it eventually, don’t worry,” Benne assured her as he kissed her lightly, knowing that she still wasn’t entirely used to the whole relationship stuff.

“So, what would you like me to call you?” Celsie asked, and Benne shrugged.

“You should come up with a name you’re comfortable with. Something you wouldn’t mind to call me when we are in the company of others,” Benne said, and Celsie grinned.

“What about Delgado?” Celsie asked, sticking her tongue in her cheek, and Benne’s body shook with the force of his laughter as he rolled her over.

“Then should I just call you panky instead? And then we can do some hanky-panky stuff,” Benne asked with a naughty smile, and Celsie giggled as she rolled off the bed, taking the bedsheet along with her as she moved away from him to the other side of the bed.

“I was just kidding,” she said amidst her laughter.

“I’m not kidding, panky,” Benne said with a wink, and Celsie giggled at how ridiculous he looked making such a joke while he was stark naked.

“Stop being naughty,” she chided as she adjusted the bedsheet on her body to cover herself as she headed for the closet to put on some clothes.

“I was thinking… Would you like to go shopping within the week?” Benne asked as he put on his boxers and followed her into the closet.

“Shopping?” She asked without turning to look at him as the hem of the bedsheet trailed behind her sweeping the floor.

“Yeah. You forgot you wanted to go shopping this weekend?” He reminded her, and Celsie sighed as she turned to look at him.

“I actually forgot about it,” she said, and Benne smiled.

“You would be weird to remember something like that considering all that has happened between then and now. It feels like a week has passed already,” Benne said as he went to where she was standing and embraced her in a comforting manner.

“It would be weird, yet you remembered,” she murmured as she pulled away from him before he had the chance to snatch the bedsheet away from her body, as she suspected he wanted to do.

Benne grinned at her, knowing that he had been caught, “I only remembered because it concerns you.” Benne stopped there, choosing not to add that it was also because he wanted to see more of her stuff in his closet. He reasoned that it would make her feel rushed, and he didn’t want her to feel that way; hence he was taking things slowly.

“That’s sweet of you. I will go shopping after we’ve sorted things out. Let’s deal with Anita first,” Celsie suggested, and Benne gave her a nod.

“Sonia mentioned that Anita is responsible for their scandal too,” Celsie said, watching Benne closely. She had been waiting for him to mention it all day, but it seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Yes, she is.”

“You didn’t mention it to me,” Celsie pointed out.

“Because I didn’t want to waste the little time we share away from the family talking about her like we are doing now,” Benne explained, still not wanting to think of Anita. The mere mention of her name annoyed him and ruined her mood.

“What are we going to do about her?” Celsie asked, wondering if he was going to fire Anita.

Despite the positive feedback she had gotten from the netizens following her confession, she still felt nervous about going to work the next day. And somehow, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that this wasn’t all that Anita had up her sleeve. She needed some sort of reassurance from Benne so that she wouldn’t have to worry so much about Anita.

“Can we please not talk about her yet? At least just for today? Tomorrow we can talk about how to deal with her. I just want to enjoy this weekend with you and our family without either of us thinking about her. Please,” Benne pleaded.

“Okay.”

Benne watched as she turned around and started rummaging through her bag for something to wear, and he could tell that she didn’t like his response.

“Jewel Panky?”

Despite her annoyance, Celsie’s lips twitched in amusement, but she didn’t turn to look at him. She sighed when he hugged her from behind, and she turned in his arm to face him.

“Are you that worried about her?” Benne asked as he placed a hand under her chin, and lifted her head so that he could look into her eyes.

“We can talk about it tomorrow,” Celsie said, and Benne shook his head.

“I’m sorry I dismissed your concerns that way. It wasn’t my intention. I just didn’t want to ruin our mood by talking about her.”

“It’s fine. I understand.”

“It’s not fine. Since it bothers you so much, let’s discuss with Bryan and Sonia about what to do. She didn’t just mess with us. She messed with them too,” Benne said, and Celsie smiled at him.

“Thank you.”

“I got you always,” he promised as he kissed the tip of her nose and then stepped away from her so that they would both dress up.

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

Inside the car, Jade kept stealing glances at Harry as he drove, and when he couldn’t take it anymore, he sighed, “Is there something you want to say to me?” Harry asked, turning to spare her a glance.

Jade shook her head, “Pull the car over. I want to get down.”

“Here? Why?” Harry asked with a slight frown.

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