Chapter 494 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“What about Benne? Did you tell him about it?” Aaron asked, and Celsie gave him a nod.

“Yes, I did. Harry is his best friend so it won’t make sense if I don’t tell him about it. However, you don’t have to worry. Benne won’t mention any of it to Harry. If anyone is going to talk to Harry about it, it’s going to be me. So your secret is safe with me. At least for now,” Celsie said, and Aaron smiled sadly.

“This was why you offered to stay with me today, isn’t it?”

“Not entirely. I did want to speak with you without Harry’s knowledge, but I also wanted to stay with you and keep you company,” Celsie assured him as she reached a hand across the table and covered his hand.

“I care about you, Aaron. We all do and we are worried about you. You cried so sadly in your sleep, and it bothered me a lot more than I care to admit to see a sweet man like you so broken in your sleep. Tell me what’s wrong, Aaron. Who is Sara? And why does she keep calling you?” Celsie asked, and Aaron’s heart skipped a beat, surprised that she knew about Sara’s call. Just how much did she know?

“Did I mention her phone calls in my sleep too or did Harry tell you about it?”

“No. I overheard Harry telling Benne about it last night. I’m going to try to be as honest with you as I can, and I’m hoping you would do the same,” Celsie said, and Aaron gave her a nod.

“I take it that the Sara you talked about in your sleep is the same as the person who has been calling you non-stop?” Celsie asked, and Aaron merely looked at her without saying a word as he thought about what to say.

He wasn’t ready to reveal the truth to Harry yet. He had been hoping to meet with Sara to put things on hold for some time. Why was this happening now?

“I’m the only reason Benne isn’t busy digging out Sara’s identity right now. Although Harry is sick with worry and wants to know who she is too, he insists on waiting for you to tell him about it yourself. Unfortunately, Benne is not going to be as patient with you as Harry is. Especially if Harry is being affected so much by whatever is weighing you down, and in this case it seems to be Sara. Whatever you are hiding right now won’t stay hidden for much longer,” Celsie said when he seemed to be taking too long to respond to her question.

“Tell me who she is and what she is to you. If she’s here to cause you trouble we can all join hands together and fix it so that you will be fine. Please,” Celsie added as she squeezed his hand, and Aaron’s eyes glistened with tears, making her brows pull together.

“Who is she, Aaron? And what did she do to hurt you so much?” Celsie asked as she stood from her seat and went to stand beside Aaron to embrace him.

Perhaps it was best he told some else about it. Someone neutral who would listen to him and give him a honest opinion and advise. As she had said, he doubted he could hide this from Harry much longer, and even if everything became exposed today, he wanted to at least know that there was someone who knew exactly what had happened and understood his reason for doing what he did. He believed that Celsie could be that person for him.

She held him close to herself for a moment while Aaron tried to organize his thoughts. After some time he pulled away from her and looked up at her, “It’s more complicated that you think,” he said quietly, and Celsie sat down.

“Is it something you can tell me? Maybe we can start from something simple. Who is she to you?” Celsie asked, and Aaron looked at her for some time before heaving a deep breath.

“My wife. Harry’s birth mother.”

Far away from there, in one of the cabins in a Cargo ship sailing across the sea, Andy lay on the bed panting hard after another bout of retching. Her hair was plastered to her sweaty face and her skin looked quite pale and sickly.

She raised her head when the cabin door opened and Cassidy walked inside the cabin, “I’m glad you are awake now. I was becoming very worried about you,” he said as as he walked over to the bed and sat down beside her.

“Get lost,” she spat at him weakly, and slapped off his hand when he reached to brush her hair away from her face.

“This can’t be the way you greet me after five days of not seeing or talking to each other,” Cassidy said as she eyed him in annoyance.

“You almost got me killed. What do you expect? That I lick your feet?” She asked, her eyes blazing with fury that made up for the weakness of her voice.

“I apologize for that. That was my fault. I didn’t expect that you wouldn’t know how to swim, neither did I expect that we would have to swim such a long distance to catch up with the cargo ship…”

“How could you make such plans without knowing if I could swim or not?” She snapped at him angrily.

“As I said, I’m sorry. But I did my best to make sure you didn’t drown, and here we are…”

“I wouldn’t have been at the verge of drowning in the first place if you didn’t include me in your crazy plans!” She snapped at him, and Cassidy sighed.

“How are you feeling?” He asked with concern, ignoring her outburst.

“I feel like being alone. So can you just leave?” She asked, and he shook his head.

“I’m sorry I can’t do that. I’ve been waiting to see you for two years, and waiting to speak with you for the past five days. I can’t leave,” He said as he looked at her with a soft expression on his face.

“I have nothing to say to you,” she said, and this time he smiled.

“That is where you are wrong, Andy. We have quite a lot to talk about,” he said, and she eyed him as she felt her stomach churn again, and she quickly moved away from him to reach for the bucket beside the bed.

Cassidy patted her back gently as she vomited into the bucket, “I’m sorry, my love. You are not fairing so good,” he said as he stood to pour her a glass of water to rinse her mouth.

“Whose fault is it? And stop calling me your love! I am not your love,” she hissed at him as she dropped the bucket and collected the glass from him grudgingly.

Cassidy brushed her hair away from her sweaty face as she rinsed her mouth, “You will want to be. Soon you will want to be,” he promised her.

“How much longer do we have to be on this godforsaken ship?” She asked, and Cassidy looked at her pitifully.

“Ten days more. We will get to our island in ten days, and there we can start our life afresh and put our past behind us,” Cassidy said, and she frowned.

“Ten days? What about my sister? How am I supposed to reach her in that time? How am I supposed to know that Jero isn’t going to hurt her?” She asked with concern.

“Don’t worry. Jero won’t be alive for much longer. He is not going to hurt your sister ever again. I made sure of it.” he promised.

“Harry’s birth mother?” Celsie ask, not sure she had heard him correctly. Wasn’t Harry’s birth mother dead? Or perhaps someone else had given birth to him, and it was the woman who had raised him who was dead? Probably the woman who had raised Harry was the love of Aaron’s life, and Sara was the one who had given birth to Harry? That didn’t make sense. He had just said Sara was his wife and Harry’s mother. So who then was the person who had died who was the love of his life? Celsie wondered as she looked at Aaron.

“I thought his mother was dead?” She asked, hoping that Aaron would clear her confusion by explaining the relationship between Sara and Harry’s late mom.

“Can you keep whatever I tell you between us? At least for now. Until I’m able to summon the courage to tell Harry the truth myself?” Aaron asked, and Celsie’s brows pulled together.

Just how bad was this revelation that he needed to summon courage to tell Harry about it? And by asking her to keep it from Harry, did he mean she had to keep it from Benne too? That was going to be impossible, “What about Benne? He knows I’m talking to you about this. He would want to know about our conversation. I can’t lie to him. So maybe it’s best if you don’t tell me whatever you wouldn’t want Benne to know about,” she said, and Aaron looked at her, impressed by her honest and straightforward character.

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