Chapter 53 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

After a moment’s hesitation, she finally said, “You can keep a secret, right? You can’t tell anyone else about this. Can I trust you?”

“I’m sure you know you can,” Benne said, and Celsie leaned a bit forward in her seat as if she was scared someone else might hear what she wanted to say.

“Remember my best friend, Sonia? She is engaged to Bryan Delgado, the CEO’s younger brother,” Celsie said in a whisper, making the hair on Benne’s neck stand on end. Maybe if she looked close enough, she would notice the goosebumps that had appeared on his exposed arm at her words.

WHAT THE HECK? How had this happened? Of all the ladies in the world, his younger brother was engaged to Celsie’s best friend? Did Bryan possibly know Celsie? There was no way this was a coincidence like the rest ‘coincidences’ since he hadn’t planned for this to happen. He would have been busted even before he started? Benne reasoned in his head, as he tried to maintain a neutral expression. Luckily the surprise on his face was real even though it was for a different reason from what Celsie was thinking.

“You’re surprised, right?” Celsie asked with a small smile.

“Wow! I’m very surprised. It’s a very small world, isn’t it?”

Celsie decided to leave out the part that it was a fake engagement, and nodded her head, “Yes, it is. So maybe she can help me to get his pictures. I think I will feel more at ease when I know what he looks like, and maybe find out a thing or two about his personality,” Celsie said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Yeah. I understand. Good luck with that. I hope you show me his picture when you finally get it,” Benne said with a polite smile as she opened the car door, getting set to get down.

“Maybe if you’re nice I will show you. Remember, you can’t tell anyone else about this. The last thing I want is for everyone in the company to find out about this. They would assume I got promoted because my best friend got engaged to the CEO’s brother, and I don’t want that,” Celsie said with a frown, and Benne nodded in understanding.

“You don’t have to worry, my lips are sealed,” Benne promised and used his fingers to make a zipping gesture on his lips. She gave him a nod as she got out of the car.

“See you at lunchtime!” He called out to her as she walked away, reminding her that she had asked him to have lunch with her the previous day.

Celsie regretted doing that now, as she walked towards the building. She had made an impulsive decision the previous day, and now she couldn’t back out of it. Although she intended to keep being nice to him, she wasn’t sure she would be very comfortable with him in a closed space after all he had said. That he had acted properly during the drive to the office wasn’t a guarantee that he would act properly during lunchtime. It had taken all the courage stored up in her reservoir to face Benne that morning. She didn’t think she had any courage left to face her boss and then to face Benne too.

Her lips curved in a smile when an idea suddenly occurred to her. Perhaps she could cancel lunch with Benne by telling him that the CEO said he doesn’t want her having lunch with anyone around his office premises? She was certain the CEO was going to be a wet blanket after all. She would wait for Benne to bring her food as usual, and then she would tell him that he couldn’t eat with her in her office. That should work, Celsie thought happily. Proud of herself for coming up with such a brilliant idea, she hummed a happy tune as she got into the elevator.

Once she disappeared from his sight Benne dialed Bryan’s line. He listened to it ring for a while before it disconnected. He dialed Bryan’s number again, and the same thing happened. He kept dialing Bryan’s line as he waited for him to take his call. Why was Bryan not taking his call? Benne wondered anxiously as he dialed Mia’s line.

“Good morning, Mr. Delgado,” Mia greeted politely.

“Is there a reason my brother isn’t taking his call?” Benne asked, ignoring her greeting.

Mia would have been offended but she could hear the worry in his voice so she answered, “He is with his fiancee, so maybe he is busy?” She asked, guessing that Bryan had not told his family that it was a fake engagement.

“His fiancee? She is with him?” Benne asked at the verge of panic.

“Yes. She arrived yesterday,” Mia explained, making Benne panic even more. What if he was unable to reach Bryan before his fiancee talked to him? How could Sonia have been on the phone a while ago, yet Bryan wasn’t close to his phone? He wondered irritably.

