Chapter 361 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Thanks. I think I’m going to move in here. I guess I will be Celsie’s neighbor,” Jade announced cheerfully, making Celsie look at her curiously.

Before Celsie could respond to Jade’s statement, the inner door opened, and Benne walked out with a heavy designer backpack, “I guess we are all ready to leave now,” he said, and he let his gaze settle on Celsie before smiling at her. Celsie let herself smile back even though she could somehow tell from his eyes that everything wasn’t okay.

Both their hearts contracted painfully as they gazed at each other. Although neither of them wanted to lose the other, none of them was willing to give up on their choices either. They both wanted each other but in different ways. They wanted different things from each other, and deep down, they both knew that this was one of those times that love wasn’t going to be enough. They were going to need more than love to resolve this.

“Yes. Let’s go before dad disowns us all,” Bryan suggested as he picked up both Celsie’s and Jade’s bags and headed for the door.

Jade picked up her handbag and walked outside with Sonia, who was telling her how she couldn’t wait for them to settle down so she could tell her more about her and Harry.

“You are giving this apartment to Jade?” Celsie asked cautiously when they were alone, and Benne shrugged.

“I don’t think I need it anymore,” Benne said, feeling his heart ache as he watched her fumble for something to say. This whole thing wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. He had no idea why his heart was making such a big deal out of it.

Celsie nodded, “Yeah. We can either spend time at your real house or mine,” Celsie said, watching him. Waiting for him to say something. Anything that would reassure her that they were really good, and she was only imagining the tension between them.

“Yeah,” Benne said with a nod as he held out a hand to her.

“Let’s go,” he said, and she placed her hands in his, and they both walked out of the house.

“Are you joining us, or you’re going with Benne and Celsie?” Bryan asked as he carefully placed Jade’s bag and Celsie’s suitcase in his trunk, and Benne passed him his backpack too so that all the bags would be in the one car.

“I think I will go with my reasonable brother,” Jade said, sticking her tongue at Bryan as she followed Benne.

“Brat. I hope Harry never spares you a glance,” Bryan called out to Jade as she got into the other car with Benne and Celsie, causing Jade and Sonia to laugh, but neither Celsie nor Benne heard the joke. They were both lost in their thoughts.

Jade didn’t need to be a relationship expert to know that everything wasn’t okay between the two people she had chosen to share a ride with.

Seated in the back seat of the car, she looked from one to the other, and it was painfully apparent that Benne and Celsie were not okay. Although they didn’t look like they were fighting, they didn’t seem like they were entirely at peace either.

It wasn’t like they had said anything to each other to make her feel the way she did, no. On the contrary, neither of them had spoken a word to each other since Benne started driving. And although silence didn’t necessarily mean there was trouble in paradise, since she didn’t expect them to become chatterboxes simply because they were in love, this wasn’t one of those comfortable silences between couples. Even she was feeling very uncomfortable by it, and she was reluctant to speak as she doubted that either of them was in the mood to be engaged in a conversation.

Since she had spent time with Bryan and Sonia earlier in the day and had gotten a glimpse of the nature of their relationship and how crazy they were about each other, she had wanted to do the same with Benne and Celsie, but the atmosphere in the car was taut.

She couldn’t help wondering what could have transpired between them to put Benne in the foul mood she had noticed he was trying so hard to hide from Celsie. Merely by observing them, she could tell that the dynamics of their relationship seemed utterly different from Bryan’s and Sonia’s, who seemed like the type to fight and then have a hot makeup sex. On the contrary, these two looked like they were scared to fight with each other. Like they were tiptoeing around the other’s feelings.

If she had noticed this earlier, she would have gone along with Bryan and Sonia and given these two privacy to trash out their issue, whatever it was. Or maybe it wasn’t too late to leave them, she thought as she looked ahead to see if Bryan had sped off or if he was still driving slowly ahead of them.

“Oh, shit!” Jade swore dramatically, and Benne glanced at her through the rearview mirror while Celsie turned to look at her.

“What is wrong?” Benne asked with concern.

“My phone. I gave it to Sonia, and I forgot to take it back. I need to make an urgent phone call. Can you signal Bryan to stop and maybe pull over?” She asked, and Benne shrugged as he honked three times and pulled over.

Hearing the signal from Benne, Bryan glanced at his rearview mirror, “Why are they stopping?” Bryan asked as he also pulled over.

“Thanks, Benny. Never mind me, I will just go with them. Sorry for the trouble,” Jade said with a bright smile while Benne watched her as though he could see through her as she got out of the car and hurried down to join Bryan.

“Is something wrong? Did you have a fight with your favorite brother and get thrown out?” Bryan asked as Jade opened the passenger door and got into the car.

“You wish. Something is up between those two. I figured they need space,” Jade said with concern, and Sonia’s brows pulled together.

“Why do you say so?” Sonia asked, worried.

“It’s just a feeling. I could be wrong. I just don’t think they’re fine,” Jade said, and Bryan nodded as he started driving again while Sonia prayed that Jade was wrong and everything was fine between them.

