Chapter 454 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

Perhaps it was because he was a doctor and was used to seeing terminal patients die. He had never really thought of life or the implication of death so deeply until he saw how much Miley loved her life. Or maybe he had always known but had never taken it seriously, and it had taken him to be in his heartbroken state to understand it.

This reminded him of the saying, “When you’re happy, you enjoy the music. When you’re sad, you understand the lyrics.”

Well, he had learned a lot of things in this short duration, and even though he hated that he had to learn his lessons in such a hurtful and harsh manner, he was grateful for the lessons learned.

With that thought in mind, he took out Rachel’s phone, which he had seized earlier and which was in his pocket, and started to go through her texts and call log to see if he would find anything he could use against her.

He gave up when he came up with nothing after going through it for a while. Of course, it made sense that she wouldn’t have let him hold on to her phone for that long if she had something to hide. He dumped the phone in the trashcan closest to him as he stood up to leave.

The only reason he had held back from confronting Rachel was because of the plans he was sure Benne and Celsie had for Anita. Rachel was a small fish in the river. The best thing he could do to her now was to move on with his life like she never existed in the first place. There was nothing else he knew that would hurt her more than that.

He hesitated outside the cafe door for a moment before returning inside to pick up the phone he had discarded, thinking that it might come in handy. He dipped the phone in his pocket as he walked out of the cafe and flagged down a cab.

Once he was seated in the cafe, his phone started vibrating with a phone call, and he received it when he saw it was a call from Celsie.

“Good morning, Celsie,” he greeted in a cheerful tone, not paying any attention to the driver who was staring at him like he was waiting for him to say something.

“Good morning, Kiddo! How are you feeling today?” Celsie asked as she took off the stiletto she was wearing and stretched out her toes.

“Kiddo?” Lucas asked with a scoff. He could tell she was calling him that to get a rise out of him since she knew how much he hated her calling him that.

“Should I have just called you kid bro then, kiddo?” Celsie asked, and Lucas chuckled, making Celsie smile.

“I won’t give you the satisfaction of annoying me today, big sis. I feel much better now than I was feeling yesterday. How are you?” Lucas asked, not paying any attention to the cab driver as he turned on his car’s ignition and drove off.

“I’m fine. I’m sorry I wasn’t close to my phone when you called last night. Is everything alright with you?”

“Yeah. Everything is great. I can’t even recall why I called. I probably called to check in and let you know that I’m alright and you shouldn’t worry,” Lucas lied.

“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. Let’s leave the whole of that unpleasant incident behind us now, okay?”

“Are you sure about that, Celsie? Or are you just saying this for my sake?” Lucas asked, and Celsie smiled.

“I’m done pretending to be okay when I’m not, I promise. So believe me when I say I’m fine. I just need you to focus on getting over her. I understand what it means to be stuck in a particular phase for too long, and I don’t want you to waste so much time dwelling in regrets,” Celsie advised, and Lucas sighed.

“Yeah. Sure. I don’t want to do that either. You don’t have to worry about me. I will be fine. By the way, how are things going over there at the office? And how is that secretary of yours? The one that came over to the house,” Lucas asked, wanting to know how Amy had managed to get excused from work and be there with Miley and how long she was going to stay beside Miley.

Celsie’s brows arched at the unexpected question as she wondered why Lucas was asking about Amy, “You mean Amy? She took sick leave. Apart from that, everything else is fine over here.”

“Why? Is she ill?”

“No, Lucas. She is not ill. Her best friend is ill, so she has to be with her. Why?”

“You let her go on leave for a sick friend? Are your superiors aware of this?” Lucas asked, impressed that Amy had been honest with Celsie.

“Yes, the CEO is aware. Amy is not just my secretary. She is my friend. She was the only one in my team who stood by me, so I have to also support her when she needs me to…”

“How long will she be away for?” Lucas asked, interrupting Celsie.

“You don’t really expect me to tell you that, do you? Are you going to tell me why you are asking questions about her or not?”

“No reason. I’m just very concerned about my big sister, and I wanted to know how her secretary turned friend was doing. That’s all.”

“We both know you are not the type to just pick interest in random people. Did you meet Amy or something?” Celsie asked curiously, and Lucas smiled.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Lucas asked, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

“Yes. Tell me,” Celsie said with a crooked smile, knowing that he was going to say something silly.

“Well, since you insist, I guess I have to tell you then. It so happened in my dream. I was walking along the seashore, and then this beautiful lady dressed in a white dress appeared from nowhere and walked up to me. And she said, ‘Hello! I’m your twin’s secretary, and I need you to show concern for my wellbeing and ask her how I’m doing,’ and then before I could respond, she disappeared. Hence…”

“Hence you are asking me about her,” Celsie finished dryly, and Lucas chuckled.

“It has been a while since we did that, hasn’t it?” Lucas asked with a nostalgic sigh, remembering how he and Celsie used to joke over everything and come up with silly made-up dreams and tales.

All that had changed when Rachel came into the picture. After Rachel they only talked when it was necessary or important and hardly had time to hang around with each other because Rachel was always stuck to him like his shadow, and then thanks to Sonia, Celsie didn’t really mind.

“Let’s not dwell on any of that. So you’re seriously not going to tell me why you asked about Amy?” Celsie asked curiously.

“Well, I just happen to know her best friend. The one who is ill,” Lucas said, knowing that one way or the other, Celsie would eventually get to know about it.

“You do? How? Don’t tell me she is one of your patients?” Celsie said with disbelief, thinking that she no longer believed in coincidences.

“She is not. It’s a long story. Maybe I will tell you about that some other time. What’s the plan for Anita? Have you guys come up with something?” Lucas asked, and then he listened as Celsie brought him to speed with all they had found out and their plan.

“That’s cool. Let me know if there is any way I can help. I tried to see if I could find anything useful in Rachel’s phone, but I couldn’t.”

“Rachel’s phone? You have her phone?” Celsie asked, surprised.

“Yeah. She came to find me yesterday. I didn’t know she had a tracker on my phone this whole time. I seized her phone,” Lucas explained without mentioning Miley.

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