Chapter 428 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“How can I not worry? You rarely fall ill. Are you sure it’s just flu? You should go to the hospital. I will call Bryan…”

“Don’t, Celsie! He is worried enough already. I’m fine,” Sonia assured her.

“I’m serious, Celsie. Don’t worry about me. They are all taking good care of me over here,” Sonia said when Celsie remained silent after some time.

“How come you are always the one taking care of me and worrying about me, but you never let me worry about you. Why?” Celsie asked, and Sonia sighed.

“Because you are my baby, and I don’t like to see you worried. Besides, I’m sure you have enough on your mind right now. That reminds me, I saw the clip you sent. Benne sure knows how to shut the door in people’s faces,” Sonia said, skillfully changing the subject.

“Yeah. Let’s hope she got the message and stops being such a bother,” Celsie said, and Sonia sighed.

“I doubt that. People that suffer from her kind of delusion do not react to such direct insults and rejection too well. She is going to try to do something silly,” Sonia predicted with a yawn.

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I’ve written about a character like her before, and I had to do a lot of research on their mental state. Don’t worry, though. I’m sure Benne and Harry will take care of her before things get out of control,” Sonia assured Celsie with another yawn.

“You won’t believe what Benne found out about Anita’s family,” Celsie said and went on to tell Sonia all that Benne had told her.

“Why am I not surprised? I hope we will be back early enough to witness their disgrace. I’d love to sit in the front row,” Sonia said, and Celsie smiled.

“Me too. I want to watch it with you. By the way, I’ve accepted that job offer,” Celsie said and started by telling Sonia about Benne’s meeting with Priscilla, and all the lady had told Benne.

“It seems like Benne had a fun day,” Sonia said with another yawn.

“You are yawning a lot. You must be very tired,” Celsie observed.

“I feel very tired. And the medication is making me feel drowsy too.”

“I should let you rest then. I will give Bryan a call to check on you later,” Celsie said when she heard Sonia yawn again.

“Sure. Just don’t nag him when you do.”

“Yes, mommy,” Celsie said with a roll of her eyes before remembering why she had wanted to call Sonia earlier, “Remind me later to tell you about the mini showdown I had with some female colleagues who were badmouthing me today,” Celsie said, and Sonia who had been settling into a comfortable position to sleep, sat up.

“Showdown? Tell me about it,” she said excitedly.

“I will tell you after you wake up. You should rest,” Celsie said, but Sonia wasn’t having none of that.

“Rest? I’m not tired. I want to hear it,” Sonia said as she clicked on the recording icon on her phone.

Celsie giggled, “You gossipmonger. You said you were tired and feeling sleepy a few seconds ago,” Celsie reminded her.

“So why did you bring it up if you weren’t going to tell me about it now?” Sonia hissed at her as she got off the bed and went to the bathroom to splash running water on her face.

“I said you should remind me, so I don’t forget to mention it. Also, remind me to tell you how I kissed Benne in the lobby in the presence of everyone,” Celsie said, and Sonia’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

“You didn’t!”

“Trust me, I did! I grabbed his butt yesterday, and today I kissed him in public,” Celsie said with a giggle, unable to believe the kind of out-of-character stunts she was pulling now because of Benne.

“Why am I surprised? If you could make out with him in the presence of both your parents and his, I’m sure you can do anything now,” Sonia said in amusement, and Celsie’s face colored in embarrassment.

“Please, don’t remind me of that,” she said, and Sonia laughed softly, already feeling better merely by talking to Celsie.

“So, are you going to tell me about the showdown now? I’m not feeling so sleepy anymore,” Sonia said as she returned to the bed.

Celsie giggled, “Nah. Let’s save that for later. Remind me also to tell you what your friend Candace did.”

“C’mon, Celsie! Why are there so many things to remind you of? What did Candace do? And why can’t you tell me about it now?” Sonia protested.

“I can’t tell you now because I have to start getting ready to go out with Benne. We are having dinner with Harry and his dad by 7 PM. I promise to give you the details tomorrow. So make sure you remind me of it.”

“You are having dinner with Harry’s dad?” Sonia asked curiously.

“Yeah. Why? You want to write about him too?” Celsie asked jocularly, and Sonia giggled.

“Well, since the story is a trilogy, I should at least know the background of my third male lead, shouldn’t I?” Sonia said reasonably.

“Yes, you should. But I also think you should talk to Harry before writing about him. I’m not sure he would like to be written about without his knowledge. Plus, he really doesn’t like being lied to, and I don’t want him to feel I kept this from him deliberately,” Celsie said, and Sonia narrowed her eyes.

“You sound like you are very close to him. Are you friends with him now?” Sonia asked curiously.

“Yeah. I told you he recorded and sent that clip to me without Benne’s knowledge, remember?” Celsie said, and Sonia smiled.

“True. But I’m not that close to him, so how do you expect me to tell him that I want to write about him? Besides, it’s not like I’m going to be using his real name or anything. He won’t even know he’s the one if you don’t tell him.”

“Focus on the first two stories and leave Harry and Jade’s story until you are close to him enough to tell him what you want to do. Besides, you need to be sure beyond reasonable doubt that he would get romantically involved with Jade for you to write about them,” Celsie reminded her.

Sonia sighed, “True. By the way, I want to discuss something with you too. Maybe we can talk about it later since you have to prepare for your dinner date now,” Sonia said, making Celsie pause.

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