Chapter 373 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“You wanted to leave tonight? Why?” Jade asked, and Desmond shrugged.

“I thought you all forgot about my birthday and didn’t care about me, so I was going to return home. I get that you all are very busy, but I don’t think it would hurt to call often to check on your parents, even if it’s just a minute-long conversation. When was the last time we all sat like this as a family? It took a scandal to bring you all together,” Desmond said, and Jade looked at him guiltily.

“I’m sorry you felt that way, dad. I love you very much, and I hope you never forget that. I will try to do better, I promise,” she said as she reached over to kiss his cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I will do better,” Benne promised.

“Me too,” Bryan said, and Evelyn smiled at her children, happy they had gotten this out of the way.

“That is settled then. We leave tomorrow with Bryan tomorrow to take care of Simon. Benne, why don’t you tell us what plans you have set in motion to put this Anita girl and her family in their place?” Evelyn asked just as Andrew walked through the patio door.

“Hey, guys! Sorry to interrupt, but something came up, so Janet and I have to leave at once,” Andrew said with an easy smile, not wanting to ruin Desmond’s party.

Desmond and Evelyn stood up and went to him, “You don’t have to butter it up nicely, Benne told us about it already, and I’m sorry to see you leave,” Desmond said, with worry lines between his brow.

“Yeah, me too. I was looking forward to letting you win a game tonight as my birthday gift to you,” Andrew said with a grin, and Desmond laughed despite himself.

“I’m going to really miss you. Hopefully, we’ll see more of each other when we get back,” Desmond said since they live in the same city.

“Yeah, we definitely will. Happy birthday,” Andrew said before moving his gaze to Evelyn.

“How is Janet?” Evelyn asked with a concerned frown, understanding that Andrew was handling the situation like a man, but Janet would definitely be taking it differently. Mothers were worriers, and no mother would be okay after hearing something like that. Especially considering how she had been so worried about Lucas.

“They’re behaving like in-laws already,” Jade said in amusement as she watched her parents interact with Andrew.

“Yeah. Benne is a married man,” Bryan joked.

“Try not to make jokes like that around Celsie,” Benne warned as he stood up to join their parents while Bryan and Jade exchanged a look.

Andrew met Benne’s gaze, not seeing any reason to keep it from them since they were now more like family to each other, “She’s pretty upset. Upset enough to have upset Celsie too,” Andrew said with a sigh.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Evelyn said, feeling sorry.

“Yeah. They had a misunderstanding, and Janet said stuff she didn’t mean, so she has to apologize to Celsie,” he said, and Benne excused himself and went in search of Celsie to see how she was doing.

He headed straight for the bedroom, and when he didn’t find her there, he tried reaching her on the phone, but she wasn’t receiving her call either, so he dialed Sonia’s line instead as he walked out of the bedroom.

Away from there, Celsie sat on the balcony, looking straight ahead of her. Even though she understood her mother’s concern for Lucas, she couldn’t say that she didn’t feel hurt by her mother’s words. She was hurt and angry that her mother had spoken to her in that manner, whether or not she meant it.

Insensitive? She had not just called her insensitive but had said that she had ALWAYS been insensitive. When had she ever been insensitive? Fine, some days ago, she had told those mean stuff to Lucas when he only just broke up with Rachel and was hurt, but was that enough reason for her mother to say that to her? Was that one occasion the reason her mother had said she had always been insensitive?

“Celsie, we both know that she didn’t mean any of that. Please don’t dwell on it,” Sonia said as she looked at Celsie with a concerned frown. Knowing her, Celsie was going to overanalyze all that her mother had said and get even more worked up.

“We don’t know that. She didn’t just call me insensitive. She said I’ve ALWAYS been insensitive. Do you know what that means? That it’s not the first time she is thinking this way about me,” Celsie said with a shake of her head, telling herself that she wasn’t going to cry over this.

“You don’t know that either. People generally say hurtful words when they are upset. I’m not saying she was right. She lashed out at you unfairly, but please let it go. You need to stand together now, not fight each other,” Sonia pleaded.

“I’m not fighting with her. I don’t care. She should go and be with Lucas. He needs her more than I do anyway,” Celsie said, and to her shame, her voice trembled.

Sonia stood up and went to embrace her, “Celsie, don’t say that.”

“I don’t care! I’ve never needed any of them! When it mattered most, they were not there. Never for once in all these years have I ever blamed them for what happened to me. I never blamed them for not noticing that I wasn’t fine. I never blamed them for not being the kind of parents I could run to when I found out I was being stalked. I could have put the blame on them, you know? But I never did. I made excuses for them instead,” Celsie said as she swiped at her angry tears and moved away from Sonia, unable to stay still while expressing her anger.

Celsie continued, her gray eyes sparkling with angry tears, “It wasn’t their life that was ruined by that one incident. Yes, Lucas is hurt, but I’m hurt too. His girlfriend may have aided in what happened to me, but I am the one who suffered from it, not Lucas. I am the one who had to take alcohol and sleeping pills just to keep away the nightmares! I’m the one who can’t stand seeing anyone in the shadows without thinking of Jamie! I’m the one who can’t even stand random strangers staring at me without wondering if I’m being stalked again. I’m the one who now has to face the fact that my twin brother’s girlfriend hated me enough to get involved in something like that. All Lucas has to deal with is guilt, but I’m the one stuck with those awful memories in my head. Do you think I won’t gladly swap that memory for guilt? Yet, here I am trying to be strong for myself and Lucas, and she dares to call me insensitive! Insensitive!” Her voice hitched, and she broke into a sob.

Sonia sniffled as she embraced Celsie, “Please calm down, Celsie. I know you’re hurt but please calm down,” Sonia pleaded, wondering if she should just give Benne a call.

Thankfully her phone started ringing, and she dipped her hand into her pocket to take it out while still patting Celsie’s back with her other hand, “It’s Benne,” Sonia informed Celsie as she received the call.

Immediately Celsie pulled away from her and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“Yeah, I’m with her,” Sonia said before offering the phone to Celsie.

“I’m fine,” Celsie assured him before he could say a word knowing that he was worried about her.

“You weren’t taking your call,” Benne pointed out, not bothering to argue her claim. From her voice, he could tell that she had been crying.

“I think I left the phone in the Den,” she said apologetically.

“Where are you?”

“At the main balcony.”

“Okay, I’m coming over,” Benne said, and as he hung up the call, he came face to face with Janet, who had just stepped out of the bedroom where she had gone to wash her face.

She had gone to Benne’s bedroom to find Celsie, but when she didn’t see her, she decided to splash some water on her face before going to the patio to see if she had returned to join the others.

“Have you seen Celsie?” Janet asked Benne hopefully.

From the look on her face, Benne could tell that she had been crying, “She is on the balcony. Are you okay?” Benne asked in concern.

“I don’t know. My emotions are all over the place. I feel like I’m messing up everything. I’m not handling this the right way, and I don’t even know what to do. Both my babies are hurting, and I don’t know how to help them,” Janet said as her eyes filled up again, and Benne embraced her without thinking. He just held her and let her cry.

Janet pulled away as she tried to pull herself together, “Thank you, Benne. I’m sorry I soaked your shirt,” Janet said as she brushed away her tears, and Benne reached into his pocket and offered her his handkerchief.

---