Chapter 85 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Celsie watched Anita as she returned to the living room with a tray containing two platters of chocolate cookies. She dropped a platter on the parlor stool beside Celsie, and the other on another stool, before returning inside with the tray to get a teapot, teacups a bowl of sugar and cream.

Seeing how Anita had chosen to serve tea and cookies instead of soda or something simple, she became curious about Anita’s background and upbringing. Everything about the lady from her poise and conduct, to even how she talked and laughed seemed elegant and classy. It was almost as if she was preparing to be married into a royal family or a high-class family. Tea would be the last thing she would ever think of serving a guest at her apartment. Not when there was wine, beer, or canned soda drinks.

“Please help yourself,” Anita said, after pouring some quantity of tea into Celsie’s teacup and setting it on a saucer.

“Thank you,” Celsie said with a polite smile, feeling stressed out by the mere thought of mixing the tea when she could have easily opened a can drink and sipped from it. She couldn’t complain anyway. She was a guest and had to make do with whatever her host had chosen to offer.

“I noticed the photo of you with a dog. You have a pet?” Celsie asked, watching as Anita added sugar and cream to her tea, and doing the same.

“Oh! Yeah. His name is Snow. I had to lock him away since I didn’t want him to constitute a nuisance,” Anita said dismissively.

“I hope he doesn’t hate me for that,” Celsie said with a light smile.

“Not at all. He’s busy with a bone and other treats,” Anita assured her as she stirred her tea by placing the teaspoon at a 12 o’clock position in the cup and softly folding the liquid back and forth a couple of times to the 6 o’clock position. Once she was done Celsie watched as she popped the teaspoon on the saucer, at the right side of the cup.

Celsie sighed inwardly. Why did Anita have to be so proper? Being friends with her was going to be so stressful as she didn’t have the patience for all these unnecessary proper procedures.

Anita’s lips curved in a smile as though she could read Celsie’s mind merely by looking at her face. She lifted her teacup to her lips, only taking her eyes off Celsie to look into the cup as she sipped from it, “So, you are new here?” She asked curiously as she returned the teacup to the saucer on the parlor stool next to her.

“Yes. I recently got promoted to the headquarters. Tomorrow makes it one week since I came here,” Celsie said, returning her smile as she sipped from her cup too, imitating Anita’s gesture. Thankfully she knew a little about tea etiquette, else she would have embarrassed herself by now. She made a mental note not to visit Anita at her home next time. She would gladly do the matchmaking at a different location.

“I guess congratulations are in order then if it isn’t too late.”

“Thank you,” Celsie said as she picked a cookie from the platter and was almost throwing it into her mouth when she noticed Anita taking a small bite. Celsie hesitated only for a moment and then she threw it into her mouth. She was here for a visit, not a job interview. Anita could be proper all she liked, but she would rather not be dragged into it. What was the point of all this unnecessary etiquette?

“I suppose you like it here?” Anita asked, wanting to circle small topics before moving to the major subject she was curious about.

“I’m not sure yet. Still keeping my fingers crossed. What about you? How long have you been here?” Celsie asked before Anita could ask another question.

“I’ve been here all my life. I was born and raised right under this roof,” Anita said, still smiling.

Oh! That explained why the neighborhood had seemed so fancy. At some point, she had begun to wonder how much Anita earned to be able to afford such an apartment in such a neighborhood.

“That means you must be very familiar with the city. I’m glad I now have a friend like you to show me around,” Celsie said, and Anita giggled, raising one hand to cover her mouth as she laughed politely.

As Anita giggled, she decided that it was time to slowly ease into the subject, so once she stopped laughing she looked at Celsie with a slightly serious gaze, “That reminds me. I have been curious about something, and I hope you don’t mind if I ask a question,” Anita asked, and Celsie gave her a one-sided shrug which meant that she didn’t mind.

Celsie couldn’t help the feeling that she was here for an interview. Anita had been asking from one question to the other since she sat down, so Celsie saw no reason why she was seeking permission to ask a question now unless the question she wanted to ask was something that shouldn’t concern her, Celsie mused, but pasted a smile on her face to mask what she was thinking, “And what could that be?” Celsie asked, meeting Anita’s curious gaze.

“I recently learned that the CEO hasn’t had a personal assistant for more than six years, and Mr. Harry has been the one functioning as his assistant. How then did you manage to get the job so easily when you have barely worked here for a week?” Anita asked as she picked up a chocolate cookie from the platter on the stool beside her couch.

She had been thinking about it and had come to one conclusion, maybe Celsie had caught the interest of the CEO. How else could he have decided he needed a personal assistant just within a week of her arrival?

Celsie pursed her lips as she considered Sonia’s question. There was no way she could tell Sonia the truth. It would paint her in a very bad light if she told Sonia that she has gone to ask them to change her driver and that had annoyed the CEO, so he had asked her to resume his office. Somethings were supposed to be left private, and she wasn’t sure her friendship with Anita had gotten to the stage where she could confide in her about such subjects yet.

“It’s funny because I’ve been asking myself the same question until I came to just one conclusion,” Celsie said thoughtfully, and Anita leaned forward, curious to know if Celsie was thinking the same thing as her.

“Which is?”

“Grace. It has to be God’s grace and favor, right?” Celsie asked, making Anita lean back in her seat while trying to hide her disappointment

Seeing the disappointment on her face, Celsie smiled, “Anyway, what I really think is that he probably heard about how much effort I put into any assignment, and decided he wants a workaholic like me working for him. I live for my job,” Celsie confided.

“Ah! I see,” Anita said with a nod. Maybe that explained it. He probably was used to ladies trying to seduce him, so he had chosen Celsie because she was a workaholic and wouldn’t want to risk losing her job by seducing him. And thankfully, Celsie wasn’t interested in him either.

“Yeah. I’m curious about something too,” Celsie said, making Anita look at her curiously.

“What could that be?”

“Are you in a romantic relationship with anyone?” Celsie asked with a slight blush, embarrassed to be asking someone such a personal question. She needed to know for Benne’s sake, so he wouldn’t waste his time.

Hearing her question, Anita smiled as she shook her head, “I’m not. I’m still waiting for the perfect man,” Anita said, hoping Celsie was asking because she was thinking of introducing her to the CEO, “What about you?” Anita returned the question.

“I already told you. I’m not interested in men. My job is more important to me,” Celsie said, and Anita gave her a nod.

All Anita prayed for at that moment was that Celsie would never be interested in men. And if for any reason she started having an interest in men, it should never be the CEO. Someone like Celsie deserved a good and simple man like Benne. And judging by her discussion with Benne the first day, it had sounded like Benne had a crush on his boss. Maybe it would be best if she played the role of a matchmaker between them both. She could use a single stone to kill two birds. By bringing them together, she would be more relaxed to know that Celsie was in a relationship and would never get in her way. Also if the CEO was having his eyes on Celsie he would withdraw once he realized she was in a relationship, and as such there would be no chance for Celsie. And then there was the issue of clearing things with Benne. He won’t hold any grudge against her if she helped him get the girl he wanted. If things worked well, then maybe Benne and Celsie would help her get the CEO, Anita thought with a smile, before asking, “What about your driver? How is he?”

Celsie’s lips curved in a smile, as she was happy that Anita was asking about Benne, giving her the opening she needed to tell him how nice Benne is, “He is very fine.”

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