Chapter 82 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“You deliberately said that to distract me, didn’t you?” Benne asked with a chuckle, “It’s funny that you had to rely on such cheap tricks to win the game. Loser,” Benne said, shaking his head as he dropped his pad.

“Whatever. Anyway, I think you should talk to your brother about getting her a role in the movie industry. She is a very good actress, believe me,” Harry said, making Benne chuckle as he reached out to pick up Harry’s wineglass.

“What did she say this time?” Benne asked as he took a sip from the glass while waiting curiously to hear the lie Celsie had spawned. Benne listened attentively as Harry gave him the details of his conversation with Celsie, and by the time Harry finished, Benne’s body was shaking with laughter.

“She is impressive, don’t you think?” Benne asked Harry who shook his head.

“She is just as crazy as you are,” Harry countered.

“Well, I’m beginning to think that crazy isn’t so bad,” Benne said making Harry sigh as he looked him over.

“Talking about crazy, when are you going to restore your hair to its original shape, and take off those godforsaken earrings?” Harry asked with a scowl.

“What do you mean original shape? There is nothing wrong with the way I look now. Don’t you want to change your appearance too?” Benne asked with a grin, tapping Harry’s shoulder playfully.

“I’m being serious here.”

“And I’m being serious too. Do you know something I’ve come to realize in the past couple of days? I don’t think I am the gentleman I thought I was all these years. I have some naughty to me,” Benne said with a grin and chuckled when Harry raised both hands to cover his ears.

“Don’t worry, I will be giving you lessons soon,” Benne said, making Harry raise his eyes upward in disbelief.

“How far have you gone with her to make you so confident in your abilities?” Harry asked as he dropped his pad on the couch between them.

“I’m slowly making progress. I’m having a dinner date with her tomorrow. In my apartment,” Benne said with a wink.

Harry snorted, “You can’t even cook to save your life.”

“Well, she doesn’t know that. At least not yet. Besides, I didn’t tell her I was going to do the cooking.”

“Don’t you think the lies are becoming too much and too complex? You are supposed to keep things simple. It’s bad enough that you’re hiding your identity already, but all these lies?” Harry asked with disapproval.

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend to lie about something as simple as that. I will be there with the chef when he prepares the meal, and I will let her know I was there but didn’t do the cooking. Besides, I haven’t told her a lie that wasn’t vital to my plan. Everything will be cleared up once I reveal my identity to her,” Benne said, and Harry shrugged.

“By the way, what do you intend to do about the meeting we have next week with the retained executive staff of Oceans airline? Remember the plan is for you to attend the meeting and let Mr. Wyatt officially introduce you to them as the new CEO?” Harry asked, reminding him of the initial plans they had before they found out about Anita.

“I can’t reveal my identity to them now that we know Anita is there, can I?” Benne asked with a slightly raised brow.

“Why not? I don’t see any reason why you need to change your plans or hide your identity from her. She has lost her chance already, you don’t have to hide from her,” Harry said with a serious frown.

“I know all of that. But I don’t think it would be a good idea to let her know who I am yet. I will rather reveal my identity to everyone at once after revealing it to Celsie. I don’t want her to find out about me before I get the chance to work things out with her,” Benne said thoughtfully.

“So what are you going to do? We both know you have to be at that meeting since Mr. Wyatt would be there. Unless of course, you’d rather go there in your disguise,” Harry said with a trace of sarcasm in his voice. He groaned when Benne’s eyes lit up at the idea.

“I can do that, can’t I?” Benne asked, both corners of his lips curving upwards in a smile.

Harry sighed wearily, “Why do I feel like I always end up giving you bad advice without even meaning to?”

“The idea is perfect. We will attend the meeting and I will let you do all the talking as usual. I will only speak once or twice when necessary,” Benne said, and Harry shrugged.

“Whatever you say, boss. Let’s get back to the game.. I’m ready to kick your ass,” Harry said, returning his attention to the game now that they had gotten every other subject out of the way.

Celsie decided to sleep in on Saturday morning, since she wasn’t going to the office and as such didn’t see any reason to rush out. Once she finally woke up around 10 AM, she picked up her phone and the first thing she saw was a text message from Anita which contained her home address details.

Now that it was the day to go out, she wasn’t really feeling much like stepping out of the house. All she wanted to do was curl up on her bed and read a novel, or surf the net. Anything that didn’t involve dressing up and leaving her house.

This was the reason she didn’t like having friends since friendships always involved visits, and that was something she wasn’t cut out for.

She encouraged herself by reminding herself that it was just a temporary friendship, and it was for the greater good. Once she managed to connect Anita and Benne, she would step back and let them both do their thing.

Celsie decided to clean up her house and fix breakfast for herself before leaving for Anita’s place. Looking around the apartment, there wasn’t really much to clean since she always kept everything in place. Still, she picked up a napkin and started to clean her already clean furniture.

As she got busy with cleaning her thoughts drifted to her conversation with Sonia the previous evening, and from there to Benne. She briefly wondered what he was up to, and why she hadn’t heard from him all morning. Or perhaps he wasn’t reaching out to her because she had said she would be busy? Celsie mused, and then quickly discarded the thought once she realized what she was doing. He wasn’t her business. He was just her neighbor, and driver, and as such there was no reason for him to reach out to her during the weekends.

Soon she got very busy with tidying up the place and tried not to think of anything concerning Benne. After ensuring that everywhere was clean and there was no speck of dust on any furniture, she settled down to eat a bowl of cereal.

Now that she was idle, thoughts of Benne came back to her, and with it came the reminder that they were having dinner that evening. Her heart skipped a beat when she remembered her dinner date with Benne. The thought of the evening ahead made her feel increasingly anxious with each passing second. When she couldn’t bear it anymore, she pushed away from the table, disposed of the cereals, and washed the bowl before leaving the kitchen.

Once inside her bedroom, she walked to the closet to pick out the clothes she was going to wear out. She opened the drawer containing her undies, and her face flushed a deep shade of red when she remembered the texts Benne had sent to her the previous day.

“Look at you getting all flustered, and he isn’t even here,” She chided herself as she raised both hands to her cheeks.

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