Chapter 89 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

When he saw that the last call he had missed was Jade’s call, he dialed her line immediately, since she wasn’t the type to call, especially not during the day.

“Hey! Are you okay?” He asked immediately the call connected.

Jade smiled, “I’m fine. I just wanted to find out how things are going with you and your neighbor girlfriend since I stopped hearing from you,” she said, and Benne sighed.

“I’m sorry about that. I figured you would be very busy, and I didn’t want to be a bother,” Benne said apologetically as he sat by the edge of the bed.

“Well, you bothered me by not keeping me updated. What’s going on? Any progress?” Jade asked, brushing off his excuse.

“Well… for starters, I’m having dinner with her tonight,” Benne announced, making Jade squeal in excitement.

“So fast?” Jade asked, unable to believe how fast things were going.

“Well, a lot has happened in this sort while….” Benne said and started filling her in on everything she had missed.

“Hold on. Do you mean to tell me that she is best friends with Bryan’s fiancee? Are you serious?” She sounded very surprised.

“Yeah. We were equally surprised.”

“If you ask me, I will say maybe this is actually fate. You both were destined to meet one way or the other,” Jade said thoughtfully.

“Maybe.”

“Go on with the story,” Jade urged him.

“Did I already tell you she works in my office as my personal assistant now?” Benne asked, and Jade burst into a peal of laughter.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m not. She wanted to get me fired, so I had to make my move, first” Benne explained, while Jade giggled at the absurdity of the whole thing.

“Let’s just hope that she will be as forgiving as she is decent, cause I won’t forgive you if you make a fool of me this way. When do you intend to tell her the truth, anyway?”

“Once I’m convinced beyond reasonable doubt that she is not like the others. You know when it comes to someone to marry, I can’t afford to make a mistake,” Benne said, taking in a deep breath, as he contemplated on whether or not to tell Jade about Anita. He decided to leave that for some other time.

“I don’t think anyone can afford to make I mistake… But I understand what you mean,” Jade said with a nod.

“Enough about me. Sup with you? How is that case going? Have you been able to locate the missing witness?” Benne asked, recalling that Jade had mentioned something about her only witness going into hiding.

Jade sighed deeply, “Not yet…”

“Do you want me to help you? I could ask Harry to contact some persons to look into it,” Benne offered.

“You think he can do that?” Jade asked doubtfully.

“If there is any person who can do that, it is Harry. Why do you think he is my right-hand man?” Benne asked, and Jade sighed yet again.

“Alright. I will appreciate it if he can. But I will be grateful if he can also keep it a secret. I don’t want anyone to spook my witness,” She pleaded.

“I understand. I will tell him that,” Benne said before remembering to ask something that has been bothering him, “Are you seeing anyone yet?” He asked hopefully.

“Judging by how busy I am, when do you think I have the time to meet anyone?” She asked dryly.

“Is it because you don’t have the time that you are not going out with anyone, or you don’t even have the time because you don’t want to go out with anyone?” Benne asked knowingly.

“Did mum ask you and Bryan to hound me? Why are you both so interested in my love life? I guess it is true what they say that once people find love, they start hounding others around them to do the same,” Jade said, sounding amused.

“Don’t try to change the subject. It’s been four years already since…”

“Can we not talk about that?” Jade asked, cutting him off very quickly.

“It’s unfair of you to ask me not to talk about it when we know that if the situation was reversed you would try to have my back this way,” Benne said sadly.

“I found out that the girl that died in that accident with him wasn’t his cousin as his parents claimed. She was someone he was planning to get married to,” Jade confided, with glazed eyes.

“What? He was planning to get married to someone else?” Benne asked incredulously.

“Apparently she was pregnant with his child. He didn’t want to tell me about it, and his parents tried to keep it from me too,” Jade said with a burst of humorless laughter, “So even though I feel sad that he is dead, I’m also mad that he not only was cheating but was planning on getting married without informing me. How do you express your anger at a dead person? Honestly, Benne? I’m not interested in getting into a relationship with anyone. I will rather lick my wounds alone,” Jade said in an emotionless voice that tore at Benne’s heart.

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