“He is the one that has me wrapped around his fingers for me to be doing all of that in the first place. You know I don’t like drama, and if I didn’t love him, I wouldn’t be putting up with all of this,” Celsie said with a sigh, and then she looked at Sonia with a serious expression.
“I was staring at him as he slept this morning, and you know what I thought?” Celsie asked, and Sonia shook her head.
“I could die if anything happens to him,” Celsie said, and Sonia blinked in surprise.
“It feels like I have merely been existing before meeting him, and now I feel alive. I thought my life was good and I was happy being alone, but I feel like my life is better now. I still love my career and I’m committed to my growth, but it all feels different having Benne beside me. You won’t believe he even offered that I could return to my apartment if I needed space, but I didn’t want to leave his side,” Celsie said with a lost look in her eyes, and Sonia smiled as she watched Celsie pour out her feelings.
Even though Sonia knew that Celsie loved Benne, she hadn’t expected such intense emotion or an heartfelt confession like that. Celsie wasn’t usually such an expressive person. She wasn’t sure about it yet, but something told her that Celsie was going to be changing her mind about marriage before everything was over.
“Love looks good on you, Celsie,” Sonia said as she watched Celsie, and Celsie smiled.
“It looks good on you too.”
“I spoke with Benne about you,” Sonia said, biting her lower lip since she knew she shouldn’t be telling Celsie about what Benne had told her in confidence. But then Celsie was her best friend, and she felt Celsie deserved to know just how deeply Benne truly felt about her as it would help boost her self-confidence.
“About me? When? What did you both talk about?” Celsie asked curiously.
“You can’t tell him I told you about it, promise me,” Sonia said, and Celsie nodded.
“It will remain between us,” she promised, and Sonia smiled.
“Well, it was that time after your fight with your mom, and Benne and I excused you two to talk at the balcony. Benne said it was love at first sight for him. From the moment he saw you at the door of the club he thought you were his soulmate. He took notice of you from the moment you stepped into the club and was watching you even before you sat beside him,” Sonia said, and Celsie’s brows pulled together as she tried to remember the first night she met him.
“He thought I was his soul mate even before talking to me?” She asked, unable to understand how anybody would fall in love with someone they barely know. Attraction, yeah. But love? That was too much.
Sonia nodded, “He said he was going to propose to you the next morning before he confirmed you were his staff, so he decided to take his time to get to know you,” Sonia said, and Celsie’s eyes rounded.
“Propose? To me? But it was only a fling,” she said, and Sonia smiled.
“It was a fling to you, not to him. That man worships you, Celsie,” Sonia said, and Celsie’s entire expression softened.
“Yeah, I know,” she said with a smile, thinking of how he was always showing her he loved her, “Sonia, if he wanted to propose to me the first time we met that means marriage must be very important to him…”
“Getting married to you is important to him, not marriage to just anyone. I didn’t tell you this to make you worry. I only told you so you would know that Benne doesn’t love you because of anything special you did. He loves you because of you. He loves you because deep down he believes you are the one for him. So you have to protect what you have with him fiercely, and don’t let anyone come between you both. It is one thing to have a man, and it is another thing to keep him. If you are going to keep a man like Benne, you can’t afford to be weak or timid,” Sonia said, and Celsie gave her a nod.
“Yeah. I know. By the way, you said you wanted to talk to me about your career,” Celsie reminded Sonia.
“Yes, about that. About what we discussed the last time about getting an office space. I was thinking of doing something bigger. What do you think about owning a writing app where I publish my stories as well as those of other authors? And people pay to read?” Sonia asked, and Celsie smiled.
“Are you sure it should be just a writing app? Why not something like a website or something where people would get more than just stories? You could do a bit of blogging too. Since you will be dating Bryan, you’d be meeting lots of celebrities. You can use this to your advantage,” Celsie said, and Sonia’s eyes lit up.
“I think that is a very good idea. I will have to think more on it. By the way I’m not going to be working with my editor anymore. I can’t work with someone that doesn’t trust me and can’t vouch for me,” Sonia said, and Celsie nodded.
“Yeah, I understand.”
Sonia looked at Celsie without saying a word for a moment and then she took a deep breath, “Celsie?”
“Hm-hm?”
“I miss my mom,” she said, watching Celsie’s face closely to see her reaction.
“Me too. I particularly miss her special pancakes. I was going to ask you for some of her recipes, but since you never talk about her, I couldn’t bring myself to ask for it,” Celsie said with a small smile, and Sonia’s brow pulled together.
“You are not angry with her?”
Celsie shook her head, “No, I’m not. She was always nice to me, remember? She even bought us similar clothes a couple of times, don’t you remember? She’s your mom, I love you too much to hold grudges against her,” Celsie said, and tears dropped from Sonia’s eyes.
“I always wondered why you never talked about her, but I didn’t want to upset you by asking. I’m glad you can talk about her now,” Celsie said, and Sonia sniffled.
“I didn’t want to upset you by talking about her,” Sonia confessed.
“And now you want to upset me?” Celsie asked with a grin, and Sonia smiled back as she wiped her tear with the back of her hand.
“I figured you are my best friend, and I should be able to tell you how I feel. I really wish things didn’t end that way,” Sonia, and Celsie looked at her apologetically.
“I’m sorry. I should have convinced you to go with them or visit them. I’m sorry,” Celsie said feeling sad.
“Don’t apologize, Celsie. I never would have left your side for anything. I still haven’t forgiven her, but I miss her. I want to visit her graveside, Celsie. I want to take flowers to her graveside,” Sonia said, and Celsie nodded.
“Do you want me to accompany you?” Celsie asked, and Sonia smiled.
“She would probably turn over in her grave if we go there together,” Sonia joked, and Celsie smiled.
“You can go first then. And maybe when next you go I will accompany you,” Celsie promised, and Sonia let out a sigh.
“Celsie, have you ever regretted our friendship? I mean if we weren’t friends you wouldn’t have had such an experience. Don’t you blame me sometimes?” Sonia asked the one question that had been on her mind for years.
“Blame you? No. I can’t blame you for something that is not your fault. I blame Jamie not you. At first I did regret our friendship. I figured, he would never have had those nude photos of me if I wasn’t spending so much time at your place to begin with. But now I’m just grateful I have you. I think of the incident separately from you. When I think of you, you are just Sonia Smith, my best friend and soul sister, not Jamie’s half-sister” Celsie said, and Sonia sighed in relief, grateful for Celsie’s honesty.
“I should disown him,” Sonia said, and Celsie bobbed her head.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.