Chapter 59 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“So tell me something, did he invite you over to help him kick me out?” Sonia asked, for Matt’s ears only.

Matt looked down at her, surprised that she had put the dots together so quickly, “Why would you think that?” He asked, trying to sound like he was shocked because of the absurdity of her question.

“Come on, Matt, don’t insult me,” Sonia said, looking at him with a wide smile.

It was obvious to him that Sonia was more intelligent than they were giving her credit for, so he chuckled instead, “What if he did?”

“Take a good look at me, Matt, do I look like the type to be kicked out? You shouldn’t waste your time plotting any nonsense with him. I’m the writer amongst us three, and you both are the actors, don’t you think you should leave all the plotting to me?” Sonia asked with a confident smile.

Now Matt felt really sorry for his best friend. It was obvious Bryan had bitten more than he could chew, and unfortunately, he had no one to blame for his folly, “Why are you doing this?” Matt asked Sonia curiously as she moved away from him to set everything she needed to fix dinner.

“I don’t think I can trust you with such information yet. But what I can assure you is that I do not have any evil intentions towards your friend. So let’s all live together peacefully, for the time being, okay?” Sonia asked with an outstretched hand.

“Fair enough,” Matt said as he shook her hand, “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m really hungry, what I can do?” He asked, and soon they both got busy with preparing dinner and getting to know each other.

Bryan who was seated in the living room gritted his teeth each time he heard either of them laugh out loud. He had been happy that Matt was going to be here to keep him company, but he seemed to be enjoying his time with Sonia a little too much. He cocked his head when something occurred to him, was it possible that this was part of Matt’s plan to get Sonia off him? Maybe he could also utilize the situation and get pictures of them, that way he would have evidence to show that Sonia was flirting with his friend.

He picked up his phone and just as he was about to stand up and head to the kitchen, his phone beeped with an Instagram notification message, and he opened it to see that Sonia had once again tagged him to some photos.

A sigh escaped from his lips when he saw the pictures of Sonia and Matt who was also now wearing a similar apron with Sonia, standing beside each other with Sonia’s hand on Matt’s waist, and goofy smiles on their faces.

The caption was actually what made him sigh, “Both best friends are so adorable that I’m having a hard time sticking to just Bryan, I think I might be falling for Matt. Who is your favorite? Bryan or Matt?”

He checked the comments and threw his phone on the couch when he saw so many “Awwws” with hearts.

She was definitely a witch.. There was no convincing him otherwise.

“So, how was work today?” Benne asked Celsie as he drove them home later that evening.

“It was okay,” Celsie said with a shrug as she looked outside the car’s window.

“Did you eventually meet the CEO today?” Benne asked, turning to spare her a glance, but her face was turned away from him, so he couldn’t see it.

She had been so eager to talk to him about what she thought of the CEO earlier, but right now she didn’t see any reason to do that, “Yes, I did.”

“And what do you think about him now that you have met him?” Benne asked curiously.

“I don’t think anything,” Celsie said dourly.

“Nothing at all?” Benne asked, sounding slightly surprised.

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” Benne asked in a concerned tone, wondering why it seemed like he was forcing herself to talk to him. Did he do something wrong? Was she angry with him? Could it possibly be because he had failed to show up for lunch as they agreed?

“Shouldn’t I be okay?” Celsie asked, turning to look at him with a slightly raised brow.

Even she was wondering what was wrong with her. She had been in a good mood when she left her office some minutes ago, but her mood seemed to have suddenly plummeted once she got into the car with Benne.

“Are you sure? Did someone piss you off? Did the CEO or Mr. Harry say something that made you unhappy?” Benne asked again.

“I said I’m FINE!” Celsie snapped at him irritably. And then took in a deep breath when she realized she had just overreacted, “I’m fine,” Celsie repeated more calmly, and Benne gave her a nod even though he didn’t exactly believe her.

They both remained quiet during the rest of the drive home and once he drove into the driveway and parked the car Celsie turned to look at him, “I heard you had lunch with a lady… Was it the lady?”

