Chapter 92 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Celsie stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom checking her appearance once more to ensure that she was not overly dressed for the dinner date.

She had decided to pair her sexy sequin dress with a pair of black low-heeled sandals and had also chosen to leave her glasses behind and let her hair down as she knew Benne liked it. This night was for him after all. Once she was sure she looked good to go, she stepped out of her apartment with a bottle of wine in hand.

It was the first time since her arrival that they hadn’t talked all day. After he had missed her call earlier, and she had missed his too, she had tried returning his call, but he had missed it again, and had failed to call back, so she had decided to let it be until they meet for dinner. She had to admit that it had somehow felt strange not hearing from him all day.

Although she still didn’t like him bothering her all the time, she realized that he was gradually growing on her, and she was becoming more comfortable with his presence and having him around… As a friend. Just a friend, Celsie added mentally.

Standing in front of his door now, she took in a deep breath before raising her hand to press on the doorbell Although she was still feeling very anxious if the knots in her belly were anything to judge by, but she figured it was best she did it now and got it out of the way so that she could focus on more important things.

Benne opened the door less than a minute later, dressed in a brown turtleneck polo and faded jean trousers. His hair was combed back, and he looked even more handsome now than the first time she had met him.

Once he saw her, his face lit up with a boyish grin she had no business getting used to, and she noticed the crinkles at both corners of his eyes.

“Hi!” Celsie said awkwardly as she took note of his dressing. He was dressed in simple house wear, while she was dressed like she was attending a party.

“Hi! I see you dressed up. Now I wish I did,” Benne said, looking down at himself before flashing her an apologetic smile, even though his eyes seemed to be mocking her.

“I wish you did too,” Celsie said with an awkward smile.

She felt embarrassed and stupid for dressing up this much when it was just dinner with the guy next door. It wasn’t like they were in a romantic relationship or this was a real date. What had she been thinking? Why did she have to put so much effort into dressing up? To think she had even applied mild make-up, Celsie thought, her face heating up in embarrassment.

Now he was going to think she was horny and was dressed this way because she couldn’t wait to have him. She briefly contemplated turning around and returning to her apartment to take off the clothes she was wearing.

As if he could read her mind Benne opened the door wider, “Come in. It doesn’t matter what I’m wearing. It’s just so good to see this part of you again. I’m glad you dressed up, and let left your glasses,” Benne said as holding out his arm to her. From the gleam she could see in his eyes, she could tell he was laughing at her.

Although she didn’t think any of this was necessary, Celsie reluctantly took his arm and let him lead her inside the house, “Why does the house look so diff…” the rest of her words trailed off her breath caught in surprise when she realized that the house looked different only because he had actually made it different.

He had turned off all the lights in the living room, and the only source of light in the house came from the round dining table, where two lit candles which were enclosed in a glass candle holder were standing. Different dishes were arranged on the table, and there were two wine glasses.

A candlelit dinner?

Did he set this up himself?

For some odd reason, she felt touched that he had gone through the stress of trying to make the night special instead of jumping on her the moment she walked through the door like she had thought he would, judging by how he had been behaving since the past couple of days, “You didn’t have to,” she murmured without looking at him. Now she could manage to forgive him for not dressing up. He had also made a big deal out of it, and she doubted it would have made sense had she showed up wearing a jogger and tank top.

“Do you like it?” Benne asked, looking at her expectantly. He had read somewhere that most ladies considered candlelit dinners to be very romantic.

Celsie turned to look at him, and her heart fluttered in her chest when she met his gaze. Who was this guy? One minute he was acting like a hopeless romantic, the next he was giving her the vibes of a playboy. She really needed to be careful around this guy.

She swallowed hard as she looked away from him, “It looks lovely,” she said, looking at the candles. When her eyes fell on the two wine glasses on the table again, she realized two things, first was that she was still holding on to the wine with her other hand, and the second was that her other arm was still in the crook of Benne’s arm.

She withdrew her arm, before offering the wine to Benne, “Here, I didn’t want to come empty-handed,” she said without meeting his gaze.

“Thanks,” Benne said as he took the wine from her before leading her to the table where he pulled out a seat.

“This isn’t the dining set I saw the last time I was here, is it?” Celsie asked as she sat down. She knew she would have taken note of it had this been the furniture in the house when she visited the first time, and she noticed there were just two seats at the table.

“I’m surprised you noticed. The other one wouldn’t have been appropriate for a dinner date, would it?” Benne asked, thinking of the rectangular family-sized dining set with six chairs, which he had inherited from the previous occupants of the house.

“How did you get such a nice set of furniture on such short notice?” Celsie asked once again as she admired the table and chair which seemed like they had been made with quality materials.

“Remember that my friend? The one whose house I took you to the first night we met?” He asked, and went on when she gave him a nod, “He gave them to me,” Benne said as he opened the wine she had brought with her and poured it into the two glasses since it was still chilled.

“I see. Must be nice to have such a wealthy friend,” she said with a small smile, “I guess this was why you couldn’t take my calls today. You must have been very busy,” Celsie said as she looked at everything on the table. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that he hadn’t been able to take his call earlier. If this was his idea of a dinner date, then she would have fallen short. She had thought of preparing just baked beans, beef, and vegetable stew. Seeing the different manner of food on the table, she was glad she had he had failed to pick his call.

“Yes, I was very busy. I had a lot to do, I’m sorry I wasn’t close to my phone,” Benne said as he sat back in his seat, nursing his glass of wine while he admired the glow of the candle on the part of her face which wasn’t cast in shadows.

“It’s fine,” Celsie assured him as she silently wondered when they were going to end the small talk and start the activity for the night. Or was he waiting for her to make the next move? She wondered as she sipped from her glass without looking at him.

“Did you want something?” Benne remembered to as, since he still didn’t know why she had called.

“I just wanted to find out if you needed help setting up,” Celsie said, and Benne nodded.

“You didn’t have to worry, I had someone over to help me,” Benne said, and Celsie’s lips rounded as she gave him a nod. Of course, there was no way he could have done this himself.

“So how is your friend? And how was your outing with her?” Benne asked as he watched her. Although he had been drawn to her not because of her beauty, but because of her naivety and innocence, the more he watched her the more he realized how beautiful she truly was.

“She is okay… A little too proper for me, but she’s fine,” Celsie said with a small smile as she sipped from her glass.

“Proper?” Benne asked, wondering what she meant.

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