Before Celsie arrived at Benne’s office, Eric was given strict instructions by Benne to hold his calls and not to let anyone in apart from Celsie and Harry until he was instructed otherwise.
Celsie now stood behind Benne, with her hands on his shoulder as she leaned forward, both holding their breaths to see what the result was after he had downloaded it.
They both felt like students awaiting an admission result into a school of their choice or someone being handed the prognosis of a terminal disease.
“It won’t click on itself. Go on and click on it, let’s see,” Celsie urged Benne, and he shut his eyes as he tapped on the document.
When Celsie gasped softly, he opened his eyes and felt like his heart was going to explode when he saw the test result.
Dawn was not his daughter.
Even though they had both been hoping for it, they still were stunned by the result, and neither of them said a word.
Celsie remained silent until she felt Benne’s shoulder trembling under her hand, and to her surprise she realized he was crying silently.
Forgetting everything else on her mind, she swiveled his seat around so that he would face her and she pulled him close and embraced as she fought back her own tears.
Benne didn’t make a sound but his body shook as he wept, and he didn’t mind that Celsie was there to see him like that.
All he could think about was the fact that he was relieved. He was so relieved the kid was not his that he was almost ashamed of himself for that.
Celsie didn’t say a word to him as he wept. As relieved and thankful as she was that the kid was not his, all she could think of was the fact that he must be sad and disappointed.
Despite his doubts about being ready for fatherhood, he must have been hoping that the kid would be his, Celsie thought with a sniffle as tears fell from her eyes, and she patted his back and his hair to calm him.
Neither of them had any idea how long the remained there that way until the office door opened and Harry walked in.
One look at the couple and their position, Harry’s steps faltered. He could guess the reason for Benne’s emotional state, and without thinking twice he walked out of the office, choosing to leave them alone. He could always talk to Benne later.
Once he shut the door behind him, Benne pulled away from Celsie and rose. He didn’t say a word to her as he headed for the bathroom and once he was inside he left the water running at the wash basin as he washed his face.
After drying his face he walked out to face Celsie who was standing in the bedroom.
From the look on her face, Benne could tell that she had no idea what to say to him but wanted to just be by him and comfort him, so he held out his hand to her and she embraced him.
“I’m sorry,” Celsie said finally in a choked voice and he pulled away to look at her.
“What for?” He asked, and she shook her head.
“I know you must be really disappointed that she isn’t yours…” Celsie said but Benne cut her off with a shake of his head.
“I’m not. I’m relieved. I feel too relieved and ashamed to be disappointed,” Benne said as he gazed at her.
“Ashamed? Of what? Why?” Celsie asked in confusion.
“The magnitude of my relief makes me wonder if I would have been disappointed had she turned out to be mine. Wouldn’t that have made me a bad father?” He asked and Celsie shook her head.
“I don’t think so. Sonia crying when her pregnancy test came back positive didn’t mean she didn’t love her baby,” Celsie countered as Benne took her hand and led her back into the office.
They were both silent for some time until Celsie looked at Benne, “What next?” She asked, and he shrugged.
“I will have to give Kimberly a call and ask her to go find the father of her daughter elsewhere. I can’t believe she was so confident to pin it on me,” Benne said, annoyed now as he thought about it.
“We had all been some what confident too, hadn’t we? I mean, the resemblance between the kid and you was really strong, and knowing you have been with her the past…”
“I didn’t do so without protection,” Benne said with a scowl.
“Well, now you’re sounding so sure. You didn’t sound so sure some time ago,” Celsie reminded him.
“All of this doesn’t make sense. What did she stand to gain by doing this when she knew the result would come back negative?” Benne asked with a frown.
“Maybe she didn’t know it would come back negative,” Celsie countered but Benne shook his head.
“No. I think there is more to it. Harry looked into it. He would definitely have found something if she was hiding something. If I’m not the father then she was with someone else, and she has denied being with anyone else,” Benne said as he picked up his phone and dialed Harry’s line.
“Are you done weeping like a sissy?” Harry asked dryly the moment he received the call.
“Can you come over to my office now?” Benne asked, and Harry sighed.
“I was waiting for your call anyway. I have something to tell you,” Harry said as he hung up the call, picked up an envelope and headed for Benne’s office.
Once he got into the office, he raised a brow, “I thought you’d both be sharing a glass of wine in jubilation right now?” Harry asked and Benne narrowed his eyes.
“Jubilation over what?” Benne asked since he was yet to tell Harry about the result.
“Were you not just bawling your eyes out because the result came back negative? You have me to thank for that by the way,” Harry said as he sat down.I think you should take a look at
“Why is he thanking you for it? Did you tamper with the result?” Celsie asked with a frown.
“No. I prevented it from being tampered with. I was coming to tell you about it earlier but seeing how you were bawling…”
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