Chapter 360 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Between work, his relationship with Celsie, and dealing with Anita, he didn’t know which was stressing him more at the moment, but his head was beginning to spin, and Anita was the last person he wanted to think about.

“I already told you the plan. Stick to it. It would be best you bid your time until I take down the shields around her. Her family is related to the country’s chief justice. If you sue her now, I’m sure they would pull every string to dismiss the case, and then they will know I’m coming for them. Why don’t we let that be the final straw after I deal with her family? We can sue her separately. That way, she would be too busy going in and out of different courtrooms to have time to find another job after I fire her,” Benne said, and Bryan nodded.

“I will wait. Just don’t take too long. I’m not as patient as you,” Bryan said as he got off the vanity and headed for the door.

He hesitated by the door, “You don’t want to talk about what is bothering you?” He asked, and Benne shook his head.

“It’s nothing I can’t handle. Thanks,” Benne said with a small smile. He really hoped that he would be able to handle it all properly.

“When you’re done brooding, you can come take a look at the stuff we got for dad, and then we can wrap them together. Jade and Sonia insisted we wrap the gifts ourselves. They called it a loving gesture or something,” Bryan added with a roll of his eyes that told Benne he thought the idea was silly before walking away, but not without seeing Benne’s lips curve.

Once he was alone, Benne went to stand in front of the mirror. Maybe he was just overthinking all of this, and nothing good ever came from overthinking. He needed to get a grip on his emotions for both his sake and Celsie’s.

As Bryan walked into the living room, the doorbell rang, and he walked over to open the door. He raised a speculative brow when he saw Jade standing there, “For a moment there, I thought you decided to just get married to your precious uncle Harry and forget about our existence,” Bryan said, making a face as he mimicked the tone she had used that morning when she referred to Harry as ‘uncle Harry’.

“I knew it was a bad idea to tell Benne that I like his best friend in front of you. Perhaps you would have felt better if it was Matt that I wanted to bonk?” She asked as she dumped her bag at his feet and brushed past Bryan, whose eyes were beaming lasers at her.

“Is the reasonable Delgado brother back from work yet?” Jade asked as she carelessly dropped her handbag on the couch and looked around the apartment.

“If he is the reasonable one, what does that make me?” Bryan asked as he picked up her bag and shut the door at his back.

“Do you really need me to spell it out?” Jade asked without sparing him a glance, “Benny, are you in?” Jade called as she walked into the kitchen to see what it looked like.

“You are lucky you are related to me by blood, else, I would have strangled you,” Bryan hissed as he dumped her bag on the couch, and Jade giggled, enjoying the exchange of words.

“Are you sure we are related by blood? Sometimes I have doubts…” Jade said and cackled with laughter when a crumpled paper ball hit the back of her head. God! She had really missed getting on his nerves.

“Is this the best you can do? I think you are a coward who is scared to strangle me because you know dad and mom will kill you,” she said and shuddered with laughter as she quickly shut the kitchen door when she heard Bryan’s quick footsteps.

“Why don’t you open the door, smart mouth, and let’s find out who the coward is?” Bryan taunted.

“I have nothing to prove to you or anyone else. You bully. TOMMY! If you are in there, come out here and save your helpless baby sister from this bully,” Jade cried at the top of her lungs, making Bryan double over in a fit of laughter, and Benne, who had been folding his clothes in the bedroom, came out when he heard Jade’s cry for help.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Bryan Delgado,” Benne chided, mimicking their mother’s tone when he saw Bryan standing by the kitchen door with the broken walking stick of the former house owners as he waited for Jade to open the door.

“Oh, Benny! My hero is here! You’re my lifesaver,” Jade said dramatically as she opened the door and quickly ran to hide behind Benne, embracing him from behind.

“Coward,” Bryan muttered as he went to sit on the couch, and Jade took the opportunity to look around the house.

“This place doesn’t look bad. Maybe I can move in here when I take Harry’s offer,” Jade said when she returned to the living room.

“Just some hours ago, you said you might, and now it is when. Very smooth transition,” Bryan observed.

“Let her be, Bryan,” Benne chided like the dutiful older brother he was.

“How did you manage to live in here, Benne? It’s so old-school. I would have to redo the decor to suit my feminine taste,” Jade said thoughtfully, completely ignoring Bryan as she went to sit beside Benne.

“Or you could just move into your bedroom in Benne’s mansion. He never said he was letting you stay here,” Bryan countered, thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Jeff and Mia to share the apartment since it was a two-bedroom apartment.

“Yeah. Why don’t you just braid my hair into pigtails and add shiny pink ribbons for effect?” Jade asked dryly.

“Not that it wouldn’t look good on a brat like you,” Bryan called back.

Jade ignored him and focused on Benne, “How was work today?”

“Work was fine. I’m glad that you finally decided to join the company,” Benne said with a small smile to relax her.

