Chapter 58 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“So you’re saying you are the CEO’s personal assistant?” She asked Celsie, just to be certain it wasn’t a misunderstanding.

“Yeah. I resumed the office just a few days ago,” Celsie explained, wondering why the lady seemed more excited about her position than she was.

“That’s so cool. So I guess Benne is your driver?” Anita asked as she sized up Celsie with her eyes even though a smile was pasted on her lips. She had to admit that Celsie was as beautiful as Benne had hinted, but she could also tell that Celsie was naive.

“Yes, he is. He’s a very nice guy, isn’t he?” Celsie asked with a wide smile.

“Sure he is,” Anita agreed with a nod. A very nice guy, but not just for her. She could do better than a driver.

“How do you know Benne? Is he your friend?” Celsie asked curiously.

There was no way she was going to tell Celsie that Benne was her ex, “I won’t exactly call him a friend. He is just someone I know,” Anita said with a smile.

Someone she knows? Did that mean she was the one? Celsie thought excitedly, “I see. So what about you? I mean your department in the company,” Celsie asked, shifting the topic from Benne.

“OmniGlobal airline… Formerly called Ocean airline,” Anita explained.

“Oh!”

Maybe this explained why Benne didn’t know her name or her department? Because she wasn’t stationed here? Why was she at the cafeteria then? “I didn’t realize the staff there now had their office here,” Celsie said with a small smile.

“No, we don’t. We just had a meeting with Mr. Harry, and I decided to grab lunch before leaving,” Anita explained, and Celsie smiled in understanding.

“By the way, do you know I always thought that any lady that works directly with the CEO must be the luckiest woman in the world? How do you feel about working for him? Don’t you just love him?” Anita asked with an innocent smile, wanting to know what Celsie really thought about the CEO.

“Lucky? I don’t know about that. Heaven knows I’d gladly let someone else take the job, if the CEO permits it,” Celsie said, making Anita raise a brow.

“Why? Is he not your type?”

“I’m just not interested in him that way,” Celsie said with a shake of her head, and Anita relaxed before giving Celsie her first genuine smile.. Now that she was sure Celsie wasn’t a competition, she could work on becoming friends with her.

Bryan was standing outside the guest bedroom which Sonia was using with his hand raised mid-air as though he was trying to knock. Ever since Sonia disappeared inside the bedroom after she had her breakfast she was yet to come out, and it was almost 5 PM already. Was that how she worked? Or was she sleeping? He wondered.

Not that he liked her anyway, but even her unwelcome presence was presence too, and better than the absence and loneliness in the house. He had tried keeping himself busy with one of her books as he had done before, but it seemed like since his brain was aware that the author of the book was around, his brain didn’t want to pay attention to anything in the book.

Thankfully the sound of his front door being opened informed him that Matt was around. He quickly hurried away from there. Sonia could stay there for as long as she liked, that was her business. As long as he now had company, all was well with his world again.

“Where is she?” Matt whispered immediately Bryan stepped into the living room to welcome him.

“She is in one of the guest bedrooms, let’s go to the poolside,” Bryan whispered back as he followed Matt into the other spare bedroom and they dropped his luggage there.

After leaving his luggage in the bedroom they headed for the poolside, where they both sat down on the recliner chairs there, with straw hats over their head to shield them from the rays of the evening sun, and a glass of wine in their hands.

“So come on, give me all the details of everything that happened between you both since she arrived,” Matt suggested as he sipped from his wine.

“Nothing much. She asked me to take her to my favorite fun place, and I took her to S & G…”

“You did? But that isn’t your favorite fun place. As a matter of fact, you avoid that place because you don’t want the reputation that goes with it, so why did you… Oh! Unless you wanted to scare her?” Matt asked in amusement when it finally occurred to him, “Did it work?”

“Unfortunately, it happens to be her favorite fun place,” Bryan said with a wry smile which made Matt hoot with laughter, and some of the wine in his glass spilled on the gray-colored shirt he was wearing.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Matt said as he dropped his glass on the table between them and kept laughing.

“I kid you not. That witch is just not anything a normal person should be. Anyway, I found out the club wasn’t really as evil as people made it sound… Their strippers are extra sexy and give a very good show,” Bryan said with a grin.

“You mean she allowed you to do all of that?” Matt asked, his mouth agape.

“Allowed? She actually invited the strippers herself. I told you she isn’t normal, didn’t I?” Bryan asked, and Matt whistled in confusion.

“Isn’t she just every man’s dream woman? I really want to meet her now,” he said with an impressed smile on his face.

“Every man’s dream woman? I don’t know about every man, but I do know she is nothing like mine,” Bryan said confidently as he nursed his glass of wine.

“Come on, quit pretending. I’m very sure a part of you is intrigued by her. You are only annoyed that her presence in your life is making things difficult for you,” Matt pointed out with a grin.

Bryan decided to change the subject and ignore what Matt said, “I need you to do me a favor, will you?” Bryan said making Matt cock a brow.

“I know this might sound crazy, but don’t say no outrightly until you think about it…”

“NO!” Matt said with a shake of his head.

“Huh?” Bryan asked in confusion, wondering why he was saying no when he was yet to hear what he wanted to say.

“You heard me. I’ve given you the answer already. The fact that you think it might sound crazy, means it is actually crazy and that is a big red flag. I’m not thinking about it,” Matt said stubbornly as he picked up his glass of wine and sipped from it again.

“You should at least hear what it is first,” Bryan hissed at him.

“Since I know it’s going to sound crazy, and I won’t do it, there’s no point in listening to anything about it. I’m hungry now, what do you have in the kitchen?” Matt asked as he stood up ready to return inside the house.

“How can you call yourself my best friend if you can’t even hear me out or do me this favor?” Bryan asked in annoyance.

“You’re the one who announced to the world that we were best friends. I didn’t so that emotional blackmail won’t fly,” Matt said as he kept walking while Bryan followed him.

“There is no food, you’ll have to order for something,” Bryan said grudgingly making Matt stop in his track to look at Bryan.

“Are you starving your guest?”

“It’s not like I invited her, but she’s the one starving me. You won’t believe she prepared breakfast for just herself this morning,” Bryan said incredulously.

“I would do the same if I was in her shoes,” Matt said with a tsk, before walking away with both hands dipped in his pocket.

Once they opened the screen door and walked inside the house, Sonia walked out of the kitchen with an apron draped around her neck, and a radiant smile on her face, “Hello Matt!” She greeted as she stepped forward to embrace him, making Bryan narrow his eyes. What was she up to?

“WOW! You look so stunning in person that I’m about to go blind,” Matt said, raising his hands to cover his eyes.

Sonia giggled at that, “Save the flattery for someone else. I’m sorry I wasn’t out to welcome you when you got here. I had no idea you were here already. I was very busy until I remembered he mentioned something about you coming over, so I came out to fix something dinner,” Sonia explained, making Matt turn to glare at Bryan, before taking Sonia’s hands in his and raising it to his lips.

“My loyalty is to you, my queen,” Matt said, and Sonia giggled some more, while Bryan scowled at the traitor he called his friend.

“You know, I was coming inside to find something to eat, but since you’re trying to fix something already, just tell me what I can do. That way we can get to know each other while we cook,” Matt suggested, and Sonia nodded eagerly as she intertwined her arm with his and they both walked to the kitchen like they’ve been best friends forever.

---