Chapter 450 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Celsie’s lips twitched with a smile just as the elevator stopped at the fourth floor and opened, “Oh, I’m sorry. My bad. I heard MY MAN call you Cora, so I assumed everyone was allowed to do so,” Celsie said, not making any move to step out of the elevator.

Cora was quiet as she looked at Celsie, not knowing what to say to her, “What do you want?”

“I have a little advice for you, Director Anderson. Girl to girl, and colleague to colleague. I’m not interested in having problems with you. God knows I have more than enough problems to deal with already, so don’t play any games with me, and don’t pull any silly stunts on me. It’s fine that you admire Benne. I have no problem with that since I’m sure a lot of ladies do too. But if you ever disrespect me the way you did again, I don’t know what I might do. Unless it’s work related, when I’m with my man, please keep your distance. Are we clear?” Celsie asked, and Cora gave her a nod.

“Thank you. Have a pleasant day,” Celsie said with a wave as she got off the elevator.

Celsie had a satisfied smile on her face as she settled down behind her desk. Who would have thought she would derive such level of satisfaction from a confrontation?

She had woken up feeling very happy, enthusiastic, and optimistic. Perhaps it was because she had woken up much earlier than Benne and had spent some time watching him sleep so peacefully while calling her name in his sleep and unconsciously reaching for her with his arms, or maybe it was because of the way his eyes had lit up and he had smiled at her so lovingly when he opened his eyes and saw her watching him sleep.

She had started her day feeling very loved, and in love with not just Benne, but with her life too. And because she intended for it to remain that way she had decided to tackle all of her problems by confronting them head on instead of waiting for them.

She couldn’t tell what was happening or why she was changing so much in such a short period, but she knew one thing for sure, she loved it.

Without wasting any more time than was necessary dwelling on it, she decided to return Lucas’ call so that she could also give Sonia a call to find out how she was feeling that morning and continue their conversation from where they stopped the previous evening, before facing her job for the day.

Just as she was about to dial Lucas’ line, Sonia’s video call came in, and she smiled as she received the call, “Good morning, sunshine! I was going to give you a call after speaking with Lucas, but it seems like you don’t like being number two,” Celsie greeted with a wide smile happy to see Sonia’s bright face.

Sonia smirked, “It is first come, first serve, my love. If it’s not a matter of life and death, you will have to give Lucas a call after speaking with me. C’mon! It was all I could do not to call you as early as 5 AM to get all that juicy gist you promised me,” Sonia said, and Celsie giggled, glad that Sonia was sounding more like her normal self now.

“You sound and look better today. How are you feeling?” Celsie asked curiously.

“If she sounds and looks better, then she is probably feeling better, right? Let’s not waste time with all that small talk. Tell me about the showdown with your colleagues, why you grabbed Benne’s butt in public, what Candace did, and how your dinner with Harry’s dad went,” Sonia listed, reminding her of all the things she had said she was going to tell her about.

Celsie grinned, “Well, that’s a lot. But there is something else to tell you about too. I just confronted one of Benne’s admirers this morning,” Celsie said, and she giggled when Sonia’s eyes widened with disbelief.

“You? You confronted someone?” Sonia asked in disbelief, her insides bubbling with excitement at the news, and Celsie bobbed her head.

“Remember the lady I told you about? The one who is a director, and was trying to hit on Benne in front of me after the boardmeeting?” Celsie reminded her, and Sonia’s eyes lit up when she remembered Celsie telling her about it two days ago.

“Oh, yes! I remember. She is the person you confronted?” Sonia asked, and Celsie grinned as she went on to tell her how she approached had Cora.

“Oh, my baby is all grown up! I’m so proud of the lady you are becoming!” Sonia cooed, her eyes gleaming with tears of excitement and happiness.

Celsie laughed, “Me too. It felt so satisfying! I only wish I was like this with Anita from the start,” Celsie said with a scowl as she took off her glasses.

“Well, it’s not too late. If the bitch shows up anywhere around you, make sure you give it to her,” Sonia encouraged.

“I intend to. I’m hoping she won’t show up anywhere near me though, but if she does, I don’t think I will let her be. Especially not when I know she was behind the scandal,” Celsie said with a determined glint in her eyes, and Sonia nodded in approval.

“Good girl. Now give me the other gists,” Sonia urged her.

“Not so fast. Are you alone there? Where is Bryan?” Celsie asked when she remembered that Sonia was still with Bryan and his parents.

“He is busy working out with his best friend, Matt. So we have all the privacy we need,” Sonia said with a wide smile.

“What about Evelyn and Desmond? How are they doing?” Celsie asked, and Sonia remembered she wanted to ask Celsie about Desmond.

“They’re fine. Evelyn is preparing breakfast, and Desmond is with her in the kitchen. They insisted I shouldn’t leave the bed even after I told them I was feeling better. By the way, I was going to ask you, what did you and Desmond talk about that night I saw you two together?” Sonia asked, and Celsie smiled as she thought of Desmond.

“He told me about his relationship with Evelyn, and asked me to forgive my mom. Why?” Celsie asked curiously.

“Did he tell you Evelyn’s younger sister died after being molested by their father, and she almost killed her father?” Sonia asked in a low voice, and Celsie’s eyes widened in surprise.

“She did? No! He didn’t tell me that. He only told me that she didn’t want to get married because of her dysfunctional family background, and it took him four years to convince her,” Celsie said, and this time it was Sonia’s eyes that widened.

“Four years?” Sonia asked, surprised.

Both friends swapped information they had received from Desmond about his wife, and by the time they were done they sighed, “Desmond is awesome,” Sonia said, and Celsie smiled.

“Yes, he is. He is so patient, thoughtful, and kind. I can’t imagine deciding to study a course just to help my partner. But then again, I can imagine Benne doing something like that. Benne took after his father. I’m not so sure about Bryan though,” Celsie joked, and Sonia giggled.

“I don’t think Bryan is that patient. Thoughtful and kind, he is. But patient? Not at all. I think Benne inherited all the patience and left none to Bryan and Jade. God probably knew Benne would need all the patience he could get to deal with a blockhead girlfriend like you,” Sonia joked, and Celsie giggled.

“Yeah, and God knew Bryan wouldn’t require any patience at all to deal with a bad bitch like you since you would be the one throwing yourself at him,” Celsie said, and Sonia laughed.

“Yeah, you are right. I have the patience to deal with Bryan. And I think Harry has the patience to deal with Jade so they don’t need it,” Sonia said thoughtfully.

“That reminds me, about Harry and Jade…” Celsie went on to tell her about the dinner and what Aaron had said about helping Jade and Harry come together.

“Interesting. They seem to have a lot of supporters. That ship must sail,” Sonia said, and Celsie nodded.

“So I guess dinner was fun?” Sonia asked, and Celsie nodded as she told all she had learnt about Aaron and Harry.

“That’s nice. You haven’t told me about your colleagues yet,” Sonia reminded her.

Sonia laughed as Celsie told her about the colleagues who had been badmouthing her in the restroom. And then about how she had kissed Benne in the lobby to pass a message across to everyone not to mess with her.

“You must have Benne wrapped around your fingers for him to let you do all that with him in the company. The once invisible CEO now playing around the whole place with his girlfriend,” Sonia observed in amusement.

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