Chapter 335 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“She really likes you, I suppose,” Jade said, and Harry’s lips twitched.

Maybe it was best if he talked about another lady with her and even went out with other ladies. That should straighten him out, “Yeah, I think so.”

“So? You like her?” Jade asked, and Harry shrugged.

“I wouldn’t know if I don’t go out with her. Isn’t that what you said? But she’s a lovable person, so I don’t think getting along with her would be difficult. At least she is more reasonable than Tanya,” Harry said, and Jade tried not to let his words upset her. It was her fault, after all.

“Well, if you’re planning to go out with her because I forced you to, you don’t need to do that anymore….”

“No. I’m not going on a date with her because you forced me to. She is beautiful, intelligent, upfront, and fun to talk with,” Harry assured her, even though he knew that he enjoyed talking to Jade more than anyone else. The only problem he had with her was he couldn’t breathe when she was too close to him, and he didn’t want to get into that sort of relationship with her regardless of whatever he was feeling.

Besides, even if he was willing to risk it, he didn’t think that she saw him that way, and he also wasn’t sure she was ready for a relationship yet. And even if she was, he doubted that she would be willing to be in a relationship with him. There was no way she would have set him up on a blind date if she was the least bit interested in him.

“Oh!” Jade said with a stiff smile just as the lady came to serve them. He also thought she was beautiful and intelligent too. She wasn’t sure he enjoyed talking to her as much as he did with Aurora since he always seemed in a hurry to get her to leave whenever she came around him.

How did she end up in such a sticky situation? Thanks to her stubbornness, she had succeeded in matchmaking a guy she now wanted for herself to someone she considered her friend. What was she going to do about it?

Anita was busy looking over some documents on her laptop when she heard a knock on her door. She raised her head just as the door opened, and her pregnant elder sister walked in.

“Lisa! What a pleasant surprise,” Anita said with a surprised smile as she stood up and went to embrace her elder sister, who smiled.

“I hope this isn’t a bad time?” She asked hopefully, and Anita shook her head.

“Not at all. Please come sit, don’t stress my niece,” Anita said as she pulled her sister to the comfortable couch in her office and helped her sit down.

“How is work?” Lisa asked as she looked around the office curiously.

“Beautiful. Is there something my niece is craving? Perhaps snacks?” Anita asked, making Lisa smile. From the moment she told the family that she was pregnant, Anita had not ceased to refer to the baby as her niece.

“I’m fine. I’m just here to talk to you,” she said as she looked at Anita with a straight face.

“Is there a problem?” Anita asked curiously as she sat down on the couch opposite her sister.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going along with mother’s madness. Please tell me you’re not,” she pleaded, and Anita sighed.

“You’re married. I’m not,” she reminded her sister.

“I’m married to a man I’m in love with. Someone who practically worships the ground I tread on. That is the kind of man you deserve to get married to, not someone that will barely tolerate you like Bernice’s husband, or someone that hits on everything in a dress like Tiffany’s husband,” Lisa said, and Anita shrugged.

“Still, you’re all married, and mother is proud of you all,” Anita said, and Lisa shook her head.

“Please, do not do that to yourself, Annie. Because you were scared of what our mother would say, you rejected the man when you thought he had nothing, and now you want to join her and plot against a woman who accepted him? What is her offense? What is her crime?” Lisa asked with a frown, and Anita frowned.

“Lisa, why are you so interested in this? It’s not like you know her personally or you’re close to her family, so why are you advocating for her?” Anita asked, and Lisa frowned.

“I don’t need to know her to know that what you’re doing is wrong! If I don’t stop you from going along with mother’s madness, I will feel like an accomplice if you people do anything to hurt her, and I don’t want anything on my conscience. Please, for God’s sake, Annie, give up on this man. You don’t even love him. You deserve to fall in love,” Lisa pleaded.

“You’re asking me to concede defeat? You expect me to lose to her?” Anita asked incredulously.

“That is the point, darling! You’re not losing anything! It was never a contest, to begin with! Stop allowing your mother to brainwash you into thinking that life is a contest, and you have to compete with everyone you meet or that you have to always be first. You don’t have to. How will you ever get to enjoy life if you keep seeing it as a competition at every stage?” Lisa asked reasonably.

“Do you love him?” Lisa asked when Anita did not say anything after some time.

Anita shrugged, “Now that I know who he is, loving him is easy. He’s handsome, wealthy, ambitious, and everything I want. I want him,” Anita explained, and Lisa shook her head.

“Give it up, Anita. You’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of misery and torment if you eventually succeed in forcing yourself on him, which I doubt is possible. I don’t think someone like Benedict Delgado will ever come back to you after you rejected him when you thought he had nothing. You failed his test already. Think about it, do you really think he will give you another chance? Do you deserve another chance? And what do you think he will do to you when he eventually finds out that you were behind Celsie’s scandal? Or do you really think that it will be a secret forever?”

“Mother can take care of all these things you’re talking about,” Anita said confidently, and Lisa rolled her eyes.

“By doing what? Killing the girl and blackmailing Benne into marrying you? You must be delusional to think that mother is some sort of goddess and can get whatever she wants,” Lisa said with a snort as she stood up.

“I came here to reason with you one last time without our mother in the picture to influence your decision. Trust me, that woman is going to ruin your life if you keep allowing her to control it.”

“That woman is our mother,” Anita reminded her.

“She won’t be my mother for much longer if she so much as hurts the hair on that girl’s head. And none of you will be my sisters either. The moment you go ahead with whatever evil plan you have to tear them apart, I’m cutting you off,” Lisa promised as she picked up her handbag and walked out of the office.

Anita had a thoughtful expression on her face as she stood up and went to stand by her office window as she thought about everything Lisa had just said.

Was Benne really going to fall back in love with her if they got Celsie out of the way? Although she hated the fact that Benne was with Celsie, Celsie didn’t really do anything wrong to her. As a matter of fact, Celsie had tried to matchmake them, but she had made it clear to Celsie that she wasn’t interested in someone like Benne.

It was Benne who had deceived her, and judging by what her sister had heard at the salon and what she had said during the interview, he had deceived Celsie too.

A part of her had felt guilty when she watched the interview and saw Celsie’s emotional reaction to all that had happened to her, but the other part of her that wanted Benne had overshadowed the guilt.

Maybe Celsie didn’t exactly deserve what she had done to her, but it couldn’t be helped. Celsie might be a nice girl, but she was in a relationship with the wrong man.

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