“Thank you. Please if you’re able to reach him, do let him know I need to speak with him as soon as possible,” Benne said before hanging up.

He got out of the car and headed for his private elevator.. He was just going to spend his time working on his disguise while waiting for Bryan to give him a call.

Bryan woke up the next morning with one hell of a headache, and he knew he was paying the price for drinking too much the previous evening. He sat up when he remembered why he had consumed so much alcohol. It was that green-eyed witch, he thought as he raised both hands to his head that was aching so badly as though it was going to fall off if he hung it at the wrong angle.

He glanced to his side, expecting to see her lying on the bed next to him, but she wasn’t there. Where could she have gone to? Had she left again, like she had done the last time? He wondered as he managed to get out of the bed. He walked into the living room, but there was no trace of her there. He checked the other two spare bedrooms but still did not see her. He had a worried frown on his face now as he returned to his bedroom. He decided to take pain medication for his head before going to search for her. Perhaps she had passed out somewhere. The last thing he wanted was for his fake fiancee to be found lying dead in his house.

After taking the pain medication he wore a robe over the boxer shorts and yellow t-shirt which he was still wearing. He had no idea how his trousers had come off, but he was glad he hadn’t woken up naked. The last thing he wanted was for the green-eyed witch to tell him that they had sex and she was pregnant with his child.

He heard the patio door open as he stepped out of the bedroom into the living room, and the green-eyed witch catwalked into the living room dressed in a wet red-colored bikini that clung to her body like a second skin, and a towel wrapped around her waist. Her long blonde hair was dripping wet, and she had a smile on her face as she looked at him.

“Good morning darling,” she greeted with a cheerful smile as she walked up to him and kissed him on the lips before walking towards the bedroom.

Bryan didn’t know what to say to her so he just followed her and watched as she let the towel fall on the floor before stepping into the walk-in bathroom with glass doors. A part of him was relieved that she hadn’t left while he was sleeping as she had done the last time. Another part of him was worried, as he tried to figure out how long she intended to carry on with this madness.

“Darling, please do you mind getting my stuff from the car?” She asked from the bathroom as she turned on the shower.

Without saying a word Bryan picked up his phone and the car keys and walked out of the bedroom. Once he was inside the elevator he scrolled through his phone to check the calls he had missed before dialing Matt’s line, since he had missed Matt’s call twice the previous evening, and once that morning.

“Hey! Where have you been?” Matt asked in a concerned tone.

“Passed out on my bed, thanks to the green-eyed witch,” Bryan said, and Matt chuckled.

“Green-eyed witch? Should I assume you are referring to your beautiful fiancee? Don’t tell me you passed out after too many rounds of banging her,” Matt asked in a teasing tone.

“I would rather cut off my dick than fuck that witch.”

“I’d love to watch you eat your words,” Matt said with a chuckle.

“Not going to happen, trust me. So when are you coming over?” Bryan asked impatiently as he put on his crocs slippers and left the house, headed for the parking lot.

“Coming over?” Matt repeated the question.

“Yeah? You promised to help me get rid of her, didn’t you? If I remember correctly you’re not very busy at the moment, so come over so you can meet her. I don’t know how long she plans to be here, but I don’t want to be alone with her,” Bryan pleaded.

“Are you sure about that?” Matt asked thoughtfully.

“Trust me when I say I want nothing more than to put an end to this relationship and get her as far away from me as possible. So please leave whatever you are doing and come save a brother. Take this as a save my soul call,” Bryan pleaded as he automatically unlocked the car and raised Sonia’s luggage out of the trunk.

“If you insist. I’ll be there before sunset.” Matt promised before hanging up.

Bryan decided to stay back and give Benne a call before returning inside. He had failed to check in on Benne to find out if he had accomplished his assignment the previous day. And he was yet to give him his assignment for the new day, Bryan thought as he sat down at the edge of the open car trunk before dialing Benne’s line.

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