Anita? How was he supposed to answer that question? He reasoned it would be best to say Anita was the one since it was highly unlikely that Celsie had seen Anita. Using Anita as his love interest would better serve his purpose than using a random stranger, since neither he nor Anita was interested in each other, and Anita didn’t work directly in the company.

“Yes,” Benne said, and Celsie gave him a nod before getting out of the car.

Celsie disappeared into her apartment before Benne get out of the car. Once she got inside she walked straight to her bedroom, took a hairband, and twisted her hair into a ponytail before walking into the bathroom to wash her hands so she could take off her contact lens.

Why was she so upset? Celsie asked herself as she took off her clothes. Once she had stripped down to her undies, she lay on her bed with the pillow under her head and decided to take a walk through everything that had happened in the office to find out what was upsetting her. By the time she was done, she had a big frown of disapproval on her face.

‘How can I be upset because he failed to show up for lunch, but chose to have lunch with his love interest instead?’ She asked herself in disbelief. This wasn’t logical. It didn’t even make any sense. She had no right to be upset about something like that, especially not when she had wanted to call off the lunch in the first place. It was just her stupid ego that was bruised.

Anita was not only very beautiful but she had also sounded intelligent, so she could understand why someone like Benne would have a thing for her. Since Anita was the person Benne wanted, she was going to try her best to help him get her.

She sat upright when she heard her doorbell. Wondering what he wanted this time, she quickly pulled out a short Mickey mouse dress and wore it over her head before taking her glasses from the dressing table. She checked her reflection in the mirror before walking out of the room.

“Yes?” She asked when she opened the door and saw Benne standing there holding the wineglass and plate he had taken with him the previous evening. He was still dressed as he had been dressed earlier. What? Did he want to continue from where he stopped the previous evening?

“Here, I came to return these,” Benne said handing them to her while looking at her and trying to guess what was wrong with her.

“Thank you,” Celsie said as she reached out to take the glass and plate from him, but Benne pulled his hands back.

“Why does it look like you don’t want me inside your house? Am I not welcome?” Benne asked, looking at her curiously, wondering why she was blocking the entrance. Although he had no intention of going into her house since he was on his way to his real home, he didn’t like that she was acting this way, and he needed to clear it up before leaving.

She gave him a stiff smile, “What do you mean by that? Of course, you’re always welcome, I’m just very busy right now. So I can’t do company right now,” Celsie explained without meeting his gaze.

The last thing she wanted was to let him inside her house after the stunt he had pulled the previous evening. He definitely didn’t think he could flirt with her in the evening, have lunch with his love interest during the day, and then return to flirt again at night, or did he?

“Are you mad at me over something?” Benne asked, making her blink at him before she looked away.

“Mad? Why should I be mad at you? I’m just very busy at the moment,” Celsie lied.

“With what?” Benne asked, raising a brow.

“Work. The CEO gave me an assignment I need to finish before tomorrow, so I’m going to spend the evening doing it,” Celsie lied, confirming Benne’s suspicion that she was probably angry with him since he knew Harry hadn’t given her any assignment.

What other CEO was she referring to? If indeed she was upset, what was she so angry about to make her lie just to avoid having him in her apartment? Was it because he had lunch with someone else and not her? It couldn’t be that either, since he knew she didn’t care about him. Or maybe she wasn’t angry with him? Perhaps she was just in need of space? If that was the case why couldn’t she just say that?

“Alright then. I was on my way out but decided to return these first. I will be back in the morning,” Benne said as he let her have the plate and glass.

Hearing that he won’t be spending the night in his apartment, Celsie felt something uncomfortable in her chest, and the pit of her belly, “Where are you going to?” She asked reluctantly after taking the glass and plate from him. Even though he made her uncomfortable, he was the only ‘friend’ she had in the city for the time being, and she felt safe knowing he was next door.

“Work. I have to spend the night doing some plumbing and fixing some other stuff,” Benne said before turning around to leave.

“Wait,” Celsie called out, making Benne stop. A minute ago she had seemed like she couldn’t wait for him to leave, and now that he was leaving she was acting like she didn’t want him to leave. What was going on?

Benne turned around to give her a questioning look, but she walked inside the house and came out a moment later with her phone, “Can… Can I have your number?” She asked, making the corner of his lips tug.

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