Chapter 419 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Not if he is pretending to be your driver and you’ve never seen your boss’ face,” the first lady reminded her partner.

That’s a smart girl! Celsie wished she could see the face of this wise lady.

“You can buy that cock and bull story all you want. I’m not buying that shit!”

Nobody wants to sell shit to you either, and that’s why you’re so bitter!

“What is there not to buy? We all saw ‘Benne’, her driver, drop her off at work and pick her up daily. I even winked at him once, not knowing he was the CEO,” the first lady said with a giggle.

You should stop being friends with her. She’s going to infect you with her foolishness.

“As I said, I’m not buying it. I think they both acted a well-written script for the public. Did you see her this morning with Mr. Jonas? They seemed so friendly. It’s possible this whole thing was a plan between her and Mr. Jonas to seduce the CEO, and now that they have succeeded, she convinced the CEO to make Mr. Jonas a Co-CEO.”

Celsie, whose legs were beginning to feel cramped because of the extra time she spent sitting there and listening to their gossip, decided that she had heard enough.

Talking about her was something she could ignore, even though Sonia had advised her to face head-on anyone that so much as spewed nonsense concerning her relationship with Benne after she told her about Cora’s nonsense the previous day. But talking about Harry like that? Nah. She wasn’t going to stay still.

She wasn’t one to calmly listen to anyone talk about her loved ones or friends in that manner. Harry was her friend. A very good friend at that who had even become a videographer for her sake.

“What is this? Please don’t start spreading such baseless rumors around the company if you don’t want to lose your job. Why do you seem so bitter about it anyway? Loosen up. She is lucky!” The first lady scolded her friend as Celsie opened the door and stepped out of the toilet stall.

The first lady gasped in surprise since she was the first to see Celsie, and her partner looked equally stunned when she saw Celsie, as it occurred to them that not only had they had an audience, but that the audience had been the subject of their gossip.

Celsie approached them with slow yet deliberate steps, not bothering to pretend like she hadn’t overheard their conversation or like she wasn’t affected by what they had said. Being an introvert and liking to keep to herself didn’t mean she didn’t have a quick temper or know how to confront annoying people.

Celsie had a smirk on her face as she ignored them and went to stand in front of the mirror. She hung her handbag beside the mirror as she washed her hands while both ladies hurriedly packed their make-up into the bag, wanting to leave quickly.

Celsie waited until they had gotten to the door before speaking, “I hope you will be able to defend everything you just said before Mr. Jonas? I made sure to record every single statement.” she lied as she watched them through the mirror, and to her satisfaction, their face paled, and they gasped in unison as they turned to look at her.

“I… We didn’t mean any of that,” the lady who had been badmouthing her rushed to say.

“I’m sorry.” The other pleaded, scared that she would lose her job like their colleague who, Benne had fired the previous weekend.

Celsie took her time to clean her hands with tissue paper and then dumped it in the trashcan before picking up her handbag from where she had hung it. And then she slowly turned to look at them, “You called one of the CEOs a liar, and you accused the other CEO of using the CEO’s girlfriend to get a promotion,” she said with a cool smile, but both ladies shook their head.

“We didn’t mean that,” the first lady pleaded.

“I will let the CEOs be the judge of that,” Celsie said as she brushed past the both of them, making sure to push her way through the tiny space between them.

“Please forgive us. Please, I have a sick mother to care for. I can’t afford to lose my job,” the second lady pleaded, beads of sweat already coating her forehead as they rushed after Celsie.

“You should have thought of her before speaking so boldly about something you know about,” Celsie said as she reached for the doorknob.

Once she turned it, she glanced over the shoulder at the second lady who had said her relationship wouldn’t last, since from their voices, she was able to tell them apart, “Did you say my relationship won’t last? I will have to make sure it lasts longer than your job,” Celsie threatened before walking away while both ladies ran after her, begging for their jobs.

While they were doing that, Benne drove into the company premises and parked the car in front of the office building.

Harry turned to Benne as he unbuckled his seatbelt, ready to get out of the car, “I will meet you in your office after I…”

“Nah, I’m not going in,” Benne cut in before Harry could finish.

He didn’t see any need to return to his office since it was just a few minutes before the close of work, so he sat back, relaxed in his seat as he waited for Celsie to finish up and join him.

“Why not?” Harry asked curiously, and Benne grinned, knowing that his response was going to irritate Harry.

“It’s almost closing hours, and my Jewel would be down soon. I’m waiting to take my Jewel home. I don’t want to keep my Jewel waiting by going inside,” Benne said, deliberately repeating his pet name for Celsie since he had noticed that Harry eyed him distastefully every time he did that.

As expected, Harry scowled, “You sure know how to overdo things. Do you know this is the twentieth time you’ve said ‘My Jewel’ in the last two hours?” Harry asked with a hiss, and Benne chuckled.

“I didn’t realize you were keeping count. That means I mention her every…” He paused and closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, “Every six minutes? That’s not enough. I should say it more often then,” Benne said, and Harry eyed him distastefully, suspecting that Benne was doing it deliberately to make him envious so he would start seriously thinking about being in a relationship too.

“Nonsense. You deserve Anita,” Harry hissed, and Benne laughed.

“We both know you don’t mean that,” he said as he slapped Harry’s shoulder, but Harry slapped his hand off.

“I do.”

“Don’t hate on me, bro! It comes naturally with being in a satisfying relationship, but you wouldn’t know now, would you?” Benne asked with a grin, and Harry hissed as he got out of the car and banged the door shut, making Benne roar with laughter.

“You have become very annoying since you started dating Celsie.” Harry glared at Benne, who also got out of the car and looked at him over the car’s roof.

“I hope to see you become this annoying sometime in the nearest future, my friend,” Benne said with a chuckle.

Harry ignored him as he turned to leave but stopped when he remembered something, “You remember dinner by 7 PM, right?” Harry asked grudgingly.

“I’m still thinking about it,” Benne said with a grin, and Harry snorted as he walked away.

After waiting for some time, Benne decided to give Celsie a call to inform her that he was back and waiting for her in front of the building just in case she was still awaiting his call.

Celsie, who was ready to leave but was contemplating giving Benne a call to find out if she should go home without him since she wasn’t sure he was back to his office yet, smiled when she received his call.

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