Chapter 404 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Benne shook his head and cut her off, “All that is water under the bridge now. You didn’t apologize when we met the last time. Why are you doing so now? Because I’m the CEO?”

“Because I never got the chance to apologize properly,” Anita said, and Benne tried not to scoff.

“Well, don’t be sorry. You already made it up to me when you tried to hook me up with Celsie at the movie house. Remember what you said to me that day? In your words, ‘she is more suitable for you than I am or can ever be, and to make up for the past, I want to help pair you both together’ do you remember saying that?” Benne asked, and Anita shut her eyes while Harry snickered. At least she wasn’t entirely shameless.

She had said those words. How stupid had she been? What had possessed her to be so presumptuous? She had validated their relationship, so how was she going to be able to ruin it? Now those words were going to haunt her.

“You helped me find true love whether you meant to or not, so I’m sincerely grateful to you for not showing up. If you had shown up, I never would have met the perfect woman for me. So, thanks for not showing up. Things didn’t work out between us, and I called off our relationship because I realized you were not the right person for me. I didn’t love you, and I could never have loved you even if I tried. There is no reason for you to feel awkward or embarrassed. So please focus on your job, so we don’t have to fire you for not paying attention during meetings,” Benne said, and Anita felt her eyes sting.

She blinked back her tears of regret and humiliation that burned her insides and cleared her throat as she raised her head to look at him, “I understand. Can we at least be friends? Maybe I can buy you a drink, or we can have dinner sometime? You can bring Celsie along too. It will be a shame to go back to being strangers. I really did like you genuinely, and I like Celsie too, of course. I see her as my friend,” Anita said, and they both turned when Harry scoffed.

He looked at them over his phone’s screen when they both looked at him, “What? Oh! You heard that? Sorry. I just saw something ridiculous here,” he said, pointing to his phone, “Don’t mind me and just continue with your discussion,” Harry said with a dismissive wave, but they all knew that he was referring to what Anita had said.

“We can’t be friends. Besides, I hardly have the time for that. I have my best friend here who doesn’t like to share, and I also have my girlfriend who I prefer to spend every moment of my day beside. There’s no room for other people. Plus, I’m sure you still have to take care of your dog, and I’d hate to take you away from him. So you see? It just would never work because, honestly, I do not even like you. So let’s stick to being employer and employee, alright?” Benne said as he rose, making it clear that he was done.

“I guess we are done here,” Harry said as he pushed away from the desk and stood up after saving the video.

“Talking about friendship as though you were such a great friend when you thought he had nothing. People should learn to have some pride,” Harry muttered under his breath, but loud enough for them both to hear.

Anita remained seated with her head bowed as both friends walked away. She was doomed! How was she going to ever get him to love her?

“You didn’t have to do that. That was too petty even for you,” Benne said with a chuckle as he and Harry headed for the car.

“I’m surprised you were able to stay so calm. God! I really hate her! You had no idea everything I had in my head to say to her. I had to try my best to hold back because she’s our employee,” Harry said, and Benne laughed.

“And you weren’t even the one that dated her,” Benne said in amusement, even though he understood Harry’s hatred. He was filled with anger and hatred too, but knowing that he already had everything in place to deal with her was what had helped him to speak calmly.

“My best friend dated her, and that’s enough. She made things difficult for both you and Celsie, and that, in turn made things difficult for me. I thought I was going to go crazy last weekend,” Harry said, and Benne winced.

“I’m sorry. I know you must have been really stressed,” Benne said apologetically.

“Don’t be. Your problem is my problem, and your enemy is my enemy. Imagine her talking about friendship, the nerves! How can someone be that shameless? And what was that nonsense she was spewing? Did I hear her refer to Celsie as her friend? Really? If I were a lady, I’d have hit her head against that desk to reset whatever nonsense was broken in in that micro fish brain of hers,” Harry swore, and Benne doubled over, ignoring the curious glances they were getting from the staff as they walked past them.

“Okay, now you should calm down, Harry.”

“Sure. I will calm down after she and her crazy family pay for all they did and have planned to do. I won’t let you take it easy on them,” Harry said with a scowl as they stopped in front of the car that the valet had brought back to the front of the building.

Benne looked at Harry with a wide smile. His loyalty was second to none, and the amazing thing was that he couldn’t even understand what he did to deserve Harry’s friendship and loyalty. He really loved this best friend of his.

“Then let’s get started on making them pay,” Benne said as he slapped Harry’s back lightly, and Harry got into the car while Benne went around to get into the driver’s seat.

As Harry buckled his seatbelt, his phone started ringing, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that it was Jade. All the anger he had been feeling a moment ago disappeared and left his mind blank and his mouth dry.

As he stared blankly at the phone which was ringing, he remembered their midnight chat and phone conversation, which he had been trying all day not to think about.

“Are you not going to receive your call?” Benne asked when he got into the car and saw Harry staring at his phone, which was ringing.

He cleared his throat before receiving the call, “Hey!” He greeted in a gruff voice and cleared his throat again.

“Hello, Harry! Did you sleep well?” Jade asked cheerfully as she sat in front of the dressing room. She was dressed now, and they were about to leave the house; hence she decided to speak with him.

“Yeah. I believe I did. What about you? I mean, did you sleep well?” Harry asked, and Jade smiled to herself when she heard how flustered he sounded.

“I didn’t.”

“I see,” Harry said and then remained quiet as he waited for her to tell him why she had called.

Benne spared him a glance, wondering who he was speaking with, but he looked away from Benne. Seeing his reaction, Benne smirked. He could guess that it was Jade. Harry wasn’t the type to look or sound so flustered when speaking with anyone.

“You see? You are not curious to know why I didn’t sleep well?” Jade asked in a flirty tone.

“I’m kind of busy at the moment…”

“No, he’s not busy. I’m driving, and he’s just sitting here. Sup, Jade? Are you guys still at home?” Benne asked, and Jade giggled while Harry glared at Benne.

“We were going to talk about our plan for the meeting with those ladies,” Harry reminded Benne, not pleased that Benne was insinuating that he had lied.

“Tell him we will be leaving in a couple of minutes. Since you’re busy right now, I will call back later to let you know when I arrive. Is that okay?” Jade asked to Harry’s relief.

“Yeah, sure. Have a safe trip,” Harry answered quickly, and to his confusion, Jade giggled.

“Anyway, since you didn’t ask, I’m going to tell you anyway. I didn’t sleep well last night because I kept thinking about the kiss, and then I dreamt of kissing you. Although in my dream, we did a bit more than kiss. I will give you the details when I call you back later,” Jade said before hanging up.

Long after the call ended, Harry still held the phone to his ear as he stared ahead of him with unseeing eyes. His heart was beating too fast, and his mouth was as dry as a desert.

Why did she tell him something like that? Why did she dream of kissing him? She said they had done more than kiss. What else had they done? Was it the same dream he had? Why was he even curious about it? Why was the thought of a mere dream making his body warm?

“Seeing how you have been silent for a while but still holding the phone to your ear, Jade must have so much to say to you,” Benne observed dryly.

Harry snapped back to his senses and dropped his hand as he turned to glare at Benne, “You are not a good friend, you know?”

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