Chapter 94 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Celsie swallowed, “As long as you understand the explanation, the answer is yes,” Celsie said, and Benne flashed her a smile which did more harm than good to her nerves.

So she found him irresistible? That was very good to know, Benne thought, and his smile widened into a grin, “That wasn’t so hard now, was it? Now I have all the strength and motivation I need to pursue her relentlessly,” Benne said with newfound confidence.

“Yes! You shouldn’t give up!” Celsie said with an enthusiastic smile that made Benne chuckle since she was giving him the go-ahead to keep bugging her life.

Celsie on the other hand assumed he was laughing because he was happy, “Now that I have answered your question, can I eat before the food gets completely cold?” Celsie pleaded with a small smile, and Benne nodded vigorously, using his hand to gesture to the food in front of her, to go ahead.

Seeing how happy he looked, she could only hope that Benne wouldn’t get hurt by Anita. One thing she had learned from spending time with Anita was that Anita wasn’t the type who might be contented with a simple person like Benne. There was something about Anita. Something she couldn’t exactly place her finger on, but it made her want to be careful around her.

“A penny for your thoughts,” Benne said, as he had been watching her for a couple of minutes and noticed that she seemed like she was lost in her thoughts.

“My thoughts are worth more than a penny. You’ll have to pay more if you want to hear them,” Celsie said as she continued eating.

Benne smiled. He liked how no matter how uncomfortable he made her feel, she always seemed to bounce back, and their conversations always remained easy. “I guess I can’t afford to hear it. But can I ask you a question?” Benne asked, and Celsie shrugged indifferently.

“Assuming you were into men, would you marry for love or money?”

“Are those the only two reasons people get married?” Celsie asked with a scoff, as she continued eating.

“What other reasons do people get married?” Benne asked as he watched her eat with interest.

“There is friendship, trust, protection, and a lot more. I don’t think I can be in a relationship or get married to someone I don’t trust, or who doesn’t trust me. So whether I marry for love or money, I’d rather he is my friend. And not only my friend, but also someone I can trust, and rely on to protect me… That is IF I was into guys,” she finished.

Friendship, trust, and protection. “Of the three things you mentioned which of them is most important to you?” Benne asked after a while.

“Trust. If I can’t trust a person to always be honest with me, then I don’t want anything to do with them. We can’t be friends, and I don’t think he can protect me either,” Celsie said, making Benne’s heart skip a beat.

“I see,” Benne murmured.

What was he going to do if he ended up winning her heart and then she leaves him because of all the lies he has told her? Would she understand him?

Celsie looked at him, “By the way, earlier, I was just wondering… What would you do if she turns you down? I mean the lady you like,” Celsie asked, trying not to sound too concerned since it wasn’t really her business.

Benne sighed, feeling his heart grow heavy at the thought of that, “I don’t want to dwell on that possibility,” Benne said, making Celsie sigh.

He must really love her a lot. She had to try her best to make things work out for him. Not just because she wanted him out of her life, but even more so because somehow she didn’t want to see him get hurt or heartbroken.

Even though she had thought the worst of him, and assumed him to be a playboy initially, she had also noticed that no woman has come over to his place, and he didn’t seem to have many friends either, else why would he try to spend every spare time he had with her? The fact that he had not slept with her when she was drunk was also another point. He was naughty with words no doubt, but he also seemed like a decent guy regardless of his playboy looks, and she genuinely wanted him to be happy.

“I have a feeling that I might have asked this question before, but I can’t recall your response. How many ladies have you dated in the past?” Celsie asked, wanting to change the subject, and at the same time find out how much experience he had when it came to handling women.

Benne looked at her for some seconds without saying a word, as he tried to come up with the best way to answer her question since he didn’t want to add to the many lies he had already told her, “Three.”

Just three? “How long did those relationships last, and why did they end?” Celsie asked, wanting to know who had done the dumping.

“You seem very curious about me tonight,” Benne said with a small smile.

“Not exactly. I’m just trying to know how much experience you have when it comes to relationships so that I can know how to help you,” Celsie assured him, and he gave her a nod.

“I see. The longest was six months and the shortest three months. The relationships ended because I wasn’t what they wanted. Maybe I wasn’t giving them enough attention, or I wasn’t giving them enough money. I guess being in a relationship requires more than simply being irresistible,” he said with a wry smile.

She didn’t think it was just about attention or money, “Hm… What did you do? Where did you go wrong?” Celsie asked thoughtfully.

“I don’t know,” Benne said with a shake of his head.

“You didn’t cheat?” Celsie asked suspiciously.

“I would never do that,” Benne said, and Celsie eyed him skeptically.

“I’m serious.”

“If you say so. But I still think we need to know why those relationships didn’t last. The only way you can get it right this time is by understanding what happened in the past so that you can avoid making the same mistakes. It will be pointless for you to go through all this stress to win her heart, only to lose her like the others, don’t you agree?” Celsie asked, and Benne pursed his lips thoughtfully.

“You really want to know?” He asked, looking at her as an idea started to form in his head.

“Don’t you want to know?” Celsie asked with a scoff.

“Why don’t we find out then?” Benne asked, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Don’t tell me you want me to go and start meeting your exes and asking them about you,” Celsie said incredulously, as that was the only way she could imagine that they would find out what went wrong in his past relationships.

---