Chapter 387 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Alright, go and clean up. I will take care of the sheets,” Benne said, but Celsie remained there looking at him uncertainly, and mentally willing him to excuse her.

“Go on,” Benne urged her as he glanced at the wall clock. It was almost 6 AM already. They had barely slept for three hours. By the time they would be done cleaning up, it will be time to leave for work.

“Are you having cramps? Do you need me to get you anything? Perhaps a hot water bottle or something? I think should have one in the house,” Benne said, and Celsie shook her head.

Knowing that she was probably feeling too embarrassed to stand up because of the stain on her pajamas, he walked over to her side of the bed and placed his arm around her shoulders, gently helping her to her feet.

“There is no need to feel embarrassed. You won’t be the first lady I’ve seen with…” Benne stopped talking when Celsie gave him a sharp look, and he chuckled as he led her to the bathroom.

“I wasn’t referring to other ladies. I was talking about my mom and Jade. The first time Jade got hers, our parents weren’t home, so I had to do the honors of getting her what she needed and telling her what to do. I was just eighteen then. Trust me, you don’t want to know the magnitude of emotional trauma that caused me,” Benne said jokingly, and Celsie smiled as she resisted the urge to turn back and see just how badly the stains on the sheets were.

“Take all the time you need… And let me know if you need me to tell you what to do too,” he said with a wink, eliciting a shy smile from her this time, and then he kissed the side of her temple before walking away.

Once inside the bathroom, Celsie shut her eyes in embarrassment. Why did it have to come now? Her cycle was usually thirty days, and this was just the twenty-ninth day, she mused as she opened her eyes and went about cleaning up.

When she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, she noticed that Benne had taken off the sheets, pillow case, and duvet and from the looks of him, he had been trying to get the stain off the mattress.

“I’m sorry,” Celsie said apologetically, and Benne turned to look at her.

“Yes. I think you should be sorry for being embarrassed about something as natural as this in front of your boyfriend,” Benne said lightly, even though he knew that wasn’t what she was apologizing for.

“I will wash them,” Celsie offered, and this time Benne glared at her.

“I can take care of it. Get dressed for work,” Benne said, and without waiting for her to protest, he walked out of the bedroom with the stained sheets, more to give her the privacy he knew she needed to dress up than to actually take care of the sheets.

By the time he returned to the bedroom after placing the stained sheets in the washing machine, she was standing in front of the mirror, struggling to button up the back buttons of the sleeveless brown top she was wearing.

Without saying a word, he went to stand behind her and packed her hair to one side as he helped her button up the top. Once he was done, he kissed the back of her neck, sending tingles down her spine before he stepped away.

“Sorry. I couldn’t resist,” Benne said with an unapologetic smile.

She met his gaze in the mirror, “Thank you,” she said in a hoarse voice and cleared her throat before adding, “For that and this,” Celsie said, and Benne’s lips twitched in amusement.

“By ‘that’ I suppose you mean for helping with your button, and by ‘this’ I guess it’s for being unable to resist kissing your neck. You don’t have to thank me for either of those. The pleasure is all mine,” Benne said with a playful smile, and Celsie smiled back.

This man was just too easy to love, she mused.

“Are you sure you’re not having cramps?” Benne asked, watching her with concerned eyes.

“I’m feeling just a little discomfort, but I’m fine,” she assured him.

“Okay. Are you wearing your hair down today?” He asked when he noticed she was making no move to pack it up as usual, and she nodded.

“Cool. I should get ready so I don’t make you get to work late,” Benne said before walking away from her to prepare for work.

Forty-five minutes later, they both stood in front of the dressing mirror, dressed for work.

While Benne was wearing a black turtle-neck in his gray suit and a pair of black Italian leather shoes, Celsie was dressed in a brown sleeveless high neck knit top, which she tucked into a pair of navy blue dress pants. On her feet was a pair of white pointy-toe pumps, which matched her blazer as her handbag matched her top.

“You are always beautiful,” Benne said, and Celsie smiled self-consciously as she smoothened her hair. Although she had let down her hair, her glasses were still in place.

“Thanks. You look good too,” she said, and Benne smiled as he continued to admire her outfit. He loved her taste in clothes, and he couldn’t wait to go shopping with her and watch her try out different outfits.

He wasn’t usually one who liked to waste his time on things like that, but recently he had discovered that there were a lot of things he liked to waste his time on where Celsie was concerned.

His eyes fell on the cheap pair of diamond studs she was wearing, but he didn’t comment on it. He was still walking on eggshells around her when it came to buying her expensive stuff since he didn’t know just how much she was willing to let him do for her yet. He wanted to do a lot for her, but at the same time, he didn’t want to offend her.

For someone who had expressed so much happiness and excitement at the thought of her boyfriend being very wealthy, she was yet to demand anything or show any materialistic tendencies.

“Since you are ready, we can leave now,” Benne suggested, and she nodded as she stepped away from the dressing table, and they walked out of the bedroom together.

“I think everyone is still sleeping. Are we going to leave without saying goodbye to them?” Celsie asked in a low voice as they walked down the silent passageway.

“We can’t wake them up just to say goodbye, and we definitely can’t wait for them to wake up before going to the office,” Benne said, and Celsie silently agreed.

Besides, she was tired of saying goodbye already. Two days ago they had said goodbye to Lucas, and then they had done that to her parents the previous evening. She would prefer to skip this one. She knew Sonia wouldn’t mind.

Once they got to the car and were seated, Celsie turned to him, “I will give the SCHF lady a call this morning once I’ve settled in,” Celsie said, and Benne nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, you do that. I will meet with them during lunch break to present my offer to them,” Benne said, and Celsie felt a pang of disappointment at the thought that he wouldn’t be available to have lunch with her as usual.

Following that, the car was silent for a short while until Benne remembered that he had to tell her about Jamal, “The kid will be staying back after Jade leaves with his mom,” Benne said, and Celsie looked at him in confusion.

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