Chapter 463 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Tell me you didn’t want me to do that,” Benne challenged as he wrapped both arms around her and let his chin rest on the top of her head.

“I was kind of hoping you would send them all away,” Celsie said with a wide smile as she tried to pull away, but he held on.

“Let’s remain like this for a while,” Benne pleaded, and Celsie stayed still.

Once Benne broke the hug, he pulled away from her and looked into her face for some moment, leaving her confused as to what was happening. Before she could ask him what was going on, he captured her lips in a slow yet passionate kiss that not only left her breathless but made her whole body tingle.

“I’ve been thinking of doing this all day,” Benne said, his hand on the crook of her neck as he observed her face.

“Doing what?” She asked, blinking at him in confusion.

“Hugging and kissing you,” Benne said as he kissed her again before pulling away.

Celsie smiled as she observed his face, “You look beat.”

“Yeah, it has been a long day. The only thing that helped me survive was thinking about seeing you and kissing you at the end,” Benne said, making Celsie smile.

“We should leave then,” Celsie suggested, and they both returned to her desk.

While Benne picked up the stuff he had dropped on her desk, she picked up her handbag and phone, which was on the desk, and they both walked out of the office.

Instead of going outside, they both headed back to Benne’s office since the car was parked in his private parking lot, and they would need to walk around the building to get to it if they didn’t take Benne’s private elevator.

“How was your day?” Benne asked as they both took the elevator to his office floor, and Celsie told him all she had done.

She told him about the phone calls she had made to Lucas, Sonia, and then Priscilla, who she had called to inform that she had accepted their offer and would be coming over during the weekend to sign the contract.

And then she told him how she had left the company for the OmniGlobal fashion factory to see the state of the place and get acquainted with the head of the factory and who had been asking to see and know the new creative director.

“Who drove you there?” Benne asked with a slight frown as they both got into the car.

“I went with two of my teammates: a male and a female. The guy drove us there,” Celsie said, but Benne didn’t look pleased by that either.

“You didn’t tell me you were leaving the company premises today when you were telling me your plans,” he pointed out to her without bothering to start the car.

“I didn’t plan on doing so either. But I was informed that the head of the factory insisted that they wouldn’t work on the new design we sent to them until he sees me,” Celsie explained.

“You could have sent me a text to let me know about your whereabouts.”

“To the CEO or my boyfriend?” Celsie asked jokingly, but Benne glared at her.

“Celsie, both are the same person, not separate people,” he said irritably, and Celsie’s brows drew together when she realized he was upset.

“Why are you getting mad at me? You were busy all day, and I was busy too. It naturally didn’t occur to me to send a text to let you know I was leaving the office. Now I’m back. Why is it a big deal?” Celsie asked in confusion.

Okay, he was stressed, and he wasn’t handling the conversation properly, Benne thought as he took a deep breath, “I’m sorry. I’m letting the stress get to me,” Benne said and turned on the car’s ignition, but Celsie quickly placed a hand on his arm to stop him from driving.

“I’m sorry I didn’t text you,” Celsie said, not wanting any tension between them because of something as insignificant as that.

“It’s fine,” Benne murmured, but she could tell it wasn’t. She could tell he just didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“You’re not the only one who can read me, you know? I know you’re not fine. Why are you making a big deal out of this? I know you are stressed, but you are not the type to lose your cool unnecessarily. I won’t know what I did wrong if you don’t tell me,” she reminded him without taking her hands off his arm since she didn’t want him to drive until they had cleared the air between them.

Seeing that she was bent on talking about it, he turned to her, “You left the office with the same set of people that were quick to call you a murderer and speak ill of you days ago…” Celsie opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it when he raised a brow as though he was daring her to interrupt him.

“Maybe you have forgotten, but we are yet to handle Anita and her mother, and you can’t trust just anyone right now. You can’t just trust anyone because they work in the same office space as you. Especially not people like that who have no iota of loyalty to you. Also, I know I asked you not to leave my sight until I’ve taken care of Anita and her family. Did you know the distance or the location of the factory before today? What if they had taken you elsewhere? I’m not saying this because I’m a clingy boyfriend…”

“You are actually a clingy boyfriend,” Celsie murmured under her breath, and Benne paused to glare at her, but before he could say anything, Celsie leaned towards him and embraced him.

“I now understand why you are upset. You are right. I wasn’t thinking straight,” she said as she pulled away from him and kissed his cheek.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t being careful, and I made you worry. I will let you know about all my movements henceforth. I will text you even when I go to the ladies’ room,” she added with a playful smile, and Benne sighed wearily as he watched her.

She was with him, and she was safe. That was all that mattered. He reminded himself. “Did you have lunch?” He asked, but Celsie poked his chest.

“First, tell me you’re no longer mad at me,” she insisted as she reached for his hand.

“I wasn’t mad at you.”

“Liar. You called me Celsie,” Celsie pointed out.

“You always call me Benne. Does that mean you’re always mad at me?” Benne asked, and she scowled at him since she couldn’t argue with that even though she knew she had a valid point too.

“You glared at me,” Celsie reminded him.

“When did I glare?” Benne asked, feigning ignorance.

“You looked at me this way when you said, ‘Both are the same person,’ didn’t you?” Celsie said, mimicking his tone and facial expression, and Benne found himself chuckling.

“Alright, I’m no longer upset. Let’s leave now. We still have to stop by Harry’s place,” Benne said, and Celsie smiled as she let go of his hand. Relieved that he was back to his normal self.

---