Inside Benne’s car, Celsie kept twisting and untwisting her hands on her lap. She couldn’t help feeling very nervous now that they were alone once again. Her heart kept contracting, and her stomach continued to churn.

She wanted them to talk things through, but this wasn’t the time or the place for them to have that discussion. She couldn’t let herself be impulsive and raise the subject again as she had done earlier since that was what had put them in this mood. What could she do or say to lighten the mood? She wondered as she stole a glance at him.

At that exact moment, Benne turned to spare her a glance, and their eyes met. Celsie quickly looked away, and Benne returned his gaze to the road. After a brief moment, he reached out and placed a hand over her hands and patted it to calm her, and Celsie looked into his face.

“Have you called to reject their offer yet? I mean the foundation,” Benne asked, and Celsie shook her head.

“Not yet. I will do that tomorrow. I didn’t want them to think I turned down their offer too quickly without thinking about it. If I take some time, they will respect my decision more,” Celsie said, and Benne’s lips twitched.

“I see. I was thinking about it. Maybe you should accept their offer,” Benne said, and Celsie stiffened.

“Why? I thought we already agreed that I wouldn’t take it? Didn’t you say that you didn’t want me to do it, so why are you changing your mind?” Celsie asked, trying to block the thoughts that were running through her mind.

She did not want to think about it and start making assumptions. She wanted to hear from him and understand what he was saying.

“It has nothing to do with our other conversation,” Benne was quick to assure her as he lifted his hands from her suddenly still hands. He sensed that her thoughts were likely going wild already.

“Okay. So what is it about?” She asked, looking at him expectantly, glad that they were having a conversation.

“I spoke with Harry about it after you left,” Benne explained.

“After I left where?”

“After lunch,” Benne explained and went on to tell her Harry’s suggestion, “I think it’s a good idea, and you should accept the offer while I do my best to deal with them,” Benne said, and Celsie pursed her lips.

“Was that the reason you asked if I had made up my mind on it earlier? Why didn’t you just say so?” Celsie asked, and Benne shrugged.

“I didn’t know how you were going to take it. And I needed to give it some more thought. I think it’s safer for you to take it,” Benne explained, and Celsie’s brows creased as she gave it some thought.

“Will I have to resign from the job after you have handled Anita and her family?” Celsie asked, thinking about a scenario where she would enjoy the job too much and not want to quit.

“It’s your choice. You are free to do whatever you want to,” Benne said, and his heart twisted painfully at the thought. As painful as it was to utter those words, that was the truth. It was her life, and he couldn’t tell her how to live it or what to do. If he could, then he probably would have asked her to change her thoughts about marriage and marry him when she was mentally ready, but that wasn’t within his power.

Celsie looked at him. Although they were talking about a different subject, she felt that his statement had an underlying meaning.

Did he mean that she was free not to get married? Of course, she knew that she was free to do that, the same way she knew that he was free to get married as he wanted, even if with someone else. But that wasn’t what they both wanted, was it?

“So I should call to let them know I’m accepting their offer?” Celsie asked after some time, and Benne nodded.

“Yeah. You can do that. I will meet with them tomorrow.”

“Alright. I will do that tomorrow then. Thank you,” Celsie said politely, and Benne sighed inwardly.

“This is awkward,” he muttered under his breath, not liking the sudden scarcity of topics to discuss.

“What? Did you say something?” Celsie asked curiously.

Benne spared her a glance and then pulled over to the side of the road and turned to face her, “What are we doing, Celsie? I don’t like this. I don’t like the way I’m feeling right now. I don’t want to feel this way!” Benne said, feeling very frustrated.

Celsie looked at him with apologetic eyes, glad that he was no longer hiding his feelings from her like he had been doing, “I’m sorry. I know it’s my fault that you feel this way. I should have known better than to bring it up when I did and…”

“Don’t apologize. Whether you brought it up when you did, or years from now, I would still feel this way. I know I’m not handling this as you probably expect me to. I know I should handle it differently and reassure you and not feel this way…”

“Benne, no one said you are supposed to handle this in any particular way. You have every right to feel the way you do,” Celsie said softly as she reached out to touch his hand.

“I know. And I also know I said we should talk about this later when we are both relaxed, but I don’t think I can wait until then. My heart feels tight. I feel like a heavyweight is sitting on my chest, and I need to get it off, or else my mood is going to ruin dad’s party for everyone, and I really don’t want that,” Benne confessed, and Celsie leaned over to embrace him.

“I’m sorry, Benne. I know I caused this, and my heart feels heavy too. I love you so much, Benne, and I never meant to hurt you or myself. What can I do to make you feel better? To make us feel better?” Celsie asked, and Benne pulled away to look into her face.

“Do you really want me to tell you what you can do to make me feel better? Or are you just asking?” He asked with a playful glint in his eyes, making Celsie’s lips twitch in amusement.

“This is serious, Benne. Stop joking around,” Celsie chided since she could guess what he wanted to say.

“Yeah. You’re right,” Benne said with a sigh.

“I want to know, Celsie. Please tell me what you want. What do you want from me? From this relationship?” Benne asked, the playfulness out of his eyes now.

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