“Does that mean I can have this apartment? I don’t suppose you are going to keep living here now that you have gotten Celsie,” Jade said, and Benne shrugged.

“You can have this or any other apartment of your choice when you’re ready. I’m taking my personal stuff with me today,” Benne said, and Jade beamed a smile at him as she leaned forward to press her lips to his cheek.

“You have always been my favorite brother, did you know that?” she said with so much fondness that Benne laughed while Bryan scowled at her.

“If you’re done gold-digging, let’s wrap dad’s gifts. I will get them,” Bryan suggested as he stood up to get the items from the dining table where he had placed the gifts.

“What gifts did you get him?” Benne asked, welcoming the distraction.

“We got him a box of expensive Cuban cigars, his…”

“A box of cigars? Mom is not going to like that,” Benne interrupted Jade.

“Chill. She allows him to smoke a single cigar per day. And this isn’t about mom, remember? It is dad’s birthday. The man likes to smoke, so he should be allowed to enjoy the best of cigars,” Bryan said as he returned with the wristwatch and cigar and dropped them on the table.

“We also got his favorite wine and an outrageously expensive wristwatch,” Jade concluded as she picked up the roll of wrapping paper and scissors and started to cut it.

The three siblings worked together, with Jade calling out instructions to both Bryan and Benne until they successfully wrapped the two boxes, “Well done,” she said with a smile of approval.

“By the way, I think we should still do something special. What about we sing him a song? I could dance while you both sing,” Jade suggested, and once again, the brothers exchanged a look of disbelief.

“For Christ’s sake, Jade! We already got him gifts. You insisted we wrap the gifts ourselves to give them a special touch, and we did. We arranged for the cake and food and will be spending the evening with him singing the traditional happy birthday song. What other song do you want to sing?” Bryan asked, and Jade raised a brow.

“There is no gift we can give him that will ever be good enough. What have we not gotten him already over the years? Let’s just make it special for him by showing him how much we love and cherish him,” Jade pleaded, “If you like, I can sing, and you both can dance,” Jade suggested with a grin.

“No! I’m going to hate you for life if you make me embarrass myself in front of Andrew!” Bryan protested, and Benne chuckled.

“Suck it by, Bryan,” Jade said, patting his cheek.

“I can see why dad adores you,” Benne said with a fond smile as he ruffled Jade’s pixie hair. He wanted to have a daughter that would be this devoted to making him happy. Wasn’t this one of the highlights of life?

“Everyone adores me. Duh,” Jade said with a sassy smile, and Bryan raised a brow.

“I definitely don’t belong to the class of everyone who adores you.”

“You actually top the class. That’s the only class you have ever topped in your miserable life,” Jade said, and Benne chuckled as Bryan threw what was left of the wrapping paper at her.

Watching his siblings bicker reminded him once again why he wanted a family of his own. He wanted to watch his kids bicker and fight over nothing like Bryan, and Jade almost always did when they were in the same room. They acted like they couldn’t stand each other, but he knew how much they loved themselves and enjoyed their banters. He enjoyed watching them as he knew he would enjoy watching his kids too, he thought with a deep sigh.

“Are you okay, sweetie? You don’t look fine.”

“How can you tell?” Benne asked.

“Because I can read you like an open book, and you’ve been sighing an awful lot too. Want to share the problem?” Jade asked with concern, and Bryan also looked at Benne curiously.

“Nah. I am not in my best mood, but it’s nothing to worry about,” Benne assured them.

“What is keeping Sonia and Celsie? We should start getting ready to leave. It’s a wonder mom hasn’t called to scold me already for failing to wish dad a happy birthday before leaving the house. Did she call either of you?” Bryan asked, looking from Benne to Jade, and they both shook their heads, equally surprised that their mother hadn’t bothered to call either of them yet.

Jade sighed, “Dad probably asked her to. I’m sure by now he thinks we forgot his birthday,” Jade deduced sadly.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Benne stood up, “I guess they’re here. You can get the door while I get my stuff,” Benne said as he walked into the bedroom, leaving Bryan, who went to get the door for Sonia and Celsie.

“I hope we didn’t keep you guys waiting?” Sonia asked as she let Celsie go in ahead of her.

Bryan took Celsie’s suitcase from her, “I was just about to send a search party,” he said as he stole a kiss from Sonia before shutting the door.

“Hi, Jade!” Celsie greeted as her eyes unconsciously roamed the room in search of Benne.

“I hope you were able to do everything you needed to do?” Jade asked as she watched Celsie. Something about Celsie interested her. She felt like Celsie was a kindred spirit. Someone she understood.

“Yes, thanks,” Celsie said, wondering if she should go into the bedroom to meet Benne or wait for him to come out.

“Hey, Jade! Welcome to the neighborhood of love,” Sonia grinned at Jade, and she grinned